Michael,
I would say that some of the challenges you face are arch
specific (choosing to start on PPC). Now this isn't a criticism, but the
problem you run into is that while there are probably a handleful of
people on this list that can help you with doing X, booting a PPC machine
is different from booting and i386, and anywhere you run into different
hardware it gets difficult, if only because the number of people with the
knowledge is less and the number of people developing for that arch is
less.
Now, having said that, if it makes you feel any better I'm composing this
on an Alpha (in Linux), my main workstation is an Alpha, and there's a
SPARC across the room happily running Debian.
--rdp
On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, Michael Bovee wrote:
> Well, as another newbie I guess I'll chime in here with a few
> lighthearted comments.
> Bottom line -- its not easy being a newbie ;0)
>
> Its fun to hear something of what's going on for the experts on this
> list, but most of the time I don't understand what is being
> discussed. That's okay, its still a great way to pick up details that
> DO matter to me as various threads develop.
>
> My situation seems a bit more complicated as I jumped into Linux on
> the Macintosh/PPC platform. I naively thought that Linux was Linux,
> the same no matter where you go and all would be well. It has been
> only by the help of a couple expert friends that I was able to get
> some basic things configured including screen res. And my friend
> tells me that after we've been through a bunch of hassles, I probably
> need to recompile X (or something) to get some essential research
> software to draw plots on the screen correctly. Well, since we all
> rely on *actual users* to figure out how to get things to work, this
> is not surprising -- BUT for 75 bucks SuSE claims to support my
> specific machine (PowerBook G3) for a relatively painless install,
> which it wasn't. Rich's comments ring true about getting help
> installing.
>
> As far as *free* is concerned, I have so far invested about $200 in
> SuSE 7.1, then 7.3, a book on some Unix user basics, and just this
> weekend a thick Que book on Using Linux. This is far more than I paid
> for the even high priced Mac OS X, which INCLUDED the latest OS 9.
> I'm not bitter about that, it is a fun learning experience but damn
> this learning curve is STEEP :0) To be fair, I also have about 11
> years of Mac experience under the belt, and I can troubleshoot and
> fix almost anything on the Mac platform, but I never had to buy no
> $50 dam book to start getting work done on the mac! For me, the
> following Linux issues remain --
>
> 1) I still am not able to just boot Linux up and start getting work
> done; too much of a paradigm shift. There must be some good tutorials
> on the web for new users , but of all the sites I've visited I havent
> found much that is explained in a way that makes sense to me. I keep
> thinking at some point things will begin to fit into some zenlike big
> picture, and then I think what if Linux is like some bizarro world
> from a Terry Gilliam film where no, dammit, it doesn't HAVE to make
> sense! (insert maniacal laughter here :0)
>
> 2) Still looking for some grand explanation to make sense of whats
> in all those directories, and where I go if I want to see how
> something is configured. This is where the concept of the installfest
> could be extended to something more like counseling for frustrated
> newbies! Haha!
>
> 3) Linux is not MacOS and its not Windows, and by the way its not
> your mother. I think its cool that Linux is wild and free and
> continually developing, and I have wanted to be a part of that ever
> since the development of some linux-only research software that I
> couldn't have published a paper without. I really hope Linux is the
> future. Its just been too difficult to master by fiddling around.
> Back to the books!
>
> --Michael
>
--
Rich Payne
http://talisman.mv.com
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