On Fri, 18 Dec 1998 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
(Note: when you receive a reply in private email (as opposed to a post to
the mailing list or newsgroup), it's usually considered polite to reply in
the same channel, and ask first if you want to quote private email in a
public forum. I'm not going to flame you on this, I'm just telling
you, because sooner or later someone else will.)
[snip "upgrade to 2.0.36, read NAG, etc"]
> > But, gee, thousands, perhaps millions of users have the same problems you
> > do, and thus must have asked the same questions. The trick is just to find
> > the answers, using the usual search tools. If you want answers all in one
> > place, you need to use a distribution that offers tech support, where you
> > can ask someone if the documentation isn't clear. Examples: RedHat (I
> > haven't actually tried this, but they have a "commercial option"),
> > Workgroup Solutions, S.u.S.E., Yggdrasil, Caldera. These are all
> > commercial enterprises with extra support options. I'm not sure what
> > Debian does, I think support is all online (mailing lists, etc).
>
> Red Hat 4.2 is exactly where this Linux 2.0.30 installment came. For advice,
> starting there was more difficult than asking others familiar with Linux. If,
> "thousands, perhaps millions of users have the same problems," then isn't that
> enough evidence to show that something was and is lacking?
It's free code, so any documentation supplied by the code maintainers is a
public service, not a requirement. Feel free to upgrade any documentation
that you feel is inadequate, after inspecting the code and checking it in
through the maintainers of those packages. Last time I checked RedHat cds
from Linux Central were < $10. I don't think that obligates them to
supply the level of *vendor-compiled* documentation that you get from
S.u.S.E., Workgroup Solutions, Yggdrasil, or Caldera (and maybe others).
I use a hybrid Slackware/Jurix/misc-net-stuff system. I haven't installed
a pre-compiled binary in years. I don't use "out-of-the-box"
(fresh from the cd or ftp site) directory layouts or configuration files.
Thus I have no Redhat-specific answers to any of your questions (which
aren't always all that specific; random generalizations don't get
specific answers to problems). I don't have sendmail installed.
> > If you want free or near-free, then you need to chase down the details
> > wherever they exist. Sometimes that's easy, sometimes not, depending
> > on what it is exactly that you need Linux to do.
> Anything costly or free was purchased or pursued in its entirety as much as
> time allotted up to this point. Free is hardly what I have needed to do in
> order to pursue this Linux challenge. If free was the direct result of
> obtaining all of this software, documentation, and heartache, THEN I would be
> guilty of an erroneous assumption and posting.
Let's see, the first question you asked was "how do I find out about
bash?" I bought a book, read the man page several times, and wrote shell
scripts that crashed and burned, reread the documentation until I had
it right. Isn't that what everyone does? Just what other way is there,
and how could anyone with 4yrs+ of computer experience not know that?
I wouldn't normally buy a book as the first option, but shell scripts are
unix's most basic tool, so it was worth it. The experience travels,
because bash runs on so many different types of posix-compliant system.
It seems to me that you don't take the steps anyone in this field would
naturally take and then complain that the documentation is insufficient.
If you choose not to buy the book and only use online documentation, which
you find insufficient (I've certainly had that experience, though not with
bash; you could get by there with just the man page and the odd question
to comp.unix.shell, but having the book was faster), you're free to use
some alternative tool, read the source, or whatever gets the job done for
you. How is non-specific criticism of the level of documentation going
to solve problems of linux configuration for you?
> Even with all that has happened, I'm seriously considering the option of
> purchasing Red Hat 5.2. I still standby my word and consider Linux the best OS
> with Apple/Mac following closely behind #1. With ALL sarcasm aside, would
> anyone care to give me some steering in the right direction on my next among
> many purchases?
Perhaps a network computer? Try Corel.
Regards, Clayton Weaver <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Seattle)
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