Mike:
I'm not a geek. I'm middle age and I've worked in human services all my
life. Discovered Linux one year ago. Installed RH 5.1 last summer and am
learning on that.
Mike, if I were asking some of what you're asking below, I'd _want_ a geek
to help me out. On this forum people (1) give as much detail as they can
about what each problem is, and (2) wait (not very long) for lots of help.
There are people from New Zealand to Russia who have provided very
knowledgeable and courteous answers. Some of it is cryptic (to me). I
don't care. I learn by aiming every day just a little higher. I plan on
doing that until they thump the shovel over me.
If you are happy with NT, for golly sake don't move just because Linux is
the fastest growing and perhaps the most stable platform for serious
production needs in the industry. Try to ignore that tens of thousands of
programmers, many of them world-class (for example, Donald Becker of the
Goddard Space Flight Center wrote many NIC drivers for Linux and
occasionally drops in on Linux-Newbie), who are working on Linux at the
speed of the internet. I'm not pulling your chain here. If what you're
already doing is working, stay with it.
But there's a tone in your message that says you are anxious to get info in
a hurry. Someone with more knowledge than me will no doubt provide specific
answers if your questions are specific enough (some of them don't seem to
be). I'm now with an ISP who has been using Linux since they started in
1995. IMCNET now has 22 servers. Two are NT and twenty are Linux (Debian
and RedHat). When I need help on specifics (and I've done my homework and
read the books and articles I've collected, and I still don't get it), often
a local phone call does it. IMCNET now sponsors a Linux user's group.
Mike, LUG's are showing up just about everywhere. Clarkson University is
nearby, a world-class engineering school. The Computer Science majors there
have been very helpful. Before a local LUG appeared, I could phone those
guys and get info on nearly any question.
If you're looking for a GUI that allows a novice to do everything with no
knowledge, forget it. No one's been holding my hand in learning this thing,
and no one's going to hold yours. But if you can step back, slow down, and
take a breath, you may find there's more available than you first thought.
People who want help and who aren't already helping themselves, gee, maybe
annoyances.com might help them stay with NT. But Linux-Newbie isn't the
forum for how to do everything with no knowledge or self-help effort. It's
a place where good men and women (some more mature than others) are pressing
forward in a work that embraces a world community. Ask your questions. Be
specific. And know that a penguin is surely to be a greater part of your
future than you ever dared imagine.
Douglas Ort
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
~-----Original Message-----
~From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
~[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Mike Cropper -
~Parkside
~Sent: Sunday, May 09, 1999 4:24 PM
~To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
~Subject: Linux is too hard to configure...
~
~
~...for anyone but geeks.
~
~I'm evaluating Linux as an alternative to Windows NT in a large
~organization
~(more than one million seats), but so far I am completely unconvinced that
~this OS has any chance of upsetting the market equation. Users
~won't use it
~because it takes a geek to implement the most minor user interface change.
~Administrators (with any sense) will shy away from it for that reason and
~the FACT that they will have to sacrifice sleep to live on these list
~servers to resolve the simplest of problems.
~
~For example, a user cannot install productive software for Linux (if they
~can even find such a thing) and expect it to work without extensive work by
~the already overworked administrative staff. How do they add an icon for
~the program to their work environment? How do they install the
~latest video
~driver? My experience is that they must download several megabytes of
~files, follow poorly written and cryptic instructions, and then run
~XF86Setup to configure their system. The latter step requires them to know
~every technical detail about their configuration such as the video card
~BIOS, clock settings, and maximum resolution plus the horizontal refresh
~rate of their monitor! I'm sorry, but NT drivers are much more
~user-friendly: load it, reboot (sometimes) and go.
~
~My latest expedition into the chaotic world of Linux video support was to
~install a user's machine to use the Creative Labs Graphics Blaster RivaTNT.
~I downloaded and installed XFree86 3.3.3.1 (no mean task). This update
~allowed XF86Setup to recognize the full capabilities of the graphics
~adapter, but disabled (or hid) the user's normal window manager
~(AfterStep).
~The result was a lame and unusable "windows manager" that does nothing - no
~ability to access productivity programs. The display looks great, but my
~user cannot work! Hardly a smart upgrade.
~
~In contrast, my NT users can download and install graphic driver updates
~without administrator intervention. They are productive within five minutes
~of the update.
~
~Anybody have some advice on how to get a new X driver running? How do we
~get the updated X-manager to load the previously configured
~windows manager?
~How do we get the windows manager to recognize (with an icon) newly
~installed software?
~
~Thanks,
~Mike
~
~
