On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Noyles, Juan wrote:
> I don't wanna get off on a rant, but why isn't at least a file to collect
> these X-related specs into?
> Like the other operating systems in our world, Linux and FreeBSD need to get
> past having users work so hard on such trivial matters. The universe of
> compatible videoware may be large, but it is finite, even when it's growing.
.........snip...........
You have a point, the detail of configuration is a pain in the
(expletive deleted). You, however, are looking at things from the
perspective of a pc user (I guess?) with M$ windoze which sets itself
up pretty well, and linux, which doesn't.
The questions you ask were nicely answered for me when I had
to copy a weird floppy format; I didn't know what the format was. I
tried everything in Dos/Windoze, and in Linux. It transpired to have 5
x 1k sectors on each track (800k from a '720k' disk)
Dos and Windoze MAKE ASSUMPTIONS: - you're operating it on a pc, you
have all pc hardware, windoze assumes you're running dos, etc. In that
narrow area it does quite well - setup. Dos assumed 512 byte sectors,
and I was unable to do anything with my floppy - I would have to
rewrite command.com to the spec, which I didn't know anyhow. Everybody
is root all the time, and any file can run commands like
c:\
deltree /y *.*
Linux makes no assumptions. It can be on a Mac, a Sparc, a mainframe,
an alpha, a Solaris, or even on a pc. It has these cryptic config files
which tell it EVERYTHING. I was able to send direct commands to the
floppy, find out what was there, reconfigure my floppy drive, and copy
it with dd.
Software to run on all these platforms must always be differently
structured. What probes a pc may crash a Solaris, or damage a Mac. There
is farting around with config files to be done. Why is it so messy?
Perhaps because linux users accept it that way. Windoze and Mac OS users
accept the fact that their machines crash periodically without any real
reason - if this was not accepted, it would be fixed, or the products
limited in features until this was sorted. It is changing, though, and
this is good. SAX from suse is very good at X configuration - you don't
need one statistic. I have other moans about suse, but this is really
what you ask for.
--
Regards,
Declan Moriarty.
