Roy, et al In the main I agree with your screed, I've been using Linux for years and early on was successful at installing Debian but never received much help from Debian users groups. After trying most of the major distros I settled on SimplyMEPIS for easy of use and friendliness of the community. If your hardware will load and run MEPIS it will probably load Debian because Debin provides the underpinning for MEPIS. If I were researching hardware for a new Linux system I'd start at LINUX.ORG/HARDWARE or at MEPIS.ORG: http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/MEPIS_Community but that's just me.
Doug On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 6:22 AM, Roy <[email protected]> wrote: > I expected a response as Debian is still quite popular in some circles. > However, I have to disagree. The Debian installer is antiquated. It requires > many more decisions up front than say PCLOS or Mint, two newbie friendly > distros which handle all of the details. I believed the person needed help > because he was new. Yes, experienced users have no problem with the > installer. I agree. > > Asking for Debian pre-installed is a joke for the reasons I explained. > Debian is about as far from the mainstream as it can be. That is partially > intentional. The rest is accomplished by the users who are the first to jump > all over newbies who inadvertently use words such as Linux or Firefox. You > will get harsh replies such as it is GNU/Linux and even be called names. I > have seen it time and again in their forums and in blog replies. I once saw > someone wishing to install Firefox called all sorts of names when he did not > want Iceweasel, but the real thing. BTW, after much abuse, he got no help. > Getting help for Debian is no problem provided you are familiar with the > commandline (many newbies aren't) and you use the right language (many > newbies don't know the terms or history). > > My intent was not to bash Debian, but tell it like it is. Sometimes the > truth hurts. I think that Debian is an excellent distro, but not made for > newbies. I think that there are many great people working on Debian, but > think that their users are the rudest and most rigid minded out there. They > are the Linux equivalent of the Moral Majority, IMO. This is a > generalisation. There are many great Debian users, I am sure. However, it is > the noisy ones who do the most damage, and there appears to be no shortage > of them. > > I don't want to hijack this thread with defending decisions that Debian has > made over the years, but would be glad to join in a discussion on a new > thread. The fact is that Debian is in decline and they like to blame other > distros, but they are in control of their own destiny. Fixing blame solves > nothing. > > I would never advise a newbie to install Debian or Fedora for that matter. > You point newbies to distros that are least likely to give them trouble. > These include: Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS and SimplyMEPIS. Ubuntu would be next > in line. I base this on years of experience installing hundreds of distros > and helping newbies on line. They just have fewer problems if they use one > of the above. > > If Debian wants to attract new users then they have some serious work to do. > The starting point would be to get a nice looking easy to follow installer > which requires a minimum of decisions to get a basic system installed. I get > the feeling that they don't want to change. They want the end result without > having to work for it. Or perhaps they just like to gripe. > > Roy > -- "The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it."--Polly Perks (Monstrous Regiment--Terry Pratchett) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users Group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit our group at http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
