Hey Larry,
> Sorry this reply has taken so long. I was away in Frisco for the past five
> days ....
No problem, hope you enjoyed the trip.
>> > Nope. I don't use windows enough anymore to bother., but I don't
>> > think the average user would know how to either or probably have a
>> > recent backup.
>>
>> I'll grant you that, but in my opinion he'd be lost in Linux.
> lol ... maybe they should try an imac ;-)
LOL yes ! ;-)
>> > reget is your friend. I've downloaded several distros on a 28.8 in the
>> > recent past.
>>
>> I guess you don't have to pay for local phone calls (to your ISP).
> Hell no. I consider it a therapeutic way for me to stick it to the phone
> company.
??? Sorry, I guess I am a bit unexperienced at English sarcasm, so
please tell me in a way someone like me can understand ;-)
> I think a large part of the broken game problem has more to do with
> people not having a new version of their distro or they have a
> distro that really just doesn't cater to gaming.
Might be, but who wants to have different distros for servers
(Debian), desktop work (RedHat, MDK, Corel) and gaming (probably MDK
and I don't know more) ?
> Grip can rip, cddb, and then encode for free. I always encode my
> personal cd's at 320 in the belief that quality is most important.
> Some of my friends complain about it, but hard drives are expected
> to be about $100 for 100gb next summer, and I also have a cd-r, so
> why not go for the best sound.
Erm, if quality is most important, then why do you make MP3s and don't
just let it be raw wav or something ?
>> >> Apart from that - I lacked a file manager at least equal or superior
>> >> to Windows Commander. Is there anything under Linux that can offer me
>> >> WC's power and effectivity ?
>>
>> > I've never seen WC so I really couldn't say. Is it part of windows
>> > or a commerical program?
>>
>> It is shareware. www.ghisler.com
> I'll take a look when I get a chance. Right now I have about 999 more
> emails to get done.
Take a look. It's worth it. After you try it, you won't understand how
someone can work with Explorer or My Computer.
>> See, probably the major cause why I discontinued using Linux was that
>> I haven't found anything like WC. I have WC to run on startup and I do
>> everything from there - launch apps, browse my disk, copy, move,
>> create dirs, there even is a command line so you don't have to run any
>> terminal windows, it has built-in compression and decompression, FTP
>> client, file compare... well I haven't seen anything better so far
>> concerning all-in-one and having to run another util for everything I
>> need to do in Linux is uncomfortable for me. Even if it only would
>> mean to press alt-F2 or open the console - in WC I don't have to do
>> that, I just type the command.
> There is quite a bit to address in those last two paragraphs, but I
> want to just make two points. First, comparing the dos cli to bash
> is like comparing doom to quake3 .... no contest. However, that
> isn't the main point I want to make. People tend to have preferences
> based on many reasons and sometimes it is because we are not aware
> of what the other side is capable of doing. I know I've done this
> on many an occasion.
Yo man, right, but try WC and see for yourself. After a week you will
not want to work in anything else in Win.
> With respect to WC, I think that you'll find KFM can do much of what
> you have listed. For instance, kfm is capable of the following:
> launching apps
Well every file manager should be able to do that... however WC also
has a "button bar" - you can place icons of your fav. progs in the top
part of the window and launch them from there.
> browsing disks ... hd, fd, cd
Yep, but HOW... To access my regular drive I have to go up (home), up
(/), mnt, dos_hda5 to get to my stuff. I know I could do it somehow
with ln, but in WC you have a dir hotlist, you just press ctrl-d and
choose one of your fav. dirs to go to, and you're there. Of course I
could cd or something, but this is just so easy.
> copy/move/create both files and directories
With F5/F6/shift-F4 or F7 ?
> ftp
> web browser
> image viewer w/ thumb nails
Actually, my main point is that KFM looks and behaves like windows
Explorer, but I am used to something similarly pretty, but much more
effective - WC.
> This leaves the following three items which either don't exist in kfm, need
> more clarification, or I don't know how to do
> it with kfm.
> commpression/decompression -- not sure what you mean by this one.
> Possibly a winzip like front end, proprietary compression algorithm,
> or hd compression supported by the os.
By compression I meant that it uses the free zip source from the
Info-ZIP group to create .zip files. You just select the files you
want to compress, press alt-F5, name your archive and press enter.
It also has an internal unarj and uses external archivers for other
file types (ACE, UC2, RAR, etc.)
BTW: WC also handles tar.gz archives ;-)
> file compare -- again, not sure if you mean a something like a md5
> check or just comparing dates and sizes.
Comparing contents of two files and showing you the differences.
> At any rate, it would appear that wc is more fully featured then
> kfm; however, kde2 is right around the corner. You may also want to
> take a look at Xemacs which is purportedly the most complete
> editor/environment in existence. I have read elsewhere that a true
> guru will log into their computer in the morning, open emacs, do
> everything that they need to do for the entire day from emacs ....
> web, email, ftp, cp, mv, etc .... and then close emacs and log out
> at the end of the day.
:-) I guess I am not what you would call a true guru. I am a spoiled
newbie used to the ease and power of WC and looking for something
similar in Linux, which would neither stop me from using a terminal
nor the GUI.
>> OK, but why do I have to do everything in text mode and using commands?
>> I would do that when I am experienced and find it faster, but for
>> now I prefer utils like DrakConf which make it easier. Power made
>> simple.
> You don't have to do everything with a shell; However, there are
> some distinct benefits to using a shell. First, experienced users
> often know how to do something with a shell and will just tell
> someone to do 'ifconfig' to find out some network information rather
> then going to the trouble of figuring out what particular distro the
> person is using and what gui configuration tool is available.
> Another benefit is execution speed. Typing 'mv oldname newname' is
> often a much faster way of renaming a file or directory then
> clicking on it, clicking properties or rename, and then typing in
> the new name.
:-) Hehe, and that's what the difference between WC and the Linux file
managers I've seen is. In WC you press shift-F6 and just type the new
name, then enter. No properties, no nothing like that. And shift-F6 is
even faster than "mv oldname" IMHO ;-)
OK man, this seems to become a "WC against the rest of the world"
discussion ;-)... still, give it a try, try not to be bothered by the
initial 1-2-3 nag and see for yourself, then you can tell me what you
think of it. Give yourself a bit of time with configuring it before
using it fully and see how you like it.
BTW: If you would like, contact me on ICQ # 3795801.
If you reply to this mail, please also send me a copy to my private
email address <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, since I am going to unsub. from
the list soon.
Roman
