On Mon, 9 Jul 2001 07:51, Tom Brinkman wrote:
> Most all 'computer' problems are/or...., at least I've found it's
> best for me, should be approached as User, then Hardware, then (any)
> OS. Also, I'm not hearing anything about the fact that we use GNU/Linux
> in this thread. Linux is only the kernel, everything else is GNU
> contributed proccesses and apps written to run on it. It's obvious (at
> least to me ;) that distros like RH, SuSe, and specially Mandrake have
> made great strides in gathering together these apps/proccesses, and
> 'user friendliness' configuration and coordination tools in just the
> past few years. *_In spite of_* an increasing ignorance and/or
> preference of Lusers to add closed source/binary only apps and
> (win)hardware into the mix. (yeah, I'm diggin at y'all nVidia folks
> again ;)
I have to agree here. People tend to forget or even ignore all the hard work
the Free Software Foundation has and is still doing. Linux is a kernel. Just
about everything else around it is GNU -- hence the term "GNU Operating
System". The GNU OS can work on a wide variety of *nix kernels (e.g. Solaris
& BSD). Linux, however, cannot work on its own, and needs the GNU OS to
operate.
There was a recent discussion on MandrakeForum about this:
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?thold=-1&mode=nested&order=0&sid=1038&lang=en
Please be patient while it loads -- it is quite large.
Prominent discussions on the page involve an argument between Craig Black and
Yama. Craig is one of those pitiful souls who cannot comprehend the work of
Richard Stallman or the FSF. Yama and a few others refute him at every turn,
and eventually it just becomes an insult-fest :-) It's quite funny to read
Craig's work, and eventually Deno (the Forum maintainer) adds his own two
cents.
By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, "Yama" is my handle -- so all
Yama posts are by me :-)
--
Sridhar Dhanapalan.
"There are two major products that come from Berkeley:
LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
-- Jeremy S. Anderson
