It seems obvious to many of us, but not to the real newbie, so why not make the installation program display a large banner before going into dselect that advises the new user to look in /usr/doc. The Debian README for ppp discusses pon and friends at length.
Bob At 07:54 PM 3/1/97 PST, CoB SysAdmin (Joe Emenaker) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> > It's really not so damn difficult to be honest, but the first time or two >> > it might seem daunting. >> >> Why not try to make it less daunting? Is it supposed to be some sort of a >> rite of passage? > >Exactly! I keep seeing posts from people who say "All I did was >'cat /usr/bin/pon' and went and edited "/etc/ppp.chatscript.". Well, tell me, >where in the Debian installation guide >(ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian/stable/disks-i386/current/install.html) does it >mention "pon" (or even "ppp" for that matter)? In fact, show me where in >the installation guide it even makes reference to ANY other document that >refers to "pon" or "ppp". This leads to the question: How many hyperlinks >deep do I need to go before I find out how to install Debian? > >Second, why should someone have to "cat /usr/bin/pon" to find out to >edit /etc/ppp.chatscript anyway? I mean, I have to say that the Debian >installation routine is so simple it's silly. So why doesn't it just go >that one extra yard and ask a simple question like "Will this system be >connected to the net via a PPP connection?" and then let me specify >which com port and what the dialup number/login-id/password are? Even the >people who claim that "ppp was a breeze" admit that they had to hunt >around a little before they found the right files to edit (either that or >they cheated and asked a friend). > >It's silly. There's no mention in the installation guide that ppp is even >included in the base system, or that someone with only dial-in access >to the net can use ppp with dselect's ftp method to add new packages. >Instead, you get tossed into dselect without even being given the chance >to get ppp going for the first time (even if you *did* know the files >to edit). Now *that's* intuitive. > >Don't get me wrong, Debian is great and it's got some really cool features, >but those features are not made apparent to a newcomer to the distribution. > >Here's an example. A buddy of mine in San Francisco recently e-mailed me >that he had just installed Debian (his first Linux) and that he needed to >know how to read a DOS floppy because he had used Win95 to download some >tar'd and gzip'd msql source or whatnot and wanted to copy it onto the >Debian machine. > >I explained to him the Debian packaging system (which he hadn't been made >aware of in the docs he read or the install program)... and how he should >go get the .deb files.... and that, when he's feeling brave, he should >get ppp going and use dselect. So, he went and ftp'd (with Win95) some >deb's and copied them over to the Debian machine and used dpkg to install >them. Then, he got gcc and was stuck because it was bigger than a 1.44M. >So, I told him that it was time for the "rite of passage", that he was >going to have to go with ppp and dselect (which, again, he was not made >aware of). It took about 3-4 days of e-mails before I got a message from >him with the subject "I'M ACTUALLY DOWNLOADING WITH DSELECT!!!!!". > >The ordeal shouldn't be such that it would cause him to act like he had >won the lottery. I guess my point is that Debian is not doing a good job >at embracing the "first-time linuxer" and probably even the "first-time >Debian linuxer". As a result, Debian is THE thing to be running as long >as you've got a friend who has installed it before who will help >point you in the right direction. > >And it doesn't have to be that way. I'd be glad to help... but in order to, >I need at least SOME indication from others that they agree there's a >problem here. Up until now, all I've heard is denial. > >- Joe >
