On Tuesday 21 January 2003 12:31 am, Kent West wrote: > John & Peg Pickard wrote: > > As I didn't have time to keep playing with LINUX, I gave up. > > Linux, being an OS by geeks for geeks, up until just recently, needs a > geek to get it set up properly. Mandrake and others have made vast > improvements, but it's not automatic. If you expect it to be, you'll be > disappointed. Wait another couple of years. Until then consider yourself > a consumer; as a general rule, consumers get their computers > pre-installed with an operating system and don't do their own OS > installation (although they might do a "restore" using the System > Restore disk that came with their computer).
At the risk of sounding like a troll, I have to take issue with this. To be even more blunt, this paragraph is, in my view, an example of some of the worst geek snobbery and elitism I've seen online. I also have to ask how long it's been since you tried Mandrake last. I found Mandrake 8.0 to be great at detecting EVERYTHING on my system. There was basically NO post-install to deal with. Printer drivers were there -- everything I needed was there. This is a user who obviously wants to learn more about computers and Linux, but does not have the time to mess with selecting the necessary kernal modules or with spending hours online tracking down drivers. This does not mean he is not ready for Linux. I would STRONGLY recommend trying Mandrake. While I have not had any problems with Mandrake 9.0, I have heard of some people who have. I found Mandrake 8.2 to be solid and stable. It's basically your choice -- I would think either one would work fine. One nice addition or change to Mandrake 9.0 is that it does not require the user to mount/umount cd-roms when they are put in or removed from a drive. I have seen HUGE strides forward in desktop Linux in the time since I've been working with Linux (which was somewhere around mid 2000). Mandrake, especially, has changed and improved quite a bit. While I hate to say this on a Debian mailing list, Debian still has quite far to go before I would consider recommending it to anyone who does not work with computer professionally. I started with programming in the late 1970's, grew up putting together Heathkit short wave radios and other kits, and used to program in assembler on an Apple //e as a hobby. After about 10 years of using a computer as only a tool (which is what they basically are, anyway), I started doing more with it. While I found Mandrake Linux easy to use, I have not found that to be anywhere near the case with Debian. While the people here, on this mailing list, are about the most helpful you can find, there were still install issues that nobody here was able to solve. While I don't think Linux is just for geeks anymore, I do think Debian is. And, to be honest, I think the Debian developers and maintainers (and administrators and others in charge) prefer it that way -- sort of a last retreat for geeks as the Linux world goes more and more mainstream. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
