On Fri, Feb 02, 2007 at 10:04:00AM -0800, Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 02, 2007 at 11:13:50AM -0500, Terrence Brannon wrote:
> > On 2/2/07, Douglas Allan Tutty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >I don't suppose you have a grub-disk (floppy based. Why doesn't someone
> > >make a grub-stick?)? From that you can run grub manually.
> >
> > Well, from a user-level point of view, I have no interest in extended
> > tinkering. If Gentoo did it right out of the box, why couldn't debian?
> >
> > It's a shame because most of hte books at the bookstore are on debian
> > linux. But I can't afford any more time on something that
> > blankety-blank simple.
> >
> > Don't reply to this. I'm blocking out this list from now on.
>
> I'm curious. I've thought back over this thread and can't recall
> (without digging through the archives) what happened here that might
> have provoked this sort of response.
>
> I do recall that there was not a lot of good detailed information from
> OP on the problem, but maybe I missed it. What are we, as a community
> of trying-to-be-helpful users, doing to cause this reaction? It seems
> to be happening more and more, though maybe I'm new enough to not see
> the pattern properly. Clearly this guy is upset, frustrated, but to
> block out the list that's supposed to be trying to help is
> disturbing.
>
I think that some of the problem may be a function of becoming, dare I
say it, main stream? It used to be, people would just do windows since
to them it was the only OS and it came with the box (so why change).
Now people, for a variety of reasons (macs change archetecture, problems
with constantly paying for new MS stuff, whatever), people who before
wouldn't consider a *N*X are doing so. And they're not prepared.
They may never have installed an OS before. They figure, get the CD,
pop it in, click OK, and its done. They're not hackers. They've never
even opened their boxes. They think a "hard drive" is the whole case
sitting on the floor. When their expectations aren't realized, they
get:
frustrated: what's going on?
scared: I need the computer for work tomorrow. Now what?
Debian Stable doesn't work with their newer hardware. They're scared of
something called 'testing'.
I think that we need a big "NEW to UNIX-Like Operating Systems like
Debian?" button on the front page of the web site. It could take them
to a short introduction about what *N*X is like, and how to get
documentation and support.
For example, the debian-reference is supposed to be a "post-install
user's guide". However, the next sentence reads "Its target reader is
someone who is willing to read shell scripts. I expect the reader to
have gained basic skills in Unix-like systems prior to reading this
document."
I have yet to find a good book that focuses on those basic skills.
Mostly, they cover that briefly before telling you how to (proverbally)
write a web page or something.
That initial learning curve can be a bit of a brick wall.
I'd be interested in working on that but if it were to be collaborative
then I'd need hand holding on things like CVS and writing in anything
but plain-text.
Doug.
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