On Tue, September 11, 2012 1:17 pm, Lisi wrote: > On Tuesday 11 September 2012 20:29:42 Weaver wrote: >> On Tue, September 11, 2012 7:43 am, lee wrote: >> > "Weaver" <wea...@riseup.net> writes: >> >> On Mon, September 10, 2012 8:19 am, Chris Bannister wrote: >> >>> Agreed. But the person who wants to install Debian is not the >> average >> >>> end/home user. >> >> >> >> Exactly, but that's the majority market and I don't see anything >> wrong >> >> woth aiming for that. >> > >> > Now that is distorting the discussion, isn't it? ;) >> >> No, it isn't. >> Why the average end user tries to install Debian and gives up, or >> doesn't >> even try in the first place, is because a lack of knowledge creates >> uncertainty and doubt and, in the end, rejection. >> >> I am advocating the elimination of that lack of knowledge. >> >> Many people would be looking at the number of downloads as an indication >> of uptake percentage. >> Many people would be wrong. >> >> Just a little bit of information could change that massively. >> Regards, >> >> Weaver >> -- >> "It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its >> government." -- Thomas Paine > > May I but in on this?? The question at issue is whether a newbie could > install Debian without help, if I have understood correctly. > > There was a time when one could install a default system just by accepting > the > defaults, i.e. by just pressing enter. I know someone who did it. > > Since Squeeze I think that Debian has removed itself from this market. > The > main repository and kernel contain only FLOSS software. I.e. many drivers > are missing and have to be separately installed. This is beyond a total > newbie, and I think could not be rendered easily attainable by attaching a > set of instructions. So sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I must > recommend e.g. Linux Mint if any newbie who wishes to self-install were to > ask me for my opinion.
There is a stage where the installer asks for contrib and non-free apt list inclusions. It would probably be best to incorporate this as a default in a newbie install. Perhaps a note to explain this could be incorporated - 'If you are new to open source free software, we recommend that you accept this option'- or something along those lines might be appropriate. > > I have, incidentally, had to answer a question about partitions during a > Windows install! (XP I think.) Yes, I thik about that stage there was a conversion factor from NTFS/Fat 16 to Fat32 file systems, or something > > I apologise to anyone who feels that my use of English is pompous. I > think > that to try and talk in baby talk is insulting to those for whom English > is a > second language (or third or fourth!). Not to mention the fact that I > simply > don't know which words I can expect someone else to know. Much better in > my > opinion (and it is only a matter of opinion) to talk properly to > foreigners > and children. How else can they enlarge their vocabularies? > > I am more than willing to explain anything that I have said that someone > finds > incomprehensible. And if someone is hesitant about asking "in public", > please feel free to email me off list to ask. I think that 'pompous' remark was made in my direction, Lisi. I simply dealt with it in my usual pompous manner. Regards, Weaver -- "It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government." -- Thomas Paine -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/acc3cd01542337c38a3dbf220719e7c7.squir...@fulvetta.riseup.net
