lisa>> >> I must disagree with this. GUI's are great if you >> don't care what's going on under the hood. But to >> truly learn linux, you need the command line. caity> >The target audience, which I presume is the mainstream, for the most part >couldn't care less what's going on under the hood. [trimmed the rest] Aren't these two different things? And so two different sorts of newbies? When I very first was learning UNIX admin (as opposed to UNIX using), I was sent off to HP-UX school. They had a brand-new GUI admin tool, and the class taught one how to use it. When I got back to work, I diligently tried to set up the system to match the configurations that my mentors (in another department & building) recommended. The catch? The GUI "wouldn't let me," and I didn't know enough about the underlying mechanisms (command line) to work around it. Very frustrating for this newbie!! After I changed departments (over to my mentors' :), I watched over shoulders and learned what I wanted to know all along. So I agree with Lisa -- if you want to **know how Linux works**, you should use the command line until you do. (And then choose what's convenient :) BUT I also agree with Caity -- mainstream users don't WANT to know how it works. They don't want to know how _any_ of it works ... they want it to be like a toaster, or a microwave. At worst, it turns into what I call the "elves and fairies" attitude (as in "Elves and fairies stuff my email into my PC -- I don't need a network!"), but for the most part I think of it like Caity's car analogy. I don't truly understand how my car works, but I try to know enough so that I can do a surface check on the integrity of my mechanic (and not run my car into the ground!). My _mechanic_ is the one who loves cars enough to dig into the guts of it. So, command-lines for us mechanics, and GUIs for all the drivers! kimbol -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kimbol Soques [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************ [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
