[TriLUG] A friend of mine shared this article with me--comments anyone??

[David A. Cafaro]

Al,

Personally I like the Lockergnome stuff, it's interesting to read his takes 
of the install, and I for one don't mind these posted to the news group 
every once in a while (not on a daily basis or anything though).  As far as 
web articles, I would prefer a link to the website, actually I had posted 
the same article you did except the link was to "The Register's" version of 
it.  I also try to make it clear that it's an article in the header so 
people who don't like those things can just delete them.  But you know, you 
will never make everyone happy.

As far as Linux, again, I'm all for the KISS method at first, and then 
looking under the hood once you know it isn't impossible.  Right now I am 
having one hell of a time trying to get RH7.2 to install on my 
server/desktop at home.  This is now my second weekend working on it, and I 
think I have finally found the problem.  Apparently I can't use any of my 
ISA cards in it?  Now this system installed and ran perfectly fine with 
RH7.0, and I just decided to upgrade because of the 2.4 series kernel.  So 
for now no modem, and no sound card for the box.  And trying to search 
through RH Knowledge Base is a dead end.  When did they change it, I can't 
even find any mention of a U.S. Robotics (3COM) ISA or PCI modem 
anywhere.  Once I fiddle around some more with it, I may refer to the 
wonderful resource of the list for help, but for now, more of a tackle it 
my self thing (I'm a little past the GUI user stage :-) ).




At 10:05 PM 12/8/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Well, the stuff from Lockergnome is not really available online, only by
>subscribing to their free Penguin Shell newsletter. Moreover this newsletter
>encourages the forwarding of its articles by supplying a "Forward this to a
>friend" button at the bottom of each article!
>     I thought that since this LINUX newsletter was rather new the group
>might like to see a sample of SOME of the items in this newsletter and from
>other Trilug members' responses there has been some interest expressed in
>reading about the state of various distributions.
>      However, this particular article was emailed to me by a friend (as I
>said), and it included the reference to the place it came from (which allows
>interested parties to compare the text I've presented with the original). In
>fact, it could be called an "advertisement" for the website in question.
>Thus I fail to see any harm has been done in either case.
>    Now, if you don't want to read these (in my view) very "interesting
>comments" about different distributions (and how easy they are to install),
>or interesting comments about the progress Linux is making in today's
>marketplace, etc., then I will most certainly cease and desist sending them.
>==============================
>     However, I'm more interested in a problem which I and at least one other
>member of Trilug have and that is the problem of FIXING a fairly successful
>Linux installation that still has a couple of problems. After getting a new
>motherboard, because my old one had developed problems with my previously
>working Mandrake-Linux installation (7.2 if you're interested) is now gone
>and because a lot of the hardware had to be changed, I've been unable to
>even get my new modem to work. Moreover, for some strange reason I cannot
>get GIMP installed using my 8.0 distribution.
>      The story with another member of Trilug is that he emailed me and asked
>if I could help him get his modem working!! And you can guess what I had to
>tell him (I didn't know enough to solve his modem problem because I don't
>know enough to solve my own).  While the Trilug group gives great advice to
>all those setting up and repairing servers (which is indeed important), the
>amount of help available to those desktop newbies such as myself is very
>small.
>What is needed is some sort of help for those who are interested in DESKTOPS
>not Servers. I'm talking about those who are interested in learning about
>the hundreds of Linux desktop applications and how to use them. Therefore I
>do have sympathy for those who are not "thrilled" about learning how to use
>text editors when they could just as easily use a command from some GUI
>program instead. One must indeed crawl before they can walk or run. I know
>there are lots of Trilug members who could help newbies with this stuff. The
>problem is how to EFFECTIVELY communicate with them. Clearly just referring
>someone to a program in freshmeat (which works for oldtimers because that
>person knows how to INSTALL AND USE that program properly) or some other
>article located on the web (which assumes that the newbie UNDERSTANDS THE
>SPECIAL LINUX COMMANDS and LANGUAGE) just doesn't cut it. Lots of times a
>newbie just has trouble FINDING the command in question, and even if he/she
>downloads the program and knows how to use RPM there is always the problem
>of knowing WHERE it should be installed!
>      I really hated it when I had to tell another Trilug member (who emailed
>me for help) that I couldn't help him with his modem problem because even
>though Mandrake 7.2 had successfully installed my first modem, I now had
>another modem which was giving me problems. In other words, I had the same
>problem as he did!! Is it possible that someone in this group can come down
>from the mountain and help us FIX the various problems we're having. What
>I'm saying is that some "handholding" would be greatly appreciated. Maybe
>instead of a meeting where we install new systems, there also ought to be a
>"fix your system problems" meeting?  In any case, You get your wish, I shall
>never present another interesting LINUX article to this group again. Maybe
>someone can help me with my wish?? --AL
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Brent Verner <brent at rcfile.org>
>To: <trilug at trilug.org>
>Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 6:50 PM
>Subject: Re: [TriLUG] A friend of mine shared this article with me--comments
>anyone??
>
>
> > [2001-12-08 18:18] al johson said:
> > | Making Linux look harder than it is
> > | By Robin Miller, Newsforge.com
> > | Posted: 07/12/2001 at 11:18 GMT
> >
> > [~180 lines snipped]
> >
> > Al,
> >
> >   While these articles /are/ useful, I do not feel it is appropriate to
> > paste them directly into email messages; a brief description of the
> > article and a link would be much prefered, IMO[1].
> >
> > [1] You are /potentially/ depriving the website from which you copy
> >     the content of visitors.  Remember, these internet publishers
> >     are /trying/ to make a living...
> > [2] While you attribute the articles properly, there is no _guarantee_
> >     to a recipient that you have not modified the copy.  Having said
> >     that is in no way implicating that you do or have modified any
> >     copy you've forwarded.
> >
> > cheers.
> >   brent
> >
> > --
> > "Develop your talent, man, and leave the world something. Records are
> > really gifts from people. To think that an artist would love you enough
> > to share his music with anyone is a beautiful thing."  -- Duane Allman
> > _______________________________________________
> > TriLUG mailing list
> > http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>
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