[TriLUG] Promotions for Installfests

[Sinner from the Prairy]

Avui, Dijous 16 Maig 2002 02:09, no tenieu res mes que fer i me vareu enviar 
aquest e-mail
> Other topics which cause newbie Linux users heartburn??

Cool!

> I can name quite a few:
> 1. Modem installations. My son (magna cum laude at Princeton in computer
> science!!) who can do just about anything in Linux did not know how to
> install a modem in his dad's Linux machine. And it was an ISA modem that
> was not a Winmodem!! Eventually it got installed but not until after a lot
> of reading, heartburn and online advice. Even though I've done it
> sucessfully once, I don't think I could do it again.

Here the problem is hardware (faulty or old or both). ISA "plug'n'play" is a 
dreaded and plainly awful piece of engineering. Get yourself a nice, external 
(non-usb) modem and you have the modem isntalled in 3 minutes. Really. Just 
plug the modem, launch Kppp, click, click, done.

> 2. Installing software and the constant problem with dependencies. The

Use Debian (apt-get) or Mandrake (urpmi). Dependencies problem solved. urpmi 
available on text and graphical mode.

> biggest problem I see with a novice installing Linux is after getting the
> system up and running how do you install the OTHER programs especially when
> those other programs need software which aren't on your system because
> neither Red Hat nor Mandrake remembered to include them!! Where do you go
> to get that software and where do you put it on the system. (Also a topic

Are you sure that it is not yto be found on the CDs? Red Hat ships with 3 CDs 
of RPMs (plus 2 of SRPMS). Mandrake, also 3 CDs. Debian... 5 or 8 or 
something like that. I want to say: that's a lot of software!

> not usually covered in the manuals--probably because they don't want to
> point out that needed programs were not included in your distribution--Grip
> needing Lame instantly comes to mind :-) And even if you do find out where

Which distribution and which version of the distribution? I use Grip on Red 
Hat and Mandrake, "out of the box", to oggize my audio-CDs so I have them on 
my hdd (yes, I'm lazy). It worked fine, no problem.

> the software you need is online, when you get there, you face the problem
> of WHICH file do you download??

Usualy, if you get to the website where you can find the software, there's a 
nice place called "Home" and another one calleed "Documentation" that, if you 
bother to read, you can get the knowledge.

Do not blame Linux for users lazyness.

> 3. Installing your DVD drive so it will play DVD's. The software is now
> available and Decss is not needed now.

Reallly? How?

> 4. Installing and especially using disk-burning software to create CD-R's
> and CD-RW's.

Let's see... Red Hat comes with Xcdroast, Koncd, Gnom Toaster. Out of the box. 
Mandrake, same stuff.
 
> 5. Give me some time and I'll think of some others. In other words, the
> little things which the makers of your distribution forgot to include in
> the initial installation.

OK.


Salut,
Sinner
-- 
RedHat QA Test Engineer  --  Running RedHat 7.3 on i386smp
http://www.ibiblio.org/sinner/