Re: Debian books
> > Also, he talked of installing KDE using task-KDE. But there is no
> > Task-KDE!! KDE was never included in Debian > 2.0 (if I remember
> > correctly), and the accompanying CD is at 2.2R2. He's really
> > out-of-whack.
>
> That's unfair. task-kde is available for potato from kde.debian.net, and
> was available for woody/sid until the task mechanism was overhauled
> recently. If he didn't mention kde.debian.net (or similar) then that was
> a mistake, true.
>
> --
> Colin Watson [cjwatson@flatline.org.uk]
greetings:
I'm not sure whether it's unfair.
Here's exactly how it reads in the book:
KDE is available in the Debian distribution, which makes it easy to
install.You can find it in the Debian archive...I recommend using the
task-kde... (page 86)
The book's back cover indicates Reader Level is "Beginner to Advanced".
As a beginner, what I understand about "Debian distribution" is debian.org.
'Archive' to me (a newbie) then points me to the stuff that comes in the
CDROMs.
kde.debian.net is not even mentioned.
If Steve Hunger knows that task-kde is in kde.debian.net, then he should
have directed "beginners" like me to that site, instead of saying "Debian
distribution". As a beginner, I need a guide that helps me steer unknown
territory easily.
The date on the book says 2001. So I figured, that's the latest it could
get; I searched Debian.org for task-kde and nothing came up. Of course,
beginners are not
going to look in unstable distributions. After having Googled, I came upon
an article that said KDE hadn't been included in the late Debian releases.
IMHO, the point is that the book is not written with the beginner in mind.
It should not be called a "Bible", when important newbie things like these
are omitted. Moreover the book focuses too much on other productivity apps,
blah-blah,
when that space could have been used to discuss in greater depth the
intricacies of Debian installation, setup, troubleshooting. For productivity
apps, beginners can always look elsewhere.
It would be great if any of the Advanced Debianeers (sorry if I offend
anyone with this term; let me know if I shouldn't ever use it again) would
look at the book
and see if they learn something out of it. I am tempted to believe they
won't.
IMHO, I advise beginners not to buy the book.
Sincerely,
Ram
Linux newbie
ps: The "Bible" came only with 1 CDROM, when somehow all the 3 should have
been
included.
IMHO, Steve Hunger must remember that his books are sold worldwide, know
that
complete CDROM sets are very meaningful to people here in Asia where in many
countries it's out of the question to download the entire Debian
distribution through a modem, focus only on beginner OR on advanced and not
both, tackle real situations that arise by scouring the debian mailing lists
for problems faced by people, before he writes a new edition of that book.
Hear me, Steve?
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