Re: kitchen

[Daniel E Baumann <danielb@freedevelopers.net>]

On Fri, May 25, 2001 at 01:33:54AM -0700, Heather wrote:
> > > > Huh?  Wine is in main.  Not non-free.
> > > > 
> > > > BTW, you'll also need the libwine package to install wine.
> > > 
> > > I believe that he means, wine would usually be most useful to run some
> > > -very- non-free programs.
> > 
> > Yes, that is exactly what I menat sorry for the confusion, wine is 
> > Free Software but it is used to run non-free software. This sort of
> > thing I do not recommend doing, call me crazy or better yet call me
> > a fan of GNU, an admirer of RMS, and most of all a strong supporter
> > of the Free Software movement.
> 
> <sigh> religion, smidgen, pigeon.  I know RMS and he is a cool dude but
> this is *my* system, not his.

Well GNU is not a "religion", but a philosophy. No one said it was not your system,
you have the freedom to do what you want with it. No one has to develop Free
Software, but we need more non-selfish people working together to make the world a
better place, imho. So I devote my life to doing just this -- developing Free
Software. Some how I magically get paid to do it too.
 
> > > Nonetheless, I have a *huge* mswin software collection, much of it shareware
> > > and freeware, and a few non MS licensed apps that could be useful, but I'm
> > > completely chicken about Unstable for the moment.
> > 
> > Don't be chicken 
> 
> Again, it's my system, not yours.  I actually depend on my laptop being in
> well behaved order for my work.  I therefore treat it more carefully even than
> the desktop system I use for prepping the Linux Gazette work I do... since 
> perl will run on anything, and everybody, even the Borg of Redmond, have web
> browsers, but what I need from my laptop is (1) reliability while amidst
> my consulting clients (2) a good place to keep some of my board meeting notes
> (3) a friendly system when all others fail.
> 
> Given two out of 3 of these call for stability, I'm being -prudent- not
> chicken.  If I need to apply something new to it, I test it on the backup
> image eating some of my desktop's disk space first.

I was only using your words, I am not calling you "chicken".
 
> > unstable really is rather stable despite its name. 
> 
> My husband tracks unstable, and our experience does match yours.  Aren't 
> you lucky ;D

I am not lucky as Debian is a very well put together distro. It is built by the
community for the community. Also most debian deveopers run unstable as their core
distro so they try and make sure things don't brek as they desire a usable systme
too.
 
> > I would recommend it for any developer or hard core geek wanting to live 
> > and the bleeding edge, 
> 
> There you go.  Developer, kinda.  Hard core geek, se' definite.  Wants to
> slash myself on the bleeding edge, no.  I keep bandaids in my purse, too.
> Sure, I play with raw stuff - on the desktop system.  But I don't do 
> "nightlies" either, unless a specific rev has been recommended to me.
> 
> > with a desire to play with all the new toys.
> 
> The ones that come with batteries installed, maybe ;P
> 
> > You may not fit this category, unstable is not
> > for everyone, testing is a good compromise.

Well the whole point here was to offer some freindly advice. I guess that's not
needed.

Dan
-- 
Daniel E Baumann      danielb@freedevelopers.net 

And if cynics ridicule freedom, ridicule community...if ``hard nosed 
realists'' say that profit is the only ideal...just ignore them, and use 
copyleft all the same.
      -- RMS