Re: Another Poor Documentation Rant
Michael Schmitz wrote:
> > > In this case, Debian/PPC is not for you. Not yet. Period.
> >
> > Wow, that's quite a statement. Some aspects of Debian are harder (installation, poor
>
> I don't think it's quite a statement. First off, Debian isn't even
> released for PowerPC. It's in testing, potato will be the first official
> release, and compared with what I tried a year ago, it has made tremendous
> progress (last year, there wasn't even a Powermac installer). I don't see
> where people got the notion that it might even be remotely fit for
> newbies (is Debian ever??).
Right, potato, when it's released, is what I meant.
As for whether Debian is fit for newbies, I would say that except for installation, it's
easily the best there is for them.
Why? Let's see, dpkg/dselect/apt make package admin SO much easier, debconf takes the
pain out of configuration-by-editing-text-files (I call it "wizards done right"), the menu
system makes it easier to locate system resources (esp. since it shows up in GNOME, E and
WM menu systems), dhelp makes it so much easier to locate documentation. And I think
newbies would probably *appreciate* Debian's relatively slow release cycle, both for the
unrivaled quality that comes with it, and that you don't need to get a new CD every four
months (in fact, thanks to apt you don't need to get a new CD at all, and can upgrade
without having to reboot to a rescue disk, and...). Well, I could go on...
I recommend Debian to all newbies who ask, and offer to help with installation, since that
is the only newbie-hostile part of it. IMHO. :-)
A positive rant, for a change. :-)
-Adam P.
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