Re: larry

[Bob Hutchinson <hutchlists@midwales.com>]

Here is my two bits worth on the Newbie v. Techie debate.

When someone comes to me and says 
'I want to use Linux, but don't have the skills'
I will suggest that they

Purchase another hard drive and use that if they must do dual-boot. 
Partitioning an existing hard drive with windows already on is for experts, 
it can be done but....

If you want a good, trouble-free install, buy Xandros, it is aimed at 
ex-windows wannabes and works very well, gets them going and has Debian under 
the hood. Once they are more familiar with things, feel inclined to delve and 
are not scared sh*tless by commandlines then go for Debian 'testing/sarge'.

MsWord junkies should get used to OpenOffice, it's free and works fine, ditto 
excel and powerpoint users.

If Linux is to make a serious impact on the client market it has to be easy to 
install and maintain. From the Techie point of view most windows users are 
'spoilt', they have become used to having their hand held, which is of course 
what you pay for with windows and macs. 
Personally I do get a bit annoyed with newbies who expect it all laid on and 
free as well, won't read a man page or expect a full-blown gui frontend to 
something that gets configured just once, and complain when they are told to 
RTM. People lke that should go and buy a distro from whoever, Novell/Suse, 
Xandros, Gentoo, Mandrake etc. there are plenty to choose from, or even 
download a cd-bootable linux like Knoppix and get the hang of it that way.

People who *do* want to learn how it works under the bonnet should not be 
afraid to just re-install it if it screws up, and readreadread.

BTW I use the Debian netinstall CD and it works a treat for me, but then I am 
experienced with Linux, did my first Linux box from a pile of floppies back 
in 1995 I think it was.

If you have a good internet connection downloading 10 or more CDs is 
pointless, especially with 'testing' it changes very quickly as new stuff and 
updates arrive almost daily, and aptitude is very easy to use.

I look forward to the day that we have a 'Linux for Ladies', once it works 
well enough for the womenfolk to use without frustration then Linux is on a 
winner.

HTH
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Bob Hutchinson
Midwales dot com
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