Re: User-friendliness (was: Re: dselect returns error code)
Quotes from Heiko R. Selber and Dale Scheetz.
> [ Problems with dselect ]
> I am slowly approaching the point where I expect a
> "general protection violation(TM)" from Debian.
> I consider this a bad sign.
Debian, compared to the install I have done with Redhat 3.0.3 (Picasso)
and 3.0.4 (Rembrandt Beta), is very stable. Redhat could take some
lessons from dselect - using package dependencies made my life a bit
easier. I'm writing this while it installs - aparently enough of it has
installed for me to venture forth onto the net.
> Well, don't judge Debian by dselect. Dselect is the product of one mind
> and has, in my estimation, severe user interface problems.
Yes, dselect gave me fits, but after I became a bit more patient with it,
I did well. It does need a user-interfacelift, thou I'm still impressed.
> I disagree. DO judge Debian by dselect. To the debian-newbie, dselect is
> the first thing you see (thus, for the moment it IS Debian) and if it
> doesn't do what it should, it will intimidate new users (maybe forever).
It does what it's told which may not have been what I ment. I knew Debian
had more concept and organization behind it than other distributions,
but it still needs more polishing before the more easily frustrated can
walk this path.
> I admit that an OS doesn't have to be foolproof, but there is no reason
> that it shouldn't be user-friendly. Why not sit in front of your computer,
> insert some disks, follow some instructions and end up with Linux running?
> (Yes, I know that Debian has come quite close to this, but IMHO not close
> enough).
I DO like the flexibility the install allows - I'm still
installing now in another console! The install prompts are more detailed
and not as confusing as some I've seen. (Perhaps my understanding
increases.)
> You can use dpkg at the prompt. Just cd to the directory with the package
> you wish to install and type:
> dpkg -i packagename*.deb
This dpkg will be useful when I want to add more things that I might
understand. Now it is asking me to set up for X which usually fails for
me. I don't mind being a new user.
Charles
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