Re: Debian for regular folk (was: A proposal to improve dselect)
On Wed, 8 Jan 1997, Ami Ganguli wrote:
> Michael Stutz wrote:
> > I am starting a project now that I've
> > been thinking about for some time: making a custom Debian "distribution"
> > geared toward writers, artists and other creative types who don't have much
> > knowledge of Linux to start with.
> I think this is a fantastic idea! But I'm not sure about the particular
> audience you mention (except maybe for 'Net access). You need to identify
> user groups that would be well served by what's available (HAM operators?).
Yes, that's mentioned in 15.3 in the FAQ. As for writers, I believe that
anything on the market for wintel cannot compare to the tools I have
available with Debian/GNU Linux (emacs, TeX, rcs, ispell, bash, perl, etc).
Not only can I do serious text editing, but I can produce _typeset_ copy.
Yes, there is TeX for windows but it's the combination of tools I have
that's so powerful. Graphics is the same, with The GIMP, pbmplus, ghostview,
xpaint, etc. And of course net access. And even all the tools a small
business or art/craft venture needs (sc, bc, xcalc, xfig, etc). So I would
think that a custom distribution and the appropriate manuals could be
excellent for others with these interests, except it would be minus the
initial work of pulling it all together, getting everything to work,
figuring out best practices, etc.
> I like the 'sponsor' idea a lot - but the system should be developed to a
> point where the administration is virtually non-existent (by current standards)
> or this could be hellish. The role of the sponsor should be limited to answering
> questions except in extreme cases.
Yeah, this is definitely 'idea stage' material here. But I do believe that
we're at that point (with Linux) that if we can concieve of something, we
can make it happen.
m
Michael Stutz | DESIGN SCIENCE LABS
http://dsl.org/m | Hypermedia, Internet,
Linux/GNU bumper stickers,indie rock,rants | Linux: http://dsl.org
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