Re: Was the release of Debian 2.0 put on
On Tue, Aug 04, 1998 at 07:11:47AM -0700, Marcus Johnson wrote:
> As a newbie to Linux and Debian I have to say I almost entirely agree
> with George, and had even thought about writting something on this
> subject myself. Before I understood about the numbering system it
> really threw me for a loop to hear that my ISP was using Debian 1.1
> (he's very conservative), but that Red Hat was on 5.1 . I was like
> "huh? is this all the same OS we're talking about here?
Well...as by now you very well know...Yes we are talking about
the same OS but...then again no we are not.
> Then my ISP
> said "well the kernal is only stable at version 1.(something or
> other - which was true at the time a few months back).
stable kernels have been 2.0.x ever since I started with linux. (my
first kernel was 2.0.18)
> And what that
> did was to enlighten me that their might be some OTHER numbers
> besides the distrib # that I should pay attention to. This is really
> quite confusing to the newcomer, and a good comparison number
> (perhaps the LSB?) would be very useful so that people can shop for
> distributions intelligently. I don't think we need to erect any
> artificial barriers to entry -- learning Linux is already challenging
> enough. It would be great to be able to focus on just one number.
The problem is there really arn't any version numbers to compare.
If someone wants to "try out linux" then they need to look
at the distributions for what they offer first.
Do you want easy package managment? do you want to be able to call
some tech support guy on the phone and bitch? (I work in
"customer support" here at a hospital btw ;) )
How much $$ are you willing to pay?
If you want customer support and are willinbg to pay a bit...hell go
buy a dist from RedHat...they are pretty good.
(I know yea you can get a RedHat CD for $3 but...pay the $50 and make
sure RedHat has a reason to stay in buisness ;) )
[BTW don't get me wrong...redHat is just an example...of course Debian is
the best and everyone should use it ;) ]
The point is that after you choose which to use thne
make sur eyou have the latest version.
> My perception is that Linux is on the verge of an explosion.
I agree. I think Linux is becomming ripe for a major explosion.
I overhear "linux" in conversations other people have more and
more every day.
> I can
> use myself as an example. I am not the kind of guy who just likes to
> fool with technical stuff for the hell of it -- like that amusing
> exchange yesterday between a couple of guys commenting about how
> Debian was getting too easy to use and that they had to break things
> intentionally to make life exciting. ;-)
I was one of those guys....hey sometimes its fun. I use computers
as an end in and of itself...not to perform useful tasks
> Linux has been largely
> founded on this kind of person so far. But now you are about to see
> the next wave hit. I (and others like me) am the kind of
> forward-looking person who when I see the usefulness of something, I
> jump on it (but not until its use becomes appearent and accesible). I
> am perpetually ahead of the main body and I am a natural evangelist.
> I and people like me lead others who are of the main body into new
> endevours (in this case Linux). You might not care for the unwashed
> masses, but don't look now, but a very big wave of them is coming our
> way.
I have no problems with that...actualyl i want to see Linux and particularly
Debian GNU/Linux become mmuch easier to use for the "unwashed masses"
I have no problem with them using linux for their everyday tasks.
-Steve
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