Re: be more simple
On Fri, 11 Jun 1999, E.L. Meijer (Eric) wrote:
> People are often lazy. A lot of things might be improved about the
> debian website, but if people argue things like `it is hard to find the
> installation manual on the web site', they just didn't try. Most of
> the mails on this list tend to be helpful and informative, by any
> usenet or mailing list standard.
No-one probably said that 'it is hard to find the installation manual...'
In my opinion it very easy to *find*. In a sense it isn't even so
difficult to read. (I even translated about a third into Finnish (, before
I realized that some others had a similar project.)) In another sense it
isn't so easy to read. You have to go through a lot of *technical
descriptions about* computers and about different combinations of hardware
and so on, before... Just compared to rh manual it is quite technical,
filled with technical jargon. In my opinion it is quite good even amusing
at parts, however.
A 'Simplistic American Way' of writing, like
*do* first this and next *do* that...
works often the easiest way with machines?
('Learning by doing' by John Dewey)
If difficulties
arise by 'doing this and that' you can consult more technical information,
what could be wrong behind the bars?
It is mainly a matter of style. Being simple and concrete or complex and
detailed. Often detailed, technical instructions miss the point, because a
newcomer cannot know, what is the important main issue, what is just a
side story? That was my impression, when I switched from rh to suse. When
I came to Debian I had already seen too many instruction books for Linux
to really see the style with fresh eyes.
-hv
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