Re: PPPuzzles
This is true but also please try to appreciate the nature and the
magnitude of the problem. Almost every distribution of Linux (and
for that matter UNIX) have critical differences in the fine details
of how certain tasks are accomplished. There is almost NO task that
has only one "right" way to be accomplished.
The HOWTOs are written to attempt to cover a topic but the author's
know that for every exact detail that they provide that there is
(at least possibly) a distribution that should not use their method
and even configurations that are using the same distribution that
they use that should be done differently.
Add to that the fact that each distribution release has some changes
to how things are handled and well...
While far from a UNIX guru, my sysadm experience with AT&T SVR4 actually
"got me into quite a bit of trouble" with debian at first. I was
changing things that I was used to changing under SVR4 and having almost
every upgrade change them back (I was editing things that I should not
touch under debian--there is a different, and IMHO better way in debian).
One of the "toughest" things about Linux, I think, for people coming
from a non-UNIX background is that in Linux you are dealing with the
"raw stuff". When you install the basic Linux distro you have a machine
that, at least software wise, is capable of being an ISP, an "enterprise"
server, a workstation, whatever.
The ability to do just about anything (short of realtime applications--
and even that is being worked on) that can be done by a computer or
group of computers, a potential that exists in all Linux distributions
that I know of, means that setup and configuration will be complex.
The popular distributions such as Debian, SuSE, Caldera, RedHat, etc.
do try to ease the difficulty by providing some "default" choices that
automagically "rule out" some of the more esoteric configurations.
OTOH this is no easy task as their "market" is highly varied. When
they make choices that make it very difficult for a "power user" to
make needed configuration decisions (by "simplifying" the available
choices) they then risk loosing the people that may contribute the
most technically to their development efforts as well as "drive away"
the very users that might be "quantity buyers".
I know that this does not help with the problem that you are decrying
but I can only suggest that 1) you "hang in there", 2) remember that
there are many people willing to try to help, and 3) A lot of "newbies"
have made substantial contributions to such documents as the HOWTOs
by patiently determining what confused them in a document and then
respectfully submitting their own suggestions for improvement to the
author (most almost beg for such input).
On Sat, Jul 17, 1999 at 04:47:33PM +1000, Doug Young wrote:
> If anyone who is actually involved in writing documentation ........ PLEASE
> take this stuff
> on board because if even one elementary (to an expert) item is overlooked it
> causes
> untold frustration to the less experienced !!!!!!!!!
>
>
> > If anything, I am swamped with manuals. Sometimes they help,
> >sometimes they don't, but much of the time the writers of all these docs,
> >HOWTOs, guides, and READMEs are so steeped in the subject that they
> >overlook the elementary statements that beginners like me need. The exim
> >specs doc, for instance, tells me that exim is best suited for computers
> >that are "permanently connected" to the internet. Only after reading
> >your message was I certain that this basically means "always online." I
> >don't intend to be connected continuously; my ISP provides SMTP for my
> >outgoing mail and POP3 for incoming (also NNTP for news)-- so maybe, as
> >Jason suggested, for my pedestrian purposes something like Netscape would
> >be better than exim, the complete guide for which is HUMUNGOUS.
> >
> > I have only limited free time to school myself in Linux, so for now
> >I'm hoping to get internet operational (on a spare computer) in the
> >simplest way possible, then explore the full use of Debian as time
> >allows.
>
>
>
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