Re: Why

[Tom Allard <m1tca00@frb.gov>]

brigette@mail.com said:

> Why is it so hard to get anywhere with Linux?  In plain English...how do
> I get help with the install?

You can get a lot of help right here.  What, exactly, are you having
trouble with?  Are you able to get to a command line interface or
are you getting stuck before that?  Are you having trouble with some
hardware?  Setting up X?  Getting the disk to boot?  What hardware do
you have?  What distributions have you tried?

> Is there a book (written in HUMAN English) that I can buy?  I have
> read all kinds of "how to's" and I am missing something because I have
> tried to install THREE versions of Linux and can't get any to work (on
> my new $2300 paperweight of a laptop).

Redhat I believe (haven't tried) comes with nice manuals and even offers
telephone support.

As someone else mentioned, you can ask a friend or even ask at your
nearest User Group.  They sometimes even have install-fests to help new
users install Linux.

> Just tell me what to do...or should I buy windows 98 and forget it?  The
> laptop has no operating system...now.

Have you ever installed Windows?  It can be tricky sometimes, too.  The
reason most users have Windows on their PCs is because it came installed
that way, so don't fool yourself into thinking that "Linux" is hard...
installing any OS is going to be hard.  With that said, it won't bother
me if you want to put Windows on your machine.  It's your machine and
you can do whatever you like with it.  Threating to not use Linux won't
really get you help any faster, but I'll just assume it was an honest
question and not a troll.

Personally, I've found getting the machine "up" a lot easier with Linux,
but have tripped a few times getting all the pieces working the way I
want them to.  With Windows, I've found getting it to work *at all* a
bit more trouble, and I've found that I had to reinstall it more than a
couple of times.

rgds-- TA  (tallard@frb.gov)
I don't speak for the Federal Reserve Board, it doesn't speak for me.