Re: Debian & Progeny Debian?
[ wrap you text at around 72 characters, please ]
On Sun, Sep 09, 2001 at 04:56:14PM +0800, Paolo Alexis Falcone wrote:
| I'm scouting for a Linux distro for a complete newbie who I think
| will be interested in Linux. RedHat or Mandrake might be easy to
| install, but the mere fact that they ship with a broken compiler
| that breaks almost anything is not too comforting (I started with
| RedHat, and I can't forget the first time I tried to compile a
| program - it failed and I almost didn't get my machine problem done
| had I not checked RedHat's fixes). I would prefer my newbie friend
| and classmate in computer science to try out Debian, but it might
| intimidate her initially (she's currently a Windows user). Would
| anyone recommend Progeny Debian instead? I looked at their web site
| and it looked good - the matter in question would be - would it be
| as good for a beginner? Can anyone give a qualitative analysis on
| Progeny?
I personally know nothing of Progeny. I too was an RH user until
sometime during my use of 7.0 when I switched to Debian. I think that
the best thing would be to give her Debian. You are there to assist
with the install and initial configuration. That is the main hurdle.
Once you have the system initially installed and configured the rest
isn't bad.
I have a friend to is a computer geek. He recently got his own
computer (had been using his dad's before). He's used Redhat, and
more recently he tried Debian. (Those were on his dad's machine) He
saw someone else install Mandrake on an old non-descript box and was
impressed with the way it autodetected all the hardware properly. He
now has Mandrake on his machine (I don't know if he is dual-booting
windows or not). He was telling me that their upgrade tool was much
worse than apt-get. It couldn't handle the availability of more than
one version of a package. He also doesn't like how their X config
tool destroys any changes he makes to the XF86Config file by hand. He
wants to get into the config files and learn how it all works. He is
thinking of installing Debian on it now, his only hesitation is if it
isn't perfectly smooth and the computer is not usable when he needs it
for class.
So my recomendation is to help her install and configure Debian, then
slowly let her learn how to do it on her own as she develops more
interest. Be sure, too, to install the things she will want to find
the OS useful. This may include a somewhat familiar editor, word
processor, etc. You can make sure she starts out right :-). Also,
don't forget to introduce her to this list if there's any difficulty.
-D
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