Alan Shutko wrote: > Jeff.Chimene@etest.com writes: > > > For example, I just purchased the Debian distro from LSL. Guess > > what? > [...] > > Tell me, [list], how would you phrase such a question so that it > > could be solved with "step-by-step instructions" that don't elicit > > the answer under discussion? > > Well, you don't give enough information for anyone to help you but I'd > suggest something like the following: > > I just bought a CD and my computer won't read it. What's wrong? I > bought it from vendor X, and I've tried Y, Z, and can't think of > anything else. I'm using a XYZZY CD-ROM drive on a Quantum Frobnitz > 770. Anybody know of common problems with this vendor or any other > possibilities? Or somewhere else I could look for help? How could > I try to trace this down further? > > It would probably yield a few different answers, including some > step-by-step tips on narrowing down the cause of the failure. Right on! Jeff, you're right when you believe that I would generally not answer a question like "I just bought a CD and my computer won't read it. What's wrong?". In fact, I think it's a very poorly worded question, because it simply does not narrow down the problem space enough. Eg, one could include an error message that mount gives, debugging information from the kernel, or if your newbie enough, not to know that such information exists, you could describe that eg, the busy light of the CD-ROM keeps flashing eratically, or that the drive makes funny noises, and the like. If there's no such behavior, you should write that too, so some options can be dismissed as possible sources for problems. I mean, you're the one sitting in front of the damn computer and if you blindfold us by not giving any relevant information, how are we supposed to help you? Especially with a problem like this, which I think is rather unheard of. As the part about your friends, who's probably just guessing here, shows: The only way you'll get a answer that solves your problem, is when someone who once stumbled upon the same problem, recognizes the symptoms and tells you what he did to make it right. This is impossible with the question you've asked! We all had our share of unrecognized CDs, with numerous sources of conflicts, *anything* could be wrong with the CD and/or your setup. (E.g. I once had a problem, when a old 4speed CD-ROM drive would not recognized parts of my slink (Debian 2.0) distribution CD, which worked fine on another machine. I "solved" the problem, by using the disk set from a friend, however the drive is now much broken, eg. it won't boot CDs anymore and fails on a lot of CDs, so I think that my problem with this particular CD was actually broken hardware. This could be your problem as well, but how am I supposed to know?) Besides, you probably *will* get answers on your question, like "Did you do XYZ? Try ABC! What does SomeMagicTool say, when you try VeryMysticalProcedure? Are you sure that the Thingi on your drive is working properly?" This is as helpful as one can get in this situation. Alan gave some wonderful examples, how to narrow down the problem, if this is not helpful, what are you looking for? A magic cristal ball? Cheers, Viktor PS: I think, that you mistake would I meant regarding step-by-step instructions, but I'll save that to another post. PPS: It's 4:30am and I'm rather stoned, so if my post sounds incoherent or even offensive, please don't take it as this. PPPS: I thought it impossible, loosing a (potential) Debian user to RedHat. This just doesn't sound right, IMNSHO. -- Viktor Rosenfeld WWW: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~rosenfel/
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