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Re: Desktop productivity with Debian GNU/LINUX



On Wed, Jan 22, 2003 at 12:40:17PM -0500, Hal Vaughan wrote:
> I wonder -- are the people that start with Debian people who are new to Linux, 
> but used to Unix or sys admin/programming on other systems, or are they just 
> at the "user" (or just above) level?

Back when I started with Debian (Dec. 2, 2001), I had no experience with
anything other than DOS or Windows.  A few years previously, I got some
experience with networks as the assistant admin for my elementary
school.  One day I was an ordinary student who knew how to get to a DOS
shell from a game on the old network, soon thereafter I was given the
network's root-equivalent login and password and was told to give a new
teacher an account.  But most of my experience in that position was
loading the dot matrix printers, plugging in mice, and undeletion after
students decide to show off their skills with DOS, do their "del *.*" in
the wrong directory and panic when their work disappears.

I came from Windows with a dislike for GUIs, and one of the first things
I installed was X (followed by Netscape, needed for a Java-based login
to connect a proxy to the internet).  Every package I used had to be
copied from a nearby Windows machine with a working network connection
to my Debian system by floppy (my first Debian system was a laptop, and
all it had was a Notwork Interface Card), using spanning archives when
needed.  For the first five months or so, I kept my Debian system dual
boot with an old version of MS-DOS so I could transfer large files when
needed, until the replacement for my notwork card came in (my notwork
card was still under warranty).

-- 
Seneca
seneca-cunningham@rogers.com



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