Re: Users ready for Debian on the Desktop
Mark L. Kahnt wrote:
On Thu, 2003-04-17 at 17:50, Ian D. Stewart wrote:
On Thu, 2003-04-17 at 16:50, Roberto Sanchez wrote:
Seems to me that almost all of the objections to Debian in particular are
based on installation difficulties. Since most computers sold come with the
o/s pre-installed that issue no longer exists as soon as the vendors wake
up.
The difficulty novices have with installing Debian in particular is that
there's no information available about the specific things that will be
encountered during the installation. Yes, there are several sources
that tell you to know your hardware, the need to partition, internet
requirements, and other generalities but not one source that I've been
able to find prepares you for specifics that you must supply.
Yes, there is help that you can read during the installation but it's
one step at a time that can lead to a difficulty or conflict later on
in the installation where it is not possible to go back and make a
correction.
There's a way to avoid many of the situations that make installations
fail----provide a howto that illustrates the entire installation
process so you can study it and preplan the options and route you want
to take. If you have a plan of attack, you won't have to make critical
decisions during the installation.
As for the comparison between installing Windows (98SE) and Debian, it
depends on what you want for an end result. Installing the basic
Windows 98SE without additional applications is far easier than
installing just the basic Debian. I've done both dozens of times
and also other Linux systems and there is no question that of the basic
level installations of these systems, Windows 98SE demands the least
knowledge and effort to get a successful basic installation. On the
other hand, there's no question that Linux systems outperform Windows
once the installations are successful.
When a newly installed Linux system doesn't perform according to
expectations, very likely the reason is a defective installation.
Percentagewise, this happened to me more often when installing Linux
because I screwed up something. A Windows basic installation offers far
fewer opportunities to end up defective than Linux does.
Alex's axiom----- the more opportunities to screw up, the more likely
you will.
If there were instructions that describe each step in the installation
for study and preplanning before starting the installation, perhaps the
traffic on this Debian list can be greatly reduced and you wouldn't see
long threads like this one.
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