Re: Knoppix is Not Debian

[brownh@hartford-hwp.com (Haines Brown)]

> Dale Welch wrote:
> 
> >And i was probably building computers when your mama was changing
> >your diapers . . .
> >  
> >
> To whom does "your" refer? If to Kent, then "Nope."
> 
> >after all i was born a few months after Kennedy was shot...
> >  
> >
> Kent was born a few months before Kennedy was shot.

Age is irrelevant, of course, but I can't help recalling that after my
tour in the military, I used the GI Bill to get back to college. One
day I was busy coming on to a couple attractive African damsels in a
student lounge, when someone called in that Kennedy had been
shot. That immediately reduced both women to tears, and I was
amazed. I never understood the almost cult status that Kennedy enjoyed
as President. I wasn't even that crazy about Roosevelt.

I migrated from DOS 1 to DOS 2 (OS/2), then was forced to move to
Debian because of the IBM policy shift. That hurt. Linux was the
obvious alternative, and RedHat had veneer comforting to newbiew. When
RedHat began to take its new course, I knew I had to shift from it to
debian. One reason I chose debian was that it was so basic, so
non-commercial, I thought it would just go on and on (however much in
a nich), without being subject to the caprice of Corporate greed (MS)
or other vagaries. 

I think knoppix great, but for the uses people usually mention:
testing a laptop for its compatibility with Debian; an emergency disk
if I get into real trouble; as an easy demo for linux, and, although
I've never done this, as a stepping stool for a debian installation on
difficult hardware.

But as an alternative to debian, I don't think so. My experience is
that one gravitates toward becoming primarily mouse oriented or
keyboard oriented, and combining operations really slows a person
down. Debian seems keyboard oriented, knoppix more a hybrid and
therefore inefficient in my view. 

As some one whose work and experience is unrelated to computers, the
learning curve for debian has been steep. Documentation is often not
readily accessible and is often poorly written and obscure. But I've
no choice but to keep plugging away.

Haines Brown