Re: why debian
> Mark Crean wrote:
> >Debian must be fantastic as a server OS (though I've never had trouble
> >in three and a half years with SuSE for httpd, ftp, mail, so far) but it
> >seems too rough on the desktop, lacking in polish and with the Debian
> >system of commands in many ways more complicated than the rpm and
> >YaST-based stuff on SuSE (which can also now be set up for the apt
> >system).
I started with Debian. It took me a month. I also burned a Mandrake
ISO, and some others, and used them as references to see what I should
expect to work and what I shouldn't. But under them I was as completely
ignorant as to what was actually going on as I was in Windows.
I started from ground zero, I mean just getting old non-truetype, plain
jane X fonts with twm working. Then getting a GTK1 envronment. Then a
GTK2 environment, with anti-aliasing. Then my printer. Then burning
CDs. Then watching DVDs. Each task, required active learning on my
part, but nothing was inconsistent, or unachievable. It took a month,
but by the end I knew exactly what was going on and exactly why each
thing worked. I wasn't ignorant any more.
But it took a month, and 3 months before I knew how to create my own
software. I must have started over 15-20 times. This was a month of
5-6 hours per day. The tradeoff is knowledge and control, versus ease
of use.
Difficulty vs. frailty. Now I have exactly what I want: a perfect
eye-candy environment when I want it, with total control over when
and how it functions. It suits me at least.
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