Re: Confusion
On Thu 08 May 2014 at 14:07:12 -0400, Steve Litt wrote:
> On Thu, 08 May 2014 16:31:03 +0930
> josh <josh@thefamousjoneses.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > When one has a problem with any GNU/Linux distribution and goes to the
> > Internet for help, one is always a. assured that there is loads of
> > help available and b. directed to a maze of mailing lists where any
> > search immediately returns at least a million hits.
>
> True.
One generalisation deserves another.
> > This is certainly
> > the case with Debian.
> >
> > Worse, almost every entry in those lists refers to attempting to
> > perform some complex technical activity, usually with a root
> > terminal, and is studded with abstruse technical terms. Trying to
> > read through even a subset of those entries, obtained by severely
> > narrowing the search terms, takes hours. And narrowing the terms may
> > just have excluded the only relevant entry.
>
> That's true.
Another generalisation deserves yet another.
> > Look at my latest frustration:
> >
> > I have downloaded 'wheezy' and created a CD from the Iso image. When I
> > attempt to boot from the CD the screen image comes up, I respond to a
> > few options, then the system reports unable to read from the CD -
> > which it has, of course, been doing.
>
> :-)
'unable to read from the CD': what does that mean? What were the exact
words seen? Who can give any help from such a meagre description?
> IIRC I had that on Mandriva or Ubuntu in 2008. It was either a driver
> issue or I had to tell the BIOS to allow "legacy" drive reading.
That was 2008 - and didn't involve Debian. Sounds like a sad story.
> Which brings up an important point: The reason for mailing lists. In my
It may bring it up but it is irrelevant to answering a post with a
complete lack of useful detail.
> opinion, long before you've burned up several hours and maybe gotten in
> a bad mood, you should ask for live help on a mailing list or IRC
> channel. You've done your due diligence RTFM, something's wrong, and
> you're perfectly within your rights to ask for help. If some RTFM
> shouter insults you or points that to "let me google that for you",
> ignore him, or if you can't, filter him. You've done your due
> diligence.
Was there a time when horses were 'Dobbin' and not 'hobby'?
[The rest is snipped because I ran out of puff.]
Reply to: