Re: Great Debian experience
On 20/03/14 01:32, Ken Heard wrote:
> It never ceases to amaze me that there are people can get various
> iterations of Debian "working out of the box".
That it does happen is testament that "Debian does things right". The
vast majority of people who install Debian for their own use make little
or no effort to learn about Debian.
There are generally different degrees of "working out of the box". The
OP did a lot of work to achieve that - so of which he either failed to
recall or simple neglected to mention. Much was unnecessary e.g. the DE
could have been selected at the GUI installer boot screen (or by
choosing expert, or by calling the tasksel meta-package at a later
stage.) - which just showcases the strength of Debian package management
and Debian's commitment to "choices".
The browser would not be latest unless an additional repository was
added - and that package was installed; Youtube wouldn't work without
flash being installed. Neither of those things is the Debian default -
but, importantly, Debian is designed to allow you to do so.
> Ever since Sarge I have had no end of trouble either with new
> installations or upgrades, to the point that I dread every new
> iteration. I would have switched long ago to another operating
> system except for the fact that every other one I looked at was
> worse.
>
> My latest experience was a new installation of Wheezy in a new box.
> It took me the entire month of January to get the OS and essential
> applications to the point where the machine became usable. Yes it
> works, but so does a Ford model T. For example I wanted to use LVM
> but the attempt broke the installer. I still have not got sound
> working.
>
> So what is the secret?
Planning(?). ;)
Know *exactly* what you want, research the requirements and
difficulties, specify, plan, execute, review, record, and adjust.
For many people the "chicken install"[*1] will "work" fine.
By "work" I mean - the hardware they have chosen, deliberately or not,
will be supported; and the default Debian settings/selections are what
they are happy with. One of the key differences with the latter is that
the user adapts to what they get.
An appropriate analogy might be that "the" OS is the software equivalent
of pants?
In many cases the user: doesn't know what they want; or does - but it's
not part of the default Debian selections and they don't know how to
achieve it. Neither of those situations are wrong, or bad, and Debian
can support them (that you can seek assistance on this list is part of
that support).
I've read sophistic argument in this list previously where it was
postulated that the user with root access was not a sysadmin - that's
rubbish. They may simply be an unqualified and inexperienced sysadmin,
but sysadmin they are - and often a SOE engineer. The more the
requirements of the user differ from the norm (default) the more work
required - and if the user doesn't know what they want (wants to
experiment) those requirements are similar to nailing smoke to the wall.
>
> Ken Heard
>
>
>
Kind regards
[*1]stick breadcrumbs on Enter key, leave the install to the chicken.
Comparable to the Windoof install like a cricket ball is comparable to
an orange.
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