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RE: [TCLUG:179] A Linux newbie needs some advice



> > The MS family installs by splattering hidden unreadable files onto a
> > harddrive nilly willy,
> 
> "Willy nilly"...that pretty much summarizes the Unix filesystem
> architecture.
> 
> > Unix on the other hand is neatly laid out with an underlying logic,
with
> > files that are meant to be altered by humans.
> 
> ...with each configuration file requiring completely different formats,
> each more confusing than the last.
> 
> > Remember gui's are for pc weenies!  Keep to the command line.

Hey! I'm running X right now.

> > Some commands to use while seeking enlightenment:
> 
> rm -r /

It'll solve ALL your problems.

> Even Command-Line Boy has trouble following the topography of his own
> filesystem in text mode, it seems. Unless you want to have a monstrous
> prompt that shows your absolute pwd, navigating a filesystem is
needlessly
> difficult in a text environment.
                                
Although, it might fix some people's problems. I once "fixed" someone's
computer. They told me they had clicked somewhere and all their internet
apps had disappeared. I went, all set to look in the trash bin (it was a
mac) or possibly reinstall them. Turned out she had changed the settings
on the file browser to display a file list instead of the large icons she
was used to. If she'd have been using a command line interface she
wouldn't have been able to do this. Of course then she'd probably break
the colors and wonder why none of her files were executable. 
        "Try chmod a+x..." "But there still all white."
                                
Enough of that idea.            
                                
> Sorry to rag on your favorite system, everybody, but let's face it: Unix
> has some crippling deficiencies; consistency, interface and
documentation
> just being the most obvious. And it doesn't even necessarily suck more
> than any other OS, just differently. I'll admit it, my favorite OS has
> *no* working virtual memory manager, shits itself several times a day
> under normal usage (let's see if Navigator will open a document
> locally...nope. Hard reset time.), and cannot recover from memory
> fragmentation without rebooting. But at least the developers realized
that
> they were serving actual end-users, and didn't have their heads
> completely up their asses when it came to interface design.

Let's face it. Neither GUI's or command line's are very intuitive (see
the mac story above), but since we seem to be stuck with only a monitor
and keyboard for output and input we have to consider what better suits
the needs of Linux. I agree that if Linux is going to become usable by
the general public (people who don't want to hack through twenty config
files to be able to run a single app) it's going to need some sort of GUI.
Problem is, the only reason I became interested in Linux is because it was
a challenge and forced me to learn about the internal workings of a
computer. I'd be willing to bet I'm not alone. I've also read reviews of
Linux that have looked favorably on the openness, the ability, for someone
who knows how, to fix bugs and change how the system works to suit their
needs. This openness is one of Linux's best characteristics in my opinion.
I'd hate to see that go down the tube to make it "intuitive."

Anyway, I'm done for the night.

Hans

--
Hans D Umhoefer (spudling@acm.cs.umn.edu)