<CT> Re: Linux Threads
- From: "Martin B. Brilliant" <mbrilliant@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: calmira_tips@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 14:36:35 -0400
On Sun, 20 May 2001 08:06:20 -0500, "Ross Nelson" <coutcin@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ...
> >Brian says "I don't think there's anything in the world wrong with
> >having to think about your computer and understand what's going on
> >with it and why. Knowledge is good, embrace it." I agree with the
> >second part, but not the first part. Thinking is OK, but having to
> >think for days or weeks before you can use your system is not OK. MS-
> >Windows may be harder to keep running, but it's much easier to get
> >running to begin with.
>
> So, you learned all you know about your computer, or enough to have
> some control at least (editing config files (including
> config.sys/autoexec.bat and ini's), changing system stuff, installing
> software from zip files, in under a week? Whoa. That's impressive!
> ;P
That's me he's quoting. No, I did not learn everything in a week. I
was using MS-DOS for years before I started using Windows, and UNIX
for years before that. I didn't know anything about the kernel of
either system, but I knew how to edit AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, and
various .rc files. I also used Windows 3.1 before moving to Windows
95. Talk about ZIP files? I used ARC, PAK, ARJ, and ZIP files before
Windows 3.1 was invented!
Linux installation was far more demanding, and more obscure, than
Windows installation. I reinstalled Windows (both 3.1 and 95, as I
remember) several times because there were correctible errors in the
first few attempts or because I wanted to get the right software
options. Linux installations failed for a variety of reasons, some of
which, frankly, I could not fathom.
MicroStuff boasts, and users complain, that all the Windows 9x system
data (well, most of it) is wrapped up in a rat's nest called the
Windows Registry. I was happier when it was distributed in readable
and editable files like AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS in the root
directory of the boot drive, and *.INI files that were either in the
windows directory or the application directory. But Linux has so many
initialization files, in so many different places, that you have to
thread your way through a maze of man files to find out which ones to
edit!
As I understand it, Linux (the part Linus Torvalds is responsible
for) is the kernel. Other people create other parts, and where the
initialization files are depends mostly on which distribution you
have. So to make Linux easier to get running, what you need is a
better organized and better documented distribution. Do I have that
right?
Marty
Martin B. Brilliant at home in Holmdel, NJ
http://www.netlabs.net/hp/marty/
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