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Linux: it's now or never! (partie II)
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- Subject: Linux: it's now or never! (partie II)
- From: Gilles Pelletier <>
- Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 22:57:59 -0400
>>Once the kernel is installed, Emacs could be
opened with instructions
>>in a top window and the prompt or the file to edit
at the bottom.
>Once the kernel is installed, you need to install
Emacs. 'Manually'?
>
>>Instructions could be formatted in HTML so that if
you were installing
>>a second IDE drive from a CD, you wouldn't have
to find your way
>>through SCSI installation from ftp. You'd read just
what you need.
>
>How does the HTML file know what it is you need?
It doesn't. That's why the links are there: if you need
it, you click it. Otherwise, you read the basics.
>>Autoinstalling Linux is like putting a nice body
around a Ferrari's
>>mechanics and giving the keys to John Doe saying
"You just press the
>>gas pedal and it moves forward."
>
>I don't know about you, but if I ever buy a Ferrari
(which is
>purely hypothetical) I'll be buying a car, ready for
use; not a DIY
>Ferrari assembly kit.
That's pretty much what Linux is. You can "assemble
it" so that it asks you before overwriting a file. You
can even set up a recycle bin. But no distribution
will explain how to do these things while you're
installing. You've got to search through piles and
heaps of documentation, which most newcomers
from theWindows world, complaining about its
inadequacies and still unable to write a batch file,
won't do.
Loosing a few files is one of the many reasons
they're back to Windows. I'd bet that there are more
copies of Linux gathering dust on the bottom shelves
that being installed on numerous computers. That's
why I'm saying that Linux is going nowhere as an
OS for the general public. For now, it's only child's
play and big hoopla.
Exemples:
A few months ago, here in Quebec, a journalist
named Dumais, attempted a switch to Linux. All the
community was around, helping him to get over
every hurdle, just as the Linux community is
supposed to do... and even quite a bit more.
The guy was reporting daily on his progress and
finally got his system up and running (in 16 bit
colors!) in "only" 4 days... after somebody went to his
place to fix things. Then, nothing: a few "I'll be
back" in December and he vanished in the haze.
Don't ask about him, he's just gone. And it's Linux
hoopla all over again.
Another dunce, you'll say? No so long ago,
Linux-Quebec was sporting a link in its section
"Linux dans les écoles" about Trois-Soleils school in
Laval. A few old boxes had been networked to a
Pentium 166 and provided access to the internet with
Netscape. The system was certainly honed to
perfection, as it was installed by Jacques Gélinas of
Linuxconf fame.
Quite a few months later, I called the school to ask
how come not a single page had been added since
the installation. The director told me that a few
pieces of wire had apparently been borrowed (not
computers!) and the network was put down. Gelinas
wrote me that his son wasn't at this school anymore
and that he had other concerns. The only link to an
operating Linux system was eventually taken off the
Linux-Quebec page on "schools". And it's Linux
hoopla all over again.
I don't know how many small networks operate on
NT in schools, but my nieces' school has a network
and since there's no ballyhoo, my bet is that it's
operating on NT. I guess there must be a few dozen
of schools using NT in Quebec, but no one talks
about it. It's the way to go, it's just normal.
(suite à la partie III)