[wellylug] Different approaches [was Screwed up laptop :( ]

[Jamie Dobbs]

Very true Damon, I think the thing that surprises me the most sometimes
is the attitude of some Linux users. Fair enough I made a mistake but I
am only human and I can expect to make some mistakes, hopefully I learn
from them.

This was the first time I'd tried to install Linux on a system with an
NTFS drive and obviously I made some fairly major errors in doing it. 
I enjoy the choice that Gentoo gives me as it does result in a much
faster running PC than with a 'pre-rolled' distro such as Mandrake (of
which I am still a big fan and have at least 2 machines running it).

The one thing that I think is failing the entire Linux movement is the
attitude of some people who seem to think that if you don't know what
you are doing then you shouldn't be using Linux.

Note: Cliff, these comments are NOT aimed at you. You asked me some
simple direct questions which I have tried to answer honestly.I admit
that I fsck'd up, the error was all mine as I did not know the correct
way to install lilo or grub on an NTFS system.

These are just general observations of mine that I have made over the
3-4 years I have been using Linux seriously.

(no offence is meant to anyone by these comments but I would hope that
everyone can see what I mean)
> 
> I find it interesting to compare the Gentoo  and Mandrake approaches to
> problems like this one. From where I'm sitting, it seems that the
> Mandrake approach is to get their programmers to take care of these
> things for you.  Most of the time they do a good job, and their tools
> work.  I've never seen the problem found above, not because of my own
> skill, but the skill of the Mandrake coders.  Sometimes their tools
> don't work too well in some situations, e.g Internet connections using
> both a modem and a LAN, and that can be frustrating.  In this case the
> user has to learn up on what the configuration files do for various
> programs. For instance to take other examples we can think of shorewall
> and samba configuration when the Mandrake GUI tools are too limited.
> 
> Whereas it seems to me that with Gentoo one needs to know a lot more
> about how things actually work in Linux in order to have a reliable,
> dependable system.  It's not an option but an imperative to have this
> knowledge.
> 
> Using the approach of Mandrake means less time is spent on configuration
> (hopefully) and more time using the system to achieve tasks we use
> computers to do.
> 
> Whereas with systems like Gentoo, a primary source of satisfaction
> presumably comes from learning about the system itself, and watching
> things hopefully fit together the way they ideally should.  It's a bit
> like compiling your own programs and watching the messages scroll by
> compared to watching a progress bar advance as grpmi installs packages
> for you.  Compiling is raw and sometimes rough, but when it works you
> think "wow".  Whereas with grpmi the graphical progress bar steadily
> moving across it's long and narrow window leads to an expectation of
> "this should work first time".
> 
> Make sense?
> 
> Damon
> -- 
> Damon Lynch <damon at asianreflection.com>
>