[wellylug] Please remember this.

[pcreso at pcreso.com]

Well said Glenn.

Linux enthusiasts are often a technocracy who like Linux for its own sake, rather than for the applications it enables & advantages it provides in user space..

I have been running Linux at home & work for well over a decade now. Some things I can work through & fix, but I agree with Glen, a Linux reinstall is straightforward, & provides a pretty reliable fix for many problems, whether caused by genuine bugs on the overall package or a user learning from mistakes.

I use Linux professionally as a GIS workstation. To date there is nothing I have not been able to to with platform that I have needed to. I can build the entire platform, including OS, Office suite, spatial database, web & web map server, desktop GIS apps, cartographic & modeling tools in around 3 hrs to a fully functioning workstation & server. I have used both Ubuntu & OpenSuse (currently OpenSuse).

My choice of distro is dictated by which is easiest to install & setup & run the applications I use. I don't use a distro that requires packages I use to be compiled. I use one that makes my life easier, not wrestling with the OS, configuring & compiling, but installing & using applications. Which is, after all, why the vast majority of users have a computer.

Contrast this with some Windows based colleagues who after a reinstall can spend days with an unreliable platform until everything is finally installed & working together properly. With software tools costing tens of thousands of dollars on slower hardware costing over twice as much.
 
I don't want to have to be a Linux sysadmin to run my system, & I shouldn't have to be. The ability to reinstall easily to fix issues is one of the most significant advantages of a Linux desktop system. There is no better way to learn how to get the configuration you want than an initial install, which you find out could be done better, so you do.


Cheers,

   Brent Wood

--- On Sat, 4/28/12, Glenn Stuart Morrissey <glennstuartmorrissey at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Glenn Stuart Morrissey <glennstuartmorrissey at gmail.com>
Subject: [wellylug] Please remember this.
To: wellylug at lists.wellylug.org.nz
Date: Saturday, April 28, 2012, 10:44 AM

List,

In my post on having to reinstall the OS, I didn't say that I was
deliberately deleting or removing files from the Operating system 'just
to see what happens'. I was updating packages using apt-get and was told
certain packages were unnecessary, so I removed them, and upon Reboot I
discovered that the system wouldn’t start. I merely expressed the
opinion that, unlike Windows, especially when your depending upon the
mercy of OEM vendors, it is easy to correct any mistakes and/or
anomalies and reinstall.

That is not, as it was remarked, 'deleting random files not being on the
agenda'. List members, especially the more experienced or qualified
members, need to be mindful that there are members who are not systechs
or sysadmins who do not have degrees or certifications in Linux, who
have installed Linux out of frustration of the indifference, ignorance
or arrogance of those who design Windows and of the OEM's who distribute
it.

I recall my early days of Windows, when I would accidentally delete an
obscure but important file out of necessity to free up valuable and
expensive disk space, only to have the blue screen of death appear and
have no option but to reinstall. The painful lesson of double-space
drives still haunts me.

Unlike some, the majority of Linux users learn by trial and error, with
having to go to forums with obscure error messages or driver
incompatibility problems, some, like my fglrx driver, simply doesn't
have a solution. 

But the assertion that , since we don't know what we are doing, so we
shouldn't touch, is unacceptable. Perhaps if the list adopts this
position for new, and less experienced members, it should make a
criteria that new members have a level of technical aptitude or systems
qualification in order to become a member of the list.

"The purpose behind these guidelines is to clarify what you need
to do to help WellyLUG create an effective and enjoyable atmosphere that
will foster a sense of community." - Not to shoot down memebers who ask
genuine questions, or make genuine errors and need advice.

Please Remember that.

Glenn.


-- 
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