On Sat, Dec 25, 2004 at 11:47:11PM -0500, Pete Theisen wrote:
> mark@bish.net wrote:
> >
> >
> >Don't try Debian. If you don't understand how the 'ls' command works
> >then Debian isn't for you.
>
> Hi Mark!
>
> It isn't for me, it is for the people who are trying to *help* me, so
> they will be in familiar water. Since I don't know anything, it doesn't
> matter what I learn so I may as well learn what they know.
>
> Seems to me that the 'ls' command is something like the dos 'dir'
> command. It must be the more or less the same in Debian, FC 2 and MEPIS,
> but Debian is what the SLUG folk seem to know.
With deference to the users of Debian, Debian is a bad choice for
newbies. There is a dearth of GUI or even curses-based tools for
administering a Debian box. For Debian, you'd better know how to hack
config files. And if a piece of hardware on your machine is not
recognized properly, it's up to you to google or RTFM until you can
figure out what to do about it. I've used Debian or Debian-based distros
for many years, and I kind of prefer it that way. But it is not for
those unfamiliar with the ins and outs of a Linux distribution.
This is not necessarily true of the new crop of Debian-based distros,
like Mepis, Xandros and others. They have more tools to make the setup
and administering of a Linux box easier. And their hardware recognition
is more advanced and up to date.
>From running both the Tampa and Dunedin meetings for a number of years,
it's also clear that Debian is only one of the distros that our members
are familiar with, and possibly not even the majority choice. Red Hat,
SuSE and Mandrake all seem to get high marks among our members. And of
course, there are the Gentoo and Slackware people as well, but I'd
recommend those to newbies even less than Debian.
Paul
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This list is provided as an unmoderated internet service by Networked
Knowledge Systems (NKS). Views and opinions expressed in messages
posted are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
official policy or position of NKS or any of its employees.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.3 : Fri Aug 01 2014 - 18:33:21 EDT