michael hast wrote:
> Is it me, or does a distrobution install and do apps configure slightly
> differently on each machine?
Yes and no. Applications are usually generic. But the operating system
itself will power on and test hardware. It will compensate for the
precise hardware it's running on, to a point (depends on if you're using
bleeding edge or not-well-supported hardware.
> Is that why it is so hard to get
> step-by-step how-to's on so much Linux stuff?
You'll have to be more specific. What how-tos are hard to get?
> It seems like as hard as
> I try, I simply cannot come up with the same exact results from machine
> to machine without playing with stuff. Am I on to something here?
>
When you say "same exact results", what do you mean?
Certain things are usually a breeze for the OS to configure. Like hard
drives. As long as they're ATA hard drives, no problem. Sound cards are
a different matter; I have some applications that can see the sound card
just fine, but Quake 3, for example, won't play sounds. Go figure why.
NIC cards seem to be pretty well sensed by the OS. Monitors and video
cards, not. For some reason, I can never get the full capabilities out
of my monitor and video card unless I play will the settings. Plus, with
X Window, you're not just dealing with the kernel. The kernel doesn't
really much care about your monitor or video card. It will drop back to
VGA or framebuffer because it's usually just displaying 80x25 at the
console. But in X Window the display hardware becomes important.
Keyboards and mice are usually no-brainers, except that the OS can't
sense whether you have a 101 key keyboard or a 160 key keyboard. Same
with the mouse (2 button, 3 button, wheel mouse). (Well, I say that
because the Debian install asks for things like the keyboard type and
mouse type. Other distros may sense these things and not ask questions.)
And believe it or not, there is also the human factor. After working in
tech support for many years, I've found that for some users, things will
inevitably go wrong, no matter what. I can stand at their terminal and
press the exact keys they pressed and it will work for me. But when they
pressed those buttons before they called me, it just screwed up. And I
found that it was rather consistently the same users having problems
over time, even with the simplest tasks. OTOH, I've had users who never
called me about problems because they didn't have any. I'm not implying
anything about you or anyone else in particular. I'm just pointing out
that the human in front of the terminal does have an influence.
-- Paul M. Foster ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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.
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