Re: Is SuSe ready for me yet?


Penguiniator wrote:
markzoom@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:


Thanks, but I can manage my package just fine. If you mean
installing progs, then unless I can install 95% of Linux progs
off the net and have them running with a few mouse clicks, I
won't waste time installing Suse.

I suspect that you are a Windows user who wants Linux to behave
just like what you are used to using so that you won't have to
learn anything new,

Well, yes. I want to learn as little as possible.
You see, I want to USE my computer, not spend weeks/months learning
trying to get things working when they should do so anyway.

or that you are, indeed, flatty, regardless
of your denial.

Call me a Dickhead, for all the difference it makes.

Nevertheless, there are many people that display
the kind of attitude I hear in your post, and it deserves some
attention. So I will proceed on the assumption that you are
sincere.

Thanks. I spent weeks of frustration with previous SuSes, so I'm not
going to go through it all again if it hasn't become easier. I give it
a try if it has improved (ie. become more intuitive and simpler) but
otherwise I'll just wait another couple of years.



My suggestion is that you stick with whatever it is you are
using. I think that if you were to try anything different and
found that you had to follow procedures that were different from
what you are used to that you would become frustrated and
quickly disillusioned. And instead of gaining an enthusiastic
supporter, we would create a Linux bashing detractor.

Look, If most stuff works within a few mouse clicks, I'll be happy. If
it doesn't, I'll put up with Mr. Gates's asscrawling, penny-pinching
spyware until it does.


I use SUSE 10.1 and haven't had to use the keyboard to install or
configure anything. But that does not mean I download Setup.exe
or Install.exe files from Web sites and click on them from my
desktop to install them.

Why not? After bunging in a CD, that's the simplest and most widespread
way of installing programs. I don't think people can be expected to go
wild about a car that needs starting with a cranking handle, when
electric starters have been the norm for decades. It certainly wouldn't
catch on with the youth of today.

That's just not how it works. And
unless you can get over it, you are going to be unhappy running
just about any Linux distribution.

Oh.... I was hoping it had been made simpler to use.
If Novell wants people to use Suse at work, they'll have much more
$business$ if it's already used by ordinary simpletons at home.


I've personally never had a problem adapting to different
procedures for completing tasks on computers, whether installing
software or operating it. So using something other than Windows
is no big deal for me. But for some, even many perhaps,
switching to an environment where there is no Control Panel, or
Start button, and where .exe files are non-existant and there is
no C: drive, the transition, or the thought of it, overloads
their circuits. I'm not saying yours would necessarily be
overloaded.

I can cope with a new environment if it's designed for ease of use, but
I'm not going to bother with the effort of longwinded procedures that
require memorising (console commands, for example). That would be a
step backwards.


But I can hear a complaint in your tone that demands
conformity to what you already know. And that attitude will not
serve you well in trying to move to a different system,
especially one intended to clone Unix.

I had hoped making an OS easier to use would be the prime intention.
It sure won't catch on with home users if it isn't, but remain a fringe
OS.


Perhaps you are unhappy with your current system and are looking
for an alternative. Just be aware that there is no such thing as
a different operating system that operates exactly like the one
you already use. And you should consider whether the aggravation
of learning new ways to do things is worse than sticking with
what behaves as you expect.

Well, I'll check if it's become more intuitive, but from what you tell
me I won't hold out much hope.


If you insist on proceding with a transition to some sort of
Linux or other Unix-like system, then you would be better off
using a second computer that you don't have to rely on for your
everyday tasks.

I have a spare on ready.

That way, if it doesn't work for you, you won't
be without a fall-back system to rely on. But I doubt this is
something you want to do, as you have already indicated that you
are not a computer hobbyist.

I have knocked together some computers from bits I got cheap.
Ultimately though it's the useful applications that are the important
thing, not fiddling about with the box and software. I introduced some
very reluctant people to the net, my 82 year old mother and some
friends in their 60s. Any application that won't work with a few mouse
clicks is therefore useless to them (and me).

But as someone who is not a hobbyist, you would be better off
having someone else administer your computer for you, whether
you run Linux or Windows. In a case such as this, what you ought
to look for is not a Linux distribution. You should look for a
person who can install and maintain a Linux distribution for
you. Let them deal with the headaches of installation and
configuration.

I can get XP running and streamlined no problem but I'm fed up with
spyware, virus protection, firewalls etc. (security, basically) because
it's me who has to sort out my mother's, my friend's and my wife's
computers. I'd also obviously prefer not to spend money on software but
use some stout fellow's labour of love.


And if your reply to this is that it shouldn't require someone
with more knowledge than the average computer user to install
and maintain an operating system, and you think Microsoft makes
it easy for the average computer user to do that with Windows,
then put one in front of a computer with no software on it and
tell them to install Windows and all applications and hardware
drivers. I think you will find that even that system is not as
easy to install and configure for the average user as you expect
Linux to be.

I too wish that Linux would be easier to get running than windows, but
that plain simply wasn't so when I tried 6 and 8.2. I'll see how 10.1
fares with my limited attention span.
Sorry if I sound arrogant, but I wasted so much time with this
previously
that I'm not going to fall into that trap again. I'll fiddle with it
for a few of days but if it won't easily do what I want it to, I'll go
and do something useful or fun instead.
I did some excellent Mackerel fishing the other day, also caught a
Sandeel on mackerel lures (very unusual) and there are also Garfish
about, so I want to make
a float for long-distance beachcasting for them.

--
regards

.

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