Re: NBie Frustrations...

On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 04:04:29 +0000, Robert M. Riches Jr. wrote:

> On 2005-12-17, Enrique Perez-Terron <enrio@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 20:39:51 +0100, CWO4 Dave Mann
>> <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 16 Dec 2005 08:11:23 -0800, Amamba wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm just about to give up on trying Linux (Ubuntu 5.10). This is my
>>>> first attempt, and I am already pretty disappointed.
>>>>
>>>> 1. I can't make Macromedia Flash sites work no matter what I do
>>>> (example - www.pbskids.org).
>>>>
>>>> I tried to reinstall Flash player several times, edited
>>>> configurations (per instructions on google), manually copied files...
>>>> no luck. I tried installing Opera and Konqueror, in addition to
>>>> Firefox, no luck there either. FP simply wouldn't load. Granted, I
>>>> have the same exact problems with FF running on Windows, but there I
>>>> can use Avant or IE.
>>
>> [ snipped a few more problem reports, expressions of exasperation, and
>> a few mentions of Windows Xp ]
>>
>>> I feel you would be happier staying with Windows. I perceive that
>>> your frustrations may have deeper roots than not finding Linux the
>>> same as Windows.
>>
>> Why on earth do you, and so many others, reinterpret what the OP says
>> to mean he wants Linux to be like Windows? I cannot see he has made a
>> single utterance that indicates anything like that.
>>
>> ...
>>
>>> If you are not a problem solver and desire instant gratification,
>>
>> Why on earth do you talk about "instant gratification" when the OP
>> clearly has spent days trying to solve his problems?
>>
>> Are you guys completely allergic when you see anything other than
>> "haleluja linux, haleluja"? Does it break your nerves to hear that
>> someone might have experienced less problems in some areas, with
>> Windows?
>>
>> ...
>
> How long have you read this newsgroup? Have you read it long enough to
> have seen large numbers of Wintolls and/or flatfish mutations? Have you
> noticed many of them produce initial postings very similar in tone and
> character to the initial posting in this thread?
>
> They are always short on valid and useful requests for assistance, long
> on complaints about being disappointed with Linux. I'm confident a
> semantic-based classifier, if/when there is such a program, as opposed
> to a text-based classifier, would put the initial posting of this thread
> in the trolling category.


Long story made even longer:

I am always willing to give someone a break and believe them .... I was
once a newbie too, you know .. newbie when I dropped that freshly punched
box of 88 col cards with a bootstrap loader written in Honeywell JCL and I
had forgotten to turn on the card numbering printer.

Newbie when I first tried to load CP/M on my newly built Heathkit H89 that
I had "upgraded" with the 2 Mhz clock, the 64K RAM and the two 5" single
side single density floppy drives instead of the paper tape loader.

Newbie when I saw, with amazement, the screen filling rusults of my first
try at Basic back in 1975:

10 print "#"
20 goto 10

That filled a lot of lines on that old Texas Instruments Silent 700
printer/key input device.

Newbie when I first tinkered with OS2 and then OS2/Warp; with Windows 3.1
and then Windows for Workgroups 3.11 moving on to Win98, Win 2000, Win NT
4, Win XP.

Newbie when I first encountered Linux in 1993 on one of the original
Cypherpunk's systems at his house.

We are all newbies at one time or another. Why I remember my first time
figuring out how to kiss my girl friend ... back in 6th grade. What a
decision tree that was. And I don't mean just the decision fork between
"tongue, use" and "Tongue, do not use".

I've worked hot and cold with Linux for a long time, back and forth.
Finally, I discovered that a carefully personalized and tuned Linux system
would do everything that I needed to do. So I put away Windows and am
100% Linux on both business and personal systems.

There are still a shitpot full of things I do not know about Linux and
probably a lot that I will never know. However, the one thing I do know
is to Research, to use the "man" command, to look through a few Linux
books that I have, and to Google the life out of some arcane little
problem which pisses me off occasionally.

My biggst beef is with the trolls, sock puppets and otherwise
culpable lame-brains who blow into town like Billy the Kid, stir up a
bunch of ***, and then depart. If there were a way for me to use a
remote control deathray on them, well, their pathetic corpses would
already be crystalized into a small and tidy pile of dust in the seat of
their office chair. I mean, I know that they have an agenda and I should
be strong enough to simply plonk them or ignore them.

But, look here, I've once again fallen prey to the troll with this post.
I am ashamed of myself. I'll be flagellating soon and tightening my
circutrix.

However again, on the off-chance that someone who comes to town and asks
an otherwise "obvious" question, I am happy to try to answer if I know the
answer. Failing that, I leave them to the tender mercies of Breuer,
Hemming, Unruh and the other real Linux Experts who we are privileged to
have habituate this august body.

I have spoken. Have your peeps call my peeps for an appointment before
Our throne.


Cheers,

Dave


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