let's confuse the noob
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| jimf Apr 11, 2007 10:52 AM EDT |
I get the feeling that people who write garbage like this are just trying to fill their quota of articles for the month. He gives a laundry list of criteria, and a smorgasbord of Distros. Helpful? Quite the contrary. Pieces like this create more confusion, and, do much more harm than good for new users. |
| bigg Apr 11, 2007 11:10 AM EDT |
Personally, I recommend PCLinuxOS, Mepis or Ubuntu. I tell them to play with the live cd, install in VMWare if they like one of them, and point them to the forums for help and LXer for news. It is not possible to say "Distro X is best for you" but any of these will be suitable, which is what they are after. |
| NoDough Apr 11, 2007 11:21 AM EDT |
I like his suggestion to try live CD list. "Try a couple of LiveCDs. Here's a brief list of 300 or so." Poor sap will probably run screaming back to MS. |
| bigg Apr 11, 2007 11:29 AM EDT |
> Poor sap will probably run screaming back to MS. About 80% of the time when someone tells me they tried Linux, they went back to Windows for just that reason. It's a cardinal sin in some circles to recommend anything. The new user is supposed to make his own decisions. Doesn't work that way. Hence, my short recipe - whether or not everyone agrees with it, it gets the job done. |
| jdixon Apr 11, 2007 11:49 AM EDT |
> Personally, I recommend PCLinuxOS, Mepis or Ubuntu. That's a fairly good selection, yes. I'd add Slax if you're recommending live CD's. |
| jimf Apr 11, 2007 12:12 PM EDT |
> About 80% of the time when someone tells me they tried Linux, they went back to Windows for just that reason. And, they usually tried the Linux randomly chosen from some dumb article like this one. The fact is that the person was looking for 'real expert advise' and he ended up getting glittering generalities. I do support on several IRC channels including the freenode #mepis. Strangely enough I, and most other support people there, don't always recommend mepis to a new user. Since we're the 'experts', we're gonna recommend the Distro that we think best 'for that individual'. Almost always, a happy new Linux user returns a day or two later to thank us for the help. |
| tuxchick Apr 11, 2007 1:33 PM EDT |
Pah. Noobs. We don't want 'em anyway. The weeping when their winprinters don't work is so tedious. |
| jimf Apr 11, 2007 1:38 PM EDT |
> Pah. Noobs. We don't want 'em anyway. There are some days when that seems to be all too true.... |
| jdixon Apr 11, 2007 1:41 PM EDT |
> The weeping when their winprinters don't work is so tedious. That's nothing compared to the crying when they find that their Winmodems don't work and AOL's software isn't available. |
| dcparris Apr 11, 2007 1:42 PM EDT |
Isn't that when you explain that AOL is the next biggest virus after "I Love You" or the Slammer Worm? O.k., so maybe it's bigger, but still... |
| jdixon Apr 11, 2007 1:46 PM EDT |
> Isn't that when you explain that AOL is the next biggest virus after... But Don, aol IS the Internet... Isn't it? Keep in mind that AOL is all many of these people have ever known. |
| tuxtom Apr 11, 2007 1:51 PM EDT |
I have to agree with all 4 distros mentioned in the thread for someone green. MEPIS is my favorite, but I have to remove the fish tank and earthlink spam and...is it just me, but isn't it a PITA to get the weather changed to any city other than Morganstown WV??? It has its quirks. Ubuntu is really good once the install is finished. PCLinuxOS has the best eye candy, hands down. It's install is relatively painless, as well. If it weren't for those confounded RPM's I'd be using it. I've used SLAX and like it a lot for a LiveCD, but I haven't installed Slackware for almost 10 years, so I can't comment on what a newbie would confront when installing to their system and managing packages, etc. If the only intent was to use a LiveCD for utility, I would personally recommend DSL or Knoppix. |
| jimf Apr 11, 2007 1:56 PM EDT |
> Keep in mind that AOL is all many of these people have ever known. When that's the case, I doubt you'll see them trying Linux anyway. |
| jdixon Apr 11, 2007 1:59 PM EDT |
> ...but I haven't installed Slackware for almost 10 years, so I can't comment on what a newbie would confront when installing to their system and managing packages, etc. WRT Slackware and newbies, one word suffices... Don't. Using Slax as a live CD on the other hand, is a great way to try out Linux, especially on older machines. |
| bigg Apr 11, 2007 1:59 PM EDT |
> I have to remove the fish tank I think it's gone in the new release. > isn't it a PITA to get the weather changed to any city other than Morganstown WV I kept quiet about that because I thought I was the only one bothered by it. Now I feel liberated. |
| jdixon Apr 11, 2007 2:00 PM EDT |
> is it just me, but isn't it a PITA to get the weather changed to any city other than Morganstown WV??? Why would any one want to change it? :) Edit added for clarity: For those who don't know, Morgantown is within 40 miles of my house. |
| jimf Apr 11, 2007 2:08 PM EDT |
> Why would any one want to change it? :) /me rofl |
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