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Why New Linux Users Are Frustrated
One of the immature things I have seen on an ongoing basis is those distributions that dilute themselves into offering imaginary support for wireless drivers with terrible luck. Broadcom and Ubuntu are the two biggest offenders. If a simple warning popped on a LiveCD, after detecting the presence of a Broadcom chipset, stating that you are going to be getting geeky in a 50/50 effort to get that card working, you could save a lot of wasted time with NDISWrapper. |
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Comments (25)
5 earlier comments in the full thread.
Is Matt Hartley the son of Nina Hartley?
> Is Matt Hartley the son of Nina Hartley?
Well, reading his articles qualifies as masochism, so I guess it's possible.
Well, reading his articles qualifies as masochism, so I guess it's possible.
I can understand the symptoms, but not the disease.
When I first ran Linux, I loaded up a web server (Boa), but didn't know where to find the directory that would be served.
I tried "man boa", which gave me no useful information but did point to the configuration file.
I looked at /etc/boa.conf or whatever the f*** it's called, but it didn't say either. But the man page had the email address of the Debian _maintainer_.
Because I didn't know about debian-user@lists.debian.org yet, I wrote a quick and polite note to the Boa maintainer, asking where the root web directory was.
He replied with a FUROR of, basically, "why are you asking me such a stupid question?"
I wrote back stating where I had looked already, and I was very sorry but I couldn't think of anywhere else to look.
He replied, calm now that he knew that I had at least tried, that I really should have looked in /usr/share/doc/boa but that it was /var/www.
But what does this story tell? That even a technically competent person who'd been using Unix style systems in the past can ask what seems like a stupid question. That's why I don't get mad even with the most simple of questions, because I've been there.
How about this one: "I used alt-f(1-6) to change screens, but since I got X working I cannot change back to a console. What am I doing wrong?"
Ah, "ctrl-alt-f(1-6) to get out of X." Seems like something everyone already knows, but I didn't. Not at first.
It takes asking "stupid" questions to know there are no stupid questions. Only stupid users.
When I first ran Linux, I loaded up a web server (Boa), but didn't know where to find the directory that would be served.
I tried "man boa", which gave me no useful information but did point to the configuration file.
I looked at /etc/boa.conf or whatever the f*** it's called, but it didn't say either. But the man page had the email address of the Debian _maintainer_.
Because I didn't know about debian-user@lists.debian.org yet, I wrote a quick and polite note to the Boa maintainer, asking where the root web directory was.
He replied with a FUROR of, basically, "why are you asking me such a stupid question?"
I wrote back stating where I had looked already, and I was very sorry but I couldn't think of anywhere else to look.
He replied, calm now that he knew that I had at least tried, that I really should have looked in /usr/share/doc/boa but that it was /var/www.
But what does this story tell? That even a technically competent person who'd been using Unix style systems in the past can ask what seems like a stupid question. That's why I don't get mad even with the most simple of questions, because I've been there.
How about this one: "I used alt-f(1-6) to change screens, but since I got X working I cannot change back to a console. What am I doing wrong?"
Ah, "ctrl-alt-f(1-6) to get out of X." Seems like something everyone already knows, but I didn't. Not at first.
It takes asking "stupid" questions to know there are no stupid questions. Only stupid users.
Of course, we know that new windoze users are never frustrated, and no windoze users have ever posted questions or vented their frustrations with 'bloze online - oh, wait... damn.
My favorite has always been Agony http://www.despair.com/ag24x30prin.html
But I think I'm going to put this on one my wall http://www.despair.com/dysfunction.html
But I think I'm going to put this on one my wall http://www.despair.com/dysfunction.html
Thats a great one, instant classic.
Darn, this brings up a good idea for an amateur writer like yours faithfully. The title of the article is wrong. It should have been called:
"Why old Windows users are frustrated(R)"
instead. Since that title is not taken, I hereby copyright/trademark it, and I might even write some content along with that title in the indeterminate time in the future.
"Why old Windows users are frustrated(R)"
instead. Since that title is not taken, I hereby copyright/trademark it, and I might even write some content along with that title in the indeterminate time in the future.
Quoting:really should have looked in /usr/share/doc/boa
There is a convention in Debian (don't know about other distros) that documentation goes to /usr/share/doc/ and usually includes README.Debian. It's obvious, right? But I don't think it's being communicated clearly enough to new users. I had to make this discovery and was very proud of it :>
...don't know about other distros
In Slackware the equivalent files are in /usr/doc/.
In Slackware the equivalent files are in /usr/doc/.
I rather like the applications that have a 'Help' button. Yeah, I know only whiny lazy end-lusers complain about having to navigate filesystems just to hunt down TFMs.. but it is so lovely when the computer does the work.
> I rather like the applications that have a 'Help' button.
Hard to do on a background process with no GUI. :^)
Hard to do on a background process with no GUI. :^)
Quoting: Hard to do on a background process with no GUI. :^)
Only to those of limited imagination!!
Seriously, I like the foo -help convention, or foo --help, or foo --Help, or whatever random convention is used for that command. And error messages that say "you just tried to make me do something impossible! Please refer to /foo/fie/fo/doc to learn the right way!"
RTFM is a valid answer, if you point the way to TFM. These days it could be in any number of places, plus a lot of projects rely on Wikis, and most times you can find third-party sites that are better than the project's official site.
Quoting:I rather like the applications that have a 'Help' button.
I don't know about you KDE folk, but my Gnome has a help button under "Desktop >> Help" that lets me access every piece of documentation on my system, whether it's DocBook, Man page, Info manual, whatever. And it even lets be search them all to boot!
Quoting:I don't know about you KDE folk
There's KDE Help Center. Never installed it so I don't even know what it looks like ;)
A colleague of mine just had Norton roll over on her. And after she had the box cleaned up by Best Buy's Geek Squad (ding), she went and ... got an updated version of Norton (ding). I don't think I can bring her back from the dark side (even to use Avast or AVG instead of Norton ...), but any frustration that Linux throws at you has to pale in comparison to the virus problem in Windows. For people who like spending lots of money, there's always the Mac.
I acknowledge the problems with wireless -- though I had plenty of problems with wireless in Windows 98 and 2000. Hell, I could barely get USB to work in Windows 98, and I upgraded to 2000 just to get my wireless working. It didn't last.
But once I found a credible alternative to paying hundreds or thousands for software, or using stolen software -- the first of which I can't do, the second I won't -- Linux and the distributions wrapped around it became too compelling not to use. And the protection from viruses -- whether due to the design of the OS or its relative lack of popularity among virus-creators -- is just cake. So it's a case of "come for the freeness, stay for the security."
I acknowledge the problems with wireless -- though I had plenty of problems with wireless in Windows 98 and 2000. Hell, I could barely get USB to work in Windows 98, and I upgraded to 2000 just to get my wireless working. It didn't last.
But once I found a credible alternative to paying hundreds or thousands for software, or using stolen software -- the first of which I can't do, the second I won't -- Linux and the distributions wrapped around it became too compelling not to use. And the protection from viruses -- whether due to the design of the OS or its relative lack of popularity among virus-creators -- is just cake. So it's a case of "come for the freeness, stay for the security."
Quoting:Matt's been busy. Three consecutive articles linked. Not that I read any of them.
I did that on purpose, to ease the pain..
> ..even to use Avast or AVG instead of Norton...
Or BitDefender, or Avira. And that's the ones I know of. I'm sure there are more. There's no reason for an individual user to pay for Norton or McAfee unless they just like spending money.
Or BitDefender, or Avira. And that's the ones I know of. I'm sure there are more. There's no reason for an individual user to pay for Norton or McAfee unless they just like spending money.
> I did that on purpose, to ease the pain..
And we appreciate it Scott. It makes it far easier to skip them.
And we appreciate it Scott. It makes it far easier to skip them.
It's like ripping off a bandage that crosses a lot of hairs, instead of carefully peeling it off slowly.
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