"C. CLOSE" wrote:
>
> Hi Greppers & Groaners,
>
> What a sound thread this is I have but one suggestion that
>would help
> thos with only one blade to their prop.
>
> I used to use ESIX SVR4 before I moved (most of the time) to Linux. I
> used the following ploy many a time when I was learning the ropes. Many
> Man pages do have examples if you look for them ( mkisofs is an example)
> if on SVR4 in Xterm all I used to do was list the man page that I wanted
> and then kill the man app which on that system did not clear the screen
> but left you with the part of the man page you needed I could then just
> copy the command line to the command prompt and run it. This taught me
> not only the command but the general syntax of the Bourne shell; of
> course to do this in X is even easier just open two terminals and you
> can cut and paste.
>
> If it was a "Manual Page" standard to have the most commonly used
> command line parameters for the program in the 2 or 3 examples then
> there would be no problem. One could even have a man page of most
> commonly used syntaxes.
>
> The reality is though, that Linux/UNIX is a powerful and complex
> operating system with many tools that can work alone or in combination
> with each other and to get the best out of it requires of necessity a
> full understand of why it is the way it is. To many that subscribe to
> this list it is a thing of beauty and elegance but to the average
> Windows user who wants to change to another OS it can be an absolute
> nightmare (just read some of the "newbie" list).
>
> There is a simple answer to this and that is to make the distros less
> complex. What pray is the point of having five different desktops
> installed on a system. Here's a very simple reason why it's a bad plan.
> If I am running Windows as an ignorant user and find something I don't
> know how to do I can ring up my friend Marcia down the road and ask
> "have you managed to do this yet?" if she hasn't I ring my friend John
> in the next town and low and behold he's done it and talks me through
> the procedure on his screen. I'm sure you see the point.
>
> The real beauty of a free OS implemented in this way is that once people
> become proficient and used to the basic operation of the system they can
> go to any number of websites and download a more sophisticated desktop,
> application or whatever when they desire. I believe that Linux will not
> succeed until some steps are taken to limit it's diversity.
>
> 'Scuse the rant
>
> Regards,
>
> Colin H. Close
Blackbox rules! I like how that it can support all the "others" while
being lightweight and functional. Might be an "edge" too light for the
casual MS , KDE, and Gnome users but my cup of tea, nonetheless. I
personally, am confused by the complexity of KDE and Gnome as a whole
but I understand their strong point. I just wish that there was a
"magical" way to make the two "interchangeable" down to the programming
level.
my $.02
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