Hi Phill, Out of curiosity what distro are you using? Some are harder to work with and learn than others, and maybe you could try another. I started with Redhat, moved to Suse, and then Mandrake. Started with M8.0 and have migrated each step to M10C. They've certainly got easier, but the learning curve has been steep. Especially after years of using MS, and learning new ways of doing things.
And what do you want to do with the computer? I use two computers: Office. Mozilla, OpenOffice, Gaim and Yahoo IM, Wine (play solitaire sometimes), Acrobat, GIMP, and a few others. I originally installed M8 on this machine, and upgraded with each release except a fresh install with M9.2 because I installed a new hdd. M10 on this a little later. I've had/needed some expert advice and assistance on the odd occasion, but rock stable. Home. Same as above but Xmms, Gnutella, and a few other "play" apps. Installed M10C on this a while ago. I use this box to play music, learn how to do things without impacting my Office computer. The home box has got it's hdd in a plugable bay, and I've got a spare small hdd. When I want to try something, I just plug in the spare drive, poke around, and if I screw something up, then it doesn't matter. Maybe you aren't lost to us yet! Maybe there is someone who could build you the working software, with something like mondo to allow a complete system restore in the event of a problem. Try the hdd swap thingy. Good luck. Alan. Phil Waring wrote: >In my life have many mistakes been made. One of them perhaps was >requesting to be on your general mailing list. Newbie might have been >more appropriate, and safer. However, here we are, me (sic) writing and >You (plural) reading. > >Where you all are is not known to me. The quest for linux has lost a >little of its erstwhile luster. Surely microsoft products might include >improvements found by linux programmers. Perhaps that could be proven. >Perhaps not. > >Linux the operating system has been expensive to me, in time, if not in >effort. Still, there are features (scads of features) of Win 98 that >this user does not know about, forget turning such features on or off. >Books about both linux and m$ operating systems are outdated by the time >they are printed. Therefore, unless we as users try to help one another, >we might have no help at all. > >Please, do not confuse this writing with a crying out or a plea for help; >rather a statement of apparent fact. Surely some or all will disagree. >That is okay. Honest criticism is good. > >Neither has this writer any axe to grind. Sometimes indignation did >arise against m$ or Mr. Gates, but not now. If i can help him, i shall. >Perhaps the reader would prefer will to shall in that sentence. What >does such nit picking accomplish? > >pale face went home > >still hear > > > >_______________________________________________ >General mailing list >[email protected] >http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > >
