On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 19:40, you wrote: > Hi there, > > Nick Rout wrote: > > strangely there a number of reviews about that say distros like > > mandrake have easier installs than XP. > > No doubt there...my friend at work and her boyfriend just got > a new Athlon PC with win xp...took her several goes to get the > 50 digit activation right! > > > I certainly find gentoo an easier install to get _working_ than any > > version of windows, but i'm not a newbie. (tongue in cheek only > > slightly) Gentoo only needs literacy, and I don't mean _computer_ literacy either, on behalf of the installer now that the major packages are available as pre-compiled binaries on the 2nd. cdrom. You literally only have to be able to copy and type a few commands at the command line. The genkernel utility works pretty well configureing and compiling the kernel and modules. The PIII version works a _treat_, but there are 'issues' with the i686 version.
> I have to agree that installing a new version of Windows is yuck, > but people buying a PC will already have Windows installed on it. > If they can accurately type a 50 digit number they can even start > using it! ;-) That's wonderful news. Microsoft have actually made a hurdle for the bozos to keep them out of news-groups and forums. :-) > > seriously though Chris, did you find mandrake that hard? > > The installer was brilliant I thought, but my previous *nix > experience was limited to Solaris/Irix terminal access, and a > brief play with Linux/68k on a 32MHz 68030 Atari...I had a lot > of learning to do with KDE etc...more so than when I first tried > Windows 2.x/3.x/95 all those years ago... > > Installing software from the net is a classic example, with the > multitude of different methods used by the different distros in > my humble opinion being one major hurdle to gaining major brownie > points over Windows. Installshield is dead simple...even my silly > work friend has already figured that out, but I know she couldn't > source a Linux game, download an RPM, and install that without a > serious lesson. I've used Linux 7 months now and I'm still quite > lost on many issues... > > The simplification of some little issues like that will greatly > help us 'sell' the concept of linux to the Windows masses... "emerge vegastrike" is less than 50 characters. :-) My 13 and a half year old has been doing that kind of command for about 18 months now. -- Sincerely etc., Christopher Sawtell
