That is a bit of a chicken and egg scenario then isn't it? It's all in the docs and failing that, the Mandrake lists will get you an answer usually within 10 minutes. I am not so sure of an easy way to fix what you describe. I always try and have ay least 1 box connected/connectable to the net whilst troubleshooting a box for the exact scenario you have elucidated. Any ideas how to better overcome these problems that you can see?
From recent experience I've found that different distributions have a
wide and varied set of programs with many of them having different and non-intuitive names.
This could be largely mitigated if there was packaged with each o/s some kind of guide that informed you of the standard utils and files for configuring that system.
What I'm trying to avoid.
"That's FooBar Linux you say?"
<thought process>I've only extensively configured Mandrake, Knoppix, oh, and dabbled with Redhat & Gentoo</thought process>
"I'll see if I can help."
What I'm hoping can be achieved.
"That's FooBar Linux you say?"
<thought process>Never used it before but if I look over there it'll say configuring is done through xyz and xyzzy</thought process>
"Not a problem."
-- Paul Wilkins
