I'm picking this up to assist forward planning..
Volker Kuhlmann wrote:
Valuable learning - Linux can always be repaired, whereas Windoze is quite easily totalled... Or try another distro on this particular machine?
Ehm, not really. As far as I can see, the problem was that Robert didn't install the packages of the commands he wanted to use. Not really a SUSE problem, more a general one. Not solved by reinstalling. Reinstalling isn't usually the answer with Linux. More of a Redmond thing...
Volker
But there is still good in it, & lots we must learn from it.
The method comes from recycling, where software is seen as the final component. You can start with miscellaneous scrap, combine & test parts, eventually producing a fault-free system by repeated elimination of errors. The OS becomes key to that at the later stages, and satisfaction derives from producing a 100% reliable workstation (few other manufactures have such high tolerance demands), in the shortest possible time. Redmond would appear to have the best product for this purpose.
The point of mastering distro-swapping is that there seems to be such a wide divergence of OS hardware detection & driver package subsystems, where one still needs to find the best match for any unique system of parts, and in the the shortest possible time. Out of this process of deduction emerge "the best tools for the job".
Why do we need them? Popularising "Linux" or GNU/Linux - take your pick - will result from our entry into computer recycling, on an industrial scale. There is such a wealth of quality cheap equipment pouring onto the domestic market, from both the private & public sectors, that we should leave the top end of the market to M$ & Mac. Something like 50% of homes still lack a PC (&or net access) - this is our market. Our key selling points are training & communications - forget the gimmicks.
Why will GNU/Linux recycling succeed in a competitive market? - Because the final component costs nothing.
Let's keep it that way.
infohelp
-- GNU/Linux Users - charting the course prototype4: Mandrake/Fedora/SuSE-Gentoo/LFS-Debian/BSD-GNU/Hurd
