I expected a response as Debian is still quite popular in some circles. However, I have to disagree. The Debian installer is antiquated. It requires many more decisions up front than say PCLOS or Mint, two newbie friendly distros which handle all of the details. I believed the person needed help because he was new. Yes, experienced users have no problem with the installer. I agree.
Asking for Debian pre-installed is a joke for the reasons I explained. Debian is about as far from the mainstream as it can be. That is partially intentional. The rest is accomplished by the users who are the first to jump all over newbies who inadvertently use words such as Linux or Firefox. You will get harsh replies such as it is GNU/Linux and even be called names. I have seen it time and again in their forums and in blog replies. I once saw someone wishing to install Firefox called all sorts of names when he did not want Iceweasel, but the real thing. BTW, after much abuse, he got no help. Getting help for Debian is no problem provided you are familiar with the commandline (many newbies aren't) and you use the right language (many newbies don't know the terms or history). My intent was not to bash Debian, but tell it like it is. Sometimes the truth hurts. I think that Debian is an excellent distro, but not made for newbies. I think that there are many great people working on Debian, but think that their users are the rudest and most rigid minded out there. They are the Linux equivalent of the Moral Majority, IMO. This is a generalisation. There are many great Debian users, I am sure. However, it is the noisy ones who do the most damage, and there appears to be no shortage of them. I don't want to hijack this thread with defending decisions that Debian has made over the years, but would be glad to join in a discussion on a new thread. The fact is that Debian is in decline and they like to blame other distros, but they are in control of their own destiny. Fixing blame solves nothing. I would never advise a newbie to install Debian or Fedora for that matter. You point newbies to distros that are least likely to give them trouble. These include: Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS and SimplyMEPIS. Ubuntu would be next in line. I base this on years of experience installing hundreds of distros and helping newbies on line. They just have fewer problems if they use one of the above. If Debian wants to attract new users then they have some serious work to do. The starting point would be to get a nice looking easy to follow installer which requires a minimum of decisions to get a basic system installed. I get the feeling that they don't want to change. They want the end result without having to work for it. Or perhaps they just like to gripe. Roy 2009/10/15 Cavan Mejias <[email protected]> > I never found Debian very hard to install. The text-based installer > was pretty intuitive if you had done your research first. I used Etch 4.0 > for a long time, then moved to testing. > Using Debian isn't hard if you are willing to read and use Google. > Anyway, just my 0.02 c . > > Cheers > > 2009/10/14 Roy <[email protected]> > > You can buy desktop computers with many distros, but Debian isn't one of >> them. It is considered a do-it-yourself distro and on the extreme GNU fringe >> (ie. anti-Linux foundation, anti-proprietary, anti-many things). It is not >> user friendly nor have they made any effort to reach out to users and >> especially companies. You'd have a better chance finding someone willing to >> install it for you, but fat chance of that. Most are too grumpy IMO. They >> would rather users who can't do it for themselves use another distro, such >> as Ubuntu which they have great disdain for. And they wonder why Debian >> isn't popular. >> >> Roy >> >> 2009/10/14 online <[email protected]> >> >>> >>> And where can I buy a desktop computer with Debian? >>> >>> On 13 Okt., 22:09, sys49152 <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > On Oct 11, 1:04 pm, online <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > >>> > > Where can I simple buy Debianlinux stable version Hardware, i search >>> > > for Laptop with WWAN and long Akku capacity the power is not >>> > > important? I want a switzerland keyboard? >>> > >>> > Well I'd think if you do not strictly depend on Debian you should go >>> > for dell.com. >>> > Dell offers Ubuntu Linux Laptops. I don't know if they are available >>> > with a swiss keyboard layout. >>> > I have got one a German keyboard. >>> > Maybe Thinkpad Laptops from Lenovo are suitable to you. >>> > >>> > Good Luck >>> > Josef >>> >>> >> >> >> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Linux Users Group. To post a message, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit our group at http://groups.google.com/group/linuxusersgroup -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
