> But learning is the best part of the OS.
> It is what makes it more fun to use than Windows, because anyone can fix
it
> without a $20,000 license for the source code, to see what makes it tick.
> And anyone can put in their code to make it better. Even if the code is
only
> an idea for a future feature like making DOSEMU work for anyone out of the
> box.
(fixing code and putting your own code in is exclusively for programers.)
I totally agree and am not giving up on learning Linux. Learning an OS is
one thing. Learning programming to be able to use it is another. It is the
configuration issues that have been a stumbling problem for me and I am sure
many others. I do not want to harp on DOSEMU (in which I am only interested
because I wanted to "see" if I could run dos apps under linux) but if one
goes to the howto, readme and man pages for dosemu (all of which I have
spent hours on) they do require substantial programming experience to use
them. So it becomes not just a matter of learning the OS (which is
reasonable to expect) but one also has to learn programming as well. Below
is an example on the etc/dosemu.config (which is needed to configure and use
dosemu):
................................................
# Notes for editing this section:
#
# In $_xxx = (n) n is a numerical or boolean value
# = =
# In $_zzz = "s" s is a string
#
# Please edit only beteen the brakets and quotes and keep the rest intact.
# ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
$_debug = "-a" # same format as -D commandline option
# (but without the -D in front)
$_features= "" # list of temporary hacks, see release notes in
# the file ChangeLog. e.g "0:1 2:0", which means
# to set feature_0 to 1 and feature_2 to 0.
$_mapping= "" # prefered mapping driver, one of:
# auto, mapself, mapfile, mapshm
..............................
and here is an example for the etc/dosemu.users file (needed to configure
who can use dosemu besides root:
default_lib_dir= /var/lib/dosemu
log_level= 0
root c_all # root is allowed to do all weird things
nobody nosuidroot guest # variable 'guest' is checked in /etc/dosemu.conf
# to allow only DEXE execution
guest nosuidroot guest # login guest treated as 'nobody'
...............................................
I am sure this appears very simple and straightforward to "someone who can
fix the code or put your own code in", but you have to admit they require
some understanding of programming if one is not to make a total mess of it.
That is the catch: -not just learning a new OS but ALSO needing to learn
programming (not to mention compiling, etc.) just to use the OS. All of
which I am doing, but it is probably too much to expect from 99% of
potential users who are not programmers or have computer science degrees.
It would be a shame to leave all those to Gates. After all we could have
the ultimate open unrestricted system by eliminating the C interface and
requiring users to be able to write machine code to be able to configure
it - but that would cut out even more people than the present programmers
interface does!
Now let's be fair. I _WILL_ master this. I am just showing my frustration;
and also my concern that a Linux interface should be forthcoming that will
allow normal non-programmers to use the OS. I also understand that this is
in the works and already great strides have been made which are amazing with
more to come. The code will still be there for those who can use it and the
simpler interface for those who need it.
Excuse my frustration. I'm really on your side :-(
Jeff Malka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Registered Linux user 183185
