On Tue, 29 Aug 2000, you wrote:
> I like Linux as it is. I don't give a shit about prime
> time. Linux is a learning experience, more like PBS. If it
> turns into Saturday morning cartoons, I'll go with something
> else. Call me a snob I don't care.
>
> BTW I am not a programmer.
>
> Phil
>
Thats exactly my thoughts Phil.
If Linux became 'Prime-time' and everything was made to run perfectly first
time round then where would the learning experience be. This is one of the
major paradoxes that the Linux distributors, promoters and programmers must
face.
For me Linux has recaptured the days of my youth when, with my ZX81 and later
Spectrum, I would hide away for hours whilst typing in pages and pages of
program from a games magazine or trying to teach myself basic. Then came
Windows and I became a virtual zombie.
Now thanks to Linux, whilst others down tthe local pub are discussing the
finer arts of word processing and how to change their Windows 9x desktop
colours, I'm wrangling with the complexeties of LiLo configuration, shell
scripting and trying to teach myself C programing. I'm once again reliving
those distant and hazy days of youth when my world revolved around a spongey
rubber keypad and a 16k RAM pack precariously balanced against a school
textbook.
Linux has provided me with the answer of what can be done on those long cold
wintery nights when all thats keeping me going is a full perculator of coffee
and a sheer willfull desire to have this machine finally configured to my
liking. So what if I'm red eyed and blurry the next day at work at least I can
say that I know more about my system and computers in general than just knowing
how to point at something and click.
Andrew
