Rich-
That's very interesting.
I came to computers fairly late, it not being my primary technology. But
between keeping planes (and ships) from being hit by radar controlled
missiles and helping put men on the moon I very early on set up a "key
sort" aka "edge notch" data card sorting system out of necessity. It was
practical and worked well and was a way of getting the job done fast, if
cheap and dirty, while bypassing the often arrogant "white coats" in
their sacred Computer Control Rooms and all that entailed.
My first hands-on exposure to a real computer was with a PDP-8 running
BASIC at the U of Ills Grad School of Electrical Engineering. It made my
socks zip up and down and I knew I had to be part of it. I soon met up
with Fortran IV while teaching at Cal Poly SLO using both timeshare and
an IBM 360/40 via Hollerith cards. (Echos of key sort?) Coming in 2nd in
my HS typing class was finally paying off. Do they still teaching typing
in school? Then came a DEC-10 and my own key to the control room. :-D.
As a consultant to Tandy Corp I helped spec out TRS-DOS, then wrote the
BASIC Language Tutorial book that went in the TRS-80 box. Tandy had a
perfect early entre to this brave new field, but the same mentality that
decades later would destroy Radio Shack torpedoed this very timely and
innovative mass produced Volkswagen of personal computers, and what
could have followed. I went on the write /The BASIC HANDBOOK,
//Encyclopedia//of The BASIC Language/, and dozens of other best selling
computer books translated into many foreign languages.
So aside from programming the Altair and Imsai and others in their
native machine languages I led a fairly sheltered computer life and came
a bit late to Linux, mostly as an investor. And having little need now
for its special features I just enjoy playing with it for Office and Ham
Radio and watching it mature.
73 Dave W7DAL
P.S. My wife did much better early on with a portable using Xfce than
the same computer with Windows. But when she got an iPad that was all
over. Nothing can touch an iPad when it comes to Grandmas keeping in
global video contact with the kids and Grandkids. (Yes, being an early
adopter I know about Skype.) We have bought nearly a dozen iPads now and
if one goes bad it is instantly replaced. The operating system is
irrelevant to 99% of the worlds real computer users. Also the fact that
they come from Apple.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 5/12/2018 2:03 PM, Rich Shepard wrote:
On Sat, 12 May 2018, Dave Lien - W7DAL wrote:
Thanks for the comments. I came up the same route with Red Hat,
Mandrake, SUSE, Slackware and a dozen others along the way. But
currently recommend MINT to newbies since it is hassle-free to
install and update, looks a lot like windows (yea I know...) and
meets the needs of almost everyone at that end of the learning curve.
Their needs are simple and straightforward.
Dave,
I first used fvwm2 as the linux X window manager; it was too much
like M$
and I quickly found Xfce which I've used since then. For me, computers
are
tools: means to an end, not an end in themselves.
Slackware installations and upgrades continue to be 'hassle-free' as
long
as one reads and follows the directions.
I still miss the command line days of MSDOS and LDOS so relate to
those who prefer it in Linux.
Having used 80-column Hollerith punch cards for S/360 FORTRAN code
and JCL
(Job Control Language) system commands, punched tape on DEC VAXes, and
the
command line on Primes and other mini-computers it's more efficient
for me
(a touch-typist thanks to Army Intelligence School training during the
Vietnam war).
But the overwhelming percent of Linux users are probably looking for the
simplest and most effective way to get their job done with the least
amount of hassle.
This can be the command line or the graphical interface. Both are
effective and likely depend more on how one grew up. Those too young
to have
used typewriters (electric or manual) and know only their pocket
computers
(a/k/a 'smartphones') prefer pictures. Each to their own taste. Linux
offers
choices (sometimes too many) whereas Microsoft and Apple offer none to a
few.
Now that there is lots of relevant high-volume end user software
available
IMHO that's the only way Linux will accelerate its acceptance...
I think this holds true regardless of the underlying system
distribution.
On many end-user mail lists (e.g., GnuCash) the most cries for help come
from those running some flavor of windoze or a ubuntu. I've a friend who
knows very little about computers but she's been running Slackware
with Xfce
on her laptops for many years now. Of course, this makes it real easy
for me
to keep it upgraded and security patched. Virtually every issue she
encounters comes from the the fingers on top of the keyboard, not the
system
itself.
Carpe weekend,
Rich
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