From: "Scott Glasgow"
Boy, I'm glad that when I started with MS-DOS 3.11 back in the eighties
that stuff wasn't required. Oh, wait... I forgot. It _was_ required. Had
to go through all that nasty stuff like learning the operating system, how
the file system worked, FDISK, FORMAT, the PATH and all those other nasty
environment variables, batch files... you know, all that ugly ol' computer
stuff, before I could actually get anything done on my... umm, computer.
Scott,
Had I carried on with the Commmodore 64 in 1984 I would have done too...
By the time I got back to it I had forgotten - and Windows is the great
seducer...
Sorry, Joseph, couldn't resist. ;-) The way you worded that, "As far as I
can see it needs command line instructions (GASP!!) to load any
programs... ," as if a command line were some sort of mysteriously
inscribed pentagram into which only the most intrepid and powerful wizards
might venture,
Question of energy and priorities; As you note from my mail a few hours
ago (on the social list) I might not be in my present pickle if I had
learned it! But this hal.dll problem prevented DOS too!, and then even the
linux. was not available. I wonder if I did pick up a virus that caused it
all.
just was too big an opening not to take a shot at.
FWIW, I don't know one-tenth as much about the xNix command line as I did
about MS-DOS, and probably never will. At the time, it was not an option
to NOT know DOS if you were a programmer and power user (an archaic term
which referred to Those Who Knew);
Yes, I did take a few bold steps.
it was a given. Now, I write application
programs, and develop Web sites, for the Windows environment, so it's not
strictly a necessity anymore for the environment which is my current
milieu. Given the amount of time and money I have invested in becoming an
MCP, and in Windows development tools, I may never become an xNix power
user, because for me the need does not exist. However, if the need, or
desire, were to arise, I have no doubt that I could learn the arcania of
the xNix command line as readily as I did the DOS command line. In fact,
they are quite similar, after all, and this being the "second time
around," so to speak, I would probably pick it up more quickly than during
my first stumbling efforts to figure out "just what the hell is going on
here?"
That's really my position with what I do use. I'm in a 'Jack of all
trades' position - and decidedly mastering none ;-)
The command line is still powerful, even in these XP times. Occasionally
when I have a problem nowadays I drop to a command prompt to run ipconfig,
telnet, or some other CLI-based app that is still the best and most
appropriate way to do things. I've even written a few cmd (batch) files
for various purposes. For example, to switch between HOSTS files when the
customized one I've got (to block 95% of Web advertisements) blocks a site
I want to see. There are still tasks which are done much more efficiently
at the command line than in Windows. DEL *.bak /S from the root of a drive
will banish every single file with a "bak" extension from the drive
without having to search them out in Explorer and mark them for deletion.
Changing the attributes of all those read-only files you just transferred
from CDR requires only ATTRIB -r *.* /s.
Three seconds at the command line can save you tons of time and effort in
Explorer, and more efficiently, as well, since the OS doesn't have
middle-aged eyes, or concentration, that misses files that should be
included. You might really want to consider spending just a tad more time
finding out what the command line has to offer. It is similar to the
language of mathematics in a sense--a very small vocabulary and a limited
syntax which is nonetheless capable of describing and manipulating a very
large universe of ideas and processes.
Good advice, for which thanks. Maybe...
Cheers,
Scott
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." --
Arthur C. Clarke
.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Harris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 6:01 AM
Subject: Re: [wdvltalk] [OT] spam menace from Korea
Mandrake Linux 10 p[enguin, as offered by Personal Computer World over a
year ago. As far as I can see it needs command line instructions to
load
any programs (there are a few very basic ones already in) and I have not
have the spare brain power to really get down to yet another new world.
I also wanted to be able to communicate fairly easily between this and Xp
which seems impossible if the two OSs can't be available at the same time
(except by sending missives via the net! or CDs). I do have something
more
recent with a p[enguin that stays on a disc with some facility for
talking
to Bill Gates, but I need a DVD writer to make the disc.
And I am slowly sinking under a workload that has me 'sharpening pencils'
furiously ;-)
Joseph
Well, no, I think a foot has touched bottom and I am getting near the
beach,
but I'm still nostril deep.
Joseph Harris
www.smilepoetryweekly.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Glasgow" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 5:45 AM
Subject: Re: [wdvltalk] [OT] spam menace from Korea
>I put p[enguin on my otherwise Xp Dell; I haven't even worked out
>how
to
> add programs...
p[enguin? add programs? to what?
Please enlighten.
Cheers,
Scott
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