Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 14:32:29 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Steve M <slavik944@metconnect.com> Cc: tedm@toybox.placo.com, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD vs linux (some venting) Message-ID: <20010124143229.R37060@wantadilla.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <20010122154800.29703.cpmta@c004.sfo.cp.net>; from slavik944@metconnect.com on Mon, Jan 22, 2001 at 07:48:00AM -0800 References: <20010122154800.29703.cpmta@c004.sfo.cp.net>
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[Format recovered--see http://www.lemis.com/email/email-format.html] Your lines were up to 240 characters long. On Monday, 22 January 2001 at 7:48:00 -0800, Steve M wrote: >>> The *nix OS' lack sufficient documentation for the average >>> user. I'm a little above the average user so I've >> >> What an insult! What about my book that was just >> released? And what about Greg's book "The Complete FreeBSD" >> that has been out longer than that? What is lacking in those >> efforts? And, the bookstores are stuffed with Linux books!! >> >> Your not going to get a manual, bound and all >> that, for the $30 distribution cost of the CDs! For that matter >> you don't get a manual with Microsoft's products either unless >> you spend $150 for the Resourse Kit >> >>> >>> I'm not a geek nor do I profess to be one, I just dont have >>> the time to putz around with a minor thing as >>> compared to MS's way of doing something. >>> >> >> If you took someone who has never seen, never touched a computer >> before and sat them in front of a FreeBSD system, I wager it would >> take just as long to train them to use it as to train them to >> use Windows. MS's way only seems easier because you learned it >> first. >> >>> But I dislike MS for their business practices if anything, >>> they totally insist on doing things in such a way >>> that is to pretend there is no other way besides their way. >>> >> >> Right - because they market to one-dimensional users that are >> scared if they are given 2 different ways to solve a problem, >> and asked to choose the best one. >> >>> Thanks for letting me vent and I hope I've got this stupid >>> email formatted in a readable form. > > Let me point out a few things that I've found lacking in Greg's book, > > One is the reference to creating a link to the /var directory and > moving it to /user/var. I did that procedure *exactly*, as in to > the letter. What I got was either the directory not being about to > mount upon boot up. Having experienced that I decided I move > /usr/var back to /var hoping it would go back to the way it was > supposed to. When it mounted the contents of the directory had > disappeared I unmounted it forcefully and they had reappeared. Oh > well so now I dont mount it on boot up. I fiddled with /etc/fstab > with no success. Hmm. I've heard of a couple of people having problems with this procedure. I haven't heard of any having problems when they really did it exactly as described, but obviously it's a good way to shoot yourself in the foot, and I have a different recommendation for the next edition. > One other thing is setting up PPP, I've went over the suggestions in > that chapter on setting it up and have not succeded in setting up my > internet connection. That's a popular problem. > I've tried to use kppp from my xwin only to find that my modem hangs > when it attempts to initialize. I dont need to be told that it is a > modem issue in this case, it is slowly dawning on me. Don't count on it. kppp is unsupported, and it might have bugs. It's also not the "UNIX way" to do things. > Using ppp at the prompt, it dials out easy enough but doesnt log in. > This particular issue has already been addressed by other people on > this list. Yes, that's possibly a compatibility problem. > That and when I execute the CDplayer in xwin it complains about me > not having permission.....I was in root. Again, not part of FreeBSD. I'm sure there's somebody on this list who can help you. > Ok, I will concede that I was being harsh about the lack of > documentation. There is documentation but so far from what I have > seen there are *minor* discrepencies. Not something I would base my > judgment on if someone was wanting to convert to *nix. There *is* a lack of documentation about the Ports Collection. That's largely out of our hands, though. > Regarding Linux, I own the Running Linux (cowboy on the horse book > by ORielly), it pretty helpful and I'm sure there are other books I > can look at to get the answer. But I dont want to spend 40-50 bucks > on book after book to get an answer. I found that particular book rather unhelpful. It seemed too vague to me. > Don't forget that I also mentioned, what I feel is a legitamite > gripe against RedHat or Linux, at one point when I was composing an > email on my Linux WS my browser disappered. At the time I was > composing a pretty big email. Well, I could say "well, what does that have to do with your mail". But I suppose that was Netscape, over which we also have no control. A real MUA is much more flexible and much, much more reliable than Netscape. > Basically what I'm trying to say is that there are places where *nix > isnt the end all be all like some people would like me to belive. > Just like MS wants me to belive. But dont mistake my complaints as > crucifixion, when I have to choose between OS' I'm always leaning > towards the *nix side. Sure, that's why I said "tell me what's wrong", not "what an insult". We can always improve things. 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