Oh, BTW, in the interest of making things easier in general, yesterday
I came across this site with lots of tutorials, so if anyone is
interested, here it is

http://stommel.tamu.edu/~baum/programming.html

Richard

On 12/11/06, Richard Hamel-Smith <richardhamelsmith@???> wrote:
> I, for one, am glad to hear it. I couldn't think what else to do.
> I have found 2.1 more forgiving that 2.3, tho' I'm not sure why.
> So, I actually have stuck with 2.1.
>
> Your problem was with the whole 2.x series tho'.
>
> Yesterday, I was trying to help a friend understand how to configure
> X-window and it came to me so strongly that the whole Free Software
> scene needs to be MUCH easier for people to understand. Observing how
> difficult it was for him to grasp the steps, made me remember how much
> pain it was for me to learn them. Pain that I have forgotten now, but
> was so much hell that I would actually re-install a distro rather than
> try to configure X-window. Now configuring X-window is easy, but the
> effort it took to learn, was really amazing. Just my plain
> stubbornness kept me going.
>
> And it could be made easier. It's just that no-one has gone the extra
> step to package a script that focuses, not on the technical issues,
> but on the needs of a newbie. I often think that where Microsoft got
> really smart, was in the use of wizards to walk people through
> configurations.
>
> Instead of a screen that just asks for values for IP address, netmask,
> gateway, driver, etc., there needs to be something that gently
> explains what an IP address is, why it is important, what a gateway
> is, what a netmask is, etc. And in words a newbie can understand. Not
> techo-jargon, like dotted-quad format.
>
> Anyhow, too early to start a rant. I'd glad you got it sorted out,
> Kris. Well done.
>
> Richard
>
> On 12/10/06, Kristofer Dale <barefoot@???> wrote:
> >
> > Okay, I finally tore my computers apart, and put all the best components
> > together in one system, and v2.x is able to access the internet now.
> > Lumumba is more forgiving of sketchy hardware setups, but I won't miss
> > it! Thanks to everyone who has helped out over the last few months, I've
> > learned more about what makes Linux "tick" in the process...
> >

> > .
> > .        _o              Kristofer Dale,
> > .     _ \<,_             ragged individualist,
> > .    ( )/ ( )            statistic at large...
> > .

> >
> > p.s. Learn and live, http://www.vitaletherapeutics.org
> > _______________________________________________
> > dynebolic mailing list
> > dynebolic@???
> > http://mailinglists.dyne.org/mailman/listinfo/dynebolic
> >
>