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Deaf ears. |
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On 9/19/05, Andrew Gaffney <agaffney@g.o> wrote: |
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> |
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> Paul J. Wilson wrote: |
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> > The way I see it, the problem is not about the gentoo installer, but a |
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> > problem of perceptions between the developers and the users. There is a |
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> > further division between the "power users" and the "noobs". |
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> > |
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> > It's easier said than done, but each side should step outside their own |
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> > experience. To a developer, "easy" meains opening VI and drawing on |
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> > their knowledge of hot keys and bash syntax. To the average user, "easy" |
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> > means selecting options from a menu , or not selecting anything at all |
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> > to have things turn out as intended. |
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> |
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> To me, "easy" means following the very clear directions layed out for you |
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> in the |
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> install guide and being able to use nano. I may be wrong, but I believe my |
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> cat |
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> can use nano. |
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> |
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> > Regular, everyday users tend not to have the time to spend on the finter |
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> > points of linux and gentoo in particular. If the aim of the gentoo |
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> > installer project is to make Gentoo more accessable to these types of |
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> > users, then it's not unreasonable to expect these users to reach out |
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> |
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> That's not the aim. The aim is to make installs *faster* and more |
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> automated...not easier. |
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> |
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> > It's also obvious from the responses that some users do NOT find the |
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> > handbook accessable. This can't be simply explained away by lack of |
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> > intelligence. Again, what is obvious to some is not obvious to others, |
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> > especially those who are not trained to think in technical terms. |
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> > Brushing off the questions of every-day users as the work of "noobs" is |
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> > a very easy and sloppy thing to do. |
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> |
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> People who can't follow the handbook are people that can't pay attention |
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> long |
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> enough to read a complete sentence. If someone can't install Gentoo |
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> because of |
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> ADD, that's not our problem. |
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> |
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> > There is a huge disconnect happening here. On the one hand, the Gentoo |
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> > front matter seems to state that Gentoo is "all about choices" and goes |
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> > on to strongly imply that the distribution can be all things to all |
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> > users. There are a sub-set of users who 1. don't find the detail and |
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> > fine-point instruction in the manual helpful 2. don't have the time to |
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> > manually configure everything or 3. are not computer literate. It's |
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> > obvious that there are large numbers of people who want to use gentoo |
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> > but whose needs are not being met. I have the impression that the |
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> > gentoo-installer project is an attempt to meet the needs of such users. |
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> |
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> Gentoo is not exactly targeted at *any* of those groups of users. As |
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> stated |
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> above, that is *not* the intention of the installer. |
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> |
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> -- |
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> Andrew Gaffney http://dev.gentoo.org/~agaffney/ |
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> Gentoo Linux Developer Installer Project |
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> -- |
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> gentoo-installer@g.o mailing list |
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> |
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> |