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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 their |
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knowledge of hot keys and bash syntax. To the average user, "easy" means |
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selecting options from a menu , or not selecting anything at all to have |
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things turn out as intended. |
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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 installer |
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project is to make Gentoo more accessable to these types of users, then it's |
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not unreasonable to expect these users to reach out somewhere for |
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instruction. The fact that they DO reach out to the developers is an |
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indication that 1. the answers are not obvious to them and 2. they are |
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INTERESTED and willing to participate at some level. The fact that their |
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interest, ability or level of participation does not match the same |
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characteristics of the developers should not matter. Not everyone thinks |
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alike. Not everyone has the same interests. Almost everyone wants to |
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compute. |
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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. Brushing |
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off the questions of every-day users as the work of "noobs" is a very easy |
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and sloppy thing to do. |
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|
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There is a huge disconnect happening here. On the one hand, the Gentoo front |
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matter seems to state that Gentoo is "all about choices" and goes on to |
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strongly imply that the distribution can be all things to all users. There |
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are a sub-set of users who 1. don't find the detail and fine-point |
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instruction in the manual helpful 2. don't have the time to manually |
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configure everything or 3. are not computer literate. It's obvious that |
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there are large numbers of people who want to use gentoo but whose needs are |
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not being met. I have the impression that the gentoo-installer project is an |
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attempt to meet the needs of such users. |
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|
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I applaud the efforts of the installer devs and Gentoo at large. I use |
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Gentoo on 5 machines, including this laptop. I think the installer is a |
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great idea. |
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|
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I hope this honest and heartfelt criticism reaches you as intended: with |
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respect and earnestness. I've been lurking on the mailing list a long time |
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and I finally decided to throw in my two bits. |
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|
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Take Care |
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|
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Paolo |
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|
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On 9/19/05, Michael Miller <1337mail@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> |
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> I dislike the idea of a quiz to use the installer. As much as I hate to |
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> admit it, I am a "newbie" to gentoo, to some degree. However, I did manage |
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> to fairly easily install it by reading the handbook. It is pretty much just |
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> following directions, being very time consuming(took me about 2-3 days to |
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> get my first gentoo box up). I think personally, that a special guide should |
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> be written for the installer detailing everything needed to be done. If you |
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> are very insistant upon getting rid of the "newbies" in the IRC channel, and |
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> insist on having some kind of quiz, I'd make a quiz to enter the IRC |
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> channel. |
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> Not to rant on, but my stance on gentoo, albeit against many of the |
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> developers, is that it is a fast operating system. That is, in my view, the |
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> only thing seperating it from other distros save for portage. Many people |
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> like to tweak every last bit of performance out of gentoo, which is great! |
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> However, I think gentoo should indeed be more user friendly. Don't get me |
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> wrong-I CAN install gentoo, and edit configuration files, but it is very |
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> time consuming, and not time efficent for me. I wish gentoo was very easy to |
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> install(like redhat), and included an easy to use configuration tweaker |
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> where you could EASILY change your cflags for basic optimizations for |
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> specific processors(you could select p4, amd64, etc etc). You would of |
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> course be able to manually edit it as well. The thing that I find so |
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> daunting about linux, as compared to windows, is the fact that you have to |
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> know what almost every single file does. Wanna change your sound card? You |
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> have to know where /etc/alsa is. It is these kinds of things that frustrate |
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> me. Don't get me wrong, I know MANY, if not all but me on this mailing list, |
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> are opposed to catering to end users who don't want to have to memorize a 40 |
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> page guide to know how to install gentoo in their head, but I think it would |
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> be a good idea to have gentoo easy to configure. I'm not saying someone who |
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> doesn't know how to install Windows will know how to setup and run a gentoo |
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> installation, but I think it should be easier to run then it currently is. |
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> On another side note I things that the thing that is blocking linux from |
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> the end user are application installation, and driver installation. Come up |
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> with an easy way to do both of these, and i'll never use win32 again :). |
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> Again, I want to reidorate, I realize that the main focus of gentoo is to |
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> cater to so called "power users" who know everything about Linux, and tweak |
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> everything in it. I just wish that I could have a tweakable operating system |
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> without reading 40 pages each time I installed it! |
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> Sorry for the long rant :), |
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> Mike |
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> |