On Fri, 04 May 2007 19:50:05 +0100, Mark Kent wrote:
> nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <nessuno@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> On May 4, 7:45 am, Roy Schestowitz <newsgro...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Don't be afraid, Linux isn't just for geeks
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Let no one say that Linux -- specifically Ubuntu and Kubuntu --
>>> | isn't a beautiful, mature operating system. It installs quickly
>>> | and easily.
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/andrewkantor/2007-05-04-linux_...
>>>
>>
>> In the article he says Ubuntu does not pass the 'Mom and Pop' test. I
>> think he's right, if Mom and Pop have someone to set it up for them,
>> then they can use it for many ordinary tasks perfectly well, and
>> probably they will like it. (My wife does.) But I just finished
>> setting up a dialup connection in Ubuntu, and while it was not
>> difficult for me, it did take some hours of research and fooling
>> around on the computer. It was necessary to do some software
>> installation (after reading a book about repositories and apt-get,
>> etc), because the default Ubuntu LTS installation did not
>> automatically include dialup software (you can do it as an
>> administrator, using your password, but if you want a user point-and-
>> click you have to set it up). Given the number of dialup
>> installations out there, it seems to me this process should be made
>> easier, and the software should be installed by default. The Ubuntu
>> Linux Bible, which I bought, did not mention any of the things I
>> needed to do to set up dialup (I think the author just assumed
>> everyone has broadband). I found the information I needed in an
>> Ubuntu Howto, but even if Mom and Pop had found this, it would not
>> have been easy for them. The situation will be better in the future,
>> but I can't judge right now how big a task that will prove to be (I
>> fear a large one). Shuttleworth recently made some remarks to a
>> similar effect about ordinary users.
>>
>
> There is a truly fundamental problem here - so far, not one single
> operating system has ever been designed to be installed by a normal
> person. Ever. Nobody has done it - everything has either assumed a
> technical person, or been a pre-install.
>
> The Debian guys did a really good job of getting package management
> so well organised that it knocks the spots off anything from the world
> of Windows, however, some tasks remain difficult. Setting up dial-up
> networking in Windows has never been particularly easy, indeed, most ISPs
> used to send out CDRoms with some kind of macros on board to automatically
> configure the "DUN" bit of Windows machines.
>
> I would point out that PPP is part of the default Debian install, and
> in the older installs, it used to be set up during the OS install, at
> least as an option, anyway - I've not done it for a long time so I do
> not know if it's still that way.
>
> What I think we need to see is PPP config files being posted by ISPs so
> that they could be downloaded and installed relatively simply. You
> could take this a step further by having an ISP equivalent to the PPD
> files for CUPs - how about the world's ISPs post a ppp.config file onto
> a central respository, and when you need to install, you go onto that
> site and download it?
>
>
Never had this problem with mandriva, all I had to do is download my modem
drivers and install them then go to kppp and select modem then add the
phone number and I am ready to go.
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