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?
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
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