the problem with Linux?

[Howard Gibson]

On Tue, 13 Apr 2004 16:21:45 -0400
Fraser Campbell <fraser-eicrhRFjby5dCsDujFhwbypxlwaOVQ5f at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> On Tuesday 13 April 2004 10:17, Howard Gibson wrote:
> 
> >    I have just left my Red Hat 8 laptop over at my mother's place. 
> > Hopefully, she will like it better than the various Windows 95/98 machines
> > she has had access to (i.e. hopefully it will work :)
> 
> It should work out fine ... my mother's been running Linux for about 18 
> months, I told her that if she wanted to continue receiving my help then she 
> had to run Linux.  It might have been blackmail but she hasn't looked back. 
> It takes me 2.5 hours to drive to her place but I have never had to do so on 
> account of the computer (luckily the one drive failure was not the boot 
> drive).
> 
> >    If everything works out, I will be looking for a way to build a user
> > friendly linux desktop.  I figure that my primary requirement is for a good
> 
> ? You mean "apt-get install kde" or "apt-get install gnome" ;-)
> 
> >    I have spent around eight years running Linux.  Can anyone suggest good
> > beginner's literature?
> 
> What is it that you want documented?  "Linux" is a huge topic once you get 
> beyond the kernel:
> 
> - filesystems, daemons, networking
> - X, KDE, GNOME, ???
> - Openoffice
> - programming/development
> - all of the above
> 
> There are books that "cover" a lot of topics skin deep, they weigh enough to 
> kill a gorilla, personally I don't find them useful.  I'm not saying 
> documentation isn't needed, I'm just wondering what you need.

Fraser,

   This is a grandmother who wants to do email and some web surfing.  I don't think programming is a big issue.  The important thing is that the machine not reconfigure itself every week, with or without the help of grandchildren.  :)

   A little online security doesn't hurt.

-- 
Howard Gibson 
hgibson-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org
howard-42qnO8ePF9cV+D8aMU/kSg at public.gmane.org 
http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson
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