What about post-installfest support?

[Walter Dnes]

On Sat, May 07, 2005 at 12:34:40AM -0400, David J Patrick wrote
> Walter Dnes wrote:
> 
> >  So a Windows user comes to our installfest, and gets some version of
> >linux going.  What do they do when they run into a problem?
> >
> This is THE question ! Even if the install goes flawlessly (unlikely) a
> fresh n00b is going to run into things they don't understand; things
> that (if they have nowhere to turn) will make them crazy !

  One problem that I can see immediately is X configuration.  Unless
they bring their 19" CRT to the install-fest, or have a model identical
to one at the fest, the safest we can do is give them a VGA display-config.
Then someone would have to finish it off at home.

  LCD monitors suck at interpolated resolutions which aren't whole-number
fractions of their native resolution.  A native 1600 X 1200 would be
great at 800 X 600 or 400 X 300.  A native 1280 X 1024 would be great at
640 X 512 or 320 X 256.  A native 1024 X 768 would be great at 512 X 384.
Any other setting looks crummy.

  There are sites on the web that will generate the appropriate modelines
for you, assuming of course that you know which model of monitor you
have, and what its horizontal and vertical frequency ranges are.  That
is one item I would much rather configure in person than try to talk a
linux-newbie through over the phone.

> >    other groups.  In Gentoo linux, the answer id "gpasswd".
> >[snip]
> >  - PCI modems will *NOT* work under Gentoo as ttyS0..ttyS3.
> >
> Thats why we're not going to recommend Gentoo for n00bs, right ;-) ?

  And what is the Debian or Suse equivalant of gpasswd?  As for PCI
modems, I've tried various linux distros.  In some, my PCI modem worked,
in others it didn't.  It wasn't until I started mucking around in Gentoo
that I found out *WHY*, and how to solve the problem.  The main problem
with Gentoo is that a really optimal install can't be done in 2 hours.
I've puttered around a couple of days in my latest install on my second
machine.  Mind you, I've been experimenting, "screwing around" might be
a more appropriate description.

  Once the initial grunt work is done, it's simple to maintain.  Once a
week...
emerge --sync
emerge --update --deep --ask --world

  Unless there's a security alert, you do not need to update kernels
every time a new .01 version comes out.  Non-experimental packages are
easy to add.  What's the Suse or Fedora or Debian equivalant of saying
"emerge mplayer"?  How many people with Suse or Fedora or Debian have
managed to get mplayer running?  Dependancy dll-hell doesn't exist on
Gentoo.  I install a basic stripped-down text console only setup.  The
command "emerge gimp" calculates dependancies and builds 31 packages.
After that, I configure X, and I have a working X and gimp.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
An infinite number of monkeys pounding away on keyboards will
eventually produce a report showing that Windows is more secure,
and has a lower TCO, than linux.
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