On Fri, 29 Jun 2001, Rick Engebretson wrote:
> Pardon me for being dumb, but a major hurdle to learning Linux is the
> directory.

  At least you don't call them "folders". :)

> The file  abbreviations are made for the text console and
> keyboard, but with a nice GUI a descriptive name system would really
> help.

  The concept of directory is the same in Linux and Windows.
  I think what you mean to say is that the names of the directories, and
why things are put in the place they are, is obscure. Nothing about "/etc"
says "configuration files" and nothing about "/var" says "logs and
spools".
  I found this difficult too in the beginning. Eventually you'll be used
to it.

> Also, the directory tree seems less than hierarcical.

  No, it's hierarchal. It's a perfect tree, unless you count symlinks and
hard links. Windows has a hierarchal directory structure, too, except for
the whole C drive, D drive thing.


> MS Windows (since 3.0) does have a very clean directory and system
> configuration structure.

  I disagree, but perception of "clean" is personal preference. To each
his (or her, or its) own.

> But even simple configuration of Linux isn't simple.

  I've used Red Hat and Debian, and found that configuration stuff with RH
can be confusing. I like Debian much better. Maybe try another distro.


  Just my take on the Windows -> Linux conversion.

  Dan