RE: [TCLUG:179] A Linux newbie needs some advice

[Christopher Reid Palmer <jaymz@acm.cs.umn.edu>]

On Tue, 12 May 1998, Jeff Fellows wrote:

> The MS family installs by splattering hidden unreadable files onto a
> harddrive nilly willy,

"Willy nilly"...that pretty much summarizes the Unix filesystem
architecture.

> Unix on the other hand is neatly laid out with an underlying logic, with
> files that are meant to be altered by humans.

...with each configuration file requiring completely different formats,
each more confusing than the last.

> Remember gui's are for pc weenies!  Keep to the command line.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you're joking.

> Go through /bin and with the help of the man pages identify what each file
> does.

This is superior to a consistent, graphical interface that helps the user 
along and teachers her, with all the commands and options readily
apparent? How so? And let's face it, the man pages are almost useless for
a beginner, and aggravating to the experienced user.

When they're up to date, that is.

> Some commands to use while seeking enlightenment:

rm -r /

> cd ../	change directory up one level
> cd ./	and down one level (I get confused here /\)

Even Command-Line Boy has trouble following the topography of his own
filesystem in text mode, it seems. Unless you want to have a monstrous
prompt that shows your absolute pwd, navigating a filesystem is needlessly
difficult in a text environment.

But remember, GUIs are for weenies. Right.

(./ references the current working directory, btw.)

> Unix IS user friendly. It's just selective about who its friends are.

That must be what makes it better. Now I understand.


Sorry to rag on your favorite system, everybody, but let's face it: Unix
has some crippling deficiencies; consistency, interface and documentation
just being the most obvious. And it doesn't even necessarily suck more
than any other OS, just differently. I'll admit it, my favorite OS has
*no* working virtual memory manager, shits itself several times a day
under normal usage (let's see if Navigator will open a document
locally...nope. Hard reset time.), and cannot recover from memory
fragmentation without rebooting. But at least the developers realized that
they were serving actual end-users, and didn't have their heads
completely up their asses when it came to interface design.

Unix needed an interface overhaul 15 years ago. Perhaps it's finally
coming? On the SIGFS links page
<http://acm.cs.umn.edu/~jaymz/sigfs/links.html> I put up three links to
organizations devoted do simplifying the user interface to Linux, each
with varying degrees of radical change (none near enough, but it's a
start). Take a look. I personally am working with Project Independence.
See you there?

_____________________________________________________________________________
Christopher Reid Palmer : jaymz@acm.cs.umn.edu : innerfire on IRC (EFNet)

Free Software Special Interest Group : acm.cs.umn.edu/~jaymz/sigfs/
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