OT: Sun & Gnome = ?

[Alan Garrison]

Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@msu.edu> 08/17/00 08:14AM
> Torgo Jr <agarris@voyager.net> writes:

>> There are some other things to consider.  I was thinking that 
>> Sun or someone should come up with a distribution that only 
>> has the following:
>>  - Linux core
>>  - XFree86 with a common, simple window manager
>>  - Star Office
>>  - Mozilla?

> Is that somehow better than a full-size distribution with an
> option to install just those components?

It would at least fit on one CD.  *cough*Debian*cough* :)
I'm thinking of the people who want a simple, common 
setup will not want to be bothered with "we have 9,238,481 
packages, which ones do you want to install?" type 
questions.  Just asking these kinds of questions will 
drive away potential users.  Don't give users too many 
options if they don't want them.  Many of them will 
have a hard enough time trying to cope with differences 
with Star Office from M$ Office.

>> This is what about 80% of the typical end user wants, office 
>> stuff and a web browser.  All the distro's I've seen still 
>> require a lot of knowledge of existing hardware and how it 
>> is configured.

> IME Linux installs don't require more hardware knowledge than
> Windows installs on comparable hardware.  

Up until recently you needed to know pretty much 
everything.  The latest Mandrake (and probably others) 
do a good job at detecting hardware, so I guess this 
isn't a big problem anymore.

> The problem is that
> reviewers compare *installing* Linux to *using* pre-installed
> Windows, which is not a fair comparison.  

True.

> Actually installing
> Windows onto a zeroed HDD can be quite difficult.  bricktext!

I've installed NT, 95, and 98.  I've never had any 
problems with the basic installation of any of these.  
Getting USB set up in 95, however, is a different story...