On Fri, 2002-01-11 at 15:09, Samir M. Nassar wrote: > I am by no means a Linux, or Windows, expert. > > I am a Linux (and Windows) user and while I personally think Linux is the > best thing since sliced bread it still poses problems. > > For one; installing software. It is a pain. You have to unzip your tarballs, > unpackage your RPMs and whatever else you do with Debian and start > installing. In many cases you have to compile the source code and then > install the binaries. (If I am understanding the process right.) > > Under Windows it was usualy a simple process. You got your file > 'bloatware.exe' you double-clicked on it and presto it was going. > > Note: I am not saying that the Windows method was better, only that it was > easier. > > For a newbie (Myself and those you want to convert to Linux) this is a > stumbling block. > > I understand why compiling the sourcecode is better and why the whole process > is better, but there has to be a way of automating the whole thing, neh? Well, yeah. Under Mandrake, there's MandrakeUpdate, and package manager, which handles the installation from rpm real well. > > Is it that impossible to have an application or utility that has all the > steps on a visual interface? I can't imagine so, I remember being able to > make simple enough batch files in MS-DOS in the late eighties, these files > could handle batch jobs such as Formatting, labeling and copying certain > files. Of course it is possible that I am completely off base here, but isn't > the process for installing software under linux (compiling, installing and > 'make clean') really a batch process? Sure: just create a shell script that runs ./configure make make install . . . and that'll work for most tarballs. > > If Linux is to take become a more serious contender there has to be a > concerted effort to make it easily accessible for the newbie. I still can't > install the Java Runtime Environment and it is ticking me off. (Open Office > needs Java.) I installed JRE as part of installing StarOffice beta, and it works just fine under Open Office, which is what I'm mainly using for real work. > > A Stranger in a Strange LUG > > Samir M. Nassar > RedConcepts.NET > _______________________________________________ > Twin Cities Linux Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > http://www.mn-linux.org > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > https://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -- ------------------------------------- There's a widow in sleepy Chester Who weeps for her only son; There's a grave on the Pabeng River, A grave that the Burmans shun, And there's Subadar Prag Tewarri Who tells how the work was done. -------------------------------------