[TAG] which distribution?

[Richard Bray]

On Mon March 08 2004 22:30, Dean A. Gransar wrote:
> Hi.
> I am greatly interested in installing Linux. I have set a aside a partition

OK, let's try to make sense of this spiraling discussion.

Base of Linux is command line. That's a given.

GUI is window dressing. Good for computer neophytes.

GUI is two main things. Installer and Post-Install Control Panels.

Most commercial and some non-commercial distros have good installers. At least 
as good as Microsoft. 

I'm more concerned about the post-install configuration.

Also, the place where KNOPPIX really shines is in the hardware auto-detection. 
The beauty of that is the fact that the configurations scripts configure 
themselves. The developers of linux would be wise to realize the reception 
that KNOPPIX has garnered for solely that reason. 

AUTO CONFIGURATION

With as many eyes and different systems that we use linux on, someday it could 
get even more intelligent about configuration. We all know that will not work 
100% of the time. However if you didn't need to edit files OR use a gui 
configuration tool 90% of the time. Then linux could win by being far 
superior in configuration than Windows. 

In conclusion, linux should aim towards not needing manual configuration at 
all. Make it available, but limit the need. And, provide a gui whenever 
possible to reach the widest possible audience. 

Right now the closest is SUSE. KNOPPIX is a close second, but debian still 
lacks a centrol configuration tool AFAIK.

-- 
Richard A. Bray
linux at brayra.com
http://brayra.com