[wplug] Linux newbie

[Bryon Gill]

> On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 02:46:51PM -0400, Embery, Nathan wrote:
>>
>> It depends though, is learning to manually setup your wireless connection /
>> X server / whatever using only config files even worth knowing these days???

This is an art that must not die.

The ability to control software with human-readable text is the sole advantage 
of linux.  Running some windows software that doesn't have an option you want? 
9 times out of 10 you're stuck - the vendor guards the source jealously and 
doesn't care about your market segment.

This is why I got interested in linux in the first place- I used to use windows 
software to record music in my attic studio, and whenever I'd run into something 
I wanted to change or even just understand better: bang.  Brick wall, the 
software is a black box and I'm forever locked outside.

The availability of source code and the proliferation of configuration files are 
the same phenomenon in my opinion; the keys to infinite reconfigurability.

That said, I love Fedora's graphical configuration tools.  In general they play 
nicely with whatever changes I need to make, but they save me time when I want 
to just accept the defaults.

I guess my point is that to really understand what the gui is offering to let 
you do, you have to understand the parameters it's modifying; and to really 
control your system you have to be able to dig beneath the graphical interface. 
It's great that you can get by without knowing how to manually configure your 
network card, but it's even better that when you want to change something you 
can.  As long as users demand that software makers respect this flexibility, it 
will remain a chief benefit of free software.


On Thu, 21 Oct 2004, it was written:

> On Thu, Oct 21, 2004 at 02:46:51PM -0400, Embery, Nathan wrote:
>>
>> It depends though, is learning to manually setup your wireless connection /
>> X server / whatever using only config files even worth knowing these days???
>>
> For the love of St. Gulik, YES!!!!!
>
> Hagbard
>
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