SEUL: New Distribution

[Mike Scott <mscott@cftnet.com>]

Greetings gentlemen.  I've been reading this group and had a few ideas that
I hope might be useful.  I am new to Linux (though not new to computing) and
still have a lot to learn, so bear with me.  This is my first post to any
discussion group.

I have installed and played with several distributions mainly to see which
had the best install/configuration tools, so I could choose one to stick
with and recommend to my friends & clients that I'm trying to evangelize to
Linux.
I seem to do better getting them to try Linux than knowing what to do with
them after they've agreed... :-)

I'm planning to get a copy of "Linux Pro" (www.linuxmall.com).  Maybe you've
already looked at it, but I saw no mention of it in the group since I
subscribed.  Version 5.4 of Linux Pro is based on Red Hat 4.2, and claims to
be better debugged, with some more automatic configuration tools added to
what it already had.  Check it out, if you want to.

I think many of us consultants/programmers in WinBlows, could benefit from a
Linux distribution that enables us to do some of our "real work" with Linux
while we're learning it, rather than Linux just being a hobby and a time
sink until we learn enough to be a "guru", then finally we could use it for
most of our work.  Heck, I've written software in assembly language for
several different processors, but give me the Linux you create for "your
momma" and I'll use it to do real work sooner than I've been able to so far.

I agree with Erik Walthinsen's desire to keep the Linux File System Standard
for SEUL.  Those of us who start learning on a simple Linux system, then
later graduate to servicing & supporting Linux, would not want to completely
start over from scratch when we enter the marketplace and encounter other
Linux distributions already in place.  Also, consider the household where a
knowledgeable "geek" has to share a computer with "momma".  How about a
system where the environment presented after login depends on the username
or user group?  And a option to install advanced software later when desired
without breaking the simple stuff that the user is used to?

One other thing I must comment on... William T Wilson wrote:

> Not hardly.  Disk caching is one thing, and having your filesystem corrupt
> if you lose power is quite another.  Granted linux is less susceptible to
> this than most Unices, and Win95 has the same problem.  On the other hand,
> with Win95 all you ever have is some lost clusters.  Digging everything in
> /home out of lost+found is quite another. 

WinBlows never trashes a hard drive??? <ROFL!!!> And it doesn't even have
lost+found - it's just lost!  I could tell you about the customer who bought
a computer from me and sent it off to college with their kid in Timbuktu,
and the nightmare from hell it was when WinBlows95 locked up, and wiped out
most of the hard disk, including enough of the drivers in \windows\system
that it wouldn't boot - just before term papers were due.  Or typing this
very e-mail twice because WinBlows crashed when I was almost done... If I
had got paid for all the free warranty jobs WinBlows has cost me, I could
retire in Tahiti.  I used to enjoy being a computer consultant, but lately
I'm learning to hate it - maybe enough to find another career - and it's
about 80% due to Bill Gates garbage.

Anyway, hope all of you have a happy new year...