From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Emacs vista build failures Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:40:58 -0400 Message-ID: References: <36366a980807091202rd3b6521jc9fa45d321bc9d37@mail.gmail.com> <36366a980807101702r5677d096g8e62ef5b3e278868@mail.gmail.com> <4eb0089f0807111217m66d6cf4el777c197c107ce034@mail.gmail.com> <87skug6tq5.fsf@catnip.gol.com> <4eb0089f0807111345h13eccdds9b2cf43370b94074@mail.gmail.com> <4eb0089f0807121340x5e26f6dbve03ef50b238f3a3a@mail.gmail.com> <87k5fph5rh.fsf@stupidchicken.com> <20080713214648.GB1076@muc.de> Reply-To: ams@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1215985306 23297 80.91.229.12 (13 Jul 2008 21:41:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:41:46 +0000 (UTC) Cc: cyd@stupidchicken.com, drobinow@gmail.com, rms@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org To: Alan Mackenzie Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Jul 13 23:42:33 2008 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1KI9Ky-0004yJ-Nm for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:42:33 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:49873 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KI9K6-0007QB-Qh for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:41:38 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KI9K2-0007Q6-5e for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:41:34 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1KI9K0-0007Pu-Ix for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:41:33 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=53905 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1KI9K0-0007Pr-Gu for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:41:32 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]:33615) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1KI9K0-00006w-02 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:41:32 -0400 Original-Received: from ams by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1KI9JS-0002xZ-Us; Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:40:58 -0400 In-reply-to: <20080713214648.GB1076@muc.de> (message from Alan Mackenzie on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:46:48 +0000) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:100648 Archived-At: > >> Since GNU/Linux works for so many others, I suspect there was > >> a problem in installation. The best way to solve them is to > >> ask an expert to do it for you. > > I didn't need an expert for Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, or > > Vista. I spent 30 years as a computer programmer with a fair > > amount of unix experience. I think I should be able to do a > > simple install. > As mentioned, GNU/Linux works for so many others that it's > probably an easily solvable problem. GNU/Linux _works_ fantastically, but that's not what's under discussion. _GETTING_ a G/L system working is the issue, and that's best described as a slog, or a nightmare. There are any number of blogs which describe how "you just insert the DVD, and 2 hours later you've got a complete working system". I've never met anybody in real life who's had that experience. Sorry, but I have no clue what you are talking about. I know of no GNU/Linux system that takes 2 hours to install and then 2 days or more to get usable... I recently reinstalled gNewSense and the installation took me about 5 minutes, excluding the time it takes to copy data from a CD-ROM to a HDD. But I know that it does take over a full day to install Windows XP, it is something I sadly do once every other week. Getting a printer working was trivial as well, I did not even need to specify the driver. What you say was true some 10 years ago, I still recall having to hand edit /etc/printcap, write my own filtering rules! and write four different floppies just to be able to boot a GNU/Linux system that didn't even have a compiler included. But this has not been the case for the past 5+ years, or even close. GNU/Linux these days is _far_ easier to install than Windows XP or Vista...