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Re: [Fsuk-manchester] the non-free neighbour asking for help dilemma


From: Tim Dobson
Subject: Re: [Fsuk-manchester] the non-free neighbour asking for help dilemma
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 18:55:09 +0100
User-agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080505)

MJ Ray wrote:
"Tim Dobson" <address@hidden> wrote:
2008/5/13 MJ Ray <address@hidden>: [...]
I'd make really sure that GRUB isn't the problem and/or help remove
the last remnants of GRUB if necessary, with the brother watching and
explaining any steps taken while attempting to fix it so that it's
convincing that GRUB isn't the problem, then hand the machine back. [...]
You might want to read the followup I posted to this with the "a new
user to GNU/Linux WAS: the non-free neighbour asking for help dilemma"
subject line.

I did read that (among the 6000 emails that accumulated while I was
unexpectedly offline) but it looked like a personal email cc'd to the
list and didn't solicit further comment, so I sent no extra response
to it. Also, the original question still seemed interesting.

Apologies if I was a bit terse before.

The question is an interesting one, and almost certainly it's one that many of us face on a fairly regular basis. It was quite interesting to see the

Seeing as you seem interested: I disagree with some steps taken
(particularly troubleshooting under XP, not telling him that you
switched which ethernet card he was using and installing so many
non-free things) but pleased with the general direction of the
results.

As i explained, and I'm sure you understood, my main reason for troubleshooting the networking was because if I didn't I was certain he would have assumed it was the router.
I'm not saying it is the best thing to have done in the situation.
I generally agree with your opinion of the ethernet card switching and appreciate your opinion on the non-free things very much. it was issues like that which made me ask the question in the first place.

In case anyone suspects me of having similar non-free things installed, if you consider CC attribution, share-alike 2.5 as a free software licence for icon themes, then I have only Free Software installed.

I would be invested to hear what you would have done in a similar position.

Looking forward to updates,

He seems to be getting along OK so far.

Several things have come to light so far:

1) *I* should file a bug report every time something doesn't work because it's free software etc etc.

2) QTparted doesn't launch in kdesudo from the menu

3) Formatting USB drives should an option in Dolphin

4) He finds sudo confusing and pointless - "why/where does one need it?" I'm looking for a beginner article which can explain this very briefly.

I imagine there will be more as he uses it more, though google seems to be helping him a lot. It's hard to get him to understand he doesn't need to reboot to get things to work(network|newly installed programs)!

--
www.tdobson.net
----
If each of us have one object, and we exchange them, then each of us
still has one object.
If each of us have one idea, and we exchange them, then each of us now
has two ideas.   -  George Bernard Shaw




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