Kyle, I'm very glad to know that a Linux user with your level of
knowledge can still say that Emacs and Mutt have steeper learning curves
than you find worth the trouble. (Correct me if I've oversimplified
your view.) As it happens, I've decided to try again with both Emacs and
Emacspeak, and possibly Mutt, but now I don't feel like such a dummy for
having had trouble with this software in my early and even later days
with Linux.
Best!
Al
On 4/13/22 19:34, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
These debates can be both informative and useful for those new to linux
who haven't made their choices yet.
Unfortunately I would say probably not. Usually in situations like
this, once someone trying to make a choice to come to Linux or to stay
where they are sees all this get lost in a shell and hand-edit config
file kind of stuff, they usually run away before they get stuck in the
quicksand. Or worse, they end up tossing the virtual machine someone
told them to try into the recycle bin because it is just too hard to
use. Of course this also applies when new users are trying to find out
what applications are available for this or that and they are told of
EMACS, Mutt, Vim and the finer points of what people affectionately
call "links the chain" and "lynx the cat" vs w3m with all their
quirks, or having to learn how to get startx to play nice so that they
can run a more capable browser like the Firefox, Google Chrome or
Brave that they are used to using, that is not only more comfortable,
but is necessary on today's web, when all they had to do was to run a
live iso of a ready-made distribution with a fairly modern desktop on
it and they could be right at home in minutes. If someone asks me
about this Linux thing they heard about, I like to tell them about
what they can have up and running and feel fairly comfortable using in
about 30 minutes or less, and if they like that, great. Then if they
want to learn more about the power user stuff they can do, then and
only then would I even mention a terminal, a shell or terminal
applications. I probably still wouldn't say too much about EMACS or
Mutt other than their availability though, since even though I've been
using various Linux distros for almost 20 years, started of all things
on Slackware, and even ran a home web and email server fairly early
on, even I gave up on both of those because of the steep learning
curve involved in just getting past the initial setup process. Even
now, even though I still have my own mail and web servers, I still
tend to use things like ISPConfig for my server administration, since
although the web server is very easy to set up, deploying a mailbox on
a virtual domain is still not for the faint of heart, unless it has an
automated script like what comes in most web-based control panels that
makes it much easier to set up. I mean if not for the craziness
involved in setting up a mail server with 3 or 4 mailboxes on 2 to 3
domains, I would just run caddyserver for my websites, which can do a
lot really easily, and the caddyfile is very easy to understand and
edit, although like most other web servers, it doesn't support
.htaccess, which does lots of per site URL rewriting and custom error
stuff that just isn't as easy to do on a per-site basis in other ways
supported by non-htaccess servers. Still in any case, one point I
really like to make is that although other operating systems tend to
take features away from users, Linux tends to add features to desktop
environments and applications, or just to add applications, all while
taking care not to take things away from power users, and even adds
things that make the power user experience better over time.
Sure I know this list is a general one, aimed at users of all levels
and skillsets. But being a more generalized list, it's probably better
to keep things on a more general level that while not excluding power
users, won't make new users turn tail and run for the window either.
This is the beauty of the GNU/Linux landscape as a whole. It's not the
wilderness, and it's not a barren wasteland either. It's a whole world
with enough freedom and even comfort for everyone. I found long ago
that it is not the geeky OS that only a server admin or someone with a
masters in computer science could love, and I do enjoy letting the
world know that I use it and they can too.
~Kyle
_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx
https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx
https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list