From: peter@global.hacktic.nl (Peter Busser)
Newsgroups: alt.bbs
Subject: Re: Coherent?
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 92 12:02:38 GMT
Organization: Global Village 1

elendil@mintir.new-orleans.la.us (Edward J. Branley) writes:

>davidsen@ariel.crd.GE.COM (william E Davidsen) writes:

[about the tamu, MCC and SLS Linux packages]
>Linux package?  What is the source for a 'Linux Package?'  Compuserve, GEnie,
>and tsx-11.mit.edu all have everything separate, and expect the user to figure
>out what you do and don't need.

Ha! Then you didn't look well. I don't know off hand where the MCC Interrim or
SLS packages are availlable. But you might have a look at the Linux info sheet.
Or ask in the Linux newsgroup. The US FidoNet also has a Linux echomail area.

>Hmmm...perhaps you can explain this then (from the file Linux-in.fo):

>LINUX INFORMATION SHEET
>(last updated 13 Jan 1992)
               ^^^^^^^^^^^
Hmpfffffr! (Sorry, I'm trying not to laugh. :) Linus updates the kernel about
once a week. How many weeks have passed since 13 Jan 1992? I guess 35 or so.
So you are about 35 weeks behind...

>3. HARDWARE REQUIRED
>   - A hard disk implementing the standard AT hard disk interface--
>     for example, an IDE drive.  SCSI drives are not supported yet.
>                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>This is from Linux 0.12, date as above.  Is this accurate, or is this earlier
>than those 'very earliest versions of Linux' you've mentioned?

Linux v0.12 is a very early version of Linux. But Linux was only released 3
months on the net. Furthermore, there are projects going on which release alpha
and beta versions. These versions are not always included in the kernel but 
they still exist. A recent example is the XENIX file system. It is there (even
though it's a beta version), but it's not included in the kernel and the
info sheet probably doesn't mention it. If you want to know more about the
history of the SCSI support for Linux, then read the messages in the
Linux-activists archives. You'll see that there was a beta AHA1542B driver
availlable very early (that is before 13 Jan 1992).

>>   And Linux is in production use in some places, with real business data
>> being processed. The Oncology department at Fargo Clinic uses Linux on
>> some administrative machines, for instance.

>Sorry, I don't see Linux installation as being as simple as you say.

It *IS* that simple... *IF* you get a MCC Imterrim release (I don't know
about SLS).

>For
>openers, anything that requires you to take something like Norton Utilities to
>edit the image file just to be able to access the hd as root isn't 'simple' in
>my book.

Huh? There is no need to edit the image file. Please get your information up to
date. We're talking about two different things, I'm talking about the Linux of
September 1992, you're talking about an info sheet of January 1992. There is
a nice utility which is called rdev which does the editing for you. If you
compile the kernel, you can optionally edit the root device in the Makefile.

>Linux relies extensively on GNU programs, so either your 'friend with
>a disk' has done a lot of work already, or you've got a good bit ahead of you
>before the thing will be up and running.

Why? These utilities are precompiled by others. You *can* do that work
yourself, but there is no need whatsoever to do that. Just get the MCC Interrim
release and you get all the utilities in binary form.

>I'll agree that getting going as a *nix user is not too difficult, however
>setting up a system is a bit more involved.

No, it is not. After installing the MCC Interrim release, the system is ready
to run, just like MooSe-DOS is ready to run after you install it. You don't
believe it? Why not check it out yourself?

>Additionally, my thinking (and I
>believe Larry's) is that someone looking to work with Linux is more interested
>in learning some *nix basics.

What are basics? Learning how the kernel works? Learning how to administer a
UNIX system? Learning how to program under UNIX? Or learning how to use the
utilities? I think that there are as many reasons to work with Linux as there
are Linux users.

>If you've got to go find your own copies of GNU
>stuff, this is a bit self-defeating.  How is a newbie going to know just what
>to get?

Smart newbies get the MCC Interrim release or the SLS release. I know several
UNIX newbies who run Linux happily. And I mean people who have never used UNIX
before. Or do you think that those people are much smarter than you are?

Greetings,
Peter Busser
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