> Yes.  The trick is that with Mac OS you setup everything before the install,
> not during it.  I find it very annoying to have to sit next to a computer
> for an hour just to press a button every once in a while.

  Latest Linux installtions are not this way. With RH 6.2, you fill some
screens in 5 minutes and the the installation starts. On my machine, an
standard Linux installation tooks much less than a windows 98 typical
installation, perhaps about 30 minutes for a full workstation
installation.

> So you have very "standard" hardware?  Last summer I installed a Linux just
> for "fun".  It was no fun and took much longer than a Windows NT install.
> In particular I missed any useful documentation.  Nothing was straight
> forward as one would expect and it would never keep its TCP/IP configuration
> I found it very annoying and removed it after three month (by that time my
> father wanted the partition back).
> I know.  I was more up to any improvements in the default installation.  I
> don't to have to tweak the system for weeks until I can use it.  I am not
> interested in learning the setup of Linux after all.  And I am planning
> another install in a PC emulation on Macs in order to run apache/mysql/php.

  I've installed at least 30 times Linux on many different machines, and
never had many problems, appart from having to download the driver for
some sound or video card (always found quickly on the net, and lately
comming on the CD's from the manufacturer). All were usable just some
minutes after installing. I only find tweakin needed for some
non-standard features and advanced setups. About the emulation... I
don't know if Linux will work under an emulation...
 
> So my major concern is if it makes sense to install a system in less than an
> hour and have it up and running well.  I wouldn't even need X-windows, I
> just need it to boot quickly and it should be easy to turn on/off what I
> want with some tool rather than hacking configuration files.  It has to be
> fool-proof because I never read any documentation...

  Well, I think perhaps Linux is not for you... but if the *GOOD THING*
about Linux is that you *CAN* read the documentation! 

  Anyhow, in RH for example, you have Linuxconf, wich can manage all the
usual configurations safely (if you don't edit manually the scripts it
handles), and has a nice on-line help (can you press F1 to read some
lines? :).

--
Jaime Vives Piqueres

La Persistencia de la Ignorancia
http://www.ignorancia.org/

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