[H-GEN] CLI/GUI, Textfile/Dialog Box

Raymond Smith raymonds at uq.net.au
Mon Aug 2 21:22:27 EDT 1999


(Note reply-to: being general at humbug.org.au vs Raymond Smith <raymonds at uq.net.au>)

Greetings Doug,

On Tue, 3 Aug 1999, Doug Young wrote:
> When all I'm trying to achieve is the most expedient solution, I have found
> I usually get results quicker with GUI. If for some reason I wish to mess
> with config files directly its a different matter.

I know what you mean. GUI tools are great for tasks that are not performed
infrequently. I remember my joy at finding a utility in RedHat that let me
configure printers. But the great thing is that I could still get to the
configuration files and optimise things for my ancient Dot Matrix.

> In the beginning of this thread, I was looking for a two line
> explanation of how to fix a routing problem .... it turned out that the
> answer provided by a couple of guys on the list was far more basic than
> most of the responses indicated ..... a simple matter of clicking one
> box in a GUI window. That was what Iall needed to know at the time
> ...... not all the (probably well meaning but totally confusing) stuff
> about firewalls and ip-chains etc

I remember this feeling too! For me it was getting PPP going. But you need
to remember that this is an enthusiasts list, full of people who want to
know. 

Byron made an analogy to cars. I belong to the Rover Owners Association of
Queensland. At their meetings they talk about SU-carbies, tappet
clearance, compression and differential ratios. And a great deal of time
is spent on debates about maintaining orginality and authenticity, veses
the other guys that want to get performance and speed. You can't go there
and ask a 'quick question' and expect a quick, straightforward reply from
everyone.

Just so HUMBUG. Most people here want to get under the hood. Most people
here are computer professionals, or very well trained hobbyists. If you
ask a question here you will be given the gory details.

If that isn't what you want, post the commands you are using with the
output from them and say. Hey! What should I be typing? And they will
people will say what to type. Ask them the general question How do I XXXX
and you will get the general answer.

> would you advise regular office clients to employ a solution that is more
> difficult for untrained staff to use ??

I would advise all my clients to have well trained staff. But then, my
clients are not the same as your clients. See below...
 
> > and the Re-install-from-scratch methodology to the Read-Configure-Backout-Reread-Reconfigure approach.
> 
> Again ..... while the idea obviously doesn't appeal to the purist .... its
> often more expedient to do a re-install

In an 'office' situation perhaps. But when you are dealing with large
backend systems this is not an option. My company develops
things from infrastructure for network management (embedded SNMP agents)
to large WWW frontends. Often our customers cannot afford downtime. You
have to be able to nut it out, and quickly.

The industry is not as homogeneous as the PC-market might lead you to
believe. There are a great many parts to it, with different pressures and
resulting solutions. UN*X comes from telecommunications, academia, and the
world of large administered systems. Then there are the real-time people,
embedded hardware people, 24/7 Banking people. For these markets,
reinstallation is not the expedient approach.

Of course, if I had to fix the secretary's PC I'd probably just re-install
the bloody thing.

Cheers,

Raymond

---
raymond at humbug.org.au              The early bird catches the worm, 
                                       but the second mouse eats the cheese


--
This is list (humbug) general handled by majordomo at lists.humbug.org.au .
Postings only from subscribed addresses of lists general or general-post.



More information about the General mailing list