early encounters

[Bryan Campbell <bryany pathcom com>]

Hello! Ideas from the guy working via headwand. Testing and using Opera's
browser for 6 years I often got irritating replies Opera should be like the
other browser. Thing is I run Windows, referring to it is the quickest way
explain some things that do work so I hope you will excuse me for referring
to that OS as I know it is annoying. Not that it is a smooth ride, Windows
Explorer lacks 1 key commands for file Copy or Move, and has no file Select
Mode, such commands would be great to have in GNOME file managers. So I use
the great, 11 year old Lotus Magellan 2 for DOS as my file manager in
Windows 95 B. Most Microsoft approaches disappoint me, an exception being
it is pretty easy to run across Accessibility, for that matter most items
that need adjusting, in Windows Start Menu | Settings | Control Panel as
the terms themselves suggest something about configuring items even if
novices do not know what terms mean. Having read up before installing
Windows 95 I knew to make Control Panel a special Folder directly on Start
Menu for fast access all options.

Why I have dwelled on reaching system controls easily is that in my first
runs with Linux mostly left me able to see things, yet not do much. Using
text mode to install a Suse 7.2 evaluation version that runs from a CD went
ok. KDE was a bit rough as Windows key and Ctl-Esc not lead to Windows type
main Menu, or even a Windows 3.1 style Task Manager. Not having Sticky keys
on meant Dad had to push Alt or Ctl to see what 2 key commands do. Found
that Alt-F2 is Run command, best I could do was Logout to get a proper
Shutdown, an ok first session that felt too long as not much occurred. From
talking about what folks think of Opera I know many would say that is just
too different to try again, maybe a Menu option or desktop icon to enable
Accessibility would help, most folks could just delete it. As for me, I am
impressed Suse managed to boot from a SCSI CD and figured more information
would help in trying again.

Next I went to Suse site and with some searching figured out Accessibility
options are likely in Kcontrol. Had to check some Sub-groups in Kcontrol to
find Accessibility to turned on sticky keys and keyboard mouse. Only sticky
keys worked, yet that is enough to let me tell Windows to Linux is short
leap, though Accessibility is too far down the feature set for most folks.
Like Windows, in Linux Accessibility must be placed where folks with
disabilities can turn it on themselves. The W3C gives that high priority
for browsers and plug-ins, now I know why, grin. Knowing Gnome GAP is at
work I decided not to spend more time in Suse, but to check GAP. Which was
a wise move as I see many issues have been or will be solved. This quote
sums up what would make for an easier start: 27 May 2002 "3 Distributions
power up Linux" link http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1410,00.asp "Many
desktop-related configuration tasks must be performed in a KDE Control
Panel located away from the SuSE, Mandrake or Red Hat control panels—the
same circumstances exist for systems with GNOME. We'd like to see future
releases tie in more tightly to their desktop environments."

For a while PC Magazine used to write of good Out Of the Box Experience.
Saying hardware or software should let folks do things without much hunting
for setup. Since many folks trying Linux can run some software there is the
possibility that being unable to get somewhere fairly fast means the new
software is not so hot. It is a misconception that should be addressed so
folks get to experience this software


Regards,
Bryan Campbell

--> "It has been said the pebbles can't stop the avalanche, guess the
pebbles didn't have access to the Web!"