On Sat, 27 Dec 1997, #hea wrote:

> On 12/26/97, SamMaEl wrote:
> >	Well... this is not Linux ;-) No spoon-feed menus. To set up X,
> >you'll need to basically edit the different .rc files which may or may not
> >be in your home directory. 
> 
> Maybe it SHOULD be more like Linux.  What's wrong with helping out the 
> novice user?  Does it have to be an ordeal for beginning users to set up 
> X, or set up PPP, etc. ?
> 
> ...Harlan

	That's a good point. Maybe someday some kind soul will write some
scripts to automate the setup process for setting up various things like
networking and PPP and X11. It IS true that not everyone who uses
NetBSD/mac68k has a background or even any experience at all with using a
UNIX-like Operating System. But, then again... the way I learned was trial
and error. It would have been nice to have some menus to help me set up
various services the way I wanted them to run, or set up X and my window
manager, etc, or even help me compile a kernel with all of the
functionality that I needed for my machine. But, I think I have learned
more through trial and error, and having to wait over and over for X to
restart after I tailored things to my liking. If anything you'll learn
patience ;-) 
	
	When I started using NetBSD on my Mac IIsi, it took me like 10
hours to just install the files ;-) I had to cut the 1.2.1 distribution
into 1.3MB pieces so I could fit it onto a floppy to install.... I had an
80 Meg hard disk and like a 5 Meg Mac partition, using a Disk Tools System
Folder. And then, it wouldn't even boot... the only monitors I had
available to me at the time was a 16" Apple Display and a 19" Radius
monitor, neither of which would work with internal video, which now I have
realized that the IIsi pretty much needs to be using internal video to
boot (or at least that's how I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong ;-))
Since then, I've had to deal with an external drive that doesn't
particularly like SBC kernels or NCR kernels, conflicts between a video
card and an ethernet card, after I got my Q630 I spent months figuring out
how to get it to recognize my internal video properly so that I could even
USE X, and I'm still working with various people to get my Comm Slot
ethernet card working... my IDE drive is still not usable within NetBSD
;-) 

	To me, it's a bit of a challenge. Sometimes I really wished that
things would just work smoothly, but it really does force you to learn.
And, that was why I even bothered with installing NetBSD in the first
place. And, that is why we have this list... people who've been through
the installation and setup and who've been working with the system for
awhile and can give newcomers to *BSD systems, or even UN*X systems in
general, some help and help them through the learning stage onto the happy
user who can help contribute back to the NetBSD community stage.

	But... would anyone out there be interested in writing some setup
scripts? Because there ARE other users who are just interested in getting
a NetBSD system running and who AREN'T interested in the hassle. Any
thoughts on that? Whoah, and sorry for the rant ;-)

	Ryan, happy NetBSD user ;-) 

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HELO... my name is rewt... you have SIGKILLed my father... prepare to vi!