[linux-audio-user] AGNULA nightmares, again

[tim hall]

On Wednesday 05 October 2005 12:47, Dave Phillips was like:
> tim hall wrote:
> >On Monday 03 October 2005 16:58, Dave Phillips was like:
> >>Yep, clear as mud.
> >
> >Please suggest what could be added to this to make it more clear.
> >http://demudi.agnula.org/wiki/DocumentsFaq#Icantconnecttothenetwork
>
> Hi Tim:
>
>   Well, a number of interesting observations came to me while reading
> that document. For example: Were you (or whoever wrote it) aware that
> the pcmcia-cs package wasn't included in 1.2.1 ? Thus the advice to use
> the utility was untested, no-one actually tried it.

To be honest, no I wasn't aware of this beyond the reports that you have made. 
I tend to respond to queries rather than be that pro-active about the FAQ. As 
I'm sure you're aware, this can be hard when one doesn't get feedback. See 
below for why I didn't personally test it. I'm sure many people do use DeMuDi 
on laptops, I'm confused as to why you are the only person to have asked this 
question.

>   GNOME is indeed installed on my system, but network-admin is not. The
> wiki page does not provide enough information on what to do when
> everything on the page fails. No reference to pump or the dhcp stuff.

Point taken. network-admin should be installed by default, but yes, I had to 
ask some pointed questions before this was made clear. This should probably 
be considered a bug. Is it not even on the CD?

>   Linux naming conventions sometimes seem to delight in confusing users.
> Is there some obvious connection between a utility named pump and a
> network configuration tool ? You don't wanna know what I think when I
> see 'pump'... ;-)  A more complete list of the tools needed/supplied to
> set up PPP, PPPoe, DSL, cable connections, etc. would be nice.

OK, thanks. I'll have to find out WTH pump is then won't I?

>   How about advising users who will not be using either X or GNOME ?

That's what the reference to man interfaces is for. I'll try to expand on 
that. I don't really want to have to duplicate material that already exists in 
say, Debian Reference, or whatever. I think it's appropriate to assume that 
every Debian user has read that. I'm interested in well worded explanations 
of why that might not be so. I'll include some specific links anyway.

>   The installer failed to configure eth0. This problem is dealt with in
> a FAQ for 1.2.0 but there's no mention that the problem still exists in
> 1.2.1.

This not specifically a problem with the A/DeMuDi release. It uses the 
Sarge installer, which does configure most cards out of the box.

>   Generally speaking, there needs to be much more foresight WRT things
> going wrong. More detailed troubleshooting advice is needed.

ack. 

I will say, however, that FAQs generally work on hindsight and people actually 
asking questions, preferably more than once. You're asking for proper 
documentation here. I'll see if I can find some.

>   And the next time someone answers a question re: a failed networking
> connection with "Well, just fire up apt-get..." I'm going to say
> something I'm sure I'll regret. Apt-get isn't very useful when you can't
> connect to the network in the first place...

No, it's next to useless.

>   Btw, I will be overjoyed to discover that I'm an utter lunkhead who
> just can't read instructions clearly. I'm not trying to denigrate
> anyone's work, but I am genuinely dismayed by the number and kinds of
> difficulties I've faced with Demudi.

I am equally dismayed with the difficulties you've had to face. I don't use 
laptops (not through any deliberate policy) so I have not been able to 
troubleshoot laptop specific problems. If anyone wants to give me a laptop on 
which to test things I will happily do so. Heh. ;)

I do understand your frustrations, I have a similar sized bag of frustrations 
with the effort it takes to get anything changed in Debian. Some of these 
questions you would need to ask Free about directly. I think I have moved far 
enough from being a newbie now that I have begun to forget how confusing this 
can all be for the neophyte. Thanks for your observations, they will be 
extremely useful. I shall work through them slowly, probably unpredictably 
and eventually get round to updating the FAQ. :)

That is, assuming I don't lose the will to live while I'm waiting for the page 
to display in my browser.
-- 
cheers,

tim hall
http://glastonburymusic.org.uk/tim