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From: Florian Diesch 
Newsgroups: alt.os.linux.ubuntu
Subject: Re: Problems after installing Ubuntu (fairly long)
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 03:44:29 +0100
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elaich  wrote:

> dgk  wrote in 
> news:sf51u2t5rtvsjdqfec6csocdvdoshuko93@4ax.com:
>
>> So now I have a few comments and problems. Just about everything I
>> tried didn't work very well.
>
> I've been fighting with Ubuntu for about a month now, and am ready to 
> give up. It's great for a) a novice user who only wants to use Firefox 
> and a few other things, or b) an experienced Linux/Unix user who 
> understands what it's up to. For someone like me, who likes to go beyond 
> a) but not as far as b), it's hopeless.
>
> The problem is not Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the most user friendly distro i've 
> tried. It's Linux. The file structure is incomprehensible. I was told 
> that most apps install into usr/bin, but some don't. Why not? Google 
> Earth installed into opt. And then refused to work. Naturally, no 
> launcher was made for it, nor a link in the Applications menu, so I had 
> to go looking for it. As usual, not only was I not told where it had 
> installed, but was not given the option to choose where to install it. 
> Why is this basic function (creating a link or launcher for a newly 
> installed program) so inconsistent in Linux? In Windows, everything 
> installs in /Program Files. Why is Linux different?

See "man hier" for some explanations about the linux filesystem
hierarchy.


> I spent most of the day today trying to edit slrn.rc, a simple 
> configuration file. I am not allowed access, because I don't "own" the 
> file. 

You should not edit the global slrn.rc. Instead edit  .slrnrc in your
home dir. See /usr/share/doc/slrn/FIRST_STEPS.gz and
/usr/share/doc/slrn/README.Debian


> The problem is that Linux is based on Unix, which expects a huge number 
> of users who should be denied access to all but basic functions, and a 
> handful of administrators who should be allowed access. Thus, access is 
> difficult. Why should my computer, which I own, and of which I am the 
> only user, refuse to allow me to edit a simple config file? 

That's part of the security concept and a lot of people think that you
should do the same with windows.
Once you get used to it it's not a problem.

> Why should I jump through hoops for 6 hours and still fail? I looked
> up every resource I could find on the subject, and still failed.

Usually /usr/share/doc/ is a good starting point to find
informations about package 



   Florian
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