installing software (was RE: Palm Router)

[Brian Densmore]

-----Original Message-----
From:	Leo J Mauler

> On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 06:33:58 -0800 (PST) Brian D
> writes:
>> --- Leo J Mauler wrote:
>> > 
>> > Speaking as one of the few people who still 
>> > bitches on comp.os.linux.advocacy that Linux 
>> > has turned into an OS for higher-end computers 
>> > (Debian may still work but I've never gotten it 
>> > installed, and while I like Slackware no one 
>> > creates packages or binaries for it),
>>
>> Slackware has packages? Since when? 

>Since always.  Back to version 7.0 at least.  Even has a package manager.
>
> Slackware Version 7.0 is technically version 4.0.  Patrick Volkerding was
> ...
[wink wink, I knew that. This was supposed to be a humorous email]

>> I thought they were just tar.gz? 

> In name only.  Also, they're abbreviated to .tgz.

>> You know most everyone makes a tar.gz "package". 
>> Everything you could possibly want to install in Linux 
>> comes with all the source you need or as a tar.gz 
>> file. 

> No, everything you want in Linux comes as *source* in a tar.gz file.  As
Sorry, but not all Linux software comes with the sources. There are some
apps that are proprietary and come *only* as binary. PLus as you stated elsewhere in your post 
there are also binary gzipped tar archives of apps
such as OpenOffice. You are self-contradicting yourself. Just because
Mr Volkerding uses a packaging system doesn't prevent anyone from installing
a binary or source gzipped tarred archive of an application. This is not
the Windows world, you are free to modify the installed apps and never have 
to tell the package manager. You entirely missed my one serious point,
that no matter what distro you use you can find binary and/or source packages for almost anything 
you want. True not all apps have binary tarred gzipped archived versions. Also I wasn't suggesting 
using the debian packages. The debian sites also have the tarred gzipped source for anything that 
they make
a packages for. So you can always dounload the source and compile it. True some
are harder to do than others, and it may not be acceptable for all the *unwashed* masses. But you 
know what, people need to learn more about what they have on thewir computers and how to use them. 
If that means learning how to type in ./configure from a shell prompt so be it. I don't think we 
should dumb down the world just to make it so someone can punch a button and have a car pop out the 
other end. I think we need to *educate* so that wee don't lose the knowledge. A "white coats 
approach", hmmm... "those nice young men in their clean white coats, they're coming to take me 
away" (or something like that. Gee, I hope RIAA doesn't sue me for that).

"A thing unused is a thing forgotten."

peace,
Brian