Re: Emacs vista build failures

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > >> Since GNU/Linux works for so many others, I suspect there was
   > >> a problem in installation.  The best way to solve them is to
   > >> ask an expert to do it for you.

   > > I didn't need an expert for Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro, or
   > > Vista.  I spent 30 years as a computer programmer with a fair
   > > amount of unix experience. I think I should be able to do a
   > > simple install.

   > As mentioned, GNU/Linux works for so many others that it's
   > probably an easily solvable problem.

   GNU/Linux _works_ fantastically, but that's not what's under discussion.

   _GETTING_ a G/L system working is the issue, and that's best
   described as a slog, or a nightmare.  There are any number of blogs
   which describe how "you just insert the DVD, and 2 hours later
   you've got a complete working system".  I've never met anybody in
   real life who's had that experience.

Sorry, but I have no clue what you are talking about.  I know of no
GNU/Linux system that takes 2 hours to install and then 2 days or more
to get usable...  I recently reinstalled gNewSense and the
installation took me about 5 minutes, excluding the time it takes to
copy data from a CD-ROM to a HDD.  But I know that it does take over a
full day to install Windows XP, it is something I sadly do once every
other week.

Getting a printer working was trivial as well, I did not even need to
specify the driver.


What you say was true some 10 years ago, I still recall having to hand
edit /etc/printcap, write my own filtering rules! and write four
different floppies just to be able to boot a GNU/Linux system that
didn't even have a compiler included.  But this has not been the case
for the past 5+ years, or even close.

GNU/Linux these days is _far_ easier to install than Windows XP or Vista...