[NBLUG/talk] Networking newbie

[Dave Sisley]

Augie Schwer wrote:

>On 1/6/06, Dave Sisley <dsisley at sonic.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>2.  My only complaint re sonic would be their reluctance to offer much
>>phone support to Linux users (too many distros, too many different
>>possible configs -- there's pretty much only one way to do things in
>>windows...), but you can get loads of help here and elsewhere on the net!
>>    
>>
>
>Dave!
>
>Some of the SysAdmins hang out in #nblug (irc.nblug.org);
>news://sonic.os.unix ; not to mention that Sonic.net graceously
>provides a home to the nblug.org server. W00t!
>
>Augie.
>
>  
>
Augie:

Perhaps my post was more critical than I intended - so I'll clarify.  
Sonic support is great, but you have to think in platform-neutral 
terms.  They will walk you step by step through a windows GUI for 
setting up your network connection, I believe, but if you have Linux, my 
experience is that you need to know where to enter the data yourself - 
which can be hard on a newbie.

I can even understand their reluctance to offer linux tech support:  
"Are you using KDE or Gnome... Enlightement? oh. Hmmm.. Well you can 
edit it by hand, too - are you using RedHat or SuSE?  Slackware?  
Nuts... Please hold... (pleasant music)".

Part of my criticism stems from the fact that I know sonic is heavy into 
Linux/Unix, so I just wish that they could be more of a force for 
getting more casual home users into Linux, too.

I'm glad you pointed out that a fair number of the chatlings on #nblug 
are sonic employees.  I've said it before - the chat group and the 
mailing list have been a huge help to me personally and should be an 
important resource for any Linux newcomer. 

For better or worse (for me, personally - better!), Linux requires a 
great deal of self-educating and some research skills.  That's always 
been a barrier to easy adoption.

-dave.

-- 
Dave Sisley
dsisley at sonic.net
roth-sisley.net