wvdial (was: Re: [lug] config modem w/ mandrake7.2)

[J. Wayde Allen]

On Wed, 20 Jun 2001, ljp wrote:

> The thing I liked about linux is that things weren't hidden. I mean, once one
> knew what files to edit, it was cake. But anymore, with things like linuxconf
> settings are hidden, and even editing the usual files does not mean it will
> actually change the settings.

Yes, this is a double edged sword, and has been bothering me somewhat as
of late.  In a sense, adding these configuration GUI's sometimes seems
like the community is racing to make a system that works just like the
other commercial products (I'll exclude the obvious names), and in doing
so is creating exactly the same problems that these commercial products
already have.  So far, the saving grace has been that under Linux if you
don't want the setup wizard kind of tools you can usually bypass them.  
Providing you can figure out how to reverse engineer them.

I think it is kind of a trade off in flexibility.  Maximum flexibility
means you get lots of possible configurable pieces.  However, to simplify
the system to make it "more user friendly and approachable by beginners"
someone has to make some choices up front.

I doubt that there is a "right" answer here.  The ability to have multiple
distributions may be the thing that makes this work for the Linux
community.

- Wayde
  (wallen at lug.boulder.co.us)