From: erc@apple.com (Ed Carp) Subject: IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH LINUX... Date: 8 Aug 1993 10:41:03 GMT
Please, please, PLEASE, be SPECIFIC, provide LOTS of details! I can't stress
this enough. There have been several people that have complained about the
level of support that c.o.l. hasn't given them. I've worked for several
support organizations around the country, and I can tell you that nothing
pisses off a tech support person more than a customer calling up and complaining
loudly, "It doesn't work! Fix it!"
Many of the posts I've had to wade through the past several days have been of
the "I don't know what's wrong, but magically astrally travel to where I am,
telepathically read my mind, and wave your magic wand and fix my problem!"
I just read a post by someone who said, "my disk won't boot, I don't know
what's wrong, help!"
I don't know about you, but this kind of post gives me almost zero information
to work with, and that's really frustrating. I'd really like to help the
many people out there who are having problems, but I really can't unless you
post MORE INFORMATION!
For example:
Q. My SLS a1 floppy won't boot/my boot disk I made won't boot! What's
wrong?
A. Well, to tell you the truth, given the information, I seriously
doubt that anyone other than God could answer the question! Why?
Because you've provided almost NO information that I can use to
diagnose the problem!
What happens when you try and boot? Are you using LILO? What
messages are printed on the screen? Have you checked to make
sure that all your hardware is attached and working correctly?
Are you sure that all your hardware that you are using is supported
by Linux? For example, some SCSI controller cards are, some
aren't. Some SVGA cards are, some aren't. Some net cards are,
some aren't. Did you run "rdev /dev/fd0" to make sure the correct
root device is there? How about the informational messages
printed when linux boots - do you see your HD controller card being
recognized, or do you see a partition table printed? Etc., etc.,
etc...
Maybe I'll set up a support company that does nothing but charge people to
answer their questions. Judging from the quality (or lack thereof) of the
questions posted here, all I have to do is to have the FAQs at my elbow -
I can answer 90% of the questions in 5 minutes or less, and if I charged
say, $5 a question, I'd soon be swimming in $$$. Let's see ... at 100
questions a day, and 90 answered just by looking at the FAQs, that's
$450 a day. If I work only 5 days a week, that'd be $2250 a week, or
$9000 a month.
Keep those questions coming, folks! I'll be posting the 900 number soon...
--
Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@apple.com 510/659-9560
anon-2133@twwells.com
If you want magic, let go of your armor. Magic is so much stronger than
steel! -- Richard Bach, "The Bridge Across Forever"