Have you ever installed other distrabutions? Maybe this one isn't for you.

Try SuSE of Mandrake. (SuSE is a VERY good beginner / out of the box Linux OS).

I really think missing sources is the last thing a newbie would worry about. They're far more likely to worry about their graphics drivers, screen resolution, audio and finding the apps they need etc to be productive / have fun.

I like the sudo mode, it hasn't taken any 'power out of my hands'. Also there is a root mode if you want one. You can enable it with sudo -i. You can enable the root account on Ubuntu by simply typing 'sudo passwd root' followed by a new root password, is that 'a lot faffing about'?

Some of em do, some of em don't. The first receive patience and support the latter get to be called trolls, sometimes they're well-intentioned, but they're still trolls.

>They're far more likely to worry about their graphics drivers, screen resolution, audio and finding the apps they need etc to be productive / have fun

for which you need the makefiles and often the ability to at least do a patch.. and i still hate sudo su - .. whats the point?.. don't even get me started on mkinitrd.. i'll shut up cos we'll never agree.. if it wasn't for apt and the fact that sarge won't install on my laptop at all i wouldn't even be here..

You can get the makefiles and source from Ubuntu, but its just not included on the cd disc.

Exactly. The so-called easy distros are the ones that give me more trouble than the so-called hard distros.

Have you tried using SimplyMepis? There are alot of distros that uses apt now days.

For most of the apps you don't need the makefiles or be able to do a patch. The devs try to make sure the most popular progs are available in the repos and can therefore be installed very easily through Apt or it's frontend Synaptic. I've run boxes (desktops) without compiling a single prog over a year both on Ubuntu and Debian, it's all a matter of choice and size (Ubuntu wanting to be a single disc distro). Makefiles are easily installed if needed, as mentioned before (if you have inet connection that is). You hate sudo, I love it, the next person couldnt care less....what's the point, if you hate it...don't use it, it's your choice.

Two things:

1. You can't assume someone necessarily is not a troll just because Linux advocates label her a troll. It's as illogical as labeling any anti-Linux post-er a troll. If the original post-er has said, "I find the documentation confusing. Could you explain to me how to do X,Y, and Z?" everyone would have been helpful and friendly. Saying the documentation sucks and not contributing to making that documentation any better is just whining. In fact, that whole first post was just whining.

2. I've never recompiled a kernel, and the only times I ever compiled from source were A) to help someone who was having trouble compiling from source B) out of curiosity to see how it's done and C) back when I first started using Linux and I didn't know any better (I had no concept of package managers).

>what's the point, if you hate it...don't use it, it's your choice
umm presumably cos i can't use su which as you know is the usual method.. :-D

>Saying the documentation sucks and not contributing to making that documentation any better is just whining
yeah you may have a point.. i've run across so many gotchas that i may put something together if i have the time

Again it's your choice. You can use su if you want to, just set up a root account and use su....

ahh well its not just me then after all

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20051219#2

I see. Btw did you manage to get su working yet?