xochi
July 19th, 2008, 01:27 AM
I don't expect a lot of input in this thread, since I have found that Linux users are for the most part very knowledgeable and extremely helpful.
....however, occasionally, us eternal beginners run across here and there with the inevitable patronizing, sarcastic and sometimes outright offensive remarks aimed at beginners looking to have some fun with their machines.
Hmmm, what to do? Should you feel like a piece of lint and shrivel into a corner of your cubicle like the NooB you are? Should you return the favor and send them a nasty email suggesting them to insert something where it does not belong and enjoy it? Should you ignore them and follow their senseless advice, validating their hubris?
Well, I'd say denounce them and ask them politely to lower their invective and why not, to go focus themselves with something user friendly because, after all, everyone's a beginner at something.
I'm going to set the tone with this gem, found at the OpenWrt forum, flush in its condescending nature, its pedantic tone and deliciously useless example, it gives a rather refreshingly good example of how not to talk to people who happen to be visiting your forum. Have a gander:
Well hello, Basic End User!
Since you are a Basic End User, the most important thing for you to understand is that you shouldn't install the default OpenWrt load. Why? Well, it involves all of this nasty "command line interface" stuff that will give you hives, or at least make you very uncomfortable.
Here's the good news. You can get a lovely web interface by relying on the fine folks at x-wrt. They basically repackage the default OpenWrt with all of the crunchy web browser goodness that you expect now-adays. Read all about it or go get it.
There are those that say "X-Wrt is too large!" Well, you judge for yourself. Would you rather have 1.8MB of data uploaded to your router, and have to type stuff like
ntpclient -c 1 -d -s -h 0.pool.ntp.org
Or, would you rather use buttons and clickable fields to set the date and time, and occupy 1.9MB? If you answered 1.8MB, this is the wrong guide for you!
If you're still here, you now need to figure out WHICH firmware you want (since it's very hard to upload firmware that you haven't chosen yet.) So:
1. Figure out the firmware that you need (search the Wiki for the model number of your router)
2. Download the firmware from x-wrt rather than directly from the openwrt.org site (see above)
3. Upload the firmware to the router.
BEWARE: Some of the web interfaces on some existing routers (such as Buffalo) will NOT allow you to upload new firmware, because they do checks to see if the firmware is from THEM.
In these cases, to upload this new firmware, you may wish to invite a geeky friend over who understands arcane mumbo-jumbo like default IP addressing schemes and can do magical things like tftp.
However, if you CAN use the web interface on your existing router (such as Cisco's Linksys -- here is a good example), you will likely be in good shape to upload the firmware.
Good luck!
Why do I post this here?
Well, because I have decided to use Ubuntu until I'm convinced there's something better for me out there. I have been very pleased with what this distro has accomplished. It may not be perfect, but more than anything, it does feel like a community. I have found a lot of selfless, knowledgeable advice here.
Please feel free to update this link with more and even more egregious examples of arrogance.
Cheers and remember to brew your own!
....however, occasionally, us eternal beginners run across here and there with the inevitable patronizing, sarcastic and sometimes outright offensive remarks aimed at beginners looking to have some fun with their machines.
Hmmm, what to do? Should you feel like a piece of lint and shrivel into a corner of your cubicle like the NooB you are? Should you return the favor and send them a nasty email suggesting them to insert something where it does not belong and enjoy it? Should you ignore them and follow their senseless advice, validating their hubris?
Well, I'd say denounce them and ask them politely to lower their invective and why not, to go focus themselves with something user friendly because, after all, everyone's a beginner at something.
I'm going to set the tone with this gem, found at the OpenWrt forum, flush in its condescending nature, its pedantic tone and deliciously useless example, it gives a rather refreshingly good example of how not to talk to people who happen to be visiting your forum. Have a gander:
Well hello, Basic End User!
Since you are a Basic End User, the most important thing for you to understand is that you shouldn't install the default OpenWrt load. Why? Well, it involves all of this nasty "command line interface" stuff that will give you hives, or at least make you very uncomfortable.
Here's the good news. You can get a lovely web interface by relying on the fine folks at x-wrt. They basically repackage the default OpenWrt with all of the crunchy web browser goodness that you expect now-adays. Read all about it or go get it.
There are those that say "X-Wrt is too large!" Well, you judge for yourself. Would you rather have 1.8MB of data uploaded to your router, and have to type stuff like
ntpclient -c 1 -d -s -h 0.pool.ntp.org
Or, would you rather use buttons and clickable fields to set the date and time, and occupy 1.9MB? If you answered 1.8MB, this is the wrong guide for you!
If you're still here, you now need to figure out WHICH firmware you want (since it's very hard to upload firmware that you haven't chosen yet.) So:
1. Figure out the firmware that you need (search the Wiki for the model number of your router)
2. Download the firmware from x-wrt rather than directly from the openwrt.org site (see above)
3. Upload the firmware to the router.
BEWARE: Some of the web interfaces on some existing routers (such as Buffalo) will NOT allow you to upload new firmware, because they do checks to see if the firmware is from THEM.
In these cases, to upload this new firmware, you may wish to invite a geeky friend over who understands arcane mumbo-jumbo like default IP addressing schemes and can do magical things like tftp.
However, if you CAN use the web interface on your existing router (such as Cisco's Linksys -- here is a good example), you will likely be in good shape to upload the firmware.
Good luck!
Why do I post this here?
Well, because I have decided to use Ubuntu until I'm convinced there's something better for me out there. I have been very pleased with what this distro has accomplished. It may not be perfect, but more than anything, it does feel like a community. I have found a lot of selfless, knowledgeable advice here.
Please feel free to update this link with more and even more egregious examples of arrogance.
Cheers and remember to brew your own!