Colin Hards clive1248@hotmail.com wrote:
As to specifics, MJR was good enough to sort out my computer at a ALUG meeting where apparently Apache was loaded (with the O/S) but wasn't functioning. [...]
Oh yes, whoops, I should have followed up about this. I reported the problem found to the distributor (I think it was Mandrake?) and they closed the bug as fixed for the next release. Sorry for not letting you know sooner.
Under Windows loading a program is pretty much cut and dried. All have installers, and basically get on with it. [...]
If it's a program packaged by your distributor, it *should* be about as simple, but bugs happen, sadly. It's also distribution-specific, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
[...] But I doubt the group would want me to thrash around with this sort of problem on the list? What happens when the next piece of software I try out, also doesn't install / run? Wouldn't it be far better for all concerned if I could acquire the basics of what's going on, rather than trying to post possibly stupid beginner problems on the list?
Not really, I think, as if you don't know, it's likely that others on the list don't know either. The only thing that you might find, if you get too specialised, is that we don't know, but things like PHP and so on should be fairly common to enough people on this list to be helpful. The things you have to remember is to quote any versions that you think are useful (distribution, kernel, the software/hardware being installed, anything that you know it depends upon) and don't be afraid to answer followup questions. The normal warning applies about double-checking commands from a list before you do use them.
For faster help, the IRC channel (irc.alug.org.uk #alug) seems to have people in it most of the time now, although sometimes not very talkative.
Some of the help files are pretty poor. I don't think I can argue with that. Some of them are very good and they can often be found online if they didn't come with your distribution, though. Maybe it's a different way of finding help.