Re: emc (TOME)

On Tue, 12 Oct 1999 19:21:56 -0400 (EDT), stratton@... wrote:

>> "if
>> someone says to you, I want software I can just plug into any computer
>> and play without difficulty, hand them a lollipop". Heh.
>
>In the meantime though, it should be possible to put together a CD
>that would install a version of Red Hat 5.2 already patched for
>realtime, including EMC as just another software package RPM.
>...
>That is why I'm suggesting letting the Redhat install tool do the hard
>work - and let it install EMC too.

Yes, point well taken Chris. I sure didn't for a moment wish to say that
anyone having difficulties in configuring LinuxEMC should be ridiculed
as a child and handed a lollipop. No nooooooo. People struggling with
something like EMC+Linux I have enormous empathy with, SIMPLY because
their yearning to get it to work proves their heart's in the right
place. But expecting, even somewhat peevishly demanding that it be
easier is another matter. My opinion of course. :) For cryinOloud, for
the most of us not commercially connected with CNC tooling, think of the
enormous effort each of US has *already* expended in sleuthing out all
the "just the right" bitsNpieces for our own particular contraptions
we're engineering. How would it play if we all came onlist and had
ourselves a good snit about how hard it is to find affordable CNC parts?
Yeah, we should go to the commercial vendors alright, cuz they're sure
to take our plight to heart, and supply us with affordable stuff. Har
har. Finally, it's simply indisputable that a large part of most of us
guys' motivation is not simply to "strut our swarf" or "make chips
faster/easier", but also to learn more about this facinating amalgam of
mechNbot, and well, take it to the limit of our understanding.

So YES, I trust you're right that things could be made a lot smoother;
perhaps a little specialized ROM-burning could go a long way in that
direction. The problem there then becomes another "distribution" and
"revision control" problem. I *sure* can sympathize with reticence to
step up to that one. Argh. BTDT.

The part where it was lamented that "Linux & EMC can be a difficult
hike" isn't the part that wrankled me, so much as the sideways
'corollary' innuendo, "so, maybe this is a hint we should go the
Windows+Vendors route". That last part I find, well, dastardly. Heh. But
then I always loved Rocky & Bullwinkle dialog, so don't anyone get their
shorts in a bunch from the Snidely Whiplash analogy. This is the 90's
afterall, so I'm sure even ole Snidely had *some* redeeming qualities.
:)

Garfarkle