gvfs-smb

[Jayson Rowe]

On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 7:09 PM, DL Neil <xfcefred at getaroundtoit.co.uk> wrote:

> The key point Sergio made but you may have missed was "Because some people
> use it and some don't". We don't all have a MSFT shop to support (per your
> "I literally couldn't do my job if I couldn't hit windows shares") I know
> people who work in Unix shops and they prattle-on about ZFS. What about
> mainframers, can they work without SNADS, DB2/Oracle interfaces...?

Is all of that included by default in other Fedora Spins? Samba support is.

> Sorry, but we all have slightly different requirements. Don't forget that if
> your friend had a brand new MS-Windows system (s)he would still have to
> install optional systems components as well as particular applications.

Not for basic file-sharing capabilities.


> I agree, few Windows users would know that they use "SMB" and translating
> that to "Samba" is a learned behavior.

It wasn't so much as to him knowing what Samba is, he's an experienced
Windows SysAdmin. He didn't know what package was magically giving me
the ability to hit our corporate shares he couldn't reach.
>
>
> Like you, my (professional) start in Linux was with RHEL and CentOS servers,
> having earlier experimented with a well-presented boxed-set of SuSE Linux
> (s/w and printed manuals) at home. (showing my age?)

I first used Linux with RH7.1, and used Slackware for several years
before moving on to Ubuntu. I recently left Ubuntu for many reasons,
returning to Fedora which better meets my requirements, and matches my
beliefs about contributing upstream, to the 'greater' Linux/OSS
community.
>
>
> I have heard this "not for first-time users" bandied-about. Indeed moving
> between cities one of my first observations about my 'new' LUG is that they
> are a bunch of Ubuntu users. Interestingly (or arrogantly?) it made me
> wonder if they were more a group of enthusiastic amateurs than a collection
> of experienced professionals.
>
There is nothing wrong with using Ubuntu if it meets your needs, and
matches your philosophies.
>
> Anyway, you've provoked me to do a bit of reading-around, starting with the
> world's ?authority? Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_Linux) -
> nothing said.
>
> 'Zonker' has his biases but after moaning about the lack of multimedia
> software installed by default (substitute "SMB" for "multimedia" and
> "Jayson" for "Zonker"?) he did write:
>
I don't see SMB and Multimedia support as being the same. Multimedia
support (for non-free formats) isn't included in the other Fedora
spins either.
>
>
> I have noted that movement to recommend Mint to first-timers or
> MSFT-converts. Sadly my Debian-Mint VM has been downloaded but (like an
> Xubuntu VM) is still on my list of good-intentions...
>
My friend started with Mint - he now finds it bloated, slow, doesn't
meet his requirements, and he isn't learning the skills he needs to
admin CentOS boxes. He wanted to learn more and move to Fedora. This
e-mail wasn't really about him - I got him straight. I was trying to
make a suggestion to help improve the experience for other first-time
Fedora/Xfce users.
>
> Another point hinted-at there, which you will have followed-up in your
> reading about Xfce, is that there are "spins" of Fedora - some of which
> attempt to reduce the 'weight' of all that ?optional? software that *could*
> be installed by asking *should* it be? Key in there is the idea of producing
> a version of the distro which is a conservative consumer of system resources
> and thus runs more efficiently on all, but specifically smaller/older/slower
> machines, etc...
>
I don't use Xfce because it is small or light (and my friend wasn't
going to use it because of that either). I use it because it is 'sane'
and works in a way I expect, and I simply like it better than GNOME or
KDE. That being said, gvfs-smb is less than 1MB, I'm not sure it's
going to make the spin any 'heavier' honestly.
>
>
> The 'best' distro is the one your (more Linux-experienced) friends are using
> because when you go wrong (and you will) you will turn to them for help - so
> 'best' to go with what they use!
> (until you can stand on your own two feet and make the decision for yourself
> - and thereafter you will realise that it is a moving-target and VMs are a
> really great way of experimenting with 'different distros' so as to be able
> to take the best from the best... blah, blah, blah)
>
What is you don't have Linux using friends, a LUG or any other local
resources? Just sayin'. My area has no LUG, and I'm actually in the
process of starting one up (and becoming a Fedora Ambassador).
>
>
> Back to "learned behavior" and 'how am I supposed to know to ask about
> Samba?', etc: if we REALLY wanted to be a distro/Xfce-distro of choice for
> first-time users, surely we would have better low-presumption instructions
> and more 'conversion' documentation?
>
Well, why don't we?
>  --
> Regards,
> =dn
>
Please understand I appreciate your thoughts, but I still see this as
basic functionality, rather than something extra like multimedia
plugins, etc. and I *still* think Fedora can be a find introduction to
Linux. I came in on RH7.1, which was a very different world than it is
now.

I do appreciate the discussion on this thread.

Cheers!
Jayson



-- 
-jayson