Linda Proulx,

09-Nov-99 19:28:00, Murray Lesser wrote to Linda Proulx
          Subject: Get an OS/2 guru

 ML> (Excerpts from a message dated 11-08-99, Linda Proulx to Andy
 ML> Roberts, original topic: Get Going);

 ML> I am breaking in to what is really none of my business,

That's fine with me.  Funny how this thread has suddenly inspired that
response.  I was just telling my sister-in-law that I'm going to learn not to
stick my nose in other people's bee's wax.

 ML> but I think that if you follow the advice of a "guru" who doesn't seem
 ML> to know much about OS/2, you are going to be very disappointed with your
 ML> OS/2 experience.  (See tagline for disclaimer!)  Much of what he advises
 ML> is contrary to what several very experienced OS/2 users have told you on
 ML> this echo.  Note: Quotes from your guru's message to you are prefaced
 ML> with "HS>".  IIRC, the following (unattributed) paragraph was quoted by
 ML> your guru from an earlier message from Peter to you:

Actually I'm responsible for the following vague late night rambling.

 >>> .......  OTOH if all your partitions were "primary", then none of
 >>> them would be able to see any of the others on the same HD.
 >>> [It's after 1AM, so I hope I got that right.  If not, someone
 >>> else will correct me, I'm sure. ]

 HS>> This is a common belief, but wrong, at least for DOS and Win95.
 HS>> These 2 OS's do see all the primary partitions on a single hard
 HS>> drive.  Your machine is living proof (at least for DOS).  I can't
 HS>> swear to it, but I'm almost sure that OS/2 would also see them
 HS>> all.

 ML> Taken in context, the unattributed paragraph is entirely correct.

Murray, I appreciate the confirmation.  I think it is important that others
don't take what I say as fact on surface value.  Especially since we now have
at least 3 newbies reading this echo.

I'm going to snip almost all of Murray's good advice, in an attempt to refocus
this thread on his new topic.

 ML> As many on this echo have told you, ...

IMO quantity of confirmations is a good way for a newbie to decide what works
until they have been here long enough to give more credit to certain
individuals who have mastered a little more than others.  Yet with a few
exceptions of what is quoted from official Red Books, White Papers and DOCs or
other expert sources, everything posted in Fidonet should be considered
opinion based on personal experiences including handed down info passed on
from others.  And since we are all human, we are all capable of forgetting
some details, making mistakes, typos or otherwise post info that may need
further explanation.  An advantage of having many users say essentially the
same thing is that it comes out in different words, which may be easier to
understand from some than it is from others.

Since OS/2 is a more technically sophisticated OS than most other popular
OSs, it stands to reason that many of the users in these OS/2 echoes are
Technicians, Engineers, Programmers, Computer Consultants, Business owners,
System Administrators, Old Timers, other professionals, or those who just
want reliability, who have a lot of experience and do sometimes seem to speak
a language that is almost foreign to a novice.  And the topics often deal
with issues and go into details that are far above what most DOS and WinXX
end users have experience to relate to easily.  While we don't deliberately
try to speak in terms that are over someone else's head or otherwise make
ourselves into an elite click, it is possible that some newbies need someone
else to explain what we have said.  Hence the guru.

 ML> Most people who have installed OS/2 successfully have not been
 ML> handicapped by knowing any guru.  I suggest you do what we have done:
 ML> learn by trial and error,

Well said.

 ML> aided by a consensus of members of this conference as necessary.

IMO "necessary" does not mean instead of reading the DOCs, nor instead of
trying first.  It is excellent for filling in small gaps in someone else's
experience and pointing towards other info or alternatives.  But we generally
expect our advice to be for DIY (Do It Yourself.)

 ML> Unless, of course, you can find a real OS/2 guru :-).

LOL.. Like I said before, I'm not a guru.  Even though I have in the past
filled every 1 of the categories that I mentioned attract users to this echo.
There are several people in this echo that make (or made) a living installing
and maintaining computer systems for businesses.  But most end users can not
afford the expense of such services.  There are several of us in this echo
who are slowly withdrawing from even offering free support outside of our
immediate family.  And the reason for that is usually because some others
either want us to do it all for them (without really making any effort to
learn to do it for them self) or they are stuck in DOS-Think or addicted to
M$.  Having a guru that doesn't know much about OS/2 is sort of like all 3 of
those reasons.  But even worse is when they have setup your system to be so
unique that it can not be dealt with using standard tools and methods.

Specifically at this point previous recommendations to use Backup and Restore
or ZIP to save your data so you can rearrange your HD to accommodate OS/2 and
then if you want put it back the way it exists now, by simply using Restore
again, may not work.  Your data may still be intact, but any odd ball
partitioning jerry-rigging may be lost, until you have your guru come back and
do it all over again.  BTW, I'm still waiting to see a really good reason why
all that jerry-rigging was necessary.

Many of the users of this echo post to help others because they too were
novices at 1 time and are returning the favor, like passing on a skilled trade
from 1 generation to the next.  Their only reward is the good feeling they get
when their advice has led to success.

This is the 2nd time within a month (the other in a different echo) in which I
have posted advice only to find out later some detail that was not mentioned
earlier, made a simple situation rather complex.  Personally I feel I am
getting too old to deal with all that.  And if you have a guru to help you
then you don't really need my help anyway.  But things could change, and like
Murray said in his TagLine:

 ML> --* Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future

     Thanks and Good Luck,        Andy Roberts
                                  andy@shentel.net
--- Terminate 5.00/Pro*at