3 ms·

In the original quoted case the user's problem is presumably "I have a zipfile I want to unzip", which they have then turned into "and so I want to run this x86

by pm215 9y ago

In the original quoted case the user's problem is presumably "I have a zipfile I want to unzip", which they have then turned into "and so I want to run this x86 WinZip binary". That's the point where things have gone wrong, because trying to run winzip on a Linux system is just not the right way to solve the problem. It does the user no favours to try to help them to continue the wrong way down this garden path rather than to say "this isn't ever going to work satisfactorily and a better way to solve what you're actually trying to do is to use a native Linux program to extract zipfiles"...

brudgers 9y ago
I agree that running Winzip on an Rpi is an XY problem. [1] But I think that's just the way the world works. Sure it can be done with tar plus some indecipherable goboldygook plus a file name. Sure it can be done with some other program that has one name in the GUI (e.g. 'archive manager' on Ubuntu) and who knows what actual name. The advantage of Linux is that it makes doing hard technical things less hard. The disadvantage of Linux is that it makes doing technically easy things harder...not because of a technical shortcoming but due to community norms. One of those community norms is to frown upon approaches that are not considered technically best. It's ok if someone else doesn't do things the best way over the long run. Most of what most people do on computers is disposable and unimportant. There's no need to boil the ocean. Excellence when unzipping a file is not really necessary, and settling for good enough is not a moral failing. By 'good enough' I mean good enough for the user, not for an old Linux hand. Good solutions meet the user where they are not where someone else is. If I'm standing at someone's desk in a place of business, then the "use a native Linux program" might do that because I am there to guide them through it and I will be there in two weeks when they have to do it again and in two months and so on...though that perhaps suggests another reason to just let that person run Winzip with poor performance. From personal experience of learning Linux on my own, eventually after several years I have reached the point where I usually try to do things a Linuxy way, first...or within an hour or two of trying to do it a more familiar way. Doing things in a Linuxy way means I often wind up boiling a large lake if not the ocean. Sometimes I think, Norvig's advice [2] is better for teachers than students. [1]: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-x... [2]: http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html

by pm215 9y ago

brudgers 9y ago

I agree that running Winzip on an Rpi is an XY problem. [1] But I think that's just the way the world works. Sure it can be done with tar plus some indecipherable goboldygook plus a file name. Sure it can be done with some other program that has one name in the GUI (e.g. 'archive manager' on Ubuntu) and who knows what actual name. The advantage of Linux is that it makes doing hard technical things less hard. The disadvantage of Linux is that it makes doing technically easy things harder...not because of a technical shortcoming but due to community norms. One of those community norms is to frown upon approaches that are not considered technically best. It's ok if someone else doesn't do things the best way over the long run. Most of what most people do on computers is disposable and unimportant. There's no need to boil the ocean. Excellence when unzipping a file is not really necessary, and settling for good enough is not a moral failing. By 'good enough' I mean good enough for the user, not for an old Linux hand. Good solutions meet the user where they are not where someone else is. If I'm standing at someone's desk in a place of business, then the "use a native Linux program" might do that because I am there to guide them through it and I will be there in two weeks when they have to do it again and in two months and so on...though that perhaps suggests another reason to just let that person run Winzip with poor performance. From personal experience of learning Linux on my own, eventually after several years I have reached the point where I usually try to do things a Linuxy way, first...or within an hour or two of trying to do it a more familiar way. Doing things in a Linuxy way means I often wind up boiling a large lake if not the ocean. Sometimes I think, Norvig's advice [2] is better for teachers than students. [1]: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-xy-problem https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/66377/what-is-the-x... [2]: http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html