[Techtalk] Why is life without X important? (was: Re: info) X is not the point!

[caitlynmaire at earthlink.net]

Hi, Carla, and everyone else,
> 
> This is very cool information, but what does it have to do with man
> pages? 

It has to do with how we read and use man pages or info pages.

> See the original message below. I'm talking about accessing man and
> info pages, and other technical docs, not performing amazing feats of
> server recovery.

Amazing feats of recovery often require man pages be available, hence
the importance, as Telsa described, of having them available at the
console.

> X is not the point, the point is it's irrelevant what format man 
> and info pages come in, as long as you have a healthy computer to read
> them on.

Big assumption here, isn't it?  Is every man page for every *nix
available on every healthy computer?  I think not.  The one I need is
most likely available on one with a system identical to the one I am
fixing.  That means same *nix and same distro if Linux.

I used to work for a company that made me travel a *lot*.  Our second
largest customer was in Bandung, Indonesia and I was in New York City. 
Do you really think I wanted to use X over *their* phone lines?  Ever
had a laptop do strange things during 24 hours in transit?  I have, and
I had no other system available on the flight.  I don't sleep on planes,
BTW.  Working with (and travelling to) a customer in Bandung was a very
real life situation, and no, no other healthy computer was available. 
The customer's business was worth *millions* to us too.

All the best,
Caity