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Linux Desktop Guide
codergeek42 writes "The International Open-Source Network has created a desktop manual aimed at end-users with little or no prior knowledge of PCs. This manual goes through using The Fedora Project to do things from file-management to using the internet (as in browsing the WWW and using email), how to use the OpenOffice.org office suite, and even a basic intro to using the shell. This is definitely a step in the right direction for GNU/Linux, and the Free Software and Open-Source Software movements. And the cool part is that the entire thing is under an attributions-required OSI-approved Creative Common license, and is available in .sxw (OpenOffice.org Writer) or PDF formats."
Not bit torrent, but it'll have to do...
Google Cache
-jim
That's why they have a version of the APT-Get tool for Fedora. And of course, there's always Yum, but that tends to be a bit behind the times.
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
When I was leaning Linux, my friends and the HOWTO's were the greatest help to me. A nice document with a first time walk-through could be nice, if you're missing the linux-savvy friends.
:q!)
Anyway the first thing you should learn, just in case, is how to quit vi. (it's
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
The "___ for Dummies" line probably has something that's pretty good. I have their "Redhat For Dummies" book and it did a good job of leading me through installation and use before I knew anything about Linux. This was for Red Hat 8, but they probably have something more updated by now.
This sig is only here so people stop skipping the last lines of my posts.
I agree- Mandrake would have my vote: mp3 and DVD playback work out-of-the-box.
Suse 9.1- no DVD playback o-o-t-b; Fedora - no mp3 playback, o-o-t-b.
After perusing it, I gave this one to my sisters and mother. It covers all the same things, but in print, with Figures:
Teach Yourself Red Hat Linux Fedora
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Since license allows it - anyone interested can copy this manual and make slight changes so it will describe a distribution of his choice (like debian or gentoo)
After appearance of this manual I bet we should expect its clones appearing like mushrooms after a rain.
#
#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
#
Happy mandrake 10 user here. It just makes my life easier. Finally without a windows partition!!
I've been using mandrake for 2 years now... before that I was a windows fanboy.
Anyways... linux has been great. I am able to do everything I need to for my job in linux (CXOffice has been wonderful).
Upgrading to the latest version of Fedora is as hard as copying and pasting from the Red Hat website into the yum.conf file, then typing "yum upgrade". Most people will be able, after 1 1/2 to 2 years of using a system, to copy and paste into a text file.
As far as I'm concerned Fedora is the best newbie distro available. SUSE and Mandrake are both weirder and more obtuse, in my experience, than Debian; they both have glaring obnoxiousness that is completely inexcusable for distros aiming at the markets they're targeting.
A very realistic option for someone new, but willing to experiment a bit, is a Knoppix or Gnoppix -> Debian install. In fact, I would say it's the next best option for newbies after Fedora.
The only catch with Fedora, however, is its initial install: none of the partitioning strangeness has been fixed. On certain machines, Fedora simply cannot coexist with Windows on the same hard drive. But, if someone is willing to ditch Windows altogether, or is trying it out on a new, exclusively linux box, the installation is nearly flawless.
Art Schools Dietzilla
Nice troll - these silly fudsters would sound almost believable to someone who doesn't know better...
While I use suse, not fedora, I have installed fedora on several computers, and had no trouble whatsoever with the install or setup.
The nvidia issue is like a newbie 101 type question, - the fudster tripped up a few times, one of them was in the nvidia driver install. No, you don't recompile the kernel. You simply install the nvidia driver (without the GUI running), edit 1 line in the X config file, and restart X. Actually, this is all clearly spelled out in the readme at nvidia.com.
With suse, the nvidia driver is even easier. You just check the box in yast that says "install nvidia drivers". that's it.
Well, I could point out his other howlers, but my time is worth something too.
I did mention that that is exactly what I did, didn't I? I'll give more detail. I edited the one line in the X config file, that didn't work. I added a few different things from their installation tutorial. That didn't work. I tried simply changing it through X itself, that didn't work.
I'm sorry I insulted Linux, sir, I take it back.
The poster didn't bother to mention that the IOSN is a project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is focused on developing countries. They tend to deal with really poor countries with very limited resources. They are not focused on Joe-consumer in a rich, developed country.
Under these conditions, you want a distribution that can be freely downloaded, burned and redistributed without restrictions or problems. Fedora fits that bill and is targeted towards the desktop.
If you set up your YUM (or apt-get if you install apt-get on Fedora) configuration properly, you can upgrade from Fedora Core 1 to 2 to 3 (whenever it comes out) automatically. No need to download, burn and do a massive upgrade from CD.
Ok, here's a torrent for parts 1-4. Make sure you right click and choose "save as". I didn't have a chance to reconfigure Apache. The sooner everyone stops their downloads and uses the torrent, the sooner I can get the rest of the files in a torrent.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
"The only catch with Fedora, however, is its initial install: none of the partitioning strangeness has been fixed. On certain machines, Fedora simply cannot coexist with Windows on the same hard drive. But, if someone is willing to ditch Windows altogether, or is trying it out on a new, exclusively linux box, the installation is nearly flawless."
l ist/20 04-May/msg02114.html
A fix for the dual boot issue with Windows XP was posted on the Red Hat site on May 18, 2004 (maybe earlier, this was the earliest post that I ran across). No judgement call for users out there, just some helpful links and info. Enjoy Fedora.
Red Hat:
http://www.redhat.com/archives/fedora-test-
LWN:
http://lwn.net/Articles/86835/
Try SuSE 9.1. Almost all point and click. Uses RPM under the hood but installing security/recommended updates online is easy:
9.1 was released recently so updates should be available for a while yet.
I've no connection to SuSE other than as a satisfied user.
---
It's wrong that an intellectual property creator should not be rewarded for their work.
It's equally wrong that an IP creator should be rewarded too many times for the one piece of work, for exactly the same reasons.
Reform IP law and stop the M$/RIAA abuse.
Though slashdotted, if you actually get through you'd see
Linux has many distributions and sometimes the programs or tools used to perform a certain function can vary from distribution to distribution. This guide tries to be as generic as possible in the description of the features and functionalities. However, in some cases, especially some of the GUI desktop configuration tools, there is no really independent generic tool that can be used and each distribution has its own tool. In such cases, we have tried to illustrate their usage using Fedora Linux
This guide was written on a Fedora Linux system and as such many of the screen shots reflect this. However, this should not be construed as an endorsement of this distribution of Linux over the others on the part of the authors.
Fedora's desktop is used for screenshots and examples, but it isn't a guide to Fedora.
I haven't read the PDF yet but I suspect its not directly aimed at Joe User. It is aimed at US(Linux user ITs or geeks) to GIVE to Joe User with a copy of Fedora or Mandrake. Yes you are correct that the stores will sell you windows but the end users are getting frustrated with Windows enough to be looking for solutions. This is one. They aren't likely to know about Linux but they may know about you. So get off your duff and show them the better way.
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
Seriously. Mandrake is easy to install, has excellent hardware detection, and passed the "my-non-techie-mother can use it" test. Once you set up the urpmi system (a lot like apt-get for Debian, and has a graphical front-end for it as well), updating and upgrading is straightforward and simple.
"What do you think?" "I think 'What, do you think?!'"
I have a serious question then. What's a good, easy to use Linux distribution for first time computer users that also will have security updates for many (3+) years to come?
There isn't a complete answer, but for me and my customers/business associates/employer, etc., a good answer has been Mandrake. It's non-US, so it's free to include such contraband items as mp3 decoders, and it has none of the bluecurve foolishness. Urpmi, while not nearly as elegant as apt-get, has the singular and very important benefit of resolving dependencies with supplemental packages in the Mandrake default install. This is something apt-get can't promise , at least without some tweaking (AFAIK, if I'm wrong, let me know), and it unlocks a much wider set of options to the new user than anything Fedora can do.
Admittedly, Mandrake 10 is a train wreck at the moment (stability, etc.), but 9.2 is a good platform for now, and is well supported. I have confidence that Mandrake will work out the problems with 10 (point release and all that), but I also had confidence in Red Hat, and we all see what that got me. My next stop on the Linux train will be Gentoo, if it comes to that.
The Dell laptop on which I type this is running Fedora Linux - and with only the exception of the integrated wireless card, does an excellent job.
Offtopic... but... I have a Dell 8600 with the Dell TrueMobile 1400 wireless (broadcom) and it works great with the ndis driver wrapper. Not sure if that's what you're using, but just letting you know just in case.
"I don't get it... PDF files are small and pdfviewers are ubiquitous..."
PDF files can be small, but more often than not they're large. I think his joke is about generalizations.
Or maybe I just think it's funny because my recently downloaded Lightwave manual is a >90 meg PDF file.
"Derp de derp."
"Wouldn't something like Mandrake or SuSe be better for beginners?"
I'd nominate Knoppix. Burn a disc, pop it in, reboot, read a friendly written manual to play with it. I've never thought of Linux as easy to use, but Knoppix seriously turned my head. Nice pleasant combination of auto-detecting everything and having the right stuff pre-installed.
"Derp de derp."
All of Suse is like that now, starting with 9.0 (earlier, with a less intuitive system). It's incredibly simple to use and doesn't require you to go to rpmfind.net or anywhere else to find missing library files.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
But if you have a reason for saying that OS X doesn't have the power of unix in it, I'd like to hear about it. It's meant for a workstation or desktop, but it can certainly do traditional unix server stuff.
FreeBSD for the impatient.
One of the main focuses of Sarge was a greatly improved installer; easier to set up, updates with
and .Bullshit. I am a longtime computer user with a goodly amount of grey hair. You were probably in diapers when Windows 3.11 came out. Windows 3.11 came with exactly jack and shit functional. It had Solitaire, but that's about it. Need TCP/IP? Download Trumpet Winsock. Then download Mosaic and Pegasus Mail. Oh yeah, install all your apps...maybe Word, maybe Word Perfect, maybe Lotus, maybe any number of other stuff. Windows95 was a little better. You got TCP/IP networking, you got The Microsoft Network (remember when MS was chasing AOHell and Prodigy?) and you got Wordpad. Oh yeah, and Solitaire. w00t. 2K gave you Internet Exploder and Outhouse Excess, and also a pinball game to go along with your Solitaire and Minesweeper.
OK, now what do you get with your average distribution of Linux? A lot more, eh? Fully fledged office suites, all the internet apps you want and some you don't, lots of cute little timesink games, a full development environment, educational software, multimedia software, and almost all the drivers you need. Including the NVidia drivers if you back away from the Fedora and try perhaps SuSE or Mandrake. Or even Linspire, which you can set up with a non-root user account and even use apt-get to update into glorious Debian-ness.
If you value your time, buy a machine that's preloaded. There's a lot more out there preloaded with Linux then there used to be.
If you are truly interested in getting free of Windows, there are tons of resources out there for it. And even if you stick with Windows, there's a lot of F/OSS out there to try while you make the transition.
HTH HAND
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
ATI provides a 9800 pro driver. I've installed it myself. The reason X distro's don't include it is because they are proprietary (non-free). However, their generic radeon driver runs just fine as long as you aren't doing any 3d acceleration. Funny, thats the same way it is with windows...built-in driver works but for 3d accel you need the ATI version.
I'm surprised that I haven't seen any jokes about /.'ing the UN, WMDs or other such jokes yet. A little background about that little server you guys are turning into molten plasma:
:)
/.'ing is over, do visit the site again later and see what the UN is doing with regards to FOSS. There are a few interesting projects underway, including FAQs for policy makers, localization toolkits and much more. The training materials are just the beginning of what the IOSN has in store.
The International Open Source Network is part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The IOSN's purpose is to promote Free and open source software to developing nations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific. The desktop training materials are part of that, as many governments have expressed a need for human capacity building materials. I'd link to the joint declaration for FOSS by 20 countries, but it's sitting on that same smoking server.
The IOSN server currently sits in the UNDP country office representing Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. With a single link, Slashdot has DDOSed the UN representatives of 3 different countries! Sharing that internet link is the national website of Niue (www.niuegov.com) plus a number of websites for regional UN programs. Way to go guys. Expect UN weapons inspectors on your doors soon.
When the
This is moderated as funny, but it's true. My background is as a Mac user, and on MacOS the process to boot off a removable disk has always been the same:
1) Insert bootable disk.
2) Open Control Panels.
3) Open Startup Disk.
4) Click on the name of the disk you want to boot from.
It's not just a matter of making the installer easy to use, or making the GUI easy to use, but making the *computer* easy to use. Apple has many negative points, but one of the things they've always done right is to treat the computer as a whole, and not just a sum of parts.
It's not a Linux distro that needs to be made easy-to-use, it's a Linux PC... Linspire is on the right track. Microsoft does it by having their OS installed by default.
Comment of the year
Now *THERE'S* a good idea. Put it in a proprietary format that *possibly* (current compatibility features accepted) won't be displayed properly on a GNU/Linux system, so that once they get on there and start trying to read the manuals and work their way around, they might not be able to read the manual properly. I would imagine that one of the requirements of the manual is that people are able to read them on a GNU/Linux system, so that they can actually try out the things they are learning.
And how do you suggest that they display screenshots in a text file? Being that the manual is for beginners, and they added as many screenshots as possible to aid understanding, having a text-only document would utterly defeat the purpose of the manual.
If you're going to rag on the format, at least suggest SENSIBLE (and preferably open) formats, such as PDF (which they already provide; most systems have a PDF viewer so this is not a problem) or HTML.
And to take a Free Software view for a moment, I think if you want a Free (as in speech) document about a Free system converted into a proprietary format, you aren't going to appreciate the philosophy of GNU/Linux.
I've set up a mirror at http://ftp.ftlight.net/pub/mirrors/linux-userguide /.
e /print.html.
e /linux-userguide-sxw.torrent for OpenOffice files ande /linux-userguide-pdf.torrent for PDFs.
The original page with links is http://ftp.ftlight.net/pub/mirrors/linux-userguid
Files are still being downloaded, you can see how many are present from the first link.
Torrents will be available when downloads are complete at:
http://ftp.ftlight.net/pub/mirrors/linux-userguid
http://ftp.ftlight.net/pub/mirrors/linux-userguid
http://www.gnustep.org/ try the live cd if your distro doesn't ship it or you're just too lazy to compile, http://www.linuks.mine.nu/gnustep/