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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
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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).
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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