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."

Comments

Good step.

[keiferb]

This kind of stuff is a great step in the right direction, but lots of people in the target demographic would still prefer a dead-tree version. I'd really like to see a couple of those big, glossy, step-by-step picture books put out for Linux. There's a bunch for Win/Mac already, so I'm sure it'll just be a matter of time.

Nice, but they've got it all wrong...

[One Childish N00b]

Does Linux have top home marketshare? No.
Does Linux have top education marketshare? No.
So is the chance that people's very first system will be Linux high? No.
Does this make this whole thing pointless? Yes.

What do stores sell a new user if they don't know what they want? Windows. Therefore they will learn Windows. The only way they'll find out about this report is if they go online and find it, and then if they're not a techy user, they're not going to want to install something like an OS for themselves. This is a pointless exercise to make the open-source community hope for an influx of new users, when the fact is while stores still sell Windows machines, while mummy and daddy still have a Windows machine in the living room, while little Johnny's school uses Windows machines... Microsoft's monopoly is self-sustaining.

It doesn't matter how many guides you put out for Linux aimed at the 'new user', there are no users who've never used a computer before who are likely to run Linux - they're going to run what the store tells them to run, or what the computers in their house already run - Windows. The monopoly self-sustains. Unless all us nerds train our kids from birth to use *nix, and they all train their kids, etc, etc, etc, only Microsoft can destroy their own monopoly. Our only hope is that a catastrophic worm makes it impossible to ever use Windows, as other than that, reguardless of how many 'Linux for Total Newbies' PDFs people put out, those 'total newbies' will be reading it from a Windows machine, and the vast majority of them will be too scared or too stubborn to switch.

This will probably get modded troll, but that's the way it is - this is the wrong approach to be taking, and for all the people us few thousand nerds convert (very few), there's going to be a few thousand more kids growing up using mummy and daddy's Windows machine, perpetuating Microsoft's mindshare. We need to find a way to deal with it, and this is not it.

Admirable

[Chuck Bucket]

This is an admirable effort, however why Fedora for a beginner's distro? The problem I see is that Fedora is just getting it's feet wet and entire reinstalls are needed to update from core 1 -> 2. This harks back to my days with Red Hat 5 and Mdk 6. Without trying to start a flamewar, I really think a Debian based system with Synaptic setup for updating is the best solution. Lastly, I don't know if a beginner's guide should include the commandline, that will likely scare some off. Let them get completely comfy in the GUI, then let them start exploring off the path.

Still, efforts like this NEED to be undertaken, if it's one thing OSS projects often lack is documentation.

CV*)($#B

Re:Here is the only guide you need

[ZenPirate]

Would the average home user even be capable of knowing if his/her Linux box had been "0wned" ?

Re:Uh... Fedora?

[Matt Perry]

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? I know there are a lot of different Linux distros out there but few of them state how long they'll be supported before an upgrade is needed. I use Debian for my computer needs but I wouldn't consider it to be an easy to use and administer system for someone who's new to computers. It definitely requires some experience to set up. Fedora is nice but between Red Hat's support and Fedora Legacy, updates will only last about a year and a half to two years before one has to upgrade.

Any recommendations?

SuSe or Fedora? Fedora is actually great!

[p0]

Some of you guys may not suggest Fedora for a linux beginner, but wait, I have seen quite a few users hop on to linux, completely abandoning Windows right with Fedora Core 1, and they are actuallly happy with it!
Installing applications are not that hard unlike the earlier days. I recommend rpm.pbone.net to find your applications packaging for Fedora, I have been 99.99% successfull! And with the brand new Yum, staying upto date is always a breeze.
I also recommend adding Dag Wieers repository in your yum configuration and this particular one releases very useful applications/updates. Needless to stay, once you load fancy themes and eye-candy like gDesklets you really can grab the eyes of people around you while giving you a pleasurable user experience.

Re:Uh... Fedora?

[LnxAddct]

What forced upgrades? I still run FC1 on a machine, its the msot stable OS i've ever used, well its on par with Debian Stable. I have FC2 on my laptop. Both Fedora machines run perfect and there has never been a forced upgrade. Up2date is like windows update, except it updates everything on your system, instead of what MS wants updated. And you get to pick and choose. Nothing is ever forced on you, ever. I personally use apt because my roots in linux are in debian, and I use debian daily, but for an end user, you just cant beat Fedora. Suse is nice but I have my issues with it. Mandrake is the only other non-MS OS I'd recommend to a typical user. People keep saying that Fedora is bleeding edge, and it is if you want it to be, but it can also move at a slower pace if you'd like and every Core so far has been extreemly stable. Saying Fedora is bleeding edge is like saying Debian is bleeding edge, its up to you if you wanna run stable, testing or unstable, and Fedora defaults to stable, and everythign is extensively tested at RH. Also, dealing with RH developers is such a nice experience as compared to dealing with the typical arogant Debain dev.(Not all Debian devs are that way, but more then I'd like)I don't see the problem here.
Regards,
Steve

Re:My suggestion

[Zork the Almighty]

I think I'll elaborate on this a bit more. No computer newbie these days should be using an install cd and rolling the dice. With Knoppix you can see approximately how well everything will work beforehand. This is the be-all end-all of software installation!

I haven't tried Knoppix recently, so I don't know what has been done, but this is the ideal. We want a polished install program, which can handle partitioning with an icon on the desktop "Install to Hard Drive". Debian repositories should be automatically queried, and security updates downloaded automatically. It needs an "update software" program which shows a list of programs (not libraries), and installs necessary updates. Then it needs a "new software browser" which can browse and search the library of available programs (not libraries) and can install them. This would be it.

Asssuming users have no knowledge is a good idea

[Infonaut]

People learn about computers in a very haphazard manner. For example, I've been using them for about 20 years, and there is an entire univers of computer knowledge I have never encountered. By the same token, many of the supposedly computer-savvy teens today have no idea about many of the fundamental underpinnings of computers. My point is that when you assume a user has "basic" knowledge, you're already leaving some people out of the loop, even if many of them have been using computers for years.

I think this guide is a fantastic idea for people like my uncle. The guy absolutely hates Microsoft, for a variety of reasons that will be familiar to most Slashdot readers. But he has never switched to anything else because he's too afraid of losing compatibility, not being able to use MS Office, etc. I should say he *was* afraid, because I recently gave him an old G3/500 iBook running Mac OSX, and he loves it.

Now he is ready to take his old Wintel box and put Linux on it. This manual will be perfect. I can pass it his way, have him give it a read-through, and then I'll go over to his place and we'll run through a Linux installation together.

There are a variety of folks out there who have a strong dislike for Microsoft products, but have no real experience with anything but Microsoft. They know that many pundits say OS X is a better user experience. They know that Linux is out there too. But they need all the help they can get in pushing past the extremely strong inertia that Microsoft has created.

You are quite right in saying that "the vast majority of them will be too scared or too stubborn to switch," but I believe that if there are multiple avenues (in the true *NIX tradition) for people to take in their quest to find alternatives to Microsoft, so much the better. Linux has never been about "The One True Way" and I think it's a bit much to expect that we will ever find "a way to deal with it." Why not present multiple paths?

Re:Uh... Fedora?

[Apreche]

Do what I do for my grandma. I made her a "custom" desktop that has very few very large icons to launch the programs she uses. The pc is setup with gdm and autologin. It's gentoo. Sure, my grandma has no idea what's going on. But I have some cron jobs in there doing routine maintenance and e-mailing me. And on occasion I ssh in and do a little emerge -uDva world.

Linux is designed as a multi-user system. The best way for it to work is via the client server model. You want someone who knows what they are doing to maintain the system itself, because it will never be easy. Then life for the clients is a dream come true. Thunderbird, Firefox, OpenOffice, Gaim, rox, xmms, giftui and gimp. Maybe sunbird in the future. 99% of people can get by on just that and be happy forever. Especially since its incredibly fast, feature rich, good looking, stable and secure.

Re: Quitting vi

[some guy I know]

So, is that ":q" or ":q!"? You never know when it's Linux.

IFAIK, all versions of vi work the same way: ":q" will not exit if the file has been modified since the last write (or will pop up a dialog box asking whether you want to save your changes), whereas ":q!" will always exit, without prompting and without saving any changes since the last write.
"!" after a command in vi usually means "do the operation without prompting", or, to put it another way, forcibly do the operation, even though you may lose information (e.g., ":w!" will overwrite a file that you have opened read-only (i.e., with "view"), or that you indicated was read-only with the ":se readonly" command).