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Helping Linux Newbies Move to the Next Level
NoWhere Man writes "PCWorld has a "here's how" article on how to get the most out of your Linux box. It's basically a very extensive and userfriendly step-by-step instruction on how to recompile your kernel to make it smaller and more compact." Kernel recompilation and optimization is old hat for experienced Linux people, but articles like this, especially in "non-Linux" publications, are necessary to help new Linux users become more adept. Kudos to PCWorld for running it!
This might the appropriate topic to create a thread of comments/suggestions/ideas regarding a Linux help site that I want to start up. If this is the wrong place to do so, then I apologise.
:P) which would recommend certain HOWTO's/FAQ's based on their problem, before allowing them to submit a help request.
The design of this site would be centered around "users helping users". Those who feel adept in helping newbies could sign up as "helpers", where their particular skills and areas of expertise would be kept track of. Newbies in need of help could then fill in a form requesting for help, from which the system would match their particular problem with a suitable "helper" - who would be emailed their information.
Of course, to remove common questions, users would be taken through maybe some kind of Wizard (ick I hate that word
In effect, what would be created would be a large scale "help desk" system - however free for people to use.
The incentive for people to become "helpers" would be simple - the best helpers each month (derived from positive feedback from users) would revieve free hardware/software from sponsors of the site. I'm thinking people like VA, PenguinComputing, and Redhat could be suitable "sponsors".
Help requests and solutions would be recorded and put in some kind of Linux help knowledge base, which would be free to search.
I have confidence that (once above the ground) such a help system would really benefit the Linux community.
A) People could get personal help with their problems
B) Those who help would be rewarded from sponsors
C) Sponsors get exposure
D) People might feel easier about learning Linux is they knew a free help system existed.
Well, I hope that gives you guys enough of an idea as to what I would like to see. I am eager for constructive critisism/ideas/comments/questions for this idea.
cheers,
semis.
As a Linux newbie, I first saw this article on linux.com on Saturday. It has proved VERY helpful. I had tried to recompile/compile kernels before, but I had always gotten errors, or something went wrong. But, I had finally recompiled my kernel on Saturday night (he, 16 and compiling a kernel on a Saturday night, scary :-) and with that success, I tried to compile the latest kernel. Unfortunatly, I still haven't gotten that to work because at bootup, it says VFS is unable to mount the root fs. I'm not sure what's wrong, but it's fun to try to figure it out. Anyway, I really liked this article, and found it extremely helpful.