[BadVista Advocate] Linux for Newbies

[Jacob Maynard]

I hope I can say this without sounding brash, but your tutorial, while
very nice in appearance and amount of information, is just another
tutorial. What needs to happen is for us to have a centralized place with
answers to questions that are not distro specific. In other words, we need
a tutorial for all distros, and we need tutorials for all the common
applications or applications to use in lieu of the familiar Windows
programs out there. We need to have that web IRC client somewhere in that
site. All of the information needs to be centralized, and we don't need
everything to be another forum.

I was thinking that a Moodle design wouldn't be bad, but there's a
learning curve for that.

What it boils down to is that there is no single site for all of the
information to switch to GNU/Linux. It's all spread across Google and
Yahoo (not literally, of course). And everything is a forum. Forums are
not user-friendly. It's another username and password for someone to
remember.

We need videos, pictures, explanations, tutorials, comparisons, chat (tech
support), etc. The site will have to be an entire site, not just single
pages linking to other single pages.

This is a huge undertaking, but if all of us are willing to input on it,
I'm sure that we could figure something out.

Jacob


> member greenarrow1 wrote:
>> I just finished reading a interesting article about Linux and newbies.
>>  Rather then rendering the link and boring everyone with the whole
>> writing I will iterate one area I felt was very true.  I even did a
>> internet search like the writer did and I was amazed of the lack of up
>> to date tutorials for helping newbies find material or installing, or
>> just using Linux.  I mean I found some but they were not written for a
>> newbie or they were so lackadasical I could not even understand them.
>> Plus the fact they kept referring to computers with 128MB RAM and P2
>> computers, I found if I was a windows user I would think that Linux is
>> old and no one with new computers use it.  Why we keep stating this
>> fact is beyond me since most window users now have at least P4 or
>> better AMD computers with minimum of 526MB (most 1G now), better video
>> and sound.
>>
>> Search led me to sites that were for Linux users to Linux users and
>> not for newbies, written only for a knowledgeable Linux user, etc.  I
>> admit if I go through page after page I find information but this
>> should be on the first page they search.  Now if the user knew exactly
>> what distro they wanted there was some information but for a user who
>> did not know anything about Linux and wanting to learn the basics
>> where they would understand what is written there is really not much
>> available.  A lot of the information I did find was very poorly
>> designed, very out dated, and was detrimental in attracting a window
>> user.
>>
>> Now do not start pointing me to links but show me where this info is
>> that the person searching doesnt have to flip page after page to find
>> it.  A newbie is not going to do that and like was written in what I
>> was reading I agree that if it is not on the first or second page the
>> newbie is going to lose interest or if he read info that he does not
>> understand he will leave also.
>>
>> We want people to switch but we are also not making it easy for them
>> to find current and updated material.  How many window users really
>> even know how to search?  They going to enter Linux, Linux Newbie,
>> Linux tutorials.  Seriously do the latter and then read what is there.
>>  Not very well written or it is dated material.  Here we are updating
>> Linux everywhere but no one is looking at tutorials for new users that
>> a new user can read.  We seem to have forgotten that a new user does
>> not have the know how of developers and most window users have never
>> had to install a operating system before.
>>
>> George
>> greenarrow1
>> InNetInvestigations-Forensic
>> SuSe 10.2/TriStar/Apache
>> GoBoLinux
>
> I have written a tutorial for installing Ubuntu, which is available on
> my website:  http://www.thenixedreport.com/tutorials/ubuntu1.html
>
> Check it out and tell me what you think.
>
>
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