New users - possible problems

[rwallace at sunyrockland.edu]

I agree VERY STRONGLY.  I think that there are two things that are still
keeping Linux from taking off.

The first is peripherals still not having good drivers, and the second is
that experienced Linux users seem to think that the world was born being
able to write shell scripts.  90% of computer users still don't know what
a shell script is.

Linux is a lot safer than XP and the world is now full of still usable
machines that have Windows installs on them that Microsoft no longer
supports.  Why should a company dump all of it's pentium 2 processors when
their people are only doing word processing on them?  Why should a company
on a tight budget like a government entity or maybe a college student have
to pay $100 per machine just to upgrade windows?  The world is ready for
Linux, but Linux is still a bit less than ready for the world.  You still
can't get streaming video working in Kubuntu right out of the box, and
that is as far as the average computer user can go.


> There has been some discussion recently about getting computer users off
> Windows and on to Linux. I think that is a great idea. However I suggest
> that some help and hand-holding will be required. Here are some thoughts
> that I recently set down.
>
> ****************************************************************************
>
> Setting up Kubuntu Edgy.
>
> There has been some chat recently about getting Windows users to migrate
> to Linux with particular reference to Kubuntu. I have used Linux for
> years  I installed Edgy the day that it came out and I have been pleased
> so far. It might be interesting to look at the changes and tweaks that I
> have made so far. My point is that as it installed out of the box so to
> speak, it was not yet ready for me. It worked, of course, but I had to
> do quite a bit of customisation before I was happy with it. What will
> people new to Linux think I wonder.
>
> *** Please note that these are not criticisms, merely some thoughts and
> comments re possible problems for people new to Linux  ***
>
>
>
> First of all I made the Num Lock turn on at log on. The default to have
> it off seems odd to me.
>
> I could not see any files in the root folder so, with help from the
> group, I sorted that out.
>
> I had some problems with my browsers (Firefox and Galeon)  Again with
> help I traced this to having IPv6  enabled. With help from the group I
> disabled it and all is now well. New users could find this rather
> obscure and difficult to sort out.
>
> I had to add extra repositories before I could see a complete list of
> available files.
>
> I had a floppy drive in my new computer (I know, but it was there) and
> it took a while and quite a lot of help from the group to get it working.
>
> Adding new files using Adept seemed fine, but I had to learn to deal
> with packages that needed me to answer some questions along the way. At
> first I thought it had died on me.
>
> My printer was found OK, but I couldn't get any utilities to work with
> it (eg checking ink quantity) at first. Eventually I installed escputil
> and all is now well.
>
> There were no icons on the desktop at all. OK, some people like to work
> that way. I suggest that those new to Linux will want and expect  to
> find some icons already there. I have added a few for myself (26 in
> fact). They were fairly easy to set up except for Home. I had to be
> pointed in the right place for that one.
>
> I like using a terminal screen. I had to add the necessary icon in
> Konqueror so that I can call it up from any folder. And yes, I do often
> use alt-F2.
>
> I couldn't get any sounds at first. Luckily I knew about Kmix. I found
> that everything was switched off. Seems strange. Anyway, I got it sorted
> out but a newcomer to Linux is going to be baffled I suggest.
>
> *********************************************************************************
>
>
> As I say, just some first thoughts. We need to look after any newcomers,
> agreed??
>
> Neil Winchurst
>
>
>
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