ubuntu for novices

[Hudson Delbert J Contr 61 CS/SCBN]

pretty good ideas all except for the last which precludes any users
converting from a non-ubuntu non-winbloze. example, i generally use
freebsd as a WORKSTATION. i know a focus of most distro's are to attract
mickey$oft folks but lets not completely alienate unixens who venture into
ubuntu unless the developers dont feel that other unix folks can just figure
it out.
in any case, lets not assume that the only other platform out there is
windoze.

ALL NEW ubuntu users have a learning curve and are expected at least to
LEARN some stuff.

if we must hold the hands of all the new converts we might as well let them
stay
on bill's desktop because he will hold there hands but wont tell them where
they are headed.

zealots are dangerous if there only experience is the conversion itself.

~piranha

-----Original Message-----
From: ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com
[mailto:ubuntu-users-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com]On Behalf Of Senectus .
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 5:03 PM
Cc: ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: ubuntu for novices


On Tue, 9 Nov 2004 19:05:49 -0500, David Feldman
<mailing-lists at interfacethis.com> wrote:
> I'm surveying distributions I'd recommend to novice users, particularly
> Windows switchers. My feeling is that Ubuntu is _almost_ there but
> lacking one key feature and a couple less key features.
>
Ubuntu _is_ that OS I believe.. and mostly because the post install
maintenance is very easy.
 
> Key feature: A GUI for configuring wireless cards. The ability to enter
> the SSID and WEP key at install time is helpful, but there's no easy
> way to do this after the OS has been installed. Asking a novice user to
> edit a text config file isn't really a good thing.
> 
Yes you can, if you go into the network settings and delete the
interface, then add it again it will give you the choices your after.
Not perfect but it works very well.


> Less key feature: A GUI for installation. The installer is relatively
> straightforward, but might be interpreted as unfriendly-looking due to
> its text-based nature. More importantly, for those unfamiliar with
> text-based UIs it's not always clear which key to hit, so even if a GUI
> installer isn't added, some hints on which keys to use might be a good
> addition.
> 
I'm not so sure on this, GUI would be more attractive but with not
pictures or other distractions people tend to focus on the questions
asked a little better.
Uh, this is my opinion though... ;-)

> Less key feature: NTFS/FAT resize as an option during install. A few
> distros have this, and I think it's a great idea because it allows
> Windows users to create a dual-boot setup without doing a reinstall of
> Windows or any pre-configuration of their systems. For extra points,
> provide a preconfigured option to add a shared FAT partition when
> Windows is installed on NTFS.
> 
I don't know if this will ever make it into Ubuntu because of licence
issue's.. I could be wrong though...



-- 
" So let us then try to climb the mountain, not by stepping on what is
below us, but to pull us up at what is above us, for my part at the
stars; amen"
- M.C.Escher

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