HELP WINDOWS XP

Sat Aug 9 12:58:41 UTC 2008

Chris Jeffries wrote:
> The approachability of Ubuntu by new users is crucial to success. The
> open software project will not succeed if it cannot get 'Joe Public' on
> board without fuss. Even though I am a literate computer user myself
> (since 1964), my mate who often asks my help is not, so I am going to
> reference his responses to my experience as well as my own.
>
> When I first started to install Ubuntu on this (laptop) PC, my first
> question was 'How can I be certain its not going to trash my Windows
> partition'. I could not find out, so I backed everything up as best I
> could (40GB back up is not a simple task) and also crossed my fingers.
>
> SUGGESTION 1: Most users are not that good with backup, so some bootable
> backup tool might be a good addition to the install process. My mate
> would probably have left out this step unless it was made braindead
> easy.
>
> SUGGESTION 2: A clear and simple explanation of what is going to happen
> to the hard disk BEFORE the install is started - oh and make sure that
> its not at all easy to trash an existing Windows partition. I needed
> this - my mate would probably not have even realised the dangers of what
> he was about to do.
>
> I first tried the install from LiveCD (with some nervousness - see
> above)
>
> It failed. I think my mate would give up at this point.
>
> I rooted around on the web and discovered that the alternate install
> image was often more reliable. That must mean that people KNOW the
> LiveCD install is not that reliable. SO WHY USE IT??? 
    The LiveCD is the way to go. It needs to be made better. Both my 
computers a fixed nVidia and a laptop loaded fine from the LiveCD and I 
new it was going to work. If it had not, I would join you in saying use 
something else.


Karl


> Installing from
> the LiveCD s supposed to make it easier for newbies, but if its not
> reliable, it is worse (I mean that) than useless.
>
> SUGGESTON 3: gparted is a nice program, but for my mate it would be very
> scary. For people like him, the install needs a 'wizard' - not being
> dumped in gparted. The wizard needs to cope with the most un-technical
> of users.
>   
    This is a problem. A wizard that will do the right thing is next to 
impossible. Even Windows loader takes the whole hard drive if left 
alone. And it will delete anything in the way.


> SUGGESTION 4:  If the install is aborted, there should be a way for the
> user to get advice what to do next - including how to recover his
> initial state. For example what to do with a lone ext3 partition or a
> Linux swap partition and how to put the Windows boot loader back in
> place of grub.
>
> I experienced (without any explanation or warning) an enormous wait
> while the install was checking the archives for updates. This was very
> disconcerting. I almost gave up, but after some searching realised that
> patience was worth while. I am certain my mate would have re-booted at
> this stage. I believe by this point grub was probably installed, so he'd
> now also have an unfamiliar boot process (but still no usable Ubuntu).
>
> SUGGESTION 5: Make the archive check optional (but recommended) and warn
> that it may take several hours (or even days) to complete. Also give
> advice on how to do it later.
>
> Finally, I got Ubuntu running. My mate would have been phased by the
> grub boot screen. I was a bit shocked myself to see so much diagnostic
> stuff on my screen - after all the only thing I had installed was
> Ubuntu. What was memtest all about, why was diagnostic mode on the menu
> - was something predicted to go wrong, and WHY were there already two
> different versions of Ubuntu to choose from. 
>
> SUGGESTION 6: A simple grub menu offering three options
>  
>     Windows (Press W), 
>     Ubuntu (Press U)  and 
>     Diagnostic tools(Press D) 
>
> would be great. It would also help a lot if the install process actually
> explained the boot process would change and gave an option which OS
> should be the default, and perhaps even gave an image of the new boot
> screen.
>
> On first log in, you are on your own. I was OK here, happy to wander and
> find out for myself. but
>
> SUGGESTION 7: The desktop should already have an icon or two on it with
> some guidance for new users. e.g. 'NEW TO UBUNTU? CLICK ME FOR A QUICK
> GUIDED TOUR' AND ´UBUNTU FOR WINDOWS USERS' After all, it is but a
> moment's effort to delete them if you don't want them.
>
> As for myself.....
>
> I STILL cannot print to the HP 5608 connected to a nearby Windows XP PC
> that is sharing it (the windows spooler locks up if I send anything
> there), 
>
> Nor can I successfully make a VPN connection to my VPN provider in the
> US, 
>
> And currently aMSN won't log in even though it did a few days ago.  This
> is probably due to some update or other -maybe there is an update log
> somewhere and I could track down which one caused it, but I've not found
> that yet either.
>
> These are all things I could easily solve by simply reverting to Windows
> - and I expect my mate probably would have given up and gone back to
> Windows - assuming he knew how. If not, he would have cursed
> Unix/Linux/Ubuntu to EVERYONE he knows as being not worth a light.
>
> The Open Source project is entering phase 2, it is no longer just for
> innovators, if we cannot support the computer semi-literate (and even
> illiterate), the project will stall and fail to become mainstream, and
> after all the efforts of so many people to create this wonderful
> community environment, that would be a tragedy. My grandmother used to
> say to me 'Let's not spoil the ship for a ha'pe'th of tar'.
>
> I am not saying others should do all this. What I can contribute, I will
> happily do. What I cannot, I will leave in the capable hands of those
> who can. But even in this, I am not sure how to make an offer.
>
> Chris.
>
>
>
>
>   


-- 

	Karl F. Larsen, AKA K5DI
	Linux User
	#450462   http://counter.li.org.
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