[TriLUG] Linux for the home user

[James Jones]

My wife worked for the state before she retired. Her work  pc was a
windows xp machine. I set her up with a linux box for the purpose of
email, games, internet browsing, picture viewing ( both video and
still ) and listening to music.

The box is running ubuntu 8.10 (now ). I started with redhat, then
fedora, then ubuntu. I changed about once a year.  No problems with
any except fedora seemed very memory hungry and I switched to ubuntu.

My wife just sat down and started using linux without any instruction.
She is defined as a linux newbie, but her time on the winxp box was
instruction enough.

jcj

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 10:48 AM, Tim Jowers <timjowers at gmail.com> wrote:
> I also suggest doing a screencast of the most common tasks. Maybe a
> screencast wiki exists? I saw this same question on ColaLUG a month or
> two ago with no real answers.
>
> Probably the main thing is putting a huge web browser icon right in
> the middle of the desktop. Heck, make it autostart!
>  The web is the computer for most folks nowadays.
>
> Let us know if you do a good search and find some videos. Here's one
> vendor selling some: http://www.ubuntulinuxtrainingvideos.com/
> Here are some I did a few years back and are free if worth anything to
> you. Some are ogg and others are swf.
> http://www.serviza.com/tours/
> Here's a short tutorial style book for budding linux users who are
> technology professionals or wish to be:
> http://www.serviza.com/books/OpenSourceProFC6.pdf
> And there's always lots of Linux documentation project info/sites.
>
> Second for Ubuntu. Disagree about newb. I think the Linux Desktop is
> far easier for a noob. What's more, configuration and troubleshooting
> is so much superior to Windows it is not funny. Ever try supporting a
> noob on Windows over the phone? Just shoot me!
>
> FWIW, in 1998 I managed an ISP and 80% of our support time and support
> calls were for Windows problems and nothing really to do with Internet
> access. We were the only ones who answered the phone.
>
> +1 for Gnucash. Great for personal and small business accounting.
>
> The main issue with Ubuntu is its minimal install. Disks are enormous
> nowadays. Load 'em up.
>
> TimJowers
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Paul McLanahan <pmclanahan at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 9:18 AM, Jason S. Evans <jason.s.evans at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Is there a distro or maybe a Ubuntu-derivative that is really good for
>>> the newbie user?  What I'm thinking is a distro that has lots of
>>> tutorials on how to use the software that won't take 8 hours of
>>> one-on-one instruction to fall into.  Is there one like that, would you
>>> suggest that someone try an Ubuntu live CD or some other live CD?  Just
>>> trying to pick your collective noggins.
>>
>> I think gOS might fit that bill perfectly. It's Ubuntu based, so the
>> hardware support should be there, and the interface and default
>> software should be very noob friendly. I haven't installed it myself,
>> but from the things I've read it looks quite promising.
>>
>> http://thinkgos.com/gos.php
>>
>> Paul
>> --
>> TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
>> TriLUG FAQ  : http://www.trilug.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions
>>
> --
> TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG FAQ  : http://www.trilug.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions
>



-- 
Jc Jones
Blogs -
http://www.wendellgeek.com/weblog/
http://kixtech.blogspot.com/

webmaster for:
http://www.raleighchurchofchrist.org
http://www.wendellgeek.com
http://classof1955.org
http://www.tuftux.com
http://www.dabeak.com
http://www.therealpatpatterson.com
http://jonesjc.freeshell.org
http://www.trilug.org/~jonesjc