[plug] Newbie Guide - The beginning

[Mark J Gaynor]

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 28/01/2005 at 12:13 PM Kev wrote:

>resources - there's just too much of it out there to sort through for a 
>newbie.  Most PLUG help (not all) is simply barrow pushing and showing 
>off great knowledge, and generally of negative value.  (If I hadn't met 

I would like to make an observation here without being judgmental.

You may have come to a meeting with an expectation, and your was not
met for what ever reason. Two things:-

Firstly, most of the PLUG workshop people are Debian in nature. That is
just how things developed. The other distros have emerged since the
original major distros as derived works of the underlying operating system
of Linux.

Second, PLUG is not large enough or diverse enough yet to have the
knowledge base to be able to cater for all distos at the one time. If you
can grasp that concept, you are one step closer to a solution. The group
tries to accommodate everyone, that may be the wrong thing to do. In
time the choices may be different, but for now this is PLUG.

If you look at the majority of people at the last PLUG meetings (AKA the
AGM) you may notice that many of the movers and shakers are either Uni
Students,  not long out of Uni or are closely involved with the computer
industry and are what I would describe as 'power" users/programmers.
That is what shapes their thinking and if you are not in those circles you
feel understandably intimidated or an outsider. I cannot offer a solution
for
this.

I still remember attending monthly meetings at Fast Eddies as a very small
group of diehard Linux Users, not that long ago. Perth Linux Users Group is
still in an evolution stage, IMHO, and as such is still finding its
measure. The
problem with youthful exuberance is just that, youthful. There is a
generation
gap of varying degrees, not only in age but knowledge, so finding common
ground is going to be difficult. The informal nature of the Monday evening
workshops makes things more so. It is daunting to go to a meeting where
you are unknown and need assistance with your problem, in an atmosphere
of higher learning. Everything is getting stacked against you form the
start if
your much older than late teens. The solution, like the problem, is going
to
be just as complex.

The Committee has taken all the comments on board and will tackle things
at future meetings.


Mark
(These comments are mine and not necessarily that of the PLUG Committee)
--




-- 
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.4 - Release Date: 25/01/2005