[plug] Newbys guide

[Christopher Whittaker]

Speaking as a relative newbie I have had tremendous problems with coming 
to grips with Linux and it is largely due to people like Carl who have 
answered my questions with clarity and an obvious desire to help that I 
have( a) perservered with Linux and (b) still wish to learn and broaden 
my knowledge.

One thing I have found with linux is that there are so any Distros " 
which are user friendly" and every month one computer magazine offers a 
"full" distro free on the cover.

As a newby gets disolutioned with one he tries another and in the end is 
just so confused that he gives up and goes back to Windows.

RPMS,? Debian? the same program in i386,i486,i586,i686 which is the 
right one ?, can I use APT on this sysem or do i have to compile my own 
application? How do I do that?.Wheres the sound gone? will KDE packages 
work in the Gnome environment.? Install from a tarWhat? Why does Fedora 
seem to update its kernel everytime I go to make a cup of tea?.

Do I stick with Lycoris, Red Hat , Mandrake, Xandros, Fedora Core, 
Ubuntu, Mepis , slackware or one of the other 251 flavours of Linux.?

Which is best for me and Why? I know if I ask a Mandrake user what he 
will say , like wise a Xandros , Red Hat or Mepis user..


If PLUG is to aset up a newby site then I would strongly suggest that in 
order for it to be properly maintained then like the site intends ,it 
should be simplified and I think the easiest way for this to happen is 
to agree to cover and deal with 1 Distro for the basic Home computer.

 Then give a step by step instruct on every thing from artitioning to 
installation to installing a package from the internet , updates and so 
forth.

Just about every book I have seen that is a "linux made easy flavour" is 
based on KDE and Mandrake.

So perhaps to offer some other choice that a site pertaining to Gnome 
and  another distro is considered

Once this choice is made then it is stuck with until such time as the 
information given is sufficient for most users to be up with the basics 
and then ready to move on.

This could also be translated into the installfests so that they remain 
focused and easier to manage.

Given that Pluggers all have a personal choice of distro and use varying 
flavours I do not see how there could be any chants of distro bias if 
the newby site was centred on one flavour.

Then it may also be perternant to offer "general" information such as 
understanding the file system, create and install from a tarball. (I 
have RTFMs on this till I am blue in the face and it is still more luck 
than management on wether it works) and the CLI.

Being a newby in linux is hard but everyone was a newby at some to other 
and  weall still have had struggles and issues coming to grips with the 
systems .

Even now I still see some of the people I would consider GURUs, given 
the pulgs they answer still having problems with various elements of the 
systems.

Being a newby should not be an initation or a rite of passage it should 
be a fun , educational and growing experience.

Christopher Whittaker















The first thing the newby site will seriuosly need to think about is to 
keep the site