[SLUG] Installing for new users (was: Library display)

[Al Girling]

John Allsopp wrote:

--%<-- 

> 
> > 2. Somewhere to do the install.  Preferably with an Internet
> > connection.
> 
> Well one possibility is the punter delivers the computer to the
> person's house, and then collects it after a few days when the
> installation's done.

Hmm, not sure about this.  Do you think people will be willing to leave
their machines with strangers?

> > 3. Liability waiver form.
> 
> I suggest it's in English rather than legalese. I can write things.
> 
> > 4. A distro to become familiar with installing.  York are using Ubunto
> > this year.  Seems very popular.  Suggestions?
> 
> Oh, interesting. I'd imagined we'd be choosing a suitable distribution
> for people's needs. Lindows (is that what it's called) for complete
> newbies perhaps.

See below.¹

> > 5. Some way to get hardware info about the machine for the
> > installation.
> > is there an equivalent to 'lshw' in the windows world?  Get this
> > beforehand to check hardware and driver availability.
> 
> Maybe we need a sheet to tell them what we need and how to get it. RAM
> and CPU on bootup, disc size and free space from Explorer, list all
> your peripherals, list all the software you use, etc.

Good idea.

> > 6. Practice sessions to trial this.
> >
> > 7. Really part of 5 but be able to say I'm sorry but your scanner etc
> > isn't supported under Linux and explain why.  Perhaps offer to show an
> > alternative working. So they don't go away thinking scanners etc don't
> > work with Linux.
> >
> > 8. Anything I've not thought of for now.
> 
> I think this ties in with what I wanted to do, and possibly still want
> to do for our library stand, which is the Linux challenge. 

Good, this thread seems to be more concerned with Linux install than the
contents of the library display now.  I've changed the subject to
reflect this.

>                                                               For
> instance, my next door neighbour is a composer. He'll want Linux for
> its stability and for all the free soft synths and so on. We might
> choose Agnula for him.

I'm very interested to see where Agnula goes.

> My mum has trained up in various Windows packages at night school ..
> Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and so on. I think we might say to her,
> forget it, stick with Windows.

This is an interesting one.  Does your mother use the more advanced
features provided by Office which make OpenOffice of little use.  To
what standard was she trained - CLAIT etc?  Reading the homepage for
BeautIX (from Bob) there's an excellent piece about a government who
after changing to OSS had a visit from an MS rep.  Mr MS says why use
OpenOffice, you're losing all the latest and greatest features.  To
which Mr government replies.  Well, we don't use them.  So why should we
pay for them.

One of the things I've never understood is why so many who use Linux
continue to use MS products for surfing/e-mail etc with all the
security/virus issues that entails.  To me your mum would be an ideal
candidate as she must fall in the group least likely to maintain up to
date anti-virus/spyware software etc and so she'll really benefit.

> My g/f has no interest in computers whatsoever, but Libran's love
> beauty, so that's why I'm recommending a Mac for her.
> 
> A small business person who wants a network of computers running
> office applications, fine, Fedora or whatever with Open Office.
> 
> Surely this is the way to satisfaction. Otherwise we'd install Ubuntu
> for everyone and surely half of them wouldn't understand why it's not
> quite right for them.

¹ I'm not convinced trying to select an appropriate distro to fit a user
requirements is the right way to go.  As the biggest differences between
distro's is the package manager and the repositories of apps.  Most
packages are available for most distro's,  Apart from Agnula with it's
obvious music back-ground there is probably no real advantage in any
direction.  These things seem to come down to personal preference in the
end.  I'd say a new user is going to be more interested in things being
stable than bleeding edge.  I think YLUGs choice of Ubunto is mostly
because it seems to have taken the place of Mandrake for a new users
distro.

> I'm thinking too, these people are going to need support thereafter,
> which I suppose is the group and the mailing list.

Definitely, it's unrealistic to offer more comprehensive support than
that.

> > I realise this sounds like preparation for an install-fest, but I do
> > feel that it's necessary unless you're happy with sending people off
> > with discs to do their own install.  Which I believe will too often
> > result in failure and another unhappy user.
> 
> Deffo.
> 
> > I hope this is seen as constructive.
> 
> Absolutely it is.

Phew!  I was worried it might be seen as fault picking and being
obstructive.

Toodle pip,

Al

-- 

Al Girling

GPG: key ID 0xD826BCE9
Home page:                  <http://al.sdf-eu.org>
Linux User: #290080         <http://counter.li.org>
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