[Sussex] Noob

[Gavin Stevens]

Hi all,

Since I built my dad's "bits & pieces" PC & installed Ubuntu on it, I
found out that my youngest brother has been sneaking goes on it & has
done his CV in Open Office, this without any help from me (he has a
Windows machine, so is not ignorant about computers - if a little
misguided on operating systems ;-)). My dad has even dared to have a
look round on his own. This is a bit more adventurous, as he has never
used a computer before. I have been on hand to offer advice over the
'phone if he gets stuck. This has made all the difference & kept him
interested & willing to explore.

Incidentally, I found out that it is possible to install Ubuntu without
Gnome - I came across a how-to on the Ubuntu site relating to less
powerful machines. It seems that typing the word "custom" before
starting the installation results in a basic installation without a GUI.
You then apt-get all the X-server bits & cap it all with Icewm. I shall
try this when I give space to Ubuntu on my HD - I use Icewm on Debian,
it's my favourite window manager & even on my 2.8GHz machine, I don't
like to have things using more resources than necessary.

Also, Icewm is more "Windows-like" in appearance & could be a good
choice for enticing people from Windows.

Gavin.