[Wiltshire] Anyone near Melksham?

[David Fletcher]

On Sun, 2010-12-05 at 21:59 +0000, Sharon wrote:
> Hi,
> So ... are you out to promote Linux or uncover the mysteries of the
> innards of a pc?  Also, why Ubuntu.  I know it is a lot easier to use
> now, but others come better prepared for a complete newbie.  PCLinuxOS
> is very popular and SimplyMepis is mentioned is LinuxFormat this month,"
> If you think Ubuntu is the easiest desktop distro around you've obviously 
> not used this one. It has loads of custom tools and is stuffed with
> proprietary drivers, codecs and software to give you the smoothest
> Linux desktop experience possible."
> 
> Anyone new to Linux doesn't want commandline, they want a straight out
> of the box experience that is intuitive and similar to windows so it
> isn't too difficult to adapt to (IMHO).
> 
> Sorry if I have the wrong end of the stick here.
> 
> Sharon

Others will disagree I'm sure but my thoughts on the only install fest I
attended are that it was a bit of an unstructured nightmare made worse
by the variety and antiquity of the computers brought along.

So, if this is going to fly I'd like as I said on 14th October to see a
definite structure, and if machinery is simply too old and slow then
provide a list of parts that has been tried and tested by us for
upgrading or new builds.

As for using Ubuntu, why not? If we end up lucky enough to have a bunch
of people ready to install it makes sense to have them all installing
the same distribution. If they want to go away and try something else
that's fine but at least they will know how to install an operating
system.

But before anything can happen we need commitment from more than one
person because I'm sure as hell not going to do it all myself. How about
it, Sharon? Perhaps I should just shut up now and see if anybody
volunteers to help. I'm getting a bit tired of all the talk and no
action.

Dave