Converting users to Linux

[bogomip2]

Everyone I know uses computers. Everybody I know uses Windows XP having lost track of my hacker and IT buddies.
With Linux having become so adcvanced, how many people out there are actively trying to make converts and save souls from the damnation of XP?

I now use Fedora and am a total convert. I am installing it on all my friends computers who have never used Linux because they see how nicely constructed the GUI is and also because of the endless apps that are free.

Fedora is the cat's meow baby.

One thing however, if you want to convert someone to Linux you can't just give them a CD or install it for them and then leave them to their own devices.

Once a distro has been installed for a newbie the installer should go through and configure all the apps and drivers and various other things that take hours upon hours to do. That way the user has a "static" installation because they will not need to install anything.

New users must be shown around the GUI of whatever distro that has been installed. They must be shown where all of the important apps like OpenOffice, XcdRoast, XMMS, Epiphany and others are.

Don't just explain and show how to use the command line. Write the most basic one page explanation of essential commands.

Make justlinux.com their start page (essential).

Of course, a new user should be set up to dual boot that other OS.

[mm-sources]

I recently converted a friend to slack and he is very happy with it, learning very quickly...i think thats it

[WayStar]

That's what I want to do for my mom, set her up dual booting Mandrake and XP. (Right now she just has XP.) She wants to wait until she gets another hard drive. I can respect that.

In the meantime, I'm giving her a Knoppix CD so she can play around in the environment.

I think she's a good candidate for dual booting. She wants the same apps as everybody else (the Windows stuff), but she also wants to feel like she's making good use of her computer. Or maybe she just got hooked on Frozen Bubble the last time I visited home. :)

She'll have a steep learning curve ahead of her, but not as steep as she might think. A few years ago, she learned computers and an OS. Now she still knows computers, but just has another OS to learn.

-Waylena

[iNeed2LernLinux]

ok well, im trying to get into linux and getting rid of xp. and all of my research has been online. i dont really know anybody that's used linux or that has knowledge of it. so im stuck trying to learn things by via internet. now here i am starting fresh, i just got knoppix on a cd and tested it yesterday, and to be honest with all of you. i have no idea what to do in there. i've been playing around with all the things in there, but i dont seem to be doing anything productive. i've tried getting the internet to work on it (which im dissapointed to say that i have aol broadband :( i know guys) but i cant get to get it working. i've heard of this PengAOL which actually works for aol, but still i cant get past anything. to be honest with you (and i know alot of u reading this will laff, but yes im a newbie....im ashamed to say that i dont even know what a root prompt is... :(. so if u guys could give me a little insight or point me in the right direction, i'd appriciate it. because i truely want to get the hang of linux and get rid of this crap called xp.

[jjr]

Well, i'm newbee too, but you may find some help out from a book to understand Linux on your wile ofline from Intermnet.

The Red Hat Linux Site (www.redhat.com/ ) have documentation for their distributions

this one is a good site to find more books to start up with linux http://www.tcfb.com/freetechbooks/booklinux.html and are free!!!

and this one!!!
http://www.ithaki.net/metasearch.cgi?where=weblinux&query=free+Linux+books

Hope you may have help in here!

[iNeed2LernLinux]

i'll be sure to do alot of reading on those url's u gave me, by the way, im pretty new at this so does anyone have an idea how i get this open and with what: tar xzf peng1.0a01.tar.gz

well thanks once again guys

[twilli227]

iNeed2LernLinux
Check ou these site for some info:
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz
http://linux.org.mt/article/terminal
http://www.linuxcommand.org/

Have fun reading and learning, and don't forget to post a question you might have.

[bazoukas]

Lol. I remember that it took me two weeks to discover what root is.
I also had and still dont have anyone to teach me and or help me. Its been a rough road. Changed many distros, spent many hours cursing, going back to windows but went back to Linux. This change happened many times lol. It took me around a year to get the hang of it.

Now I am up to the point where am making my own small little distro.
Still though and I mean it, i see my self as a noob. There is so much to learn.

Most of the stuff I learned about linux is from this web site. I would have given up if it wasnt for this site.

[ricstr]

Originally posted by bogomip2
Everyone I know uses computers. Everybody I know uses Windows XP having lost track of my hacker and IT buddies.
With Linux having become so adcvanced, how many people out there are actively trying to make converts and save souls from the damnation of XP?

I now use Fedora and am a total convert. I am installing it on all my friends computers who have never used Linux because they see how nicely constructed the GUI is and also because of the endless apps that are free.

Fedora is the cat's meow baby.

One thing however, if you want to convert someone to Linux you can't just give them a CD or install it for them and then leave them to their own devices.

Once a distro has been installed for a newbie the installer should go through and configure all the apps and drivers and various other things that take hours upon hours to do. That way the user has a "static" installation because they will not need to install anything.

New users must be shown around the GUI of whatever distro that has been installed. They must be shown where all of the important apps like OpenOffice, XcdRoast, XMMS, Epiphany and others are.

Don't just explain and show how to use the command line. Write the most basic one page explanation of essential commands.

Make justlinux.com their start page (essential).

Of course, a new user should be set up to dual boot that other OS.

Why try and convert people? If linux is for the them then they will convert to it on there own.

Leave them alone and stop trying to manipluate people.

[Satanic Atheist]

Every time I achieve something in Linux (from the simplest to the damnest stupid) I consider how I would've done it in Windows.

I mean, some stuff simply isn't possible. Could Windows handle copying an entire filestructure and then resetting the bootloader to dual between itself and itself? At least, it would be tough...

Other things - changing a motherboard with one from a totally different manufacturer. Well, when I did it under Windows, it wanted to uninstall (well MOSTLY uninstall...) all of the hardware and then reinstall it "because IRQs changed". When I did it with Linux, not a peep.

Other things, Whilst transferring my installation across to the original partition (repartitioning) I rebooted and tried to login to X, but a normal user kicked me straight back out to the prompt. Root could log in, though...

After some serious consideration and checking through my commands, I quickly realised that whereas the command I should've used to copy the /dev directory was "cp -dpRv", I used "cp -dprv". Subtle difference but permissions were screwed. Quick check and re-copy and everything was fine. How easy would that've been in Windows?

Another example... what happens if Windows cannot load? Or at least, the GUI crashes on startup? What do you do? If it happens in Linux, the machine itself won't crash and a worse case scenario means I boot to init 3 and get a prompt to fix it anyway.

Can you guess that I am amazed at the flexibility and (now) ease of use that Linux offers to perform everything? There's ALWAYS another way to do something...

Perhaps the only drawback is that it can take a very long time (several weeks) to get the machine "perfect" to your requirements.

But now, if someone has a problem in Windows and asks me for advice, you can often here me saying "Now, if you'd been running Linux..."

James

[bogomip2]

Satanic Atheist, congrats on your 1000th post.

[Satanic Atheist]

Cheers! Now I can be as moody and arrogant as all the others that have achieved it!

James

[Lostman]

Originally posted by iNeed2LernLinux
i'll be sure to do alot of reading on those url's u gave me, by the way, im pretty new at this so does anyone have an idea how i get this open and with what: tar xzf peng1.0a01.tar.gz

well thanks once again guys

tar xzvf peng1.0a01.tar.gz

cd peng1.0a01

./configure (if there is one)

make

su

(pass)

makeinstall (is there a space? I don't remember)

[RamenNoodleGod]

Vector user here, and I love this distro. My first distro when I converted, I fell in love with Linux. I think that the main merit of Linux, especially for newbies, isn't necessarily the OS at all, but the community. It's a very open community, and as I haven't had anyone to guide me through my first install. I had read about Linux and then did a bit of research on my first distro, chose Vector and downloaded the ISO. Anyway, I've struggled through the basics myself (not even sure if I've mastered even that) and I continue to learn and I think it's an excellent experience. Anyway, I think that the open and helpful Linux community is really the one thing converts will find the most pleasing. So if attempting to convert someone, concentrate on that. Of course... an escape from Microsoft's crappy software is always a sweet bonus :D

[BluEyedGuy]

Ramen is the one who is converting me over to Linux, damn him! DAMN HIM! LoL Jk

[pinefang]

I have an extra computer laying around that can't wait to try Linux out. I on the other hand am lazy and want to do this as easily as possible and really have no idea where to get started. Do I download it on line? I hear there are CDs around. Is the gui that difficult that you can't play your way through understanding? What is the easiest way to get started. Thanks for your input in advance.

Steve

[canon006]

I switched a friend of mine over(for a bit), he's MS all the way, says Windows has never crashed on his machine even went and got an MCP right after highschool. I taunted and teased him enough with Linux that one day he said, "how about getting me some linux discs and helping me with an install?" So I burned off a stack of Mandrake discs(9.1) at the time. Went over, walked him through the install, helped him get all his drivers and required apps installed and he was set.

He lasted 3 days.

Told me he couldn't get shoutcast streams working in XMMS and didn't understand compiling software from source (I did my damnedest to teach him, but he didn't get why he had to compile it in the first place). So he went back to XP. I don't think he gave it a very good shot but he'll come back, I'm sure of it.

[pinefang]

canon006

Thanks for the reply. Now how do I go about getting the Disks you are refering to. Do I need to know someone or is there a Web site to download from?

Steve

[canon006]

http://linuxiso.org/

is my favorite for grabbing ISOs.

http://distrowatch.com/

is another good one.

Also, most distros have free download links on their main site.
I suggest Mandrake if you're new, or Knoppix if you just wanna try without committing anything other than time.

[iNeed2LernLinux]

hey i saw your reply but i tried that and when i type tar xzf peng1.0a01.tar.gz i get an error message that says: cannot open, no such file or directory error is not recoverable. ???

i noticed on your reply you told me to put tar xzvf..is there a difference between xzf and xzvf?

will await patiently for some help....

[Vador8088]

I remember introducing Linux to a friend of mine. I was telling him how stable it was, the free apps, the free games and how much more he would learn about the way computers work…I was going on and on about power, speed, and flexibility but he didn’t seem that interested then I said it “Dude you can put Linux on your frig'en X-Box!” he was sold…

[Dutch Mafia-boy.]

If I think aboout it.....I wouldn't want everyone and their dog using linux (like Windows). I like it how Linux is diffferent.....

- I like the feeling when people give me a look of wonder when I tell them I use Linux....

- I like the feeling of thinking I'm apart of a superior underground society along with the rest of Linux users.....


- Fedora is buggy. RedHat basically threw it together due to time constraints for the launch of their new business initiative. naturally - they are going to put all their time and efforts toward the product that they will be selling and making money off. I still like Redhat and even dreamed of becomng a RHCE one day - but how am I supposed to do that now with this "user friendly" desktop RedHat flavor Fedora?? - go out and pay $600 or whatever it costs for RedHat Advanced Server? No....sorry RedHat.

- I like snickering to myself when I hear people in the workplace (who have blinders on) talking about how the Windows Server OS is the only and superior chioce for any IT solution out there for server OSs'....along with MSSQL (MySQL)and Office (OpenOffice).

- People are natrually stupid. Bill GAtes cahed it on it by making "made for dummies" OS. Pure genius.

[Zoist]

Originally posted by iNeed2LernLinux

i noticed on your reply you told me to put tar xzvf..is there a difference between xzf and xzvf?

will await patiently for some help....

Type tar --help to see the list of switches availiable.
xvzf means it extracts, displays what it's doing and ungzips it all in one go.
Also type man tar and press q to quit.

If you leave the v out, then it simply doesn't display the files being processed.