So i just gave a a relatively short trial version of what will become my
intro to linux class.
I gave it to Ray Cesaletti who is efn's front line support person, and
who is getting a small but growing trickle of linux/bsd support quetions
from non-gurus using linux.
I used tomsrtbt and cloned a copy for him before we started, covered some
very basic stuff using the syllabus at
http://www.efn.org/~laprice/class.html
some thoughts. the worst problems are things like shell quoting rules and
variable interpolation also regular expressions. a simple explanation of
regular expressions is an hour long class unto itself, at least for most
people who aren't already clued in to what's going on. it's going to take
me some experimentation to figure out what the best strategies are for
inculcating an understanding of linux into people who want to get to the
point of being personally productive with *nix
suggestions welcome.
l@ _________
ae premise 1: The Truth Makes No Sense ( )__
pf ____( )
rn premise 2: Beauty Is Truth ( )
i. / / / / / / / / / /
co conclusion: Beauty Is Unconscious / / / / / / / / / /
er \@/ http://www.efn.org/~laprice
g |
__________________________/_\_________________________________________________
On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Justin Bengtson wrote:
> i am personally of the opinion that neat, flashy stuff is really cool, but
> what we have to focus on is EASE OF USE. that's the problem with *nix.
> unless you've done it before, it's a pain in the freakin' ass to get
> everything working the way you want it.
>
> i don't think people really care about the GPL and "freedom" software. that
> comes when later. what we really need to do is show that *nix is easy to
> use and setup for the novice, while being free (as in free beer) if we want
> more people to use *nix, we're going to have to show to the novice user that
> *nix is fun and easy.
>
> much as everyone hates novice users, i feel that is the crowd we're going to
> have to appeal to. if you wan't to wow sysadmins and IT staff, etc... setup
> two networks and show them just how much better *nix is than windoze (and i
> mean tweak them both out for performance... you can't just tweak out a *nix
> network and leave windoze at base install. that just proves to anyone
> watching that you're biased and that *nix ISN'T better...)
>
> $0.02
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 7:38 PM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: [EUG-LUG:2555] RE: Eugene Expo aka our next Demo Day....
>
>
> > Let's brainstorm cool stuff (We've done it before, someone
> > want to search the mailing list archives?)
> >
>
> Well, I was pretty interested in PHPGroupware, but I don't think
> that
> is a Linux/Unix specific thing. We can show app after app after app, but
> that
> wouldn't really get any point accross except "Look, there really are Open
> Source apps available!".
> I think it gets more to the heart of the matter to explain why Free
> (as
> in speech) software is a good thing. Explain how far it's come (IBM,
> $1billion,
> etc...) and why it has a good future. Also, how is the technology better?
> How
> does it compare to your home Wintel solution that every Joe who visits the
> booth is going to have in his den?
> We need to think of ways to get these points accross that will fit
> the
> setting. Anyone? I think I'm spent...
>
> TimH
>
> ------
> 28-Aug-2001
>
