Straying back to the subject of the upcoming expo... At the last couple of Expo's, it seemed like there were a lot of people who knew a fair amount about pc's that we talked to. Many had heard of Linux and/or opensource, but hadn't gotten around to installing it. The average person that comes to an Expo has an interest in computing already, and likely has more knowledge than we give them credit for. Also, a lot of people who are vendors at the show in some other booth come to our booth just to ask what the current status of Linux is--does it support this or that. Many pc users are on the brink of trying a free os, but they aren't sure whether their hardware is supported, or are otherwise uncomfortable with the installation process. I think the best thing we can offer is our time in just describing the process of discovering/installing/using the resources we have. Ralph At 03:26 PM 8/29/2001 -0700, "Tim Howe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >I have a book that was used at Stanford University to teach Unix to newbies. >It has a few, very concise, chapters on command line usage. I don't think >it would be a massive undertaking to use that as a model, tweek it a bit, >and churn out a Linux command line tutorial that everyone can do on their >own... Maybe even on a Wiki page.. > >TimH > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of >> larry a price >> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2001 10:50 AM >> To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' >> Subject: [EUG-LUG:2564] RE: Eugene Expo aka our next Demo Day.... >> >> >> 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 >> > >> >
