On Tuesday, February 22, 2011 11:23:57 Paul Chauvet wrote: > Hi all, > > Some time next month I'm going to be giving a talk, primarily to > computer/electrical engineering students (but I'm sure some CS and others > will show up) about Linux. The talk will be an intro to get started and to > encourage them to try it out. One would hope many would know it already > but I know that few really have had much experience with it. > > I have a few things that I'm going to cover but I'm also planning to give > out copies of Ubuntu (as well as index cards with instructions on using > and a download link to Virtual Box). The hope is that people will try it > as a live CD or as a VM without feeling the need (at least immediately) to > install over their existing OS or dual boot. > > Are there specific topics that you would recommend that you feel 'everyone > should know'? I have some things in mind but I want to get some additional > ideas. > > Any suggestions?
Okay I have a couple of thoughts. From my observations, the following functions have to work or a GNU Linux system is "unusable": 1. IPv4 networking 2. Graphical login 3. Web browsing (includes flash + sound) 4. Email 5. OOo/LO Writer 6. Printing This list seems obvious -- however in practice they're far more complicated than they look, because how to fix each of these changes depending on the Linux system, as well as what packages are installed. For instance: 1. For instance... on Debian and Ubuntu to change Networking setup, you'd first have to know to look in the /etc/network/interfaces file -- UNLESS you're using a network configuration daemon such as network-manager or wicd- daemon -- in which case the network confugration is set up in configuration for those. For this you might consider giving really brief instructions on how to use 'dhclient', 'ifconfig' from the command line and how to read MAN pages. 2. X.org setup sounds simple but isn't. If the hardware allows for using the kernel mode setting [KMS] and it's enabled, then the "normal" drivers that don't use it (vesa, nv, etc) CANNOT LOAD. To disable KMS at boot time requires blacklisting the driver that's loading that is enabling KMS. There are several other ways in which X.org can fail to start, leaving the user in a text-only mode. You might consider giving people a few suggestions about what to do when X.org doesn't start. 'sudo apt-get install lynx' from a console login might be something interesting to explain, as at least with Lynx someone can get on the web albeit text only. 3. Installing Flash as downloaded directly from the web won't work for Debian or Ubuntu. This might be obvious to us, but certainly isn't to someone new, especially in combination with Web links prompting the user to go download and install it. Sound configuration can sometimes be quite frustrating, especially if the user needs something specific that isn't configured in by default. The only significant suggestion here is to explain that Flash can't be installed directly from the web. 4. Main thing to mention with email is for the user to know all of the necessary information for getting their email. This can get into an interesting discussion since most people forget that they actually HAVE a password. For this I suggest mentioning keeping a "password book", and possibly mentioning 'dnsiff' to get the email login/password from the previously configured email client. 5. The main thing to discuss concerning Open Office is the problem with Microsoft's new "Office Open XML" files which are anything but what they seemingly intended. While these files will open in Open Office 3, they usually come with many artifacts and missing pieces, and this is Microsoft's fault, not Open Office's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Open_XML Might mention the file types that are a problem -- .docx, .pptx, .xlsx -- with the suggestion that it's possible to request the document author to send a Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP version of the document. 6. The main things to mention concerning printing are CUPS and the web link for CUPS in case all else fails with the normal printer setup GUIs -- http://localhost:631. Running through setting up a printer via the web interface could be useful if there's time for it. Anyway that's the thoughts I had. -- Chris -- Chris Knadle [email protected] _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Mar 2 - MHVLUG 8th Anniversary - Show and Tell Apr 6 - Introduction to IPv6 May 4 - Inkscape
