alan c wrote: > My world is mostly populated by windows users who are interested in > moving to linux - computer fairs, talks to local groups, friends etc. > They have more than a healthy fear of change and usually can not cope > well with command line or even file editing, certainly not at first. > > A recent contact has just tried kubuntu, successfully (just) getting > it installed onto a resized second HD, but wants to have the dual boot > default to be windows, because linux is being 'tested', and anyway, > the customer is always right. > > In the past, when I was personally in that same status of wanting use > of a lot of dual booting, with changes of mind, it happens I was using > suse which has an excellent gui grub editor (and a pretty pretty boot > menu display too). I used it quite a lot, even when starting with > Kubuntu, to manage my grub needs even when kubuntu became my default, > with no windows on the machine. Suse being used to help kubuntu use. :-) > > My recent contact just about coped with the partitioning and install. > I suspect some fatigue has occurred with him trying to find what can > or cannot be done in linux land. It seems most of his MS office macros > do not seem to work, for example. The culture change and his > expectations are all a bit much for him I think. > > Unfortunately, even the simplest (to me) editing of grub menu.1st is > he says 'over my head', and I get the impression that the dual boot > default to (k)ubuntu and the apparent difficulty in changing this to > windows, has spooked this person into feeling even more loss of > control than he had in windows. > > This is a negative situation at a stage of linux introduction which I > believe is not untypical. It is easy to forget what it felt like when > first trying linux after years of couch potato use of windows. > > The 'in-windows' exe installer which is under development will > certainly help of course, in time. > > Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I make the point that a gui grub editor > would have a strong value for that precious breed - newbies. Maybe > there is a gui grub editor easily available for (k)ubuntu, but it did > not appear in my searches.
This is one of several areas that ubuntu lets it's self down. Home networking/internet sharing and dual screens are a couple of other areas that can be hard work, especially for windows users who are used to a simple GUI set-up. SteVe -- [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
