Re: Newbie Idea

[Donovan Rebbechi <elflord@pegasus.rutgers.edu>]

On Tue, 27 Apr 1999, Bud Beckman wrote:

> the CD as you can, the more the better as far as I am concerned. Brian has
> mentioned the difficuties of installing what packages are needed and which
> are not. It was the same with me, when I wanted an explanation of the
> program, what it does, is it needed for other programs I want available,
> ones I may want to use, the information was not there at install time.

the problem is that linux is more modularised than windows. It's
impossible for most users to understand all the stuff ( just like the
windows users probably won't understand what TCP/IP is , even though it's 
installed ) 

Beginners should choose categories and stay away from selecting individual
packages. Maybe we need to say this in bold type face on the top of the
installation screen.

trying to understand what every single  package does will give you an
enormous headache ( I probably didn't need to tell you that )

> I now understand that networking and mail, connecting to the ISP, are
> interlaced. Trouble is to KNOW what I am doing, comes with more reading. I

exactly. But it's not necessary to know everything.

> I am chastized. I understand the difficulties of trying to please the
> uninformed. You say "samba" and a newbie will say, "What?" That is a problem

I think one of the boxes in the categories puts it in plain english ( I
think it says "Windows connectivity software" ) Of course, something
explaining what "windows connectivity software" means could help.

Again, I emphasize, newbies should not be forced to choose packages
individually. If newbies feel they need to choose individually,
there is a problem somewhere ( perhaps the install could do with
interactive help regarding package groups.  I don't know if anyone on
this list can actually implement this though ... ) I remember choosing
individually as a newbie because I didn't know what the package groups
meant ( an explanation would have helped including some advice. eg on
kernel source " don't install it unless you like recompiling kernels " ;
on LaTeX : "if you don't know what it is, you don't need it" ) 

> with many newcomers who are trying to get Linux up and running, explanations
> of what a program is or does. If I get another computer, though I have no
> reason to do so, samaba, would be a program I would be interested  to learn
> about at install time.

if you have a windows computer and want to network it to the linux box,
you should click "windows connectivity" at install time.

-- Donovan