John wrote:
Idea: A separate Wiki for the new users. Don't have links on it pointing
external sites of how tos. Just have all the basic how tos; Burning the
centos cdrom in windows with a open source tool like Infra View, Nero,
or Easy CD Creator. Using the network GUI Config Tool for Dial Up Access
and DSL or Cable Internet and Local Intranet. How to add a user with the
GUI tool. Thing of this sort is like putting the iceing on the cake and
keeping them and not letting them stay to another Distro.
Better yet, show how to do the same thing with 10 screenshots of
mouseclicks and dialog boxes with the GUI or with a couple of command
lines that they can paste from the tutorial into a command window.
As soon as someone has to do it more than once, they'll start to
appreciate the 2nd way.
No they will just give up on CentOS and go else where.
By 'doing it more than once' I meant on a second machine, something a
lot of people have even for home/family use. In a GUI, things are just
as slow and cumbersome every time, no matter how many times you do them.
On the command line, if you saved the commands - or got them from an
instructional listing in the first place, you just paste the same set of
commands into a terminal window.
If, (a big if) I
were the Cent OS project Leader my biggest goal would be to attract the
biggest user base possible. I'm sure he's trying the best he can now. (A
Good Reason it is still around). Usability is everything. The is more
than one way to skin a cat yes in deed.
In theory the known GUIs that work, the configuration should only have
to be done once and not a second time.
Once on every machine. Every time you install an OS. And being a new
user is a one-time thing.
Maybe I need to create GUI
Frontends that just plain out work.
As a side, note I do understand some things in Linux is not for the
Faint at Heart.
One things GUIs can do is present a bunch of pre-set defaults or pick up
the current settings so you only have to change a few particular items,
and they can check the ranges and syntax of the entries before trying to
apply them. Webmin does a fair job on this considering the wild
variation in the applications it offers to manage, but you still have to
generally understand what the application does and what the options mean
in order to use it. A task-oriented tutorial using webmin might get
people through some operations where they'd have trouble with man pages.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx
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