Re: [LUG] Newcomers to Linux

On 05/01/07, Mark Jose <kernowyon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I could add some other generic comments -

dhcp enabled by default on all distros -
I don't use dhcp, so I fail to get an internet connection on install, which
means that apt, for example, fails and I have to go through the sources.list
and re-enable all the channels which it has hashed out for me. Annoying, but
I am so used to it now that I rarely think about it. Happens in all distros
though.

The old text installer (far better than Ubiquity, and indeed I still use it - it's on the Alternate disc), which has now been got rid of because it's not patronising enough, would ask you for IP address details if it couldn't get DHCP details. Perhaps this should be reported as a livecd bug?

multimedia keyboards-
Not really the fault of Linux - more down to the manufacturers - but
these "extra" keys generally fail dismally. OK, they can be sorted out - I
have written a guide on setting them up in the past - but it is frustrating
for someone moving over from a Windows environment. Some are now beginning to
be covered in various distros, but still a pain for many.

As you said, it's not Linux's fault. When manufacturers decide on an open standard for this sort of thing, it will be sorted. Until then, it's manual configuration.

complex instructions-
For new users, man pages etc are simply useless. Not just man pages though -
many instructions in help pages etc also suffer from this. Even experienced
users can be baffled by some of the information out there, so how is the new
user is expected to follow it?

There is quite a lot of good documentation available in Yelp, in a friendly manner.