Re: installing Debian for an Unix-ignorant user (point-and-click installation)
I did a similar thing for a friend of mine. She basically new nothing
about computers, and since I was giving her the computer, and I was
maintaining it, I wanted to be able to do stuff remotly.
It didn't take her long at all to understand things mounting drives (which
with gmc isn't really an issue) and logging in, shutting down. She was
modifying the wmaker setup I had given her within the first few hours.
She uses staroffice for her wordprocessing, netscape for mail and web
browsing. She also likes gtop for killing things like netscape when
it dies. Aside from that she uses Xmms, gtcd, tik, gnomeicu, and a lot of
games.
My thought was that since she hadn't had any other comptuer experience
that she would be more tolerant of linux than the windows convert. I've
noticed that people tend to get frustrated when there is something they do
in windows, and its a pain in linux.
Just explain the basics, and the commands he should know, in my case it
was just the stuff listed above, plus using ncftp and ssh.
The best part of all is the reaction that all her friends at her liberal
arts school have to her strange computer setup, which never crashes.
-Aaron Solochek
leko@cmu.edu
On 21 Apr 2000, Arcady Genkin wrote:
> Hi all:
>
> A friend of mine in a fit of anger directed to his Window~1
> installation called me and asked if I would install Linux for him. We
> have discussed with him before, that everything he needs from a
> computer (web browsing, document/spreadsheet editing, email) can be
> done from within Linux using familiar to him graphical interfaces. His
> Win98 has been blue-screening on him way too often.
>
> Next week I'm going to install Debian on his computer. Basically, I am
> thinking of setting up Gnome, and stuffing everything he could need in
> a root menu and clickable icons. He is no dummy, but has very little
> knowledge of computers besides most common applications.
>
> Has anyone done this kind of setup? Are there any things that I should
> be forewarned about, perhaps?
>
> How easy is it to configure a ppp connection as a desktop icon? (I'm on
> a cable modem, and have never configured ppp under Linux).
>
> I'll be very greatful for any suggestions and ideas!
> --
> Arcady Genkin http://www.thpoon.com
> Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
>
>
> --
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>
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