New users wanting to help ...

Welcome to the Ubuntu community and Beginner Team. It is nice to see your enthusiasm and initiative.

Lets hear from you.

As a new user, what is most helpful in migrating to Ubuntu.

What ideas do you have for the Beginners team?

Hello Guys, how about a very simple introduction to downloading and installing stuff. Here is an example.

I was trying to get my 2nd gen Nano to be recognised. There were many and varied options to try. Eventually I found a solution to go to a web page that seemed to be a repository. I thought I might be able to add this to the Synaptic manager. I wasn't sure how. I tried the http address, this didn't work. I put deb in front (I noticed this on others.....anyway you probably get the picture. Eventually I just downloaded the 7 files to my desktop and stuck them in a folder/Linux users call them directories? I then went to terminal (having read a Read-me) and typed in some cd stuff and some get sudo something or-rathers and a dkpg here and there and eventually something happened but not a lot. Eventually I tried some more stuff with /etc/fstab and now I just about get to use the iPod.

You probably get the gist.

Any simple advice would be good.

P.S. You are faced with the problem of so much variety! I have used iv to edit stuff and then found some advice where Kate was in the command line. I had to find out what this was, get that and then use kate! Good Luck:lolflag:

Thanks for the input ...

Yes, even "simple tasks" are daunting with a new OS.

For the moment, see if these links help :

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper#Repositories

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/CommandLineBeginners

for editing, if you are in gnome, try gedit (kate = kde ; gedit = gnome)

yes it is OK to mix and match kde/gnome/xfce applications ...

What beginners need is to adapt to a new culture.

There is such a thing as Windows Culture, and Ubuntu Culture.

Windows users will have to do things they never did before in order for them to make a successful switch. It may be hard to accept for some people but they really have to read manuals and learn how to maximize search engines. As a beginner, I don't want to be told to RTFM or that "Google is my friend," but in the long run, I realized that it would be best for me to read the right manuals and search internet the right way.

What would help the beginner team is to inform new users how they can live with Ubuntu. Maybe, it would be good to start by telling them what manuals to start with because it would be best if they spend their time reading the best manuals and how they can maximize Google because Google is really a very powerful tool. Of course, that only applies to those users who need to be reminded to read the manuals and to learn how to Google.

It is not that Windows is simple to install and run. In spite of 'N' installations, I still tear my hair to locate some driver which exists somewhere, You can not always remove what you want, you can not run without antivirus using quite a bit of resources. But the guy next door can do your job when you are stuck, after all everyone has graduated in Windows. I have been wishing to switch to Linux for quite sometime, finally got a new computer (a laptop) to try and learn. OS like UBUNTU have made matters possible for Windows users, I am pretty impressed. I am yet to make UBUNTU detect my MMC card in 5in1 reader.

wireless and graphic driver installation was the most helpful to me, along with the #ubuntu chan.

2 week old newbie.

How about an understandable and comprehensive help system. When Ubuntu is first loaded there is a help icon shown at the top of the desktop. When you drill into the 'Ubuntu Help Centre' you find a lot of strange jargon. For example, if you go to manual pages>hardware devices you get words like apm, console_ioctl,fbdev to name just a few. I suggest a newbie would be expecting hard drive, cd drives, etc. If I try to search for my drive, e.g. hitachi, I get 'no results for "hitachi".

There are also other help facilities. There is no mention of 'Wiki' for example and from what I can gather Wiki is a favoured source of information.

There is also the many Community Forums.

When trying to access the Getting More Help Online I find Documention for Ubuntu which claims to be the 'official' documentation. There is also Community Documents.

It may well be that all of the answers a new user needs is within these documents somewhere. However they are not co-ordinated and you cannot search across all the 'help' documentation.

I would welcome a unified help resource that could be searched with simple terms that most MS users would be familiar with because that is the general knowledge level of most newbies, I suggest.

Trying to find how to get an iPod running or to simply view the BBC News took a good few days and was only resolved by the excellent community and their direct assistance. I would much rather have some structure in the text help so that I could use the community's time as a last resort, not a first port of call.

Kind regards Bob

I posted this above, but it would be more applicable here.... sorry for not searchign before posting http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=383918

bump

I know I have posted this on another thread but I think it hits home for this thread also. A reference of windows to ubuntu programs. http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/AppHelper

When I migrated to Ubuntu September/October last year it would have been great to have some kind of basic beginner's guide - I've often thought that a small PDF/other file that contained some basic guides to get you going in Ubuntu; such as setting up printers, networking, basic customisation etc; would be very helpful. This file, or a link to it if it was a 'live' online guide, could be placed on the desktop. The first thing new users will see is this 'Basic Guide' - it's all about making the process of switching more intuitive. It was only until about a month after I installed Ubuntu I really got into reading articles on these forums and the Ubuntu Wiki. Simply, I enivisage that many users just don't know these resources exist for them. This 'Basic Guide' could also incorporate links to more detailed articles in the documentation/wiki/forums so that new users feel they have an adequate pool of information to guide them. The major stumbling block for many users migrating from Windows is that they can't find the support they need in order to progress with the switch - they hit a problem and think "That didn't happen in Windows - who do I ask for help?". That's not to say that it isn't there, but as a community we need to make sure that new users are aware of the systems of help and support in place. Personally I didn't really have much trouble, I've been using Linux on and off for years, so there wasn't really a transition period as such for me. There were questions I still wanted to ask, particularly about starting out in Ubuntu.

I'm very interested in what the Beginner Team has to offer to Ubuntu and I think it's a great idea that we try to help new users as much as possible. :) That's my ten cents... I think once you get into the forums and the wiki and discover the masses of really helpful people you can solve any problems pretty swiftly and easily.

Fergus

Great list thanks, just what I needed...

I agree, we need like a resource site... psychocats is good but we need more, and in a bit more detail. Not detail like how to use the entire OS but more detail in things like why .exe is not for linux and how the file structure works and how programs are run and so forth, wireless help, video card help, so we can reference people to one location and hopefully they look around at other help but when someone says something is wrong we can say "go here and try this first"

siciliancasanova said: I agree, we need like a resource site... psychocats is good but we need more, and in a bit more detail.

try the ubuntu wiki :)

Not detail like how to use the entire OS but more detail in things like why .exe is not for linux and how the file structure works and how programs are run and so forth, wireless help, video card help, so we can reference people to one location and hopefully they look around at other help but when someone says something is wrong we can say "go here and try this first"

These are all good questions. If they are not in the wiki, I would like the beginners team to address them and add to the wiki.

So who has access to modify the wiki? I have actually never modified a wiki, if it's anything like wikipedia then I am familiar with the process of updating.

siciliancasanova said: So who has access to modify the wiki? I have actually never modified a wiki, if it's anything like wikipedia then I am familiar with the process of updating.

You have to register with Launchpad ...

Go to the wiki, register ...

See the stick "Tasks" of links for further info on the Ubuntu wiki :p

TwistesdTexan said: I know I have posted this on another thread but I think it hits home for this thread also. A reference of windows to ubuntu programs. []("http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/AppHelper"):)

here is a big list, but it could be overwhelming--where does one start? http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

also, this post by poofyhairguy http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=33183

as we can all see, these lists exist, but they're very large. for a beginner it might be better to only have a few options, then when they get comfortable allow them to get more. through a larger list. (this is kind of like getting a program from the add/remove menu and synaptic package manager; they're really both the same thing, but add/remove is a little simpler.)

Any list should only have a few options for supported, well-documented programs.

Speaking for ones Self , Just make the basics simple , While 99 percent works superbly ,,..even the networking

Sometimes there are day to day issues , such as the one I have just encountered ,,,the Usb has just decided to give file permisions to itself its been working fine , reading writing fine till now ( i may have used it on a windows computer

anyway ,,, off looking for answers ..

The process is

read wiki ( great resource )

figure out whats required ( do I put space or / Captials )

Give up ( or once in a blue moon I get it right ..and it works straight away )

Post in new bee forum and wait .. sometimes bump .. be polite ..wait .

try all suggestions that maybe given in answer ( if there was one ) cant sift out good from bad advice , cos I dont know what is /isnot ,,so try em all

Repeat as required / give up

Other things such as installing Non repository programs ,,,( Virtualbox for example ) while not official .. would be great as I would like to Vm another os ,,, ( installed ok wouldnt start now Idea why ,... gave up after a week of trying !)

Its not like I am a clutz , I use a computer to make my living ,( every hour I spend trying to do something is an hour of lost income ,,,! trust me that really can hurt ! example whent to back up a drawing , gnomebaker doent want to know ,, worked fine the other day ,, I will re install , and go from there !...)

While this sounds like a negative mail ,,, I REALLY love ubuntu , its all there and basically work ,,, just the odd hiccup ,,( the ONE reason I wouldnt give it to another such as my sister inlaw ,,she just wants to plug and play ,,or she takes it back to the shop to get it fixed ,,,,,,,

Stephen

One of the things that some newish users can't help doing all the time is dist-upgrades, now I have dapper/edgy and debian etch. With my dapper box I learnt that when everything works and does what I need, why risk with dist upgrade. I feel the need to upgrade and new users is because they feel they are missing something-more often than not, they aren't.

Also the six month release cycle means that older version is more likely to be bug free.

that said my grandparents are running a wireless edgy box and I only get the odd question-reason is it just works internet email open office games It's all they need

Good point

My wife is on Zenwalk 2.6

She has not updated in a year

Everything works ... Why update ?

You should update security updates, however.

You can comment out all repos except security ... then update ...

Maybe we can have a page on "Upgrades". Should tell us about the 'essential' ones and the 'recommended" ones. Security upgrades shall be Essential by default.

one thing that is very daunting at this point (switched today) is trying to find drivers and even if they are available. i know it would not be realistic to say any one person or group of people could compile a full list of drivers but we could at least try to compose as large a list of drivers possible. i might add you could add links to download each specific one. again im not saying it would be a flawless list sure there might be a few of the more obscure drivers missing but it would be a great help.

general kahn

dptxp said: Maybe we can have a page on "Upgrades".

Should tell us about the 'essential' ones and the 'recommended" ones. Security upgrades shall be Essential by default. And I am sure everyone would agree what falls into each category. :)

The over-abundance of choice is the most daunting thing to new users. I have often wondered why the popularity contest couldn't be a searchable database. "I need a torrent program. Hmmm... Everyone seems to install bittorrent, and it has a gui, bittorrent-gui. I will try that!" Perhaps also a star to note things installed by default. :) (bittorrent is installed by default)

i have some advice as a newly-seasoned(about 7 months of experience) user seeing other users just entering the world of ubuntu..

i find that the key aspect of ubunt that always frustrates and daunts so many new users is just getting the basic, simple programs to work, such as a music player, communication(gaim), internet, and other simple daily used tools. i think that one of the key focuses the beginner's team should try to work on(in maybe the form of a wiki) is simple, friendly, Howto structured system for installing and configuring day-to-day used programs.

That makes some sense. Your comment had me thinking of a "What's Broke?" wiki... A drill down of "Video --> Streaming --> Youtube Skips" kind of thing.