~ Feature requests ~

Ok, I'm not sure if this is entirely within our scope, but I have long thought that this is the biggest thing Ubuntu is missing.

Why isn't there a new user manual/document on the desktop at boot? I feel like it would be very simple to write up a short document explaining some basic Ubuntu tips/tricks and also things like why mp3's won't play. We could even make it link out to various websites (udsf, wiki, etc.) for the detailed instructions. I feel like a lot of users need that place to start. As the beginner team we could keep track of the popular topics in the beginner forum, divide up the popular topics and write some helpful hints. Then we could put it all together and get the Devs to stick it on the desktop as a "need help? click here" thingy. It's been on my mind for a while as something that should be done, as I think it would help a lot of users find answers for basic problems.

Absolutely. Not sure about the desktop docs bit - since the hints and tips etc. might change as things develop - e.g. beryl was but a twinkle in the eye (if that) six months ago.

But anyway, I set up a thread/poll on this a few days ago. You can see it here.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=375225

(not intending to hijack thread - so maybe they can be merged?)

EDIT Igknighted - Great minds clearly think alike! **

That sounds like a good idea. Knoppix has it, for example, even though, being a KDE distro, it fires up Konqueror with HTML formatted docs. With Firefox it would take a bit longer to load... But yes, I think having some sort of guidelines and explanations about codecs (with an HOWTO for installing them, possibly) would be great for new users.

I agree completely.

I mean, new users shouldn't be so without aid that they have to ask things like "How do I install stuff?" or "Why can't I install SOME.exe?".

IMO, there should be a simple, laid out tutorial that appears on first-boot (and has a desktop icon on the LiveCD) that walks the user through a very short description of Linux, Ubuntu, what's different from Windows (and why?), and how to do a few of the more simple tasks.

Just passing through... :)

Take a look at System->Help (in Gnome) and see what you think.

matthew said: Just passing through... :)

Take a look at System->Help (in Gnome) and see what you think.

That's fine, if you've been using Ubuntu for awhile, or know - at least in general terms - what you're looking for. However, beginning users may not have the intuition to look for "Help" under a menu called "System," nor might they quickly find the answers they're looking for. As an example, two very common questions I've seen have been:

"How do I install an application (or Application X)?" Followed very quickly by: "What is a Terminal and how do I open it?"

Having not used the Help menu since Warty (I quickly gave up on it, since it wasn't clear enough - I still feel these forums are the best support, by the way) I felt I was a perfect test for the parent post. I would know what it was that I was looking for (the answer to the questions above), but I wouldn't know where to find it in the Help documentation provided with Ubuntu (Dapper, with Gnome as my GUI). Using nothing but intuition, which is what, I believe, what most beginners will use, I first looked under System -> Help -> System Documentation -> Applications under the heading Other document categories. Success! I got instructions on how to use "gnome-app-install" OK, on to question 2. Not as intuitive. I first went back to System -> Help -> System Documentation -> Applications Nothing there, so I tried Command Line Help under System Documentation and got as far as some basic commands, but not the very basic question of how to *open* a Terminal to get to a command line. Not seeing anything else that looked like it would help, I turned to the Online Documentation, and, honestly, I only found it right away because I knew I was using Gnome. Had I not known what to look for, I would probably have asked "WTF is 'Zoobuntu?'" opened "About Ubuntu" and been frustrated. Regardless, the experiment took under 15 minutes.

So what have I learned? The Help menu has come a looooooong way since Warty, but new (beginning) users will benefit immensely from a small, simple tutorial that they can quickly access and read before installation. I feel that having some kind of help documentation on the Desktop covering common questions (including a definition of the command line/Terminal window and a howto install programs guide) and an OS installation walkthrough (since we all go through basically the same menus) along with a list of commonly used Windows/MacOS applications and their Ubuntu-available counterparts would greatly improve beginning-user satisfaction. And if it had an unambiguous title, such as "*READ THIS FIRST - Installation Walkthrough, Beginning Users Guide, and Simple Tutorials.xxx*" then all the better.

Well, I hope that made sense to someone other than me (I have mono, so I'm typing through a fever and a sever bout of fatigue).

P.S. - I just had one more thought: At the end of the Help document, there ought to be a hypertext link to these forums, and an explaination of what a new user can expect to find here.

I think this is a great idea! My first Linux experience was a nightmare, mostly because I didn't know what I didn't know and found it hard to even ask a question about the problems I was having. People who are courageous enough to give Linux a try, starting from dead zero, like I did, really deserve an extra helping hand.

I wish there had been faq sheet on the desktop the first time I booted into Linux. I collected a lot of documents when I started using Ubuntu. None of them are more than a paragraph or two and none are terribly complicated; all of them were very important to me at the time. This is a very do-able idea.

I think it would be good to have "go-to" people for the Beginner Team as sometimes users need a quick answer but the forums may not be active for a solution.

I would like to volunteer myself as a person who can help.

Any user is free to shoot me a message via AIM to the name: ZeroEXR

Edit: For those looking for an alternative to AIM, I'm also on Jabber: ZeroXR @ Jabber.org

I want to assist any new converts who are a little "green" to the conversion.

Just shooting this to you guys on the new feature of migration assistance coming out in Feisty

http://www.michaellarabel.com/index.php?k=blog&i=83

Likewise here.

Find me on Yahoo IM as uma.sifu on Google Talk as nik.ogura

I'm no expert, but I'm a teacher by profession, and I'm online at all hours.

If I can help, just call

The Beginner team would like your input ...

What can we do to best serve new users ??

*** New user input WELCOME

:popcorn:

Eventually all problems (nearly) get solved through here - or through things we are directed to - but a better learning experience could be provided with the following idea:

I am envisioning a 3 tier support guide - perhaps distributed as a set of bookmarks for whichever browser is shipped enabled in the distro.

Level 1: This should be the DO THIS, IT FIXES YOUR PROBLEM level. Many of the people looking for fixes are perfectly happy to see the problem go away, and need nothing further. These fixes abound in the Absolute Forum already.

Level 2: This level should expand on HOW the fix the user chose actually works. Could be implemented by links from each 'new' command. For example:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

could have a live link from sudo, from dpkg, from reconfigure and -phigh (stolen from man page perhaps) and xserver (to explain what it is and why you need it).

Level 3: This should be WHY the fix is done this way. Could be pointers to more in-depth discussions of how Linux/Ubuntu actually handles video - with digressions into Xgl/Aiglx Window Managers GDM etc for those who want to know what they are dealing with.

The advantage would be that people who WANT to know what the H&^% is going on could easily find it without trolling Google for 2 or 3 hours and slowly sifting out the relevant from the OpenSUSE :)

I would also love to see a terminal tutorial somewhere that would introduce things you need to know ls : some options for it : what are the colours and where do you change them : what ARE the different file types cp : mv : mkdir : chmod : cd : killall : shudown : with realistic examples of when and why you might need them (recovery console, anyone?)

I know, lots of work. However, I have found a LOT of it here and there - would just love for it to be found in one place. Perhaps the team could have a set of basic instructions (already primed with links) ready to go as a standard response?

Well - back to Googling I go....

(why is the move command mv, but the md command mkdir? where's the consistency in that! I miss the list command from AmigaDOS too ) :biggrin:

Threads merged to try to keep ideas/suggestions/features in one place ...

As a new user, I am having a lot of fun with trying this linux stuff. Instead of just posting problems, this could be a great place where new users can post and share 'new' things they discover they can do, that they couldn't do previously on windows. I'm sure these "new" things are elementary to experienced users, and new users may be shy to share in other forums, but are new and exciting discoveries nevertheless to new users that have recently taken that 1st leap of faith into linux. It's surprising how few people I mention this to are willing to try. I explain we have a live CD, but they are still afraid it will screw up their computer.

Maybe I can't contribute much technically yet, but I can offer encouragement to others and things that have worked for me to others that are venturing in. Definitely has been worth it to me!

I still consider my self a beginner especially when it comes to using the Wiki. I seldom find information due to the way things are listed. I usually try a text search instead of a title.The long word title is often not arranged in the same way I would have thought. I guess I'm still looking for that secret hand shake that will allow me to search for a title. As is, I look through hundreds of text hits for the topic I was originally searching. I guess I just don't get it.

TwistesdTexan said: I still consider my self a beginner especially when it comes to using the Wiki. I seldom find information due to the way things are listed. I usually try a text search instead of a title.The long word title is often not arranged in the same way I would have thought. I guess I'm still looking for that secret hand shake that will allow me to search for a title. As is, I look through hundreds of text hits for the topic I was originally searching. I guess I just don't get it.

I am not sure there is a 'secret handshake' - if so I haven't learned it either! However - word order is not usually important to the search engines unless you force it - so go ahead and use the long title YOU think of - at least the key words in it!

LOL

The "secret handshake" is

[indent]... just ask in the Ubunt forums ...[/indent]

Does anyone know a link to <topic> in the Ubuntu wiki. I've tried searching and just cant find it ...

:lolflag:

:p

Hello everyone,

I would like to reiterate an idea I mentioned in the irc channel, perhaps we can eventually have an interactive online form that a new user or non-linux person could fill out, questions would revolve around their usage of their computer, what applications they use and how they connect to the internet, this form would then spit out some info on whether Ubuntu us for them, what alternative applications they can use and what methods they should try to access the net.

Granted, this is not something we can whip up tomorrow, but just an idea.

Also, we need many many screen casts and many many screenshots.

Regards.

When trolling through the internet (without the negative connotations of trolling!) I came across a distro chooser on a Linux site. I would think think a great deal of that code could be reused/recycled - the OSF way....

BTW - when I answered the questions, it suggested Ubuntu top of the list - so it already knows a lot :D

PS: We could have it in use immediately by pasting a link I suppose - after testing it a bit more. I know it suggested Damn Small Linux for Win95 laptop - so it isn't unreasonable....

I've been using Ubuntu for a month, and I've been using Windows since 3.11, and DOS before that, so I'm not afraid of the terminal, or of right-clicking to see what happens. The things that I find hardest are:

There is tons of info and help available, but I've often been thinking "I saw that ... which site?" A lot of stuff has been on sites run by Ubuntu users, rather than the main support sites.

What can I do and not break the system? Often users say "type x, y , z into the terminal" but I'm not sure if it may be the equivalent of a Windows geek saying to a beginner "just edit your registry and ...". Perhaps having a rating system on tips and guides, to indicate what can be attempted by a beginner, and what you should only do if you know how restore your system back to where it was.

A suggestion I received via PM... some good points, thought I'd share it with the team

This is a wonderful idea. Easily, by far and away, the biggest error so far made by the Linux community is simply:

Failing to understand exactly HOW MUCH the new users DON'T know.

Right off the bat, I have never found ANYWHERE: ready for this? I'm stunned no one has made one. If they have, it's certainly not readily available:

a comparisons chart.

No Where. I have no idea how appreciated that would be, but I'd rank it up there with a frat boy's trip to the playboy mansion. And since we're the ones learning Linux in our spare time, I'd say that'd be about right.

Looking for Windows Explore/My Computer? Then use: blah... AND THIS IS HOW YOU FIND IT AND HOW YOU USE IT. The My documents folder in Linux is called: blah..... (not that I used that folder ever, but you know what I mean) In windows the file structure looks like: c:\root directory\etcetc In Linux it looks like [I actually still don't know the answer to this one...]

Follow ALL of the answers like that with: Screenshots.. Holy $%#@, screenshots. A bite to set up I realize, but it instantly lessens the bend in the hell-bent learning curve.

Second: It is VERY easy to find tutorials that tell you what you need to type into [whatever] to try and edit [whatever]. But hardly ANYWHERE is that explained. Why do I need to use commands so much? Why does everything look so "code-like" -:$ etc. What the HELL goes sodu mean? How on earth would've I have known to type that? what's with the "cp"s and "-i"s in the command lines?

I could go much deeper with this, but many of us - and I think it takes a certain personality type to sit down and learn this stuff anyway - learns much more efficiently if things are explained to us rather than: Go here. Bash these keys. It'll work. That's what windows has been doing for years. "just click that icon and bam. Done." Please, Please EXPLAIN what you say. And understand that when you say "go here and use this". the first question is "Go where?" Like I said, never assume the new guy has ANY idea what you're talking about.

In a general thought - in order to keep the extreme frustrations low: like my wifi escapade yesterday. Every Linux used has to never say sentences like: "Oh, man, it's so easy to use, my grandparents use it."

Ever.

Oh sure, it's easy to use, once you learn the tsunamic sized learning curve. But since there IS a tsunamic sized learning curve, means it's NOT easy to use. The learning curve is crushing. I'd say almost ALL of my frustration yesterday, wasn't from "the card not working". But rather I felt like the biggest moron and completely helpless and stupid. Here I was, a computer whiz according to friends, completely lost for days on end meanwhile I kept reading "It doesn't work for you? works for me, it's so easy." [rrRRRRRRRR...nuclear bomb noise here]

We first focus on those who dare, those want to run Ubuntu. Info should be on right choice of version (suggest the latest stable one) A clean download of right iso with Bittorrent, a clean burning of image to CD with infra-recorder,suggestion for dual boot, right partitions (type and size, both) during installation (this is where I set just 4 GB for root the first time), pros and cons of Automatix and Wine, 32 bit or 64 bit, etc. Also download of audio and video codecs.

And notes on hardware related problems and solutions.

No terminal needed so far (have not gone for Automatix or Wine Yet).

30 minutes to install and get going once CD is ready, no system resources needed for anti-virus, and a host of free softwares.

If people try and fail, there surely is a problem. So first focus is on those who dare.

This idea has 2 parts - one that we can do - and one that could maybe passup the line to powers that be :)

First off - I have never seen a HowTo entitled 'ERRORS - and how you got them!' It might be useful to know that 'permission denied' from bash probably means that the file is not currently set executable - and WHY that might be! Some of that is addressed from the GUI - but no help at all in the terminal..

IS there a way to equate what Linux does with UAC on Vista - it might resonate more with potential converts that way - especially that you rarely need to elevate your priviledges to install a piece of user software :) Can some hot programmer put hooks into bash to call distro-specific error messages rather than the usual terse 'you can't do that' we get at present? Just cat a file instead of dumping 2 words to stdout....

Hey Guys,

Hope im in the right area for the suggestions bit.

1st thing id like to say is a massive thank you and well done to you guys for coming up with this idea. I been using Linux on and off for a couple of years and I still do not understand a thing about it.:lolflag:

Theres lots of reasons for this, for example - If I manually install a program, where do i put it?? In windows it goes is C:\Program Files and also has info saved in the registry but what happens in Linux? Where does it go?

Thats so simple yet something I have never been able to find out. Given that a lot of people will be coming from windows it may be handy to have a Linux/Windows comparison. For example, when installing a program, in windows it gets saved in C:\Program Files, in Linux this would be <blah>

I also think (as sugegsted) that as well as telling useres how to do something, dont just tell them what to type in, tell them what they are doing and why they are doing it.= - Explain everything, this will help them understand Linux more rather than just copy and pasting code in at a terminal.

Hope that makes sense.

Things like that

Once again, thanks for this - The ubuntu community has blown me away big time, unbelievable support from you guys.:guitar:

Here you go a crossover or comparison chart for ubuntu from windows. http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/AppHelper I ran into this soon after I started ubuntu. I* don't know if this is what you are looking for but it's what I thought of while reading your post.:)

That's a good half of it. The rest is things like:

Copy file in Windows | Copy file in Linux Select 10 files in Win | Select 10 files in Linux Select & Backup files to DVD in Win | Select & Backup files

etc etc from getting on a chat site, to editing a doc and putting it out as a PDF, to....

Hopefully you get the idea! Maybe we can even include 'What to do when visiting strange websites' and 'getting rid of bad emails risk free' and.. :D

TwistesdTexan said: Here you go a crossover or comparison chart for ubuntu from windows. http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/AppHelper I ran into this soon after I started ubuntu. I* don't know if this is what you are looking for but it's what I thought of while reading your post.:)

Hey man, thanks for that link very handy. It wasnt what I was referring to but it's something I have been searching for anyways so thanks for that.

Sorry if I wasnt cleark, im at work and rushed my words a bit. What I was meaning is that in windows I know where my programs and software are stotred once they are installed but I do not know where they go in linux.

There seems to be many directories were executables are stored and it confuses me a little as I thought there would be one common place for all programs and their respective library files etc to be stored, maybe there is but it doesnt look that way when I browse my hard drive in ubuntu.

Some of the information you wish you had is hidden in this tutorial

http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/toc.html

It is for Debian - so at least some of it applies - and it makes no assumptions about a GUI! Starting with lesson 4 (I think) it discusses where things are, and how to find them....

We DEFINITELY need better than this though!

I'll have a look, thanks for that.:)

I have been thinking about the same thing with all the installation issues. Would be great if could create a guide for installation, you can count me in to make one.

Kateikyoushi said: I have been thinking about the same thing with all the installation issues.

Would be great if could create a guide for installation, you can count me in to make one.

There are several install guides available :

Desktop CD : http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/installing

Alternate CD: http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/

This is perhaps an example of :[*]Making users aware of information that exists.[*]Avoiding a duplication of effort. I do not want ot re-create the wheel.

The disadvantage of off-site links, IMO, is that we can not add to them. That is why I wish to work with the Ubntu Wiki. Add polish, update, etc.

Clarification : I do not know if Kateikyoushi is or is not aware of the above links, I am just using this as an example ;)

I was thinking about an installation error guide and not and installation guide, do you know such ? No doubt I wasn't clear enough.

I would recommend to create a way to share recent common issues and their solutions. Wiki is good to collect information but not useful to communicate what's new among each other. This would be a good way to improve our support and to learn from each other's experiences and to report back bugs to the devs.

Creating a form to document errors and tagging could decrease the time we spend with searching for solutions and make it easily readable.

Symptoms can be very helpful in determining the problem, some is not as easy to notice as others. Sometimes users can give misleading information especially after becoming a bit confused from searching on the forum and seeing similar problems.

Use cases

Jack a beginner team member comes to the forum and sees in a new post in the recent common problems thread.

Swap problem

Description: Swap does not get mounted. Symptoms: slowdown, applications crash How to notice it: The free command shows the swap usage Cause: Unconfirmed, probably related to UUID in fstab. Solution: Turn on swapping manually, and edit the fstab. Ask for the partition layout

sudo fdisk -l

Turn on swap (change ydax according to partition layout)

sudo mkswap /dev/ydaX
sudo swapon /dev/ydaX

If works ask them to show the content of fstab.

cat /etc/fstab

Edit fstab, change UUID to the swap partition's mount point so a new UUID will be created.

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bck
sudo nano /etc/fstab

Change UUID to /dev/ydaX, reboot to make sure swap is mounted upon boot. Bugreport staus: Uncomfirmed

While Jack is helping out in the absolute beginners forum, someone says the machine got much slower due to the hard disk being full, he asks for a df and free and notices the hard drive still got plenty of free space but the swap is not used. He checks the recent common problems thread and helps the user to fix the problem without the need to find a solution again.

It could be easily implemented on the forum with one thread for just the error forms and discussions could go in another or a subforum would be the best for tagging the threads and making searches quite easy without messing up the whole beginners team forum. Later if the bug is solved the post could be moved to an archive thread. This way the information we create stays on the forum, mailing list could be used as well but harder for non team members to benefit from it. Adding from such form to the wiki is quite easy, so it wouldn't mean we work twice on the same topic and this could improve the wiki as well.

This is just an outline I am sure others can improve it by adding their ideas. I would like to know your opinion about it.

The Documentation Should cover up issues in a simple and straight manner. I installed 64 bit Edgy Eft in March, have now switched to 7.04 Feiesty Fawn (fresh install) but did not have much problems as had gone through the documentations on net.

[COLOR=Purple]Following is example only. Please excuse me for mistakes, I am new to both Linux and Ubuntu. I am trying to be correct. [/COLOR] --------------------------------------------------------------------- [COLOR=Blue]UBUNTU, KUBUNTU, XUBUNTU OR ALTERNATE CD ? [/COLOR] Unless you have an old machine, you can start with UBUNTU. 256 MB ram is needed. 512 MB is cool.

[COLOR=Blue]WHICH VERSION ?[/COLOR]

The latest stable version is suggested, 7.04 Feisty Fawn at present as on May 6,2007. You can opt for the 6.06 Dapper for Long term support. [COLOR=Blue] 32 bit OR 64 Bit ?[/COLOR] The 64 bit versions are for 64 bit machines only. You can run 32 bit Ubuntu on 64-bit machines too. Some prefer 32 bit, some

1. Try 64bit first. You can run 32 applications too on 64 bit

(Here we highlight problems if any for 32 bit OS on AMD64 and how to run 32 bit applications on 64bit OS).

[COLOR=Blue]WHAT IS THE LIVE+INSTALL CD ?[/COLOR]

You make this CD by downloading the iso. If you start your machine with CD loaded and machine set to boot using CD, you are running UBUNTU. The hard disks shall not show up, but you check the programs. I have not noticed in Edgy (6.10), but in Feisty (Herd 5, before beta) I could mount drives by going to PLACES and clicking on the drives. The 'Install" on top-left of desktop can be clicked to install.

[COLOR=Blue]HOW TO DOWNLOAD AND MAKE CD ?[/COLOR]

You should preferably use the torrent file of corresponding iso. To get iso without errors, and you need not download continuously this way. First you download Bittorrent and Install. http://www.bittorrent.com/download utorrent should also work, I have not tried but seen being used http://www.utorrent.com/ There are others too.

Next click on the torrent file of the OS (UBUNTU or KUBUNTU or whatever what want) from the download page. It shall be about 25-30 Kb. Click and OPEN with your bittorrent or utorrent. Download shall start. You can interrupt the download, switch-off computer and continue from where you had left. You will be assured of correct iso file.

[COLOR=Blue]HOW DO I BURN THE iso to a CD ? [/COLOR] Use Infra-Recorder to burn the iso, use burn-image (important). DO NOT choose boot-CD or Data CD options. RUN INFRA RECORDER. Go to ACTION menu and click on BURN IMAGE. Select your iso file when prompted. DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE. On my computer iso was burned at about 19-21X. Infra Recorder works on Windows. I have not used any on Linux. With others like NERO, use burning speed of 4X, not more. http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/

[COLOR=Blue]WHAT DO I DO ONCE MY CD is Ready ?[/COLOR]

Try it live first. Nothing will be installed till you want it.

Put the CD into your machine and restart. Make sure that the PC bios is configured to boot using CD first, in most new machines, this is default.

You will get a few options to choose from. First check the CD integrity. It takes a few minutes. If OK choose Live/Install (it shall not install yet). I do not remember the exact words in the Menu list. In a few minutes (takes time to load from CD) you shall see the UBUNTU desktop. You shall not see any of your drives, but if you go to 'PLACES' and click, drives get mounted (at least on Feisty Fawn). You can experiment. [COLOR=Blue] HOW DO I INSTALL ?[/COLOR]

Just click on the 'Install' button on desktop at top-left. But before you do, or at least by the time you reach the 'Partition' part, you should decide on how to have your partitions.

[COLOR=Blue]SHOULD I INSTALL WITH MY OTHER OS (as Windows) OR STAND-ALONE ?[/COLOR]

Initially, install it with other OS, you will get the option of selecting your OS at start-up every time. Use it. Decide later.

[COLOR=Blue]HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE TO INSTALL ?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue]If you are clear about how to partition, it will take about 40 minutes.

HOW DO I PARTITION ? HOW MUCH SPACE DO I NEED ? WHAT DOES THE '/', SWAP DRIVES DO ?[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue]Case 1 : Single Hard Disk, New computer (OR you want to wipe out all in HDD). Case 2 : Single hard Disk, One OS installed. Dual boot install. Case 3 : Two hard Disks, New Computers Case 4 : Two hard Disks, One Hard Disk in use, One New/spare Case 5 : Two hard Disks, One SATA. one PATA There can be more combinations[/COLOR]

The installation process shall do it for you. Partitioning is easy if you have a separate partition ready. Select "Manual" mode when asked for. Right click and select to "Size" and Format partitions. Keep about 8 to 12 GB for root(EXT3 format, minimum 2 GB recommended, but keep 4 GB minimum), 2 to 4 GB for "SWAP" (SWAP format) and rest for Data (FAT32 or EXT3 format). Windows shall not read the EXT3 format without additional software (for Windows). Do not tick to enable FORMAT of the partitions not needed for Linux. Do not tick any other partition you do not want to format. Else all data there shall be deleted. Remove by clicking if ticked. You do not need separate partitions for data if you already have FAT32 or EXT3 formatted partitions for data, you can use that.

(Here the explanations should be for various conditions,and for ensuring that all drives are mounted, this is the most confusing part for most beginners. Also screen shots may be added)

[COLOR=Blue]AFTER INSTALLATION :[/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue]Other issues,[/COLOR] (this is a partial list)

How to download and install the basic much needed extras like the Audio and Video Codecs. How to add existing applications to Menu bars. How to configure the messenger. How to get the repositories.Add/Remove programs. Use of Synaptic. How, why and when to use the terminal. How to run 32-bit softwares (in 64bit machines). How to run windows softwares (in 32bit/64bit). Pros and cons of using Automatix and Wine. What is Beryl /Compiz ? Pros and Cons. How much more resource needed. How to detect MMC/SD/Flash cards (built-in readers in laptops). When and how to use the Terminal. How to upgrade the Kernel - (to upgrade or not upgrade) How to install (add) programs from CD (for those who have problems in accwssing the net or those who want to keep the downloaded ones to be used if OS is reinstalled) When to compile and when to use binaries. Dangers of using unreliable binaries. How to compile (also how to install compiler). How to enable read/write permissions of partitions. Pros and cons of using multiple desktops as Gnome + KDE + XFCE Are KDE and XFCE as reliable as Gnome ? Is XFCE still so light ? Does 64 bit Ubuntu use more RAM than its 32 bit kid brother ? FAT32 and UTF-8 Is the /home partition really useful ?

[COLOR=Green] SYNAPTICS VS ADD/REMOVE (Includes aptitude vs apt-get)[/COLOR] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=425945

[COLOR=Green] KDE applications in GNOME / XFCE [/COLOR] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=422476

[COLOR=Green] 64 bit Wine packages for Feisty ( now available for testing )[/COLOR] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=431503

NOTE : I shall be editing this list from time to time.

I'm just a "PC Puppy" and just want you guys to know, your "Idea" sounds great. First of all, I'm in the process of getting my additional 200GB internal hard drive installed that arrived today, and it's where I intend to install, Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn". You are all correct in the great lack of knowledge we beginners have and are in desperate need of, I can't thank all of you enough for all the help and encouragement I've been receiving at "The Beginners Talk" Forums. I hope I haven't broken any rules by commenting in this forum. There's no way I'd do anything purposely to ruin a wonderful chance all of you are making available to us "Beginners" Thanx again, 6Realms :(

Howdy

This e-learning tutorial is being offered free. Could it be customized into a ubuntu_beginner_livecd.iso ?

http://intowebtraining.co.za/opensource/ubuntu.html

..or how best could it or something like it be used?

A great link to introduce linux...debian based distro... http://tomlinux.ca/introduction_to_linux.html

Also, found a story about this beginner's programming application on the bbc headlines, called scratch

free tool offers 'easy' coding:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6647011.stm

http://scratch.mit.edu/

An article here about the source, called "$2 Million for Open Source, But Where's the Source?" :

http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2007/03/001643.php

thankyou all for your time, Happy Trails

This is going to come in handy, Thank You

Hi everyone, im coming from the "beginner team has started" thread, and figured id toss my own suggestions towards making an awesome wiki for new users like myself.

When I first installed Ubuntu the thing that confused me the most was dual booting. Some threads were quick to point out that dual booting was risky business and that my windows partition could be destroyed. Naturally i was pretty scared of recking my XP partition, since i use on a daily basis for just about everything. I looked through the forums and every other thread had their own application or solution to the problem and to my own amazement, i found that upon installing Ubuntu it had set up grub and dual booting for me.

So, Ubuntu is installed, it dual boots, im happy. But wait, the resolution sucks i should change it back to 1600x1200. Well, I cant do it. Naturally, I need drivers, just like I would in any OS, so I installed TSElliot's nvidia drivers and although they work, they didnt work like i wanted, having to reset the resolution every time i booted to ubuntu.

These two problems (as well as audio, but xfi support isnt out yet) were my two biggest frustrations. Dual booting ended up being as easy as installing Ubuntu, but getting Video drivers to work properly seemed harder than it should be or really is.

So, my main suggestions would be detailed and simple to follow instructions to driver installation for those who just want things working, but for those of us whod like to understand why they worked, Id also love to have an understanding on what some of the commands are (sudo, apt get, and the most common used commands).

oneups said: Hi everyone, im coming from the "beginner team has started" thread, and figured id toss my own suggestions towards making an awesome wiki for new users like myself.

Hi oneups ;)

Thank you for your time and feedback.

First, for your Nvidia settings ;)

Run nvidia-settings as root : ``` gksudo nvidia-settings

Now change to resolution 1600x1200 and save your settings.

For the command line start here :

[http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/CommandLineBeginners](http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/CommandLineBeginners)

Although there are a number of additional references on the net, search with google

bodhi.zazen said: Hi oneups ;)

Thank you for your time and feedback.

First, for your Nvidia settings ;)

Run nvidia-settings as root : ``` gksudo nvidia-settings

Now change to resolution 1600x1200 and save your settings.

For the command line start here :

[http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/CommandLineBeginners](http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/CommandLineBeginners)

Although there are a number of additional references on the net, search with google

Hey bodhi.zazen, Thanks for your help regarding my nvidia settings. Ill try them as as soon as i get this post done.

Another suggestion I forgot to mention was the different flavors of Ubuntu, specifically dapper and edgy. I was a little overwhelmed with the overall difference between both distributions, and was even more confused as to which was the best for me. Often reading through the forums for help on how to install any given driver or repository, some would give instructions on how to install it on dapper, while others would give directions only for edgy, making me feel like I had gotten to weaker version or one that is less used.

A quick overview on the two Ubuntu distributions (or more if there happens to be more) and what they major differences are would really help out new comers, as I know i was left a bit confused by it.

-oneups

I recently installed Ubuntu after many years of using other Linux distributions. I like it (esp after spending five days customizing it and adding various software and eye candy), so several of my co-workers also wanted Ubuntu. I helped them install it, and I have a major request to be added to all beginner FAQs.

Everyone, including myself, struggled with getting quality video working. On all laptops, there were resolution problems unique to the laptop's video card and LCD size (e.g., I needed restricted drivers for ATI cards, and needed ''915resolution'' for Intel cards). Then, there were graphical speed issue due to incorrect or incomplete auto-detection of video card feature set. So, a section dedicated to various guides with pointers to the alternative vendor-dependent graphical solutions would be great.

As a new user, convert from Windows, well nearly anyway, I have been reading through the comments in this thread. partisanEntity said we need an interactive forum then added that we need more screenshots. Great ideas. Then igknited was talking about new guys getting lost. Oh, how right he is. To my mind there is a huge difference between a computer user and someone who uses computers. Sounds daft I know but listen up a bit. The person who uses computers is the man/woman in the street. They want to switch the thing on, type a letter or whatever, print it out, surf the net a bit and listen to some music. They have no interest in the machine, other than just a tool and wouldn't even call it that. If they need to add another bit of software, bolt on another bit, all they want to be able to do is click on a little icon that says I'll do it for you. And it does. And it works.

A computer user on the other hand is someone who not only wants to do all those things, but wants to know the whys and hows and is prepared to put time in and learn, and hey, if they are lucky they might even stumble across these forums. I hope that I am on of the latter, but as the new boy I am still incredibly ignorant. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to write a blow (key press?) by blow instruction of what to do rather than "just install blah blah and you'll be ok" type of help. I am only just getting my head around \ being the same as windows /. To mount something is still a grey area – you know what is it and why.

I said at the beginning that I am nearly a convert. My big problem is a networked Canon printer/photocopier/fax/scanner. I use my machines for my business and without that I am totally lost so have got to stay with the guy with the glasses for now. I will get it sorted one day then the minor bit will be the accounts. Got to learn all about Turbo Cash. Get those two things done and I'm away.

But, printers are something that I have hardly ever seen mentioned in the forums. Don't you all use them? As none of the popular manufacturers supply UNIX type drivers how does everyone manage? I won't even mention scanners. Oh all right, I have. Their software can be a right pain in Windows. Do they work in Ubuntu? Printers and scanners. Sigh.

BigAl

I'm approx. 2-3 days into trying to convert over to Ubuntu from Windows. I too am walking blindly through. You totally have my "Empathy". Yes, thank you for mentioning Printers, I have a Canon, MP130 multifunction which won['t work with Ubuntu. My "Go-Along-With" questions is, if there are so many programmers out there in the Linux-Ubuntu world that write for Linux programs and such, is it possible that they are able to produce or create drivers for our printers and other programs that are compatible with, Linux-Ubuntu? Thank you again. Sincerely, 6Realms:confused:

Follow my guide in the howto to install the Canon iP1500 drivers. I guess the Canon MP130 uses the iP1500 drivers. Here is the link. Now getting it to scan I don't know how to do that.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=487890&highlight=pixma+iP1500

anotherbigal said: As a new user, convert from Windows, well nearly anyway, I have been reading through the comments in this thread. partisanEntity said we need an interactive forum then added that we need more screenshots. Great ideas. Then igknited was talking about new guys getting lost. Oh, how right he is. To my mind there is a huge difference between a computer user and someone who uses computers. Sounds daft I know but listen up a bit. The person who uses computers is the man/woman in the street. They want to switch the thing on, type a letter or whatever, print it out, surf the net a bit and listen to some music. They have no interest in the machine, other than just a tool and wouldn't even call it that. If they need to add another bit of software, bolt on another bit, all they want to be able to do is click on a little icon that says I'll do it for you. And it does. And it works.

A computer user on the other hand is someone who not only wants to do all those things, but wants to know the whys and hows and is prepared to put time in and learn, and hey, if they are lucky they might even stumble across these forums. I hope that I am on of the latter, but as the new boy I am still incredibly ignorant. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to write a blow (key press?) by blow instruction of what to do rather than "just install blah blah and you'll be ok" type of help. I am only just getting my head around \ being the same as windows /. To mount something is still a grey area – you know what is it and why.

I said at the beginning that I am nearly a convert. My big problem is a networked Canon printer/photocopier/fax/scanner. I use my machines for my business and without that I am totally lost so have got to stay with the guy with the glasses for now. I will get it sorted one day then the minor bit will be the accounts. Got to learn all about Turbo Cash. Get those two things done and I'm away.

But, printers are something that I have hardly ever seen mentioned in the forums. Don't you all use them? As none of the popular manufacturers supply UNIX type drivers how does everyone manage? I won't even mention scanners. Oh all right, I have. Their software can be a right pain in Windows. Do they work in Ubuntu? Printers and scanners. Sigh.

BigAl

What type of printer do you have?

The printer is a Canon GP405.

By going System/Printing then clicking on New Printer it is recognised. (Step 1 of 3). I would like to install it as a network printer but am lost when it comes to the URI. The Canon, like all our machines has been set up with a fixed IP address. I know that the IP is part of the URI but do not know about the rest. So, just to see if I could instal it ok I went for the 'local or detected' option. At (Step 2) on this option I am presented with a list of manufacturers, with our machine correctly identified as a Canon. Below that is a list of models. The GP 405 is shown so that is ok but below that is box asking for the driver and recommending 'Postscript'. To the right is a button to 'install driver', but at the same time the 'Forward' button is available. Which way top go. Hmm. (Step 3) I tried forward and was given the 'Description' and 'Location' options. I guessed that these are the visible titles once installation is complete so fill them in appropriately and selected 'Apply'. All ok so far &#8211; it appears. A canon GP 405 showed up in the printer box and was available in Open Office so a quick one line Word Processor file was sent off to the printer. All most definitely not ok as I ended up having to disconnect the printer from the mains for a while to stop it throwing out garbage. About 60 sheets before I managed to stop it.

Time for a rethink so I removed the printer and had a look at Canons site. Found two SQue drivers. One says is called SQue 9.3.0 Linux driver (Text mode) (v9.3.0) and the other called SQue 9.3.0 Linux driver (X11 Motif) (v9.3.0). A little exploration reveals that they are both print queue managers. Both when uncompressed contain, amongst other things, two long lists. One of ppd files, the other of ppd files. All of these when opened are text files containing all the set up facilities for Canon printers, but I stress all the Canon printers. The latter driver also has a setup program with the instructions in a PDF installation guide as follows, and I am quoting verbatim:

cd /tmp

gzip <distribution.file>.tgz tar x v-f <distribution.file> tar ./ setup So, do I install the printer as before then run this script to install the queue manage, actually, do I need a queue manager? Do I find out which of the PPD files to use in the add printer bit (Step 2 of 3) or... So many questions. I thought I would join the Canon forum and post there. Signed up last week but the moderators have not activated the account yet. Until it is activated I cannot read any of the posts, only look at the headings. Actually, looking at the forum there are a total of about 175 posts in the last 5 or so years and only 2 this year so it is not very active.

Another long post here I'm afraid, but if you can throw some light on this I'll be very grateful

Big Al

Have you tried putting just the IP address in the URI and see if it will work that way as a network printer?

Yes, and it accepts it, but I am still asked for a (suggested) postscript driver which in turn leads me back to the PPD question.

I suppose the trouble is that the Canon is actually a photocopier that doubles as a network printer. The facilities include multiple paper trays that carry paper in all sizes and orientations from A5 to A3, double sided printing, stapling and booklet making as well as faxing and scanning.

Big Al

Hi I'm a beginner at Ubuntu. I also, know this is the Beginner Feature Requests I was wondering if someone could help me. I'm not really sure about how this site works because I've only been on this site twice. I know I've been registered for a few months but, I've been so busy with school starting to go on. Well, anyway just send me a messsage on here. :KS

I think documentation is lacking or maybe not lacking cause its all out there to hunt down but one situation I recently communicated about was setting up a modem and internet access and the problems involved - from a lot of the forums I wasn't the only one. Thing is I got it sorted but the documentation with the install was patchy and inaccurate for my situation so I had trouble setting up the modem and its only when I could get on line to hunt down the info I needed that I could find the answer on how to get online it was the classic CATCH 22 !

Getting internet access is probably one of if not the most important 1st thing with a community developed and supported OS given that the way we access the community is by the internet so why not give all us ubuntu tasters a break and put the connection documentation found in the forum article here http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=73&order=desc&page=3 Sticky: READ FIRST prior to posting - IMPORTANT links *PLUS INSTALL METHODS* ubuntu_demon

in with the distribution documentation.

Thanks

i agree with the catch 22 if you can't get online how do you get to the forums. i have been working on my system since last spring and still find things to make it better and now i need to eventually upgrade and that may be a painful. i also find that sometimes i have really dumb Questions like where to find stuff or where to look, i have been with windows from the beginning and even have many m$ certs but sometimes find my self with no answer as to what to do and it is really simple. So a desktop basic manual would be great even one that shows how to go on this forum and how to use it. so there i gave my 2nad half cents and that's all folks!

The subjects that have caused me most grief are Samba and the mount command so I can access music video and pictures from my windows pc. They are unlike anything in windows (or the mainframes I've used come to that). I understand the reason for them (more or less) and over the weeks I've managed to get them working but I'm still not sure exactly what I did. On-line help has seemed either to simple or way too complex, What I need is a route into familiarity which I think the proposed wiki could provide.

Hey, I'm glad someone has bought up the subject of the mysterious "Mount" command. I know you have to mount a file and or a directory somewhere in your system - the mount point - in order that you might see and access it but, if you cannot see it prior to mounting it how do you know where it is? I also know that it is a command inherited from UNIX but I still don't understand why we have to do it, or what the advantage of "Unmounting" a file or folder is.

anotherbigal said: Hey, I'm glad someone has bought up the subject of the mysterious "Mount" command. I know you have to mount a file and or a directory somewhere in your system - the mount point - in order that you might see and access it but, if you cannot see it prior to mounting it how do you know where it is? I also know that it is a command inherited from UNIX but I still don't understand why we have to do it, or what the advantage of "Unmounting" a file or folder is.

"man mount"

sudo fdisk -l

Will list devices.

Thanks LaRoza :)

Just to clarify the situation somewhat :

Mounting is the process of preparing your disks for use. Every OS does this, including Windows.

There are various technical articles on this issue, I am not sure how interested you may be though :

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-linux-filesystem/

Windows deals with a more limited range of file systems and then ther is always the balance of ease of use vs security. Sure it is nice to have external devices automatically mounted on Windows, but this is a security risk and it is becoming increasingly popular to disable this feature in the work place.

At the end of the day, learning to mount is part of learning a new OS and is quite easy. If you have a more specific question, please start a thread on Absolute Beginner Talk.

bodhi.zazen said: Thanks LaRoza :)

Just to clarify the situation somewhat :

Mounting is the process of preparing your disks for use. Every OS does this, including Windows.

Also, one can mount directories and files. (Mount an ISO, or create a virtual disk in Windows)

This way, an NTFS directory in Windows can be assigned a drive letter, and an ISO can be used as if it were a disk.

(Because of the weirdness in Windows, "drives" get letters, but a drive can be mounted in a directory, and a directory can be assigned a drive letter. Linux is less complex and everything is a file mounted under /)