New linux users...

[boxxertrumps]

Do you guys reccomend any articles to help ease them into the open source world?
My freind eric seems to like the idea of no viruses.

[Trio3b]

Sorry, there are too many out there. It's enough to make a newbs head spin.

Anyway, I would just recommend a couple of things:

I know it is a fuzzy distant memory, but learning Windows had its ups and downs. Psychologically, you are going to compare the learning curve of Linux NOW to your comfort with Windows NOW, when in reality the fair thing to do is compare it to the Windows learning curve BACK THEN.

Basically there are going to be two types of articles relating to the justifications for moving to opensource. One leans towards the philosophical and one towards the nuts and bolts technical.

There will come a time when you or a friend will get sick of reading about it and have to buy or burn a live CD (recommended) and give it a whirl.

Good Luck

[boxxertrumps]

i just need one good, "in a nutshell" type of article...

If i can find eqivilents to all the software we use now in the tech/programming labs, i might be able to convince the school to swich to linux...

[DrChuck]

Here are a couple of compilations of equivalent open source apps:
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html
http://www.linuxeq.com/
You are going to find that a lot of stuff which is add-on software in the windows world, is included by default in most linux distributions. So, I recommend you get yourself a live CD (Knoppix is my favorite) and see for yourself what is included.

[blackbelt_jones]

I think live CDs are probably a great place to start. (They weren't really around when I was starting out) you get a chance to get familiar with the desktop before deeper into the issues of administration.

Here (http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142980) is something I posted on this theme a while back, and someone must have liked it because they made it a sticky! I was so proud when I found out!


Here (http://my.opera.com/james.faction/blog/) is the blog of a Linux newbie who has taken it upon himself to try a dozen live CDs and record his impressions here.

[je_fro]

There's so much! Between wikipedia and here http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=02/03/09/1727250
I dunno what else to recommend for a new user...it depends on what kind of user he/she's going to be...

[blackbelt_jones]

Sorry, there are too many out there. It's enough to make a newbs head spin.

Anyway, I would just recommend a couple of things:

I know it is a fuzzy distant memory, but learning Windows had its ups and downs. Psychologically, you are going to compare the learning curve of Linux NOW to your comfort with Windows NOW, when in reality the fair thing to do is compare it to the Windows learning curve BACK THEN.

If you could only compare it to what it's going to be like when you learn, you wouldn't hesitate.


"Linux is only free if your time has no value."

I've seen that statement posted a couple of times on the web, most recently in You Tube. What's wrong with that statement is that it fails to get the big picture, the full sweep. The time that I invested upfront in learning Linux is paying me back now, and will pay me back for the rest of my computing lifetime. Linux has power tools that save me time, every day.

Chief among those tools is the desktop command line.

You'll note that I said the desktop command line. I'm not talking about the 1985 terminal interface, where you have to type in every command. I'm talking about a tool that is part of your desktop that you only use when you decide that it's easier and more powerful. People have this outdated idea of the command line and the graphic interface being in competition. It's not about one tool being better than another. It's about two tools being better than one.

The days, you almost never HAVE to use the command line, but when you know how to use it, it will save you a huge amount of time. And because you almost never have to use it, you can learn how to use it gradually. And then, it all starts to pay off. You can push around files with new speed and ease. You can write scripts to automate processes, you can create desktop launchers, you can create keybindings that can do just about anything in a single modified keystroke.

[boxxertrumps]

Thanks guys.

[gnuoob]

Do you guys reccomend any articles to help ease them into the open source world?
My freind eric seems to like the idea of no viruses.


http://www.go2linux.org/node/79

[bwkaz]

Make sure these people also read this, of course:

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

I wouldn't want to scare them off, but I wouldn't want them to come into Linux with the wrong impressions, either. :)

[ehawk]

http://makethemove.net/