I think a lot of this info is on the Wiki already--USB disks, faces, adding users, changing the background (come on, read the man page). We've also had various newbies come in and promise to create a great, simple site for users, but it never goes anywhere. I'd suggest looking more closely at the Wiki, maybe creating some pages there and linking them all from a "For New Users" page.
John On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Purple_Q <bitpusher2...@gmail.com> wrote: > Greets all. I'll cut straight to the chase for those who don't like > reading long posts, else please bare with me and read this entire post > so you can offer an opinion. > > I would like to erect a site that aims to show Plan9 in a more user/ > desktop direction for those who share the enthusiast/niche category. I > want to put up a site with information for users; not how to manage a > mainframe or something, but with info like how to download and install > 3rd party apps, how to access usb keys and install apps (for those > like me who's ethernet card doesn't work in plan9), and things like > how to burn CD's, how to add users and "faces", how to change the > background (if that can even be done). > In short; simple user functions. Plan9, while I know there are some > here that would disagree, never seemed to me to be geared towards the > casual desktop user (it is a research OS no?). I would like to show it > in a different light, with help from anyone here who will contribute > walkthrus, command strings, and howtos. > I also wouldn't mind if enough of the community would elect someone > (if interested) that I would give FTP access to, to help manage the > site and add things, etc. > > What do you think? > > Now for the more patient readers; here's the HOW and WHY. > For the HOW; > I have a corny little personal homesite at www.queuevonqu.com > I pay just short of $15 a month for unlimited webspace. I have a half > serious, half for fun project as a chiptune producer (which if you're > not familiar, chiptune is a genre of electronic music that is made > using the sound hardware of vintage video game systems or computer > hardware, in my case, a pair of Atari 2600's). The website address is > www.bitpusher2600.net. > See, I bought the domain name from GoDaddy and have it set up to > forward to the actual address, which is a subdomain on my homesite : > bitpusher2600.queuevonqu.com > > I am thinking that if I get enough support from the board here > (digital support, NOT money), I will make the same setup with > something like "plan9-4u.net" or "plan9desktop.net" or something like > that (name suggestions welcome!) > > For the WHY: > I grew up with (and my first computer as a child for xmas) was an > Apple. I got some PC experience much later. Anyway, I was around 17 or > so when someone introduced me to linux. He had several distros and at > first I was intrigued, but not overly impressed. I tried quite a few > in a month's time until I came upon Slackware. He told me of all of > them to use and learn on, that one was the toughest he had and is > considered quite advanced. Being someone who sees sheer beauty in > minimalism, I was loving it's lack of "over guification". > > I experienced this MAGNETISM, I couldn't stop thinking about what I > was seeing and would day dream about it often. Unbelievable emotion. I > used it for just a hair over 9 years straight, never even trying > another distro because I loved what I had and was quite comfortable. > The same thing happened when I met a fella online recently who was a > nut for FreeBSD. We got to talking in a forum and he told me "if > you're a Slackware veteran, you'll almost be quite at home, and plus > blah blah blah" (onward with the list of advantages and superiority of > it compared to linux). That was just a couple months ago, nowadays i'm > a pure FreeBSD user. > > Why tell all of that? I'm experiencing the same feelings with Plan9, > though the funny thing is I can hardly do a damn thing with it at the > moment. I have no clue how to access my thumb drive, how to install > 3rd party software, etc. I need walkthrus and etc, people to "hold my > hand" along the way. How to do simple user tasks. > > I can't help it though, i'm totally "in love" with this OS and am > driven to figure it out, which is why I bother you kind folks all the > time :) > > So indeed, it's a learning experience for me. I'd like to take > everything a desktop user (like me) can learn in Plan9 and put it up > for direct and easy reference for others. Also, to help promote Plan9 > and bring it to the attention of fellow linux and BSD geeks who might > enjoy using it. I realize it's not got alot of modern things, like > flash and java, I don't know that it has IM or the such either, but I > thought I read somewhere once that Mplayer works for it??? > > If you've read all of this i'm very grateful. I really would like to > put up a minimalistic, simple website for end-users to learn simple > and common "desktop" administration, myself included. > > **For those who would like to help; > I will give you credit on each walkthru, howto, command string, etc > you are willing to help with however you want me to (name, alias, > email, url link, etc). > Help a complete newbie help other newbies! I want to bring more light > to Plan9. > > -- "Object-oriented design is the roman numerals of computing" -- Rob Pike
