Larry Walewski wrote: > > I think your ideas are great. I too am a newbie to Linux. First tried > installing > Caldera's OpenLinux Lite, but couldn't get it to work on my machine with > only 5 megs (probably could've with a little more work). Someone then > pointed me, thankfully, to Debian! So, I got Dale's book and I'm up and > running. Got LOTS of reading to do, but I'm up. And since this thread > is involving Dale, he can add this info right into the update of his book, > which would have been nice to have had in mine. > > Larry > > > > > Here is my two cents worth as a novice user: > > > > First, lets get the above information put in a place where new novice > > users > > can't miss. In other words put it right under their nose. At the end of > > the install procedure of future Debs, have the tail end of the install > > script (before they are taken to dselect?) point them to a few critical > > plain text files *already on the system* (put them in the base system) in a > > /usr/doc/dir location. Consider making everyone page thru this info (in the > > install script) before 'letting them go'. Make them plain text so you don't > > force a tender newbie to have to figure out how to use latex/tex/whatever. > > This file(s) should do the following things: > > > > a) Tell them of the existence not only of www.debian.org but this user > > mailing list as well. Don't assume every person is going to come to > > www.debian.org right off the bat on their own initiative, discover the > > mailing lists (and figure out how to sign themselves up), plus discover the > > bug reporting system. They may not get a browser set up for awhile, so let > > them know *before-hand* what is expected. Otherwise, when they do get their > > ppp/mail/browser working, if they ran into a problem, they might blunder > > right in to submitting a bug or wasting bandwidth on the mailing list when > > they should have done something else. They need to know about this > > important source of information (www.debian.org) from the very beginning. > > > > b) Explain how to submit a bug including the concerns mentioned above. > > A > > very, VERY helpful option would be to provide an http-based (via > > www.debian.org) automated procedure to fill out a bug report. This > > procedure would include a check of previous bug reports, so the user can see > > whether his problem has already been reported. I know setting up something > > like this is a non-trivial operation - so take my suggestion here as an item > > for the "wish-list". Don't simply tell them to use the bug package. The > > bug package is not useful to everyone, because it assumes everyone has > > installed a standard mail system, which will increasingly not be the case. > > A lazy novice user (refugee from DOS/Win world) like me will prefer to just > > use NS Communicator (or future equivalent) which does www/mail/news without > > the difficulty of install and configuring the arcane > > smail/fetchmail/mutt/inews/inewsinn combination (plus God knows what else is > > required). > > > > c) Other locations on the net where they can get info and support > > (when > > Deb > > starts using GNOME, for example, we can point them to gnome.org). > > > > I don't know of polite way to say this, but a little hand-holding at > > the > > very beginning will save you maintainers some grief later on down the road. > > > > The current bug reporting procedure is already complicated; look at > > how > > long http://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting.html is already. We need to find > > a way to make it simpler, not add more to it. > > > > Feel free to flame away! :-) > > > > > > -- > > Ed > > > > Thanx Larry, part of what prompted me to say this was my first experience with Deb back in the .9x days. I still think the install sequence ends in a rather 'jarring' fashion, leaving the user to sink or swim. With a little forethought that shouldn't be the case.
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