on 8/15/00 8:50 PM, Tony McGee wrote:
> On Wed, 16 Aug 2000, Gavin Clark pushed some tiny letters in this order:
>> I'm not saying get rid of it at all, just make something else the default.
>> it would be an easy thing to have vi come up as a choice for experts during
>> the install.
>
> An installation choice has been the best idea to come out of this thread. This
> is Mandrake after all, IMHO the distribution most suited to the widest range
> of experience from newbies right up to experts.
How do we get this into 7.2?
>> now there's an idea. linux should have the command #tutorial nnn, like man,
>> but it pops up a clearly written dummy's guide with lots of examples.
>>
>
> I don't think there's a tutorial command
Then I hereby propose it. I agree that there is a lot of documentation and
help out there but you really have to hunt for it. It is scattered all over
the place, most of it is on line so you need the network connection to be
running. There is a need for clear and concise explanations and examples
right at your finger tips. A public domain tutorial along the lines of a
dummies book for each command, available from the command line, would be an
immense help. The sheer number of UNIX books out there testify to the short
comings of man pages, and the how-tos can't help if you're not sure what
you're looking for.
> The problem isn't with the lack of documentation out there, in my experience
> it's that nobody bothers to read it before running to the nearest mailing
> list/newsgroup/guru/whatever.
I'll put my New Guy hat on and tell you why. ;-)
That's because there's nothing telling the new guy where to find that
documentation. There should be a big button on the desktop that say 'click
me for help' which pops up info on all the help and docs that are installed
on the machine, and tells you about man pages and how to get them. It should
mention little tricks like #command --help. Netscape ought to come with a
list of bookmarks to inline docs of all sorts (I'd gladly give up those BS
shopping links).
OK, I know there IS a help link there but both Win and the Mac pop up a big
window right in your face the first time you start that says "hey new guy,
read this!" Sure, that will annoy a power user but he can make it go away
and the new guy needs it.
I've already gone through my learning curve so it's too late for me but as
Linux get adopted more and more widely those using it will be less and less
technically inclined, "RTFM" as an answer won't cut it - they won't even
know there is one.
If you're going to lead the masses out of the darkness then you are going to
have to hold their hand. A truly powerful system should do just that.
All I'm asking for is that this thing be perfect, that shouldn't be so hard
considering that half the world is working on it. ;-)
Gavin
