Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (1587 mails)

[zentara@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (zentara)]

John Minyard wrote:
> 
> I have a friend and his wife who are new to computers and would like to
> start them on the right path with Linux. Can anybody help?
> 
>                                                 Juanito

It will be tough to learn computers from scratch starting with Linux.
Most Linux users have some dos and windows experience, so they have
an idea of what all the commands do, what the parts of the machine are,
etc. Even then you get lost, look at all the questions in this
mailing list.

You could set Linux up for them, so they could get on the internet
with Netscape, email, ftp, etc.
Many people only need this.
Then at least they would have a functioning system. They could
learn more as they need. But it is hard to learn software such
as Gimp if you don't know the difference between a gif, jpg, or avi.
Or what the difference between a file and a directory is.
If you do go with linux, be sure to learn Midnight Commander.
Just type "mc" at the command line. It allows new leaners to see
where the files are, and edit them and view them easily.

I hate to say it, but if your friends just want to do things
like email, web surfing, and printing out t-shirts on their
cheap inkjet printer, then they are probably better off with
Windows. At least use NT. ;-)
Printing on cheap printers is one area where Windows is better
than linux.

You should get them an introductory level book such as the
"Dr. Bob's No Nonsense Guide to Linux", or "Linux for Dummies".

You need books when you learn Windows, and Linux is no different.

Go to 
www.linuxmall.com
www.cheapbytes.com
and other sites to find cheap books and cdroms.

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