decent curriculum (was: class this Wed!)

der.hans plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
Sun, 1 Sep 2002 12:44:12 -0700 (MST)


Am 01. Sep, 2002 schwätzte Dennis Kibbe so:

> On Sunday 01 September 2002 05:07 am, you wrote:
> > We have lots of people starting to use GNU/Linux, but we haven't got the
> > support network they need to bootstrap themselves. 'RTFM' and 'google for
> > it' aren't what the new people need. Those who can bootstrap themselves are
> > more likely to make it anyway. We need to move beginners into the
> > intermediate area, or at least into acquainted.
> >
> > ciao,
> >
> > der.hans
>

> This is exactly my experience mentoring a friend who wants to leave Windows
> behind. His complaint is that the Linux community is unfriendly to newbies
> (RTFM) and that you need to know too much just to understand the
> documentation.

There are places rumored to be nice to newbies. I haven't needed to frequent
them in ages :).

We should probably start working with one or two places. LinuxNewbie.org has
been mentioned a few times on the list. Anyone familiar with it? Is it a
well-run project? Is it helpful for newbies? Is it newbie friendly? Have
they already move to 'intermediate' because the people running it got tired
of explaining what a third mouse button is?

We should also be helping with documentation. That's why I want the class
stuff to be under a free documentation license. It needs to be a project.
I'd prefer to help a project that's already underway. Is there any
courseware at LinuxNewbie.org?

> Also, Linux is "just different" from Windows. It's roots are firmly in a
> networked from birth, multiuser, small tools heritage. Very often a Windows
> user coming to Linux will intuitively do the WRONG thing and not even realize
> it until someone points it out.

Those're the things I won't know. m$ has been doing it wrong for years. I
figured that out and thankfully never learned their ways ;-).

ciao,

der.hans
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