On Saturday 30 October 2004 06:19 pm,
shadex@cox.net wrote:
> Evening everyone. I am an instructor for the CompUSA corporation and as I
> saw the upcoming need for classes in the Linux OS I recently signed on for
> the PLUG site as well as the mailing list. I am one of millions of users
> that have been chained to M$ since 3.1. I had made arrangements to attend
> this latest Install Fest in order to begin my learning expedition into the
> GNU world when I read this latest thread of e-mails.
You certainly should expect to have opportunities to learn at any InstallFest.
Strictly speaking, InstallFests are for installing, not teaching. However, I
have yet to go to one and not learn something by watching, helping or
starting discussions.
> As an instructor for the last 8 years the single biggest complaint I get
> from new computer users is what I call, "The Computer Guy Syndrome", named
> after the skits of the same name on Saturday Night Live. They all have
> friends or coworkers that are around should a problem arise with their
> systems, but rather than actually helping the user they simply *zip* *zip*
> fix it and move on, leaving the user with no knowledge of how to circumvent
> or maybe even fix the problem on their own at a later date.
I do this to people all the time. :^( It is not good for the long term
learning of the helpee, I agree.
> This is why I cancelled my original plans to attend Install Fest. While the
> intent is most admirable and necessary, without explaination and
> instruction nothing is retained. This has been the reason class environment
> training has been so successful. You have to put the student at the
> terminal with their own input and have them go through the steps with you.
Absolutely. An InstallFest is secondarily about training/teaching. I think
attending one is an educational experience even if that is not the ultimate
goal.
> I have purchased enough books on various versions of Linux to rebuild the
> Berlin Wall. Each of them flippantly omitting huge aspects of the required
> understanding of the OS that is needed to do anything more than survive
> within its walls. The Debian installation walk-through on the www.linux.org
> site even state instructions like this, "Assign partitions to look like
> this." without explaining how. This is a dominant aura that is carried
> unfortunately by the Linux society. The mystique likened to the Freemasons.
> If you are in a position where you need to know how to install Linux, you
> probably should already know how is the ghist many people get.
There is a weakness in Free Software / Open Source Software (FS/OSS)
documentation that, I think, carries in from it's roots. It was a set of
software by tech-ies, for tech-ies. This shows in with the gaps you find.
This is one of the things that a LUG can help with, filling in the gaps.
Other resources for this are IRC channels of the projects, email lists,
forums like linuxquestions.org.
> As I am face to face with thousands of students each year and a rapidly
> growing number of them are inquiring about the Linux world I must ask,
> where do I send these people? I had hoped to offer courses to get them
> started yet even I am hitting obstacles that my years of computer
> background are not affording me passage to. To give instructions that
> state...
>
> Ok type,
>
> # mount /dev/hda3 /mnt/gentoo
> # mkdir /mnt/gentoo/boot
> # mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/gentoo/boot
>
> and then not explaining what any of that means serves no purpose other than
> to further confuse an already scared new user. This is just an example from
> another supposed "walk-through". I guess I had always associated
> walk-through as it is used when purchasing a home, features and elements
> discussed at great length. These walk-throughs would be closer to, "Ok,
> keep your eyes closed and follow the sound of my voice while I get you
> through the house." Any suggestions for myself and my students?
Your point of view is valid and important. Allow me to share a bit from my
experience and understanding on these issues. These are my opinions I have
formed with nearly 5 years experience "in" the Linux world and about 25 years
using and working with computers, including in retail environments.
InstallFests
If I go to the store and by a computer today, it will have an OS already
installed on it. I can take it home and start using it without knowing how
to copy a file or do any other basic operation. Until recently, a PC
purchased from nearly any likely source would never have anything but Windows
installed on it (ignoring Apple computers here).
The purpose of the InstallFest is to allow a user to have the same "off the
shelf" experience with Linux and they got with the Windows that came with
their computer. They cannot experience Linux unless they run it on a
computer. How can they know they want to learn more if they have not tried
it? Live CD's like Knoppix thankfully provide an easy alternative to
experience Linux without having to haul a computer to an InstallFest. But
the main purpose of an InstallFest is to give the new user a working Linux
system before they have learned very much about it. They WILL learn
something along the way because of what happens at the InstallFest but that
is a byproduct of the process, not it's goal.
Linux Education
How does a new owner of a new PC learn about the OS on their computer? Take a
class somewhere. Join a user group. Ask friends. Read books.
Learning Linux is no different except the "formal" training options, such as
at CompUSA ;^) are still sparsely available. I see the LUG as the place to
get some of that information. Online resources are also a mostly very good
source. Local community colleges, technical schools and graduate schools
regularly use Linux in the classes titled "Unix [whatever]."
PLUG has done "Intro to Linux" classes before. All it takes is someone
willing to step up and do it. PLUG East Side and West Side meetings tend to
provide presentations about tools and applications that general users might
be interested in. Suggestions for topics are always welcome and the Steering
Committee actively seeks them and seeks presenters for them. (We don't like
to think up everything by ourselves!) One time we did a panel and all
attendees submitted whatever questions they wanted. I really liked that
meeting!
I was very gratified to hear that more people are asking about Linux! That is
great news! As Linux goes more "main stream," it becomes more important that
the gaps in the documentation and information will have to be filled in. The
cool thing is that the whole process is open and much of the documentation is
on a web site somewhere. When anyone finds a hole in the docs, report it to
the project. Sometimes it is changed overnight. Better yet are the projects
with their documents in a wiki because then you can change or correct it
right on the spot! This is also where new people can be of more help than
experienced Linux users. The experienced ones don't see the gaps in the
documents because they fill in the gap in their head!
User Responsibility
The Free Software and Open Source Software world do, in fact, turn the
responsibility for a good user experience on the user. This is very
different from the proprietary, "Closed Source" world.
In that world, money rules. You will do nothing for me until I pay or offer
to pay money. Then, we have a contract to hold over each other to make sure
we get what we want. If the software I paid for doesn't work right, I come
after you to fix/correct it. If you don't think it's broken or worth it, you
ignore me. We are each attempting to derive value from the relationship.
Don't get me wrong, I am a capitalist. And economic relationships established
in free markets have shown themselves to be, I think, the most efficient way
to drive an economic engine. It is altogether possible to pay $1,000's for
some piece of software and be happy to do it because you know the benefit if
using it will be more valuable than all that money.
In contrast, I am typing this email in Kmail running on KDE on the Fedora Core
2 Linux distribution. I paid no cash directly to the multitude of developers
that created this for me. It only cost me the download bandwidth and a few
CDs. I just got all of this for essentially no cost. Who then is
responsible to make sure I can use it the way I want? What leverage do I
have on the providers of this bounty to make sure it works for me? Frankly,
none, except...
The community that provides it and the users that use it actually want me to
enjoy it. Not because I paid them but because they want to make good
software or like to help people or get other paid work because of the no cost
work they did on some part of this software. Or any number of other
motivations that have nothing to do with monetary or contractual
relationships. (I find that amazing and fascinating!)
So, I the user am responsible to make this stuff work for me. But I have an
army of thousands of fellow users and developers willing to answer every
question I have about it! At 0 cash cost! But, I am expected to pay.
I pay by being polite with my questions. I pay by searching for the answer on
my own before diverting others to come and help me. I pay by trying things
out. I pay by sending in bug reports or documentation changes. I pay by
documenting the solutions I find and answering other's questions when I can.
In other words, I pay by becoming part of the community that created it all!
Or, if joining the community is to scary or time consuming or whatever, I pay
by cash to Red Hat or IBM or "John Doe's Computer Consulting" to solve my
problems for me. See, Linux is do-it-yourself unless you don't want to.
Then it is pay-as-you-go just like in the proprietary world, if you want to.
Community Performance
I can only think of two instances in my 5 years using Linux where I had a bad
support experience from the community. I can think of dozens, especially as
a software engineer, where vendors of proprietary tools could not or would
not solve problems. At times this was despite $1,000+ support agreements or
other "commitments." Worse case case was flat-out acknowledgment of a proven
bug, down to the line of code that caused it and refusal to do anything about
it.
The worse case in the FS/OSS community is one computer that I cannot get the
sound to work in Fedora Core 2. Lots of help was given but I found it easier
to switch distros to solve the problem.
Best case was 20 minutes for a bug fix from a Free Software author. 20
minutes by email to Romainia! Of course that ignores quick answers to basic
questions in less than 5 minutes from people in chat channels.
It is possible to find "bad apples" in the community that do not offer help or
put down a user for some question asked. If that gets to bad, the bad apple
will be shunted aside, by forking the project if necessary (search on
"Smoothwall IPCop" or "Xfree86 X.org"). Do that in the proprietary world!
"Dear Big Software Company, We, your users, don't like they way you treat us
so we are supporting a different company to write the software for us." Any
project that thinks they have too much power will be dumped by their market.
That is power in the user's hands!
Resources
I have rambled on long enough. (I seem to do this about once a year on some
topic or another.) To understand better, here are some resources I would
suggest:
"The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric Raymond. Online it is here:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/ The book by the same
title with additional, interesting essays is from O'Reilly here:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/cathbazpaper/ It is a bit out of date but he
was the first to attempt to formally document the FS/OSS culture and does a
pretty good job, I think.
"Free as in Freedom" by Sam Williams. From O'Reilly here:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/freedom/index.html The story of Richard M.
Stallman and how Free Software ideals came to be and why, ie. the origin of
the GNU project and the GPL. RMS is seen (incorrectly I think) as the most
anti-capitalistic for his unwavering stance that all software should always
be free (as in freedom). Whatever you think of his stance, his contributions
to the community are huge (EMACS anyone?) and cannot be ignored.
PLUG's email list archive:
http://lists.plug.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss Dig through
that beautiful repository of knowledge. Note the lack of any substantial
flame wars (Good job, everyone!) Note the banter and discussion of problems
and solutions.
linuxquestions.org. I have come to enjoy this site very much after Dennis
pointed it out. Answers to questions and good discussions. A hardware
compatibility list (Have you added yours?) Lot's of good stuff!
fedoraforum.org I use Fedora and this place is all talk and help about it.
freshmeat.net Catalog of piles of Free Software programs and projects. Need
a program to do X? Go search there for it.
PLUG is getting more and more of the "truly" newbies. Non-technical people
that are curious about Linux. I personally welcome them all as they help us
better understand their point of view. Linux cannot dominate the world
without them!
Alan
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