I need to write simple instructions for newbies

[Colonel Panic]

Hi. I've been fortunate enough to be allowed to put a frugal install of Puppy on a couple of machines which are used by the public, and I've come up against the problem of what written instructions to give people who are new to Linux and don't understand a lot of the procedures.

(There isn't always someone around, so the instructions have to be written).

For example, suppose someone has a pendrive containing documents they want to access, which means they have to mount their pendrive. Or someone's used to clicking on icons in Windows XP and doesn't know how to access the start menu, to start Seamonkey and get browsing (I had both of these problems last week).

Has anyone written a set of instructions for use in situations like this? I could write some myself and probably will but I'd like to know what other people here have done in the same situation.

Thanks in advance,

Colonel Panic .

[Oakems]

Hi Colonel Panic, if you want my opinion, it needs to be as easy for the user as possible. If the machines will be used for browsing a lot, create a short-cut on the desktop and name it 'Internet, click Here' and do the same with any highly used application. Most applications have their own help available so maybe you could print some of that, and have a folder for each one, with generic names like word processor etc, this also caters for the complete computer newbie, which doesn't know the difference anyway.

Then its just a case of pointing out all the things that are not obvious like that if things need to be M$ compatible make sure you choose the right option when saving, if you do not know how to do this, refer to the folder. Same for the USB, have a sticky saying IMPORTANT read USB folder before using your stick on this machine (and always remember to unmount). Stickys are a bit tacky but they work really well, like on the keyboard F12=menu.

But... this is the General public we're talking about here, anything could still happen, even if it were idiot proof!

[bugman]

i am bored with the newbie discussions

changing operating systems takes some getting used to, suck it up

if i were to switch to windows xp i'd have to learn a hundred things too

if i were to switch to a mac you could make that two hundred

the idea that windows is some sort of idiot's paradise and that the linux desktop is fit only for the slide rule crowd is ridiculous at this point

[puppyluvr]

Hello,
Hotpup can be set to automount on insertion, and to autostart the appropriate app...(by mime type)....
This one thing alone helps my "newbs" more than any other...

[Colonel Panic]

Oakems and puppyluvr, thanks for your advice which I am taking very seriously. I don't know much about Hotpup but it's clearly time I learnt.

Bugman; telling people who have the options of other machines to use with Windows installed, and who don't owe me anything since I'm only a volunteer there, to "suck it up" isn't an option even if I felt like it which I don't.

[Lobster]

You might consider a Penguin conversion kit

A guestbook or sheet of paper were people provide their own tips
and findings. This is the spirit of Tuxification . . .

Being a King penguin (in this situation) you might start them off
Don't expect them to read manuals . . .
but they will read the 'Hitchikers Guide to Puppy Linux' if it says 'DO NOT PANIC' on the front . . .

Hitchikers Guide to Puppy Linux

1. Please help us evaluate Puppy Linux by trying this system and providing any questions
2. What did you find easy to do? How did you do it?
3. What could you not do? Anyone work it out?

email CaptPanic@Wot_I_Did.com

[bugman]

Bugman; telling people who have the options of other machines to use with Windows installed, and who don't owe me anything since I'm only a volunteer there, to "suck it up" isn't an option even if I felt like it which I don't.

nothing personal to you, i'm just wearying of evangelism

[wearying?]

[Bruce B]

I don't do XP, never did.

Where is my Red Carpet?

[bugman]

i guess too, what's becoming problematic for me, is all of the 'how can we change puppy to make it simpler or more popular' threads

change it too much and you ruin it

perhaps i am suffering from mild paranoia that this distro will be made unusable for me, starting with p and ending with u

[pwidgets and ubuntu repositories]

i am taking a vow never to try to convert anyone to linux, ever

[Master_wrong]

if i were to switch to windows xp i'd have to learn a hundred things too

if i were to switch to a mac you could make that two hundred

we will learn if there is an instruction manual... but puppy linux didn't have one, that's the problem for ex-windows user.

[ecomoney]

This one thing alone helps my "newbs" more than any other...

You have newbs too....excellent. I will take more note of your opinions in future

@Bugman...there are plenty of other distros about designed for the advanced linux user...Puppy Linux's mission is to create one thats "friendly for linux newbies" (suck THAT up)!

Documentation is, lets face it, often used as a last resort, ideally puppy should "just work" without the need to refer to a manual in the majority of cases.

When teaching puppy linux, I found that many new users got extremely adjitated when they thought they had to use a "different operating system), part of the strategy of getting them to learn was to put them at ease with their new system (gcompris is great for this )...so yes the "DONT PANIC" message is an extremely important one Lobster.

I would be interested to know how to set up puppy so that when a USB key is inserted, it displays the contents.....or offers a menu of things to do (i.e. format, copy files from etc).

[mcewanw]

and always remember to unmount

The mount/umount concept is a real put-off for all new Linux users. When I first "had to" use UNIX, I didn't have any problem with the idea of using a commandline (since I had been using DOS for years) but the idea of "mounting filesystems" was alien-speak as far as I was concerned. The command being umount rather than unmount didn't help matters.

Now we have GUI frontends to most anything in Linux, but the concept of mounting and unmounting filesystems is still no doubt completely baffling to new users who have long ago come to terms with C, D and E drives and so on... (which are certainly rather easier on the brain than /dev/hda1 or whatever (and mount points).

Nowadays, computers are consumer products, like televisions; there is no place for all these techy nuancies in such a world. As it stands, Linux will never appeal to the masses (unless Bill Gate's Empire decides to model some future Windows on it - as did Apple with OSX).

[Bruce B]

More friendly - more simple

[Bruce B]

and always
remember to unmount

The mount/umount concept is a real put-off for all new
Linux users. When I first "had to" use UNIX, I didn't have
any problem with the idea of using a commandline (since I
had been using DOS for years) but the idea of "mounting
filesystems" was alien-speak as far as I was concerned.
The command being umount rather than unmount didn't
help matters.

There nothing I know of in Linux design to prevent
seamlessly mounting everything the user wants mounted
on boot. Nothing.

Same for shutdown. (except devices which can't be
unmounted)

Microsoft may force mounting everything ?

Linux gives full choice.

[Sylvander]

I'm fairly new to Puppy...
And still remember what that 1st encounter was like.

What particularly impressed me was the way it EXPLAINED THINGS as it went along, in words that could actually be understood.

Quite unlike Windows, which tends to either give no explanation, or else give an explanation that seems meaningless.

BING!
A new region of understanding appears in the mind.
WOW, imagine an operating system that explains what it's doing, and so its operations become KNOWN and UNDERSTOOD.

Hence it pulls the new user FORWARD [I've spent YEARS with Windows, but not with Linux].
It's INFORMATIVE...EDUCATIONAL.

This might actually teach me things about Linux!
How EXCITING!
I want to stick with this.

Suddenly Windows becomes yesterdays Operating System.

THE FUTURE IS PUPPY.

I can understand that old hands mightn't want to wade through all that stuff that newbies find so useful.

That's why I wonder if it would be possible [if it were thought necessary] to have 2 versions of a Puppy; one with all that stuff included, and one without.
e.g.
PUPPY FOR NEWB'S.
and
PUPPY FOR OLD HANDS.

[puppyluvr]

I would be interested to know how to set up puppy so that when a USB key is inserted, it displays the contents.....or offers a menu of things to do (i.e. format, copy files from etc).

[mcewanw]

There nothing I know of in Linux design to prevent
seamlessly mounting everything the user wants mounted
on boot. Nothing.

Same for shutdown. (except devices which can't be
unmounted)

Microsoft may force mounting everything ?

Linux gives full choice.

And yet a brief search of any Linux forum comes up with many a problem related to mounting and auto-mounting filesystems, with warnings, for example, to unmount before physically removing the likes of usb flash sticks.

It has always been 'relatively' easy for those with some technical understanding of UNIX or Linux to arrange for filesystems to be automatically mounted at boot-time of course ... [I doubt my sister, brother, mother, grandmother and so on really wants to know anything about /etc/fstab however ...]

More recently it has become possible to have removable filesystems automatically mounted when inserted [the 'hot pop']. It remains much less easy to recognise when removable media is in fact removed such that the filesystem can by synced before its being removed (and thus avoid date loss) - [the 'hot pull'].

But this is a club of technical enthusiasts and visionaries. Choice, as you put it, certainly sounds like such a positive characteristic, but I have my doubts, however, that the majority of computer users in the general population want to even think about such matters as those described. Though some of us, I believe, enjoy such "choice", for others, I suspect, it is perplexing, unrewarding, and perhaps even painful. (But, yes, personally, I find lack of choice painful, though I often wonder why I waste so many hundreds of hours trying to set up my computer systems "better" ... pain or pleasure?)

[Bruce B]

My cat doesn't behave like my dog.

If I think that's a problem, where is the problem? With the
cat or the dog? Or maybe I'm not thinking well, to even
conceive a cat should behave like a dog, or a dog like a cat.

There is such a thing as different species.

Is someone's Linux not behaving enough like Unix? Linux is a
Unix type operating system and intentionally designed that
way. We don't find people complaining on forums because the
migration from Unix to Linux is too tough.

I could say my Unix isn't enough like Windows, it's too hard,
it's different, but how much sense would that make?

[Colonel Panic]

@mcewanw; the mounting of portable devices poses an interesting problem.

To reduce initial unfamiliarity, I've found it's best to start off with the browser already up and showing on the screen, and with two windows already open - one showing Google, the other the day's news (from the BBC or another news source in the UK).

The problem I encounter is when the machine is already like this and
someone comes along and wants to use a USB drive.

They can plug it in, but it won't automount which is what they're used
to Windows XP doing. If I do things differently and get people to plug their pendrives in before booting, I need to give instructions for this to happen instead and be sure that they'll read them.

@Bruce; both cats and dogs have their place, but you wouldn't want a guard cat to protect your premises. He'd most likely find somwewhere warm and go to sleep.

[Oakems]

And yet a brief search of any Linux forum comes up with many a problem related to mounting and auto-mounting filesystems, with warnings, for example, to unmount before physically removing the likes of usb flash sticks.

It has always been 'relatively' easy for those with some technical understanding of UNIX or Linux to arrange for filesystems to be automatically mounted at boot-time of course ... [I doubt my sister, brother, mother, grandmother and so on really wants to know anything about /etc/fstab however ...]

More recently it has become possible to have removable filesystems automatically mounted when inserted [the 'hot pop']. It remains much less easy to recognise when removable media is in fact removed such that the filesystem can by synced before its being removed (and thus avoid date loss) - [the 'hot pull'].

But this is a club of technical enthusiasts and visionaries. Choice, as you put it, certainly sounds like such a positive characteristic, but I have my doubts, however, that the majority of computer users in the general population want to even think about such matters as those described. Though some of us, I believe, enjoy such "choice", for others, I suspect, it is perplexing, unrewarding, and perhaps even painful. (But, yes, personally, I find lack of choice painful, though I often wonder why I waste so many hundreds of hours trying to set up my computer systems "better" ... pain or pleasure?)

When I said "and don't forget to unmount" I was kinda joking (it wasn't that funny and I forgot to put the smiley ) but I was thinking more along the lines of security, because Puppy runs in ram, if you forget to unmount you leave behind the entire contents of your USB (don't you?), not very secure. Unmounting because you have to is like safely removing a device, you have to do it regardless, and its a mistake you can make on ANY OS, I killed my MP3 player (in Windows) because I did not know this. If you don't know, you don't know.

An example from the first post, someone couldn't find the menu button, if you ask me that person would've had problems anyway, how different is this from windows? Click on start, but its not called start its just called menu? Isn't start a menu? Isn't it in the same place? Doesn't it look like it should do what you want? Some people will find it hard using the SAME version of windows on different PC's simply because its different and not what they're used to, even a fancy theme could catch someone out.

My point is, that if it can, it should be made as simple as possible eliminating potential problems. If you don't have the opportunity to have laminated instructions on the wall behind the computer then folders would be the next best thing. Make sure you have something noticeable IMPORTANT look for the instructions before using your USB. Then have an arrow pointing to the wall and to the diagrammed instructions.

Remember these computers are running PUPPY Linux not just Linux! Its already been made easy!
1. Plug in USB and wait for the icon to appear.
2. Click on icon. This will open the contents of your stick for you.
IMPORTANT! Note that the icon now has a GREEN dot, this means your USB is now active. BEFORE removing your USB right-cilck the Icon and choose to unmount (3rd Option down) wait for the GREEN dot do disappear!
It is now safe to remove your USB.

But again you can never cater for Everybody, some will adapt ,and think "hay this is similar to Windows (maybe even better)." Others will struggle to find where they need to put their USB key (you mean its not in the same place as what mine is!)