Re: [gentoo-nfp] Re: How to improve the trustees

[Matthew Summers]

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Roy Bamford wrote:
> On 2008.02.03 16:49, Matthew Summers wrote:
>> Roy Bamford wrote:
>>>
>>> Many new users come to gentoo as their first Linux. Many of
>>> them are poorly informed about both Linux and Gentoo - I don't
>>> know how to reach this group *before* they start asking for
>>> help in #gentoo and on the forums. Thats the sort problem we
>>> have to solve.
>>>
>>>
>> Roy,
>
>> Towards a solution to this particular issue above, I suggest
>> Gentoo provides a documentation project (possibly) entitled
>> "Learning Linux with Gentoo".  Within this we could easily
>> address many issues faced by new Linux/Gentoo users.  It would
>> seem, as well, to be a good service to the Gentoo and larger
>> Linux communities, as many users of other distros get information
>> from our documentation pages as well as our forums.  This could
>> potentially increase Gentoo's exposure as well as our user base
>> by "de-mystifying" Gentoo and basically easing new users into our
>> way of operating, while also providing a great resource for all
>> Linux/Gentoo users.   I do want to state that this is not in any
>> way intended to disparage the efforts of the Gentoo Documentation
>>  Project in any way. I think our docs are fantastic in many ways.
>> I am simply suggesting some various extensions to that
>> documentation base as well as some updates.
>
>> This would also fit into my earlier proposition regarding the use
>> of university technical writing interns for said documentation
>> projects as posted to this list and syndicated as a guest post on
>> Joshua Jackson's (tsunam) blog.
>
>> As always, I offer my assistance/support in the aforementioned
>> endeavor.
>
>> Best Regards,
>
>> Matthew W. Summers (quantumsummers)
>
>
>
> Matthew,
>
> I think this is a good idea. However, one of the issues is that a
> body of new users is not even aware of the existance of the current
>  documentation.
>
> e.g. How to head off questions like "I've just started the minimal
> CD to install Gentoo but all I get is a black screen with some text
> at the bottom. Where do I click to install Gentoo?"
>
> I'm not 100% sure it wasn't a troll but as this represents a class
> of problems seen on the forums, I'm sure that some are genuine.
>
>

Perhaps one easy way to present the necessary information to the users
that are "not even aware of the existance of the current
documentation" would be to extend the current message that is
displayed upon booting to the minimal livecd by loading an ncurses
based window that presents the current message and also presents the
user 3 radio buttons.  The buttons represent three options.

Option 1- I'm New to Linux
    (Open lynx (or similar) to the hypothetical page "Learning Linux
with Gentoo: I Just Booted the Minimal LiveCD, Now What?")
        1st Lesson: Use of CTRL + F1-F6 to switch terminals, etc.
Option 2 -  I'm New to Gentoo
    (Open lynx (or similar) to the "Gentoo Handbook")
Option 3 - Continue to CLI
    (Set at timeout for this ncurses screen of, say, 15 seconds before
proceeding as usual, also allow the user to pass a switch to grub at
boot to bypass the ncurses)

This is a rather brief description, and could easily be refined.  It
is meant only to convey the general idea, that is, we can modify the
usual minimal livecd experience to reflect both the desires of many
veteran users to have a rapid & often remote boot, while serving the
new, perhaps less knowledgeable, users as well.

Let me know what you think.

Best Regards,
 
Matthew W. Summers

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