Converting the heathens

fdac · 2005-11-11 00:08:20

A quick anecdote:

Last week, my significant other who is a complete technophobe, hates computers, doesn't know what Linux is, and has no patience, asked me to burn a couple of DVDs for her.

I had just finished setting up Arch on my new PC and hadn't yet installed burning software.

Me: "Ok, I'll burn those DVDs for you. I just need to install the software."

Me:

pacman -Sy cdrtools dvd+rw-tools

Her: "Gee, that was quick!"

Alright! A first step! I wouldn't say she has 'seen the light' yet but we're moving forward with baby steps. She didn't really get it, but thought it was good, that I could mount iso images and check the files before burning it to a new disc.

I reckon she'll cope with XFCE4 and Firefox next (she's used to WinXP and IE!) Maybe I should install KDE for her to use. She basically wants everything to work just the same as in Windows as she is used to. New things, tips and improvements need to be introduced slowly and one at a time.

Any other stories of converting fairly non-technical loved ones to the Linux world, and Arch in particular? Any recommendations for desktop interfaces, software etc. for her? I notice XFCE4 has a "RedmondXP" theme which looks remarkably familiar - that might be a start?

Cheers
Francis

Gullible Jones · 2005-11-11 00:21:27

I'd say go with KDE. I don't like that desktop, but it's the only one with full integrated multimedia capabilities.

shadowhand · 2005-11-11 01:29:56

I think KDE is the de facto choice amongst Windows converts because it's full of crap, just like Windows. 8)

IF you can start her using Xfce, she'll be much happier in the long run. The learning curve is a bit steeper, but it's simpler to use in the long run (no menu digging, etc like with KDE). Either way, she will be better off than if she kept using Windows!

elasticdog · 2005-11-11 02:05:51

With Xfce, be sure to let her know that instead of a Start button, she'll have to right-click anywhere on the desktop in order to get a familar list of installed programs. My girlfriend uses my Arch box sometimes and complained that it took her forever to figure that our when I wasn't home...

shadowhand · 2005-11-11 03:24:30

elasticdog wrote:

With Xfce, be sure to let her know that instead of a Start button, she'll have to right-click anywhere on the desktop in order to get a familar list of installed programs. My girlfriend uses my Arch box sometimes and complained that it took her forever to figure that our when I wasn't home...

Or use the Xfce menu (it's like the Start menu).

Euphoric Nightmare · 2005-11-11 04:27:13

My girlfriend is the same way. I've got an arch box (no windows), and I don't have her computer connected to the internet, which means she doesn't use it.

I have her on E17, and she uses abiword and OO-2.0 to do her school stuff, and can save it in .doc format (not a huge feat, but considering my girlfriend, its huge). Its pretty amazing that she doesn't need the .eap's to run everything...she's slowly learning how to use the command line.

She's finally able to use some command-line like 'sudo halt' and pacman, and startx or such. She quickly learned her lesson after she downloaded rpm's and tried to run them like they were *.exe's, and I of course laughed my ass off. She seems to be pretty impressed at how quick I can fix things on the command line, compared to fixing a windows problem.

The other day I got her interested enough to teach her how to use ratpoison.

She still bitches about not having windows, but I think that once she's able to use it again, she'll miss the stability and simplicity of arch.

sweiss · 2005-11-11 09:02:55

XFCE is very easy to use, I like XFCE a lot. Now I'm more into integration so I'm using KDE.
Both should work just fine for a Windows user.

KDE is probably more suited though, because installing a full KDE will provide most if not all applications one needs. Thinking of it, the only non-KDE programs I use are Nicotine and Konversation, and Konversation will soon be a part of KDE itself.

mclang · 2005-11-13 09:57:28

Before Arch linux I used Fedora - I had setup an account for my then girlfriend so that gnome started right away and all needed programs were visible on the bar. So basically she needed to know nothing about linux or gnome.

When I moved to Arch, I didn't install gdm or the like, so she had to learn to login to console and start gnome by herself. It wasn't hard although once I was already in e17 and normal startx spitted errors at her face - she paniced a bit then and though that she had broken something...

That time I didn't feel like customizing her gnome, so I showed her how to add starters to gnome-panels, select themes and so forth. Well, she needed to do those only once, but that was a start anyway! I also taught her to find soffice executable if/when firefox needed it. This was because somehow firefox lost it frequently.

In the end, I think she started to like linux. All worked when it was configured to work and I wasn't always fixing some problem - although I was but with my laptop... Since then I have installed linux (ubuntu) for my mother and I am thinking to do the same for a family friend.

Long Live Linux!

arooaroo · 2005-11-13 10:05:12

I'm quite chuffed that I've managed to get my better half to use Firefox (on Windows). She's pretty scared of Linux. Some people just have a comfort zone and like to stick with things.

Getting my girlfriend familiar with Firefox is fact a strategical tactic to getting her on to Linux. If she uses my laptop is usually for browsing the web. Now that she's comfortable with Firefox, I'm hoping she won't care which OS it's running on.

mclang · 2005-11-14 10:43:32

Getting people to broaden their view by first introducing Firefox is goog tactics. OpenOffice is also good addition to that. I have used them both when helping my friends and relatives in computer matters, e.g. when they need a new computer.

I'm not trying to convert them though - only helping them to use windows.

Arch Linux

#1 2005-11-11 00:08:20

Converting the heathens

#2 2005-11-11 00:21:27

Re: Converting the heathens

#3 2005-11-11 01:29:56

Re: Converting the heathens

#4 2005-11-11 02:05:51

Re: Converting the heathens

#5 2005-11-11 03:24:30

Re: Converting the heathens

#6 2005-11-11 04:27:13

Re: Converting the heathens

#7 2005-11-11 09:02:55

Re: Converting the heathens

#8 2005-11-13 09:57:28

Re: Converting the heathens

#9 2005-11-13 10:05:12

Re: Converting the heathens

#10 2005-11-14 10:43:32

Re: Converting the heathens

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