Hello everyone,
I’m no stranger to operating systems. When it comes to Linux, I started with Ubuntu (although my beginnings were on the Atari 800XL, Amiga 500, and Amiga 1200).
I’ve been using these systems a bit. What do I want to say? I met a friend of mine and we’re talking about computers. I said I use Fedora (version 27 at the time), and my friend says he uses MintLinux. He tried Fedora but was put off by it because it was difficult to learn, and he didn’t like it, etc.
You could write about it in Magazines, create a section for beginner Fesor users.
Gnome appears to be a bare-bones system compared to, for example, KDE.
Describe how the system is updated, e.g., installing a basic development environment. Doesn’t everyone have to program from scratch? But compiling the source code, etc. is possible.
Hmm, I think this one is a bit to vague to accommodate. On one end of the spectrum, there isn’t enough content to make an article. You just click the Firefox icon and type stuff into the search bar. Voilà! You are “using Linux”.
Then there is the other end of the spectrum where you aren’t really a Linux user unless you create and manage snapshots of your Btrfs subvolumes, write your own systemd service units to automate random things, etc. Of course, documenting all that in a single Fedora Magazine article would be too much.
P.S. I suspect what your friend was really put off by was that Fedora is pretty strict about only shipping FOSS software by default. If what you are really asking is for another article about how to install third-party non-FOSS software (particularly the media codecs), there are already many online articles about how to do that. I don’t think adding another will help.
I haven’t seen my friend in a while. I don’t know if he still uses MintLinux or has switched back to Windows. I, for example, like to search for information and use trial and error to figure out what’s bothering me, but there are people who, when switching to Linux, have no experience in solving the annoying problems arising from using Linux on their own.
I’m veering slightly off the original topic here but it might be an idea to have sort of a beginner’s guide to basic terminal functions, more for people who are new to linux generally than to fedora specifically. We’ve had a few tips and tricks articles recently about particular commands but we could have one with all of the most common uses plus things like dnf and scheduling. Though I suppose the main issues with that are that it’s pretty much been done to death, and I don’t think it’s very common for a first time linux user to pick fedora as their first distro.
Still it couldn’t hurt to have a reasonably comprehensive terminal guide, even if it’s just for reference, and it might make the switch from another system seem a bit less intimidating for some users.
This is a very good idea, for new Fedora users it is an introduction to its system and for old users it is an additional refresher, no one is omniscient about everything that is in the system
For years now, we have a nice printed(!) “Fedora Workstation – A Beginner’s Guide” of 30 pages, last updated 2018. But, I think, it is in large part still up-to-date or easy to update. In any case, we were being distributing it again this year at our booths at various events.
Maybe it would be a good idea to make it online available, too.
@pboy If the PDF download version becomes a fact, I believe it would be worth a short article in the Fedora Magazine letting folks know about the availability. This could be used to invite new users.
Reading about your idea, I had the idea to publish a survey about the use of Fedora. For example, I use our system… media, internet, hobby… emulation of old computers (I’m not a programmer, but I will do some compilation of the ready source, some write what needs to be done). I’m sure most Fedora users are professionals, sorry if this is off-topic.
Have a look. You could help us a lot, if you provide feedback about what you find good, what you are missing, probably what additional information you propose.
@rlengland I got the original sources and made it available as epub, see my other reply. To make an updated version would be part of the new Fedora Docs Community Initiative, which was recently approved by council. We would like to publish an article about the initiative in Fedora Magazine. And part of the initiative is also a user questionnaire. But the details are not yet determinded.
The Magazine editors would be glad to publish an article about the Initiative. Drop a new “Pitch” here with a quick description/outline Fedora Magazine - Fedora Discussion and we’ll open a tracking ticket for it.
Yes, we’ll do. But we have first to set up our infrastructure and a detailed working plan, so we can provide a link in a Fedora Magazine article where to find information updates, a contact for interested Fedorians etc. So we need about 3 weeks.
There was an article a few days ago about tips and tricks, I think it was for the man command. In terms of the beginner guide I was thinking along the lines of an intro to terminal functions for people switching over with minimal exposure to anything other than GUI but there are a number of those floating around already so I’m not sure how helpful another guide would be
I think that the terminal environment allows the user to have more control over the system maintenance and you know what is happening in the system (for example, when the installation fails and you have to look for solutions), and for example, working with the GUI is nice and pleasant, big brother , does the work for you.
Thank you