GNU/Linux for Windows Users

The Bit And Bytes Computer Club is holding a series of workshops on GNU/Linux for Windows Users. These are notes for a potential curriculum.

Goals

• To get people familiar enough with GNU/Linux to use it as their every-day operating system
• To instill a degree of self-sufficiency
  • Each participant should acquire permanent skills to perform daily tasks such as
    • Browsing the Web
    • Reading and sending e-mail
    • Creating written documents
    • Creating a greeting card
  • Each participant should have sufficient knowledge to
    • Acquire additional software
    • Recognize when something isn't working correctly
    • Know where to turn for answers
    • ...but not necessarily apply the fixes
  • Each participant should experience these skills (but it's OK if these skills are not retained beyond the course)
    • Creation of bootable media (DVD or USB)
    • Installation of GNU/Linux
    • Set up a printer
    • Configuring desktop appearance
    • Traversing the file system (/home, /var/log, /etc )
    • Use a terminal and run commands (ls, lsblk, top)
• To understand the culture of GNU/Linux, Free Software, and the community (or at least be exposed to it)

It is not a goal to understand GNU/Linux at any deeper level than "I turn on my computer and get work done". If we get into file systems, mount points, load averages and shell scripting we've gone off-track.

Challenges

For the workshop leaders

We're deeply technical geeks. We'd like nothing better than to instill that knowledge and reverence for GNU/Linux in our disciples. We live for pedantry and arcana. We don't understand people who consider computers as just another tool, and who just want to get on with it. So, keeping the workshop at a level that's both useful and interesting to the participants is the challenge for workshop leaders.

For the participants

Buying a computer with a pre-packaged operating system is easy. Converting your computer from something you know to something you-don't-even-know-if-you-want-it is difficult. Unfortunately, the most difficult parts about learning a new operating system (the installation and configuration) occur at the beginning, when people have the least familiarity with the things they're installing. While it would be convenient for the instructors to do all the preparation ahead of time, that would deprive the participants of a valuable learning experience. It's good for people to see the complexity under the hood, because they will be less likely to believe that it's their fault for not understanding GNU/Linux. Sometimes, learning a new skill seems difficult because it is difficult, and there is all the more satisfaction in mastering that skill knowing how difficult it really was.

I am willing to perform GNU/Linux pre-installations for people who 
don't want to sit through the sessions of creating  a bootable
USB key or the GNU/Linux installfest.  For $75 per computer I will
set up GNU/Linux as a dual-boot system, so that people can start
the course with Workshop 3.
BobJonkman (talk) 02:13, 8 April 2014 (EDT)

Curriculum

Workshop 1 - Portable GNU/Linux

• Use Windows to download a GNU/Linux image (LMDE Mate desktop)
• Use Windows to create a bootable USB drive with Universal USB Installer from PendriveLinux
• Enter the BIOS configuration to ensure the computer will boot from the USB drive
• Boot from the USB drive

• Break

• Familiarize with the Desktop
  • Window List
  • Notification Area
  • Configure weather display
  • Linux Mint Power Menu
• Firefox
• LibreOffice (if enough time)

Workshop 1 Presentation Notes

Workshop 2 - The Installfest

It would be good to have enough experienced GNU/Linux people on hand to help troubleshoot, as dual-booting is the most likely to cause difficulty

• Boot from USB drive
• Partitioning
  • Resize the Windows partition (only for dual-boot systems)
  • Create partitions for / (root), /home, swap
• Run the Install application
  • Perform the install for a dual-boot system

• Break

• Software Updater
• Software Manager to install new applications
  • Chromium

Workshop 2 Presentation Notes

Workshop 2 Quick Reference

Workshop 3 - LibreOffice

• LibreOffice Writer

• Break

• LibreOffice Calc

Workshop 4 - Greeting Card

I don't know what the best software is. Suggestions?
BobJonkman (talk) 02:13, 8 April 2014 (EDT)

Anything else? "Create your own Web page"? "Computer Security"? "Cryptoparty"?
BobJonkman (talk) 02:13, 8 April 2014 (EDT)

Other Resources

• Presentations made at Bits'n'Bytes