Being somekind of a geek myself (I was already busy with microprocessors when I was 14, now I am 37), I never had problems with any kind of computer. I even dropped MS as far as 1991, worked still with DOS for a time, then switched to OS/2, until in 1998 I switched to Linux.
I have always appreciated stability, that was for me the main reason never to use any MS product or MS based software.
However, in 2000 I got the chance to teach Linux on a freelance base. I wrote the course myself and it was appreciated. This being the first time for the institute I did the job for, in the beginning we had mostly problems with hardware and infrastructure.
Last year, we gave an advanced course, and I had also the pleasure to give a tailored course to people from a local computer company, ranging in experience from simple helpdesk people to system engineers.
In the course of this training, which was highly condensed (three days in a week two sessions of three hours, for four or five weeks), something that had bothered me a long time, became apparent to me. I know Linux so good, that when I have problems, I know where to look at on the command line to solve the problem.
Fat luck for someone who does not know the command line, but I have to give a good course, something from which those people learn.
So, after the summer I changed my course to make it possible to learn people about Linux concepts, starting from what they know about Windows, and only giving them the command line, when they have explored those concepts thoroughly by means of the GUI (for the moment GNOME/Red Hat 9).
With the GUI and Nautilus/Konqueror I can show people where files are located, how the directory structure is, what the administrative attributes are. With other graphical programs I can show them how to install software (rpm), manage users and groups, search for files and create archives.
Through the menu I can show people how to create a text file, using a simple graphical editor, save it and edit it.
I have given it twice yet, and it seems to go well. In both courses I got the same question. When we installed the system, we chose Dutch as our language. The question was : why do not all the programs have consistent translations? There are still a lot of programs which have only partial translations. I am only talking about graphical programs here.
This part of the course takes about 9 hours. Today, I will start with the command line. In this case, not because I deem it necessary for the end user, but because these people are not end users. They are computer technicians and programmers, people who must support end users themselves.
It could be that this year we will be giving OO/SO for end users, and that we will deploy the course on Linux.
Even at home, I tend to go more for a graphical interface nowadays, because my wife has to use Linux too. So it is necessary that I can show her where and how to find things she needs.
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You are right Robin!
Posted by: defurnej on January 05, 2004 05:51 PMI have always appreciated stability, that was for me the main reason never to use any MS product or MS based software.
However, in 2000 I got the chance to teach Linux on a freelance base. I wrote the course myself and it was appreciated. This being the first time for the institute I did the job for, in the beginning we had mostly problems with hardware and infrastructure.
Last year, we gave an advanced course, and I had also the pleasure to give a tailored course to people from a local computer company, ranging in experience from simple helpdesk people to system engineers.
In the course of this training, which was highly condensed (three days in a week two sessions of three hours, for four or five weeks), something that had bothered me a long time, became apparent to me. I know Linux so good, that when I have problems, I know where to look at on the command line to solve the problem.
Fat luck for someone who does not know the command line, but I have to give a good course, something from which those people learn.
So, after the summer I changed my course to make it possible to learn people about Linux concepts, starting from what they know about Windows, and only giving them the command line, when they have explored those concepts thoroughly by means of the
GUI (for the moment GNOME/Red Hat 9).
With the GUI and Nautilus/Konqueror I can show people where files are located, how the directory structure is, what the administrative attributes are. With other graphical programs I can show them how to install software (rpm), manage users and groups, search for files and create archives.
Through the menu I can show people how to create a text file, using a simple graphical editor, save it and edit it.
I have given it twice yet, and it seems to go well. In both courses I got the same question. When we installed the system, we chose Dutch as our language. The question was : why do not all the programs have consistent translations? There are still a lot of programs which have only partial translations. I am only talking about graphical programs here.
This part of the course takes about 9 hours. Today, I will start with the command line. In this case, not because I deem it necessary for the end user, but because these people are not end users. They are computer technicians and programmers, people who must support end users themselves.
It could be that this year we will be giving OO/SO for end users, and that we will deploy the course on Linux.
Even at home, I tend to go more for a graphical interface nowadays, because my wife has to use Linux too. So it is necessary that I can show her where and how to find things she needs.
Regards, and best wishes for the new year,
Jurgen
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