[kwlug-disc] "What Linux Distro Should I Use?"

[unsolicited]

Paul Nijjar wrote, On 05/04/2010 12:12 AM:
> Over the past few meetings I have been getting a bit of feedback from
> new KWLUGgers. They have been telling me that while the meetings have
> been interesting, the content has been way over their heads. 
> 
> That got me thinking about another question I have been running into:
> what linux distro people should start with. 
> 
> One direction this takes me is to suggest that we make an explicit
> attempt to schedule some more newbie-friendly meetings, and label them
> as such on the website. 
> 
> Another horrible direction is that I have been pondering whether to
> give a presentation on this topic. However, I don't know whether this
> is a terrible idea or just a really bad one. (Also, the next available
> KWLUG slot is November, assuming Khalid, Andrew, Brad or somebody else
> has not snapped it up already. I would present sooner if I spoke at
> Software Freedom Day or Ontario Linux Fest.) 
> 
> Recently I heard Richard give this talk in five minutes. It was pretty
> excellent. That leads me to believe that this might be a good final
> talk for the June meeting, if Richard or somebody was willing to risk
> his or her life by giving it. 
> 
> Thoughts?

Not to take away from the short intro idea ...

But isn't the issue (suppose we blanket answer new users should use 
k/ubuntu, for argument's sake), now what?

They've gotten a CD somehow, they've booted with it, followed the 
bouncing ball and got it installed. Hopefully, for their initial 
sanity's sake, to a GUI. And they log in.

Now what?

I suspect they'd bop around the menus exploring, so that's OK. They'd 
probably find a browser, and open office. Well a security updates 
warning will probably pop up too (distros are out of the date almost 
before they're pressed.) I guess we're assuming DHCP, so the network 
is probably up too.

What's next? I guess I'm really thinking about system maintenance 
tasks. Perhaps this is the lead in to the whole apt/rpm/repository 
discussion?