What about post-installfest support?

[Walter Dnes]

  So a Windows user comes to our installfest, and gets some version of
linux going.  What do they do when they run into a problem?  Can we
offer some sort of support?  Maybe not house-calls, but perhaps a combo
of a new-user support list and limited phone support for new-users who
suddenly find they can't get online.  The worst PR for linux is people
who've tried linux, and given up because of "trvial" problems *THAT THEY
COULD NOT SOLVE*.

  The reason I mention a new-user mailing list is that this one is too
general.  And screaming  R-T-F-M  at newbies is *NOT* the way to go.
After using linux a few years, I feel that  F T F M  (*FIND* The F,,,,,,
Manual) is often the hardest part.  Things like...

  - how do you *ADD* a user to a group without removing him from all
    other groups.  In Gentoo linux, the answer id "gpasswd".

  - PCI modems will *NOT* work under Gentoo as ttyS0..ttyS3.  They start
    at ttyS4.  In order for that to work, you must enable support for at
    least 5 modem slots ("serial ports") in the kernel.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org>
An infinite number of monkeys pounding away on keyboards will
eventually produce a report showing that Windows is more secure,
and has a lower TCO, than linux.
--
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