I did it!

[Debbie Deutsch]

Paul W. Frields wrote:
> On Sat, 2006-04-22 at 00:11 -0400, Debbie Deutsch wrote:
>> Paul W. Frields wrote:
> 
> If you want to see it, make it so! :-)  The Wiki is a perfect place to
> start drafting this -- it requires no DocBook or CVS knowledge, just an
> account & CLA signup.  Until Edward has a draft of his work available,
> you can still use this page for guidance on how to do that:

The good news is I already have wiki access.  The bad news is how much
time I do (not) have available for this.  :-(
> 
> 
>> The other thing my experience tells me is that a system planning guide
>> might attempt to advise the novice on some other basic topics:
>>
>> - which release to use.  Someone who wants the most stable system with
>> fewest updates today should probably use FC4, not FC5.
> 
> Hmm, that depends on what you mean by "fewest updates today."  If you
> install FC4 today and then perform a system update, you'll be waiting
> for (IIRC) many hundreds of megabytes of updates to download before
> you're patched through the present.  On top of that issue, FC4 is at
> least 6 months closer to being handed off to Fedora Legacy, and after
> that, EOL.

To clarify, yes, someone who installed FC4 today would get a large
number of updates.  However once they were installed there would be
relatively few, while users of FC5 would be expected to run into more
bugs and get more updates on a daily basis.

> 
> Since Fedora's purpose is not just to hand out free software, but to
> also advance its cause, in most cases, it's a good idea for new people
> to install the latest and greatest.  That's the distribution getting the
> most attention for bug fixes, it will last the longest from the day they
> install it, and their using it (and getting involved in reporting
> problems) is probably more helpful from the developers' standpoint.
> 

I must respectfully disagree here.  What is best for Fedora depends on
the user.  Certainly, an experienced user should be using the newest
release unless they are trying to do something critical and do not feel
they can afford to be patient while potential bugs were addressed.  On
the other hand, someone who is very new to Linux is not going to be very
skilled at troubleshooting or even describing Linux problems.  So, the
value of the feedback that such a person can offer to the project will
generally be less than normal.  Maybe even more important, a novice
Linux user may be frightened away if he runs into too many bumps in the
road.  In the long term, the project may be best served if we have more
people using the "old" release as their first release.  Then, with that
experience under their belts, they can join the mainstream when the next
new release comes out.  Bottom line is we would probably have more
people testing the *next* new release.

> 
>> - what configurations are the easiest for a beginner.  We all would like
>> to say that FC is easy to install right out of the box.  It certainly is
>> for some configurations.  However some features and drivers are more or
>> less baked than others.  For a novice I would recommend no RAID, 32-bit,
>> no nVidia drivers.  There's probably a lot more that can be said on this
>> subject.
> 
> As a side note, we wouldn't include anything about nVidia or ATI
> closed-source 3D drivers anyway.

We might mention that some vendors have not yet joined the open source
movement and their drivers are not included with FC because they are
proprietary.  People should know what to expect.  It may even help them
choose their hardware accordingly. :-)

> 
>> - troubleshooting basics.  How to get into linux rescue mode using your
>> boot disk, and what you can do there.  Some more common problems, their
>> symptoms, and how to confirm if that's what has happened to you.  Where
>> to look for more help if you need it.
> 
> I would say this is better kept in either the Installation Guide or
> elsewhere.  Keeping a tight focus for a doc like this is vital; the
> organizing principle of the System Planning Guide is not as a procedural
> for installations (that's what the Installation Guide does), but rather
> a concepts primer for newcomers.  It introduces terms and gets people
> thinking about what their requirements are for their Fedora system.  The
> minute they lay hands on the keyboard/mouse, that's where the
> Installation Guide and other materials step in.

I see your point!

Cheers,

Debbie