Business Desktop Linux Skills Survey
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| dcparris Apr 18, 2007 9:01 AM EDT |
A local educational institution is considering offering desktop Linux classes. What desktop skills do you see as most important for end users? Even if you have not migrated to Linux, which skills do you want your workforce to have? Which ones are specific to KDE or GNOME or XFce? To get things started, I have put together a shortlist of my own. My list moves from general UI navigation to specific productivity apps: navigate the UI customize the UI (to what extent would you allow users to customize their desktops? Themes & widgets? wallpaper only?) configure and navigate virtual desktops Use a filebrowser to navigate the filesystem (how much of the filesystem do end-users need to know?) Connect to remote fileshares via the file browser (depends on UI) Configure local and remote printers (this may not be allowed in some cases) Use office productivity applications (OpenOffice.org, web browser, PIM/E-Mail client, other apps related to job) Modify the cell formatting in a spreadsheet (real example from a local non-profit) What else might you expect? Feel free to be more detailed/specific! |
| bigg Apr 18, 2007 9:32 AM EDT |
I'm not seeing on your list: Installing software, adding repositories, etc. Root user vs. everyone else - what requires root privileges and why it is more secure that way (I get asked why I'm always typing my password) How to open a zip file received in an email, or some other archive format How to find other hard drives, such as Windows, and pull files from them Where to find help - they're not used to having good support available if they currently use Windows I don't know the users you have in mind but these are some possibilities. |
| Bob_Robertson Apr 18, 2007 9:33 AM EDT |
How to find files in your directory, good practices for naming and organizing directories. Saving and finding files in various applications. Attaching outgoing documents and saving attachments with email. The meaning and use of To:, Cc: and Bcc: in email, and why your friends and coworkers will really love you for using them correctly. Basic spreadsheet, basic document formatting. But really, once you've learned a spreadsheet program any spreadsheet program is going to be easier to get up to speed with. I'm not worried about specific applications as much as I would like to see a general use of a broad range of applications, just as DC mentions with "productivity" above. A little bit of many different things. The one really "Linux" specific thing in all this is your home directory. Without knowing what it is and why it's _yours_, people will feel lost. That was one of the most profound differences that I found moving from a single-user system to a "Unix" style system. |
| jdixon Apr 18, 2007 9:38 AM EDT |
File permissions. What they are by default, what you want them to be, and why. |
| jimf Apr 18, 2007 9:54 AM EDT |
Something on local databases. that's certainly something that a desktop user in Windows might have. |
| theboomboomcars Apr 18, 2007 10:08 AM EDT |
Basic CLI stuff would be good as well. I have found that when trying to help someone with the command line, being there the first time is always better that trying to do it over the phone or email. Basic stuff like: cd ls locate grep? lspci? dmesg? etc |
| uknewbie Apr 18, 2007 10:54 AM EDT |
You missed the most important and basic one man This one deserves special mention particularly as it gives access to documentation without Internet connection. Very useful if you get dropped to the command line after a power cut, or if your wireless connection fails and you cant quite remember how you got it working last time or if...... |
| dcparris Apr 18, 2007 10:59 AM EDT |
As for the CLI stuff, how important is that to desktop users? Is lspci important to a desktop user with a sysadmin who maintains the various PC's? grep and the others might be useful. |
| bigg Apr 18, 2007 11:12 AM EDT |
Along the lines of jdixon's comment, it is useful to show how to access files outside your home directory. For instance, if I want to paste a file into /usr, I would become root and run nautilus in Debian. Although a bit annoying to Windows users, they are usually more open if you explain the reasons it is that way. > As for the CLI stuff, how important is that to desktop users? Edit: I posted accidentally. Whatever you do, people will think about DOS and be scared. The CLI may not be very helpful and might even scare them off, especially if they are grandmothers. |
| theboomboomcars Apr 18, 2007 11:13 AM EDT |
Quoting:Is lspci important to a desktop user with a sysadmin who maintains the various PC's? That's why I put the question marks. I am unfamiliar with the business requirements, as I am still a student. Just putting what I have been asked for when looking for help, I what I tell people when the ask me. But definitely if they have a sysadmin, lspci is unnecessary. |
| jimf Apr 18, 2007 11:13 AM EDT |
> As for the CLI stuff, how important is that to desktop users? For a company based desktop? Probably not at all. As far as search, they'll probably be using a gui. I think you have to assume that CLI stuff, and advanced system is probably another thing altogether. |
| jdixon Apr 18, 2007 11:26 AM EDT |
> Probably not at all. Agreed. The CLI is beyond intro level. The only reason file permissions are important is so they won't accidentally share files they don't want to. They can be covered while you covering the file manager of choice. The only cli commands I'd think you would want to cover involve restarting or switching back to the GUI if they close it or switch to a console unwittingly. |
| cr Apr 18, 2007 12:01 PM EDT |
To the This Is Your Home Directory topic, I would add: - keeping everything out of that home directory if it can be kept out, and why. (That's the place for dotfiles and process-specific stuff and you don't want a namespace collision with the ones that aren't dotted) - get used to a deep tree, and build it yourself your way. (WinDOS users are used to a shallow path, which makes deep trees impractical and/or troublesome, especially given the typical 80-column limit on character-mode windows. The Linux path-space allows how many characters?) If your subtree is organized the way that you think, you'll find things quickly where you put them. - setting permissions on your hometree to get things done. (Discuss Apache's need for 'x' in order to display your public_html as /~user/, compared with getting privacy in more private branches with chmod 700. Does the machine have Apache? You might end up using a wiki to keep/share loose notes, then.) Gloss over 'groups' for now (many distros give each user a personal group), but stress user-vs-world on permissions, and portray 'world' as full of badguys as well as goodguys in setting permissions for what they're allowed to do with your stuff; that'll make the most sense. Some of this comes from my teaching my kids to be owners of Linux machines. --cr |
| cr Apr 18, 2007 2:17 PM EDT |
I would add one more point to the Home Directory topic if the machine has Apache on it. Anything you download onto that machine, unless it's confidential stuff, you should download to one particular place off your public_html. Not public_html itself, as that's probably going to accumulate homepage and LAMP stuff, but a directory off of it, one without an index.html file so Apache will show the current directory's contents. In my house, that's /home/user/public_html/grab/, which anybody on the LAN can browse at /~user/grab/. Once a tarball or file is downloaded to there, anybody else on the LAN who needs it can get to it, which means they can access it at LAN speeds even if the Net connection's down or the original source went away or was Slashdotted. Once Firefox is set up to download everything to that place, it's all automatic. This has the additional benefit of keeping downloads out of the user's home-directory and off their Desktop, saving the admin from having to deal with "Now that I've downloaded it, where is it?" and "How do I get rid of all these folders on my desktop?" as well as "It said 'joerc exists, replace' and I said yes. Now my editor forgot all my macros. Was that wrong?" --cr |
| jimf Apr 18, 2007 2:24 PM EDT |
@cr By the time a new user gets to Apache, he darn well better be talking to people in the forums and IRC. Way past a basic desktop, IMO that's nowhere near a new user topic. Advanced or simi-advanced is more like it. Actually, Apache and web development could be a course in it's self. |
| dcparris Apr 18, 2007 2:41 PM EDT |
We are talking about business desktop users - accounting, marketing, HR and other departmental staff users - not software developer users. I just don't see your average administrative assistant in marketing needing LAMP packages. Pre-configuring firefox is not a bad idea, but it sounds like we need to teach users how to configure where Firefox downloads stuff. I always create /downloads in my home dir. |
| Sander_Marechal Apr 18, 2007 2:55 PM EDT |
> Once Firefox is set up to download everything to that place, it's all automatic. Hmm.. the first thing I change on any FireFox I lay my paws on is setting "ask for each download" for the download location. Wait, that's the second thing. The first thing would be "focus on newly opened tab". |
| dcparris Apr 18, 2007 4:13 PM EDT |
Actually, all of this falls under knowing how to use/configure a web browser (firefox, konq, etc.). |
| cr Apr 18, 2007 4:42 PM EDT |
By the time a new user gets to Apache, he darn well better be talking to people in the forums and IRC. Way past a basic desktop, IMO that's nowhere near a new user topic. Advanced or simi-advanced is more like it. Agreed, insofar as working on Apache or its configuration. In an work-oriented setting, he should be taking his questions to the admins, because they're probably responsible for the machine's setup in the first place. Working within the default config, though, is beginnerish up to the points mentioned above, in my experience. My teenage kids have yet to do anything to the Apache-startup pages (because Firefox doesn't have Composer, or at least that's the excuse), but they know to look for things in /grab, and copy things there to share them across. Sometimes they even remember the configure-make-make_install shuffle and the tar -zxvf [mousepaste] invocation which precedes it. I'm still working on them to keep crap out of /home/user :) |
| jimf Apr 18, 2007 6:41 PM EDT |
Well, a word here about what business expects from the 'average' user. The home Linux user can and usually does rise to the level of his or her competence. Nearly every business I've worked with would prefer that the user know enough to do his specific job and not much more unless you're in Engineering or IT. Heck, cr's kid's probably know more than that right now. |
| number6x Apr 19, 2007 8:10 AM EDT |
1) Searching forums for help.
2) Backup and restore of Data.
3) Backup and restore of System. 1) Learn how to navigate the forum or wiki for the distribution used in class. Other distros may be different, but similar. Discuss posting protocols. Politeness is key. Add information like version and hardware info. Give examples of where to find hardware info like lspci, or show how to find it from the distro used in class (ie kde control center or what ever). Use only one distro in class or the time will be spent learning the differences instead of the basics. Do teach people that after they become comfortable with one distro, they may want to explore other distros. You don't have to teach about multiple installs, but they will know how to search the forums for help. Afer discussing, set up a real world example "My access point id set up with WEP (or WPA), how do I connect with distro X?" Of course you should walk through it all your self before showing them, to make sure the answer can be found and the instructions can be followed. Teach them about LUGS and the LUG mailing list. Try to help them understand they are not alone, and there are many resources for them to turn to to solve their issues. 2) and 3) speak for themselves. Give them simple step by step instructions. Give them one way to do it. Tell them there are many ways, but this way (whatever you teach them) is sure fire. Tell them after they learn more they may choose a different method than you taught them and that is perfectly fine. Let them know that in a few years some of them may know more than you do about Linux. As an aside I usually give people a little talk about how they will have to re-learn some things about their computers. Most of them "know" what a 'C-Drive' is or what an 'A-drive' is, but they didn't always know. These terms and many others are arbitrary made up names for your hard drive or your floppy. Linux has its own set of arbitrary made up names for things. Linux uses the names Unix used for years before Windows was around. Tell them you understand that it might be frustrating to have to relearn some of the basic stuff, but they will learn it the way they did with windows, by using the computer to do stuff. When they first learned to drive a car they were stiff and uncomfortable. It was hard to concentrate on maintaining speed and controlling the car. "You want me to take my hand off the wheel and change the radio station? No way!". But after a few weeks of driving, things become learned. You 'feel' the speed of the car from the vibration and noise, and don't have to look at the speedometer. You learn the location of buttons and knobs and don't have to take your eyes off the road to adjust the heat or the radio. A few weeks or months with Linux, and almost everything will be second nature. Tell them they are all intelligent and bright people. They will learn. |
| DarrenR114 Apr 19, 2007 10:38 AM EDT |
This is a mouse. This is a keyboard. This is a monitor. This is an MS-Windows CD - see how well it goes through the shredder? And now we'll do the same to the Anti-virus CD. |
| jezuch Apr 19, 2007 12:23 PM EDT |
Windows CD? "If you play a Windows CD backwards, it plays satanic music... Even worse, when you play a Windows CD forwards, it installs windows." |
| dcparris Apr 19, 2007 12:50 PM EDT |
If I ever stop laughing long enough to bar you from the forums.... /back to laughter |
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