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Absolute Beginners
I will explain more later but the link above goes to a BETA page on the wiki, where it is intended to simplify, using user created tools, primarily the tweaking of Easy Mode. There are instructions for most of the following:
1. Set up a WiFi Internet Connection using the Network Icon
2. Backup simpleui.rc
3. Update Default Software, like Skype etc using Install/Remove tool
4. Download and install the user created tools
SublimePorte’s tools
Coyotee’s AsusLauncher Advanced Editor (EmEditor)
marf's Tweakeee
derred's pimpmyeee.sh
5. Make Konsole the default console using Tweakeee
6. Add repositories using pimpmyeee.sh
7. Enable all codec support using pimpmyeee.sh
8. Disable the popup on booting if you leave in your SD card
9. Remove SOS, Eee PC Tips, SCIM etc using Tweakeee or pimpmyeee.sh
10. Install new themes for Easy Mode using Tweakee or Theeemer or pimpmyeee.sh
11. Add Dictionaries to Thunderbird/ooWriter*
12. Install VLC
13. 2G Users – Install Thunderbird
14. Changing what happens when you close the lid*
15. Enable Advanced Mode using pimpmyeee.sh
16. Backup your Eee PC
* Not done yet
Last edited by Niel1952 (2008-02-28 9:03:37 am)
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[RESERVED - Just in case]
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Niel, I'd suggest splitting adding dictionaries to Thunderbird and ooWriter into separate sections. AFAIK, the procedures have if anything in common. Also, I'd just point 14. to existing article(s) in the wiki, maybe making sure those are beginner-friendly.
I may come up with more suggestions, but I only had a cursory look at the above list, and haven't opened the wiki page at all. 
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@ mrmot
Don't just make suggestions: Feel free to edit the Wiki!
If you do look at the wiki you will see that, in general, the topics do get shorter and point more to other articles. This is partly because I was getting tired but also because I think it is part of the learning process.
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I havent had a chance to look at the absolute beginners beta yet but from an absolute beginner (me) I can tell you where the regular wiki falls short (ie confusing). I hope the following helps you in making your Absolute Beginners Wiki. (I apologize in advance if you implemented any of these suggestions already)
The original wiki needs:
-clear explanations for the items that it talks about. (e.g. youll see it tell you to download something with a file name but not tell you what that something is.)
-Less nested links. (when I was reading through tutorials and most of them tell you something, then send you to a link, then tell you something, and send you to a link. All of this link jumping doesnt help the original idea of what your trying to do stick)
-structured solutions. Some solutions have two or three or more ways of doing something. Its sometimes hard to tell when one solution ends and another begins since they are all grouped together (the section talkinb about how to get to advanced desktop for example.)
-More explanations for keywords. For example when it tells you to type something like sudo -i, maybe in parenthesis say what sudo -i means.
These were just some of the frustrations I ran across while reading the current wiki.
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@Chrono1081
Thanks for your comments. My philosophy with this was slightly different. It was to set out in simple terms one method of achieving something, rather than alternatives and, where possible using GUI or menu based tools while at the same time leading people down the path of the command line. The one GUI tool I don't think I have mentioned is Synaptic, not because I don't consider it useful. It is just that most of the initial things that the general wiki uses Synaptic for is achieved by the other tools.
You will also find that I do not explain keywords much, I encourage others who believe they should be explained to create hyperlinks to such explanations rather than expanding an already quite long wiki article.
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Ok I got a chance to read through the beta and as a beginner I really like it. Its setup very nice and it was pretty easy to tell what steps were optional and what steps would be a good idea to do. Everything was very easy to follow and there werent a million links on the page to click and take you elsewhere. I also liked how you set the shortcuts up after everything so that people new to linux would remember them. Keep up the great work! 
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Thanks. I'm pleased you like it.
I have been going through wiki pages, teying to make them more understandable, largely by changing formatting and adding highlights. This morning I took on the wiki front page and tried to change it to a more structured and properly indexed page which I hope will make it easier to use.
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Niel1952 wrote:
@ mrmot
Don't just make suggestions: Feel free to edit the Wiki!
If you do look at the wiki you will see that, in general, the topics do get shorter and point more to other articles. This is partly because I was getting tired but also because I think it is part of the learning process.
Oh, I will, given time. Some would argue I have too much right now, but I'm actually working hard on reversing that. Which gives me less time to edit the wiki. 
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Thanks to mrmot's valuable contribution and some blatant plagiarism by me from another part of the wiki (started by mike but apparently based on an idea of Jon Bradbury in the forums) I have pretty nearly finished with what I originally set out to do with this wiki article.
A few people have indicated that they have found it helpful and I am hoping that, as more people use it, some of the problems which arise when people start tweaking their systems will reduce in number.
I don't think any more items should be created and to this end I have therefore added (irony?) a What next? section where I suggest that only links to other parts of this website be placed.
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It is a difficult issue. Obviously I think it is very valuable but I am not sure that everybody else thinks the same way about it. If I had my way, I would sticky this thread and put the article very high in the wiki but I am too self-effacing to do it myself
Then we just need to get everybody signing up to read the stickies and the wiki....
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Niel1952 wrote:
Then we just need to get everybody signing up to read the stickies and the wiki....
A written test before full forum membership is granted? 
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oh, wow. i like google custom search. it's so much faster/easier than the forum keyword search.
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Great!
Now that my magnum opus, the Absolute Beginners Guide, is complete, subject to feedback, my new life's work is going to be to drive people to the Google Custom Search facility 
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This is great. I have only had my 2G a couple of days & have been dipping into numerous forum threads & wikis & this new one is very helpful & well presented. I was having to decide to learn more about raw linux or try & setup xp but this gives me a good start to continue with what comes out of the box for a bit longer.
I have only just started going through in detail & just wanted to mention that in section:-
1. Wifi, item 8 - on my 2G there is no Remember Password option just the Connect automatically button. The good news is it remembers the password anyway.
I am happy to keep posting any other such details if you wish or if they are too picky I won't.
You don't happen to have an introduction to Linux do you - or any good links for the technical basics like drive structures & overview of directories & files & the like as I am well used to MS based PCs back to the original XT & DOS etc & would like to learn a bit more?
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@mitchelc
Thank you very much for that. It is very rewarding to receive positive feedback but any feedback is appreciated.
A point of the Tips area at the bottom of most of the sections is to collect issues like this, to avoid confusion when things don't happen exactly as set out in the wiki.
Please keep letting me have any comments. If you don't want to comment in public, PM or e-mail me.
I'm afraid I still know very little about Linux and have never read a book about it, so I can't make any recommendations.
Last edited by Niel1952 (2008-02-26 2:44:54 pm)
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"you need to know what the SSID and the passphrase of your WiFi router is and whether the passphrase is WEP or WPA."
Where would I find this information? On the router box? In a piece of software?
Thanks,
BB
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pekoe1111 wrote:
"you need to know what the SSID and the passphrase of your WiFi router is and whether the passphrase is WEP or WPA."
Where would I find this information? On the router box? In a piece of software?
Read your router manual. If you don't have a hard copy it is on the CD that came with the router. Normally YOU set the passphrase by going into the router's internal web config - usually somethng like: http://192.168.0.100 but that address varies between different routers.
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@pekoe1111
These are whatever the person who set the router up set them up to be.
If you can only see one connection on your eee, that is probably the one to try to connect to. If you did not set it up with a passphrase (in which case the little icon will show an unlocked lock) you should be able to connect without entering one and, clearly, in that case there is no question of the passphrase bein WEP or WPA.
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I didn't know the Easy Mode editing / configuring tools that people had been developing had gotten *so* advanced since I last used Easy mode! Nice work, everyone!
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Mr Neil 1952
I read all your good work ad help for the beginners in this post and others-i would like to suggest to you that there is another forum created-absolute beginners- so the absolute beginner can go there to be able to learn and to try and experiment and still be able to read Beginners and General Discussion andHacks and modifications and DREAM
Thank you
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pekoe1111 wrote:
"you need to know what the SSID and the passphrase of your WiFi router is and whether the passphrase is WEP or WPA."
Where would I find this information? On the router box? In a piece of software?
Thanks,
BB
If you happen to have a 2Wire router, I believe both of these bits of info should be on a sticker somewhere on your box... either way, your SSID should be in the form of "2WIRExxx" where xxx is a set of three numbers. The 2Wire boxes do have WEP enabled by default, and the passkey is the 10-digit number on the sticker on the bottom of the box in brackets, like "[0217343069]".
Other than that, most routers have passphrases disabled by default (so no passphrase, and no concern over WEP vs WPA), and the SSID is related to the router's brand name ("linksys", "netgear", "belkin", "dlink", etc).
If your router doesn't have a passphrase enabled though, and its SSID is default, I would strongly recommend you dig up its manual and find out how to enable security, so you don't have random ne'er-do-wells stopping by to "borrow" your internet connection for their own nefarious purposes
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@ ysanbelle
Thank you for your kind words. However, I think that people sometimes need to know when they have graduated from the Beginners section to the General Discussion, rather than staring more morums.
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Niel1952,
This is my first post and shows that even with the best instruction stuff happens.
I started installing the packages above however EmEditor and LaunchTools don't work and I really don't think they install.
Using the procedure above (right click then install) they appear to install. The system demands a reboot. However, in terminal /usr/bin/altools returns nothing. The command LaunchTools the same. I believe altoos is the new name for LaunchTools. Trying which (altools or LaunchTools or EmEditor, net this same problem. Yes the same thing is happening with EmEditor.
I deleted the files and again downloaded them however same results.
If I hosed something up then I have no problem with F9 and do it all again, it's just practice after all.
Thanks again for this WIKI.
John
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