I’m talking about like your mom if she started using Linux, and just needs it to be able to open a web browser and check Facebook or her email or something. A student that just needs a laptop to do homework and take notes, or someone that just wants to play games on Steam and chat on discord.

I’m working on a Windows - > Linux guide targeting people like this and I want to make sure it can be understood by just about anybody. A problem that I’ve noticed is that most guides trying to do something like this seem to operate under the assumption that the viewer already knows what Linux is and has already made up their mind about switching, or that they’re already pretty computer savvy. This guide won’t be that, I’m writing a guide and keeping my parents in mind the whole time.

Because of this there’s some things I probably won’t talk about. Do these people really need to know that it’s actually GNU+Linux? No, I don’t think so. Should I explain how to install, use and configure hyprland, or compile a custom gaming kernel? I dont think that’s really necessary. You get what I’m saying? I don’t want to over complicate this and scare people off.

That being said I also want to make sure that I’m not over simplifying by skipping on key things they should know. So what are some key concepts or things that you think even the most basic of Linux users should understand? Bonus points if you can provide a solid entry level explanation of it too.

  • SavvyWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
    53·
    2 days ago

    One thing that many guides tend to skip is how to install software. People coming from Windows might try to install software the “Windows way” by going to the website and downloading them. That is just likely to cause pain and suffering for a number of reasons.

    Instead, every beginner friendly distro has its own flavour of software centre that users should be encouraged to use instead. Maybe even include a link to flathub in the guide or something.

    • Godnroc@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      13 hours ago

      Just going to second this because I had to complain about the process being a pain here on Lemmy, which earned a lot of upvotes, before someone asked how I used the software center and I said the same as the Microsoft Store which was to say not at all. The number of downvotes told me I was way off and I needed to give it a fresh look.

    • Damage@feddit.it
      1013·
      2 days ago

      Instead, every beginner friendly distro has its own flavour of software centre

      And they generally run like dogshit, unfortunately. Bazar on Bazzite is the only one I’ve found so far that doesn’t have me run for the terminal immediately

      • Kiuyn@lemmy.ml
        3·
        1 day ago

        I think the main reason why it do not suck it because bazar is made to target flatpak, while other app center is dealing with native packages too.