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Neil Winchurst wrote: > I suggest that a newbie would have needed some help in the above > situation. (Not so long ago *I* would have needed help.) So I am > wondering, with all this talk about encouraging people to move across > to Linux (which I agree with entirely) are we ready to give plenty > of time and help to those newcomers? Because to be successful they > are going to need it. > > I would be interested to hear any comments from anyone? > > Neil Winchurst This IMHO is exactly what the LUG does best. The main problem with this is that Windows users tend to be very passive in regard to problem solving. From my time in tech support it was very much them telling me the symptom and expecting me to do *all* the work. I have no complaint about that at all - it's what I was paid for. My point though is that it was very rare for a customer to come through having tried *anything* to fix the problem. Very occasionally one would say 'I've tried X Y and Z.. any ideas?' but the vast majority wanted it done for them. I think as a LUG this would mean a huge increase in emails of 'X doesn't work' with no supporting information. Perhaps we could put a checklist on the LUG website? Something simple like 'Put the error message / program / device name into Google and see if you understand the responses', then if the person wants to ask for help, as we did in support give a list of required information ie: Distro and version program / hardware device name error message If possible / relevant output of dmesg and/or lscpi This can probably be expanded to say 'if you have a hardware problem we need *this* info, if it's software we need *this*. This would help us and them. I think with those pointers a lot more people will be able to a) help themselves, b) come to the LUG with proper questions that we are able to answer, not just 'my internet doesn't work'. Kind regards, Julian -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html