[Savannah-hackers] submission of GLeFAN : Gnu/Linux for Friends & Newbies - savannah.gnu.org

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George Wright <address@hidden> described the package as follows:
License: gpl
Other License: 
Package: GLeFAN : Gnu/Linux for Friends & Newbies
System name: lefan
Type: GNU

Description:
Installing Linux on a friend\'s machine

A number of people have asked about Linux, or have taken the plunge and 
installed a version of GNU/Linux. Others  want a computer, but don\'t currently 
have one, and although they might have friends *with* hardware to spare, 
neither can afford the ~300ukp extra that running a Windows computer adds to 
the TCO in the first year of ownership.
This project intends to

   1. make this process easier
   2. help create a tweakable ISO and know what you need to set up.
   3. Answer some questions that maybe you don\'t need to be a newbie to ask
   4. Examine how existing tools (Webmin, etc) could be tweaked to allow your 
friend to make sensible (rm /* as root NOT) changes to their system)

Assumptions

   1. You are nearby! Whether you leave their system in such a way as to allow 
you to ssh in and have root access, or you are physically close, this needs 
some hand-holding
   2. We want to optimise performance. This means (gasp) junking the XP-alike 
approach that RH and Mandrake take, and going for a compiled/almost compiled 
distro. RH8 on my Athlon XP2200 w/ half a gig of RAM ran like a dog. Win 98 ran 
faster. This is NOT a good introduction
   3. The above caveat aside, we are not interested in a \'proper\' UNIX 
desktopm. CDE or variants doesn\'t cut it. For the purposes of this, we are 
going to look at a) Gnome b) KDE c) XFCE d)IceWm
   4. Full Word compatability - both ways. This might be with open office [free 
beer and speech] or with the Cross Over plugin[non free both beer and speech]
   5. As point 4) above might suggest, we are less interested in the Free 
Software than we are the performance and the ease-of-use. I *know* they are 
inseparable for old-time-hackers, but look - no-one that uses Word on a day to 
day basis through choice wishes that they could hack the source code, they just 
don\'t want to have to shell out 200 quid for the \'joy\' of upgrading it, or 
lash out a grand on a new computer because their old one doesn\'t play nice 
with XP.
   6. The support of your friend. Unless you\'re going to do this without their 
consent, you need them to be a bit patient whilst they work through the 
differences that their new computer displays.

Outcome
We want to leave our friend with a free operating system that allows them to

   1. browse the Web ( Moz, Phoenix , etc)
   2. Send/ Receive email (Evo, Sylpheed, Kmail)
   3. Read/ write Word docs (open office orCross Over)
   4. Read/ rip CDs/MPs
   5. Know what to do when they want other stuff. So some sort of package 
manager (WITH A GUI) is desirable
   6. Promote free software, help people that are forced to use non-free 
software at work/ school make the case that there IS another way
   7. Promote more secure desktops, help reduce the amount of open mail relays, 
allow people to feel safer when opening attachments, and reduce the amount of 
money spent on \'upgrades\'
   8. Reduce traffic to MS KBI
   9. They end up singing Free the Software and write a version of EMacs that 
runs on less than 256 Meg RAM :)

First steps
Hardware

   1. x86 or PPC? I happen to have most of an Intel puta sitting around 
(destined for Richard) and my dad has a 450MHZ Dell Dimension s-l-o-w-ly 
running Win 98, so for the purpose of this project I\'m going to be using x86 
hardware, but am very keen to examine other options
   2. Extras? CD ROM almost essential, as is a sound card and some sort of PPP/ 
Ethernet

OS?
Well, we could wait for the HURD.....zz...zzzz...(sorry GNU people) or we could 
go *BSD but I don\'t think it has the desktop ready stuff yet.

OS X looks nice, but so do the hardware prices.

So it has to be GNU/ Linux really
Distro?

   1. Hard this one....

tbc
Benchmarks
It would be good to actually show that there is a demonstrable improvement in 
performance from using Free Software. Some examples trip off the tongue. Spam 
filtering software (like Spam Assassin) will obviously demonstrate improvement 
from day 1. Other examples are harder to find. VI is not an immediate 
improvement on homesite ;)
So how do we show a \'better\' system? TCO is one example - uptime is another. 
More work needed.

(Pronounced Le-Fan)


Other Software Required:
Will be all free software with (possible) installers for non-free software. 
Currently looking at post-install scripts for GNU/ Linux distributions (eg 
Debian, Gentoo) which autofetch/ semi-auto configure some software

Other Comments:
At the moment contact is me, George Wright (glefanATNOSPAMfiddlesticks.com)