MX for Beginners.

[turtlebay777]

Thanks. I'm not complaining, I find MX very easy to use after Mint and LMDE, although the names are still somewhat confusing. Personally I find Clementine to be a real pain in the backside, quite often starting up when I don't want it to, also the way items in the menus select themselves.

[uncle mark]

2. Uncle Mark wrote about converting machines and telling new users the essentials. Great!. Fred does not have such assistance, nor a machine already loaded with MX. He is at the bottom of the ladder and unsure about taking the first step, and he may not know where to go for help.

Anyone who has heard of Linux and has gotten to the point of being able to download the ISO and create a bootable disk or USB has to have a modicum of computer knowledge. For the people who are able to get to that point, I'm of the opinion that MX (along with the *buntus and Mints and others) have done a good job of making a basic installation pretty darn straightforward. If nothing else, just take the defaults and fill in the blanks. That's hard to foul up. If they can't manage that, they have no business even attempting the install. They can contact their local LUG or reach out on social media or whatever to get someone to do it for them. There's a point of diminishing returns involved in having our devs work on covering for these cases when they could be working on development of MX itself.

JMO. YMMV.

[Artim]

I'm very glad that this is so much different from Windows! I really don't want an OS that "looks like" or "behaves like" the one I just ditched! Most of the questions I have had I didn't even have to come here and ask. Most everything I needed to know is in the User's Manual.

When I have asked for help, the answer is always here. If I've overlooked something obvious, or just didn't process the information, wonderful patient people here chime in within just a few minutes or hours.

This ain't Windows and I'm glad! It doesn't look or behave like it - which is delightful to this newbie.

[Gordon Cooper]

Yeah....Whisker Menu is itself the default "Start Button" in MX, since Debian just defaults to the standard XFCE menu. Does the manual have a glossary for complete newcomers that defines these things?

The Whisker Menu is mentioned several times in the Manual, including a line that defines Whisker as the Start Menu,and several videos .
It is not described in Section 8, The Glossary

[Eadwine Rose]

2. Uncle Mark wrote about converting machines and telling new users the essentials. Great!. Fred does not have such assistance, nor a machine already loaded with MX. He is at the bottom of the ladder and unsure about taking the first step, and he may not know where to go for help.

Anyone who has heard of Linux and has gotten to the point of being able to download the ISO and create a bootable disk or USB has to have a modicum of computer knowledge. For the people who are able to get to that point, I'm of the opinion that MX (along with the *buntus and Mints and others) have done a good job of making a basic installation pretty darn straightforward. If nothing else, just take the defaults and fill in the blanks. That's hard to foul up. If they can't manage that, they have no business even attempting the install. They can contact their local LUG or reach out on social media or whatever to get someone to do it for them. There's a point of diminishing returns involved in having our devs work on covering for these cases when they could be working on development of MX itself.

JMO. YMMV.

I agree with this completely.

[linwinux]

Sorry, I totally disagree! We're living in an age where everyone expects to have a computer or something similar in tablet or smartphone form. MX, Mint, Ubuntu, and many other distros are already essentially finished. It doesn't take sooooooo much development plus developers to keep things going nicely. It's high time to do something that 99% of all developers have been refusing to entertain for many years ... by helping those who have no social media, or buds with computer skills, or family with computer skills, or simple uneducated people with no computer skills, or poor people who can't hardly afford an old used computer with something decent running on it. Developers like to ignore the fact that many people don't have a computer ... just because they're simply lacking the means.
And IMO, anyone who believes that the OS installation "is as simple" as point 'n' click usage after the Install, is just being silly.
Anyone, even a young child can point 'n' click in a computer, I built our Son his first computer when he was 5 years old.
But not anyone, can perform the Installation which does require at least a little bit of *TECHNICAL* understanding.
PEACE

[asqwerth]

MX Linux was made by the Mepis/antiX/MX community for the community.

As a community member who feels strongly about this issue, perhaps you could submit some proposed drafts of shortened/simplified explanations that you believe people who want to install/run MX would be willing to read.

[Artim]

You don't have to download, write, and install to get the user manual! You can get it right here! Or if you get far enough to be using the Live USB, you can read it there. Maybe a "Read This First" kinda thing, emphasized on the download page would be good.

[Gaer Boy]

Sorry, I totally disagree! We're living in an age where everyone expects to have a computer or something similar in tablet or smartphone form. MX, Mint, Ubuntu, and many other distros are already essentially finished. It doesn't take sooooooo much development plus developers to keep things going nicely. It's high time to do something that 99% of all developers have been refusing to entertain for many years ... by helping those who have no social media, or buds with computer skills, or family with computer skills, or simple uneducated people with no computer skills, or poor people who can't hardly afford an old used computer with something decent running on it.

I'm a humble member of the dev team - I'm not a developer, just a tester. I think you have this completely wrong. The small handful of serious developers (ie coders) for MX Linux are very busy keeping up with upstream changes, improving applications and MX Tools and working ahead for the next release. That is their function, not supporting new users. The clue is in the job title - Developer!

We are very fortunate with MX Linux that most of the developers are very active on the Forum and respond quickly and generously to the most basic questions, many of which have been covered already. They are also willing to spend a lot of time resolving more complex problems for individual users who may have unusual hardware. It would be counter-productive for them to spend time devising support materials for new users. That's a job for others and we don't have enough volunteers for the role. As askwerth says, feel free to assist.

Phil

[chrispop99]

Sorry, I totally disagree! We're living in an age where everyone expects to have a computer or something similar in tablet or smartphone form. MX, Mint, Ubuntu, and many other distros are already essentially finished. It doesn't take sooooooo much development plus developers to keep things going nicely. It's high time to do something that 99% of all developers have been refusing to entertain for many years ... by helping those who have no social media, or buds with computer skills, or family with computer skills, or simple uneducated people with no computer skills, or poor people who can't hardly afford an old used computer with something decent running on it.

I'm a humble member of the dev team - I'm not a developer, just a tester. I think you have this completely wrong. The small handful of serious developers (ie coders) for MX Linux are very busy keeping up with upstream changes, improving applications and MX Tools and working ahead for the next release. That is their function, not supporting new users. The clue is in the job title - Developer!

We are very fortunate with MX Linux that most of the developers are very active on the Forum and respond quickly and generously to the most basic questions, many of which have been covered already. They are also willing to spend a lot of time resolving more complex problems for individual users who may have unusual hardware. It would be counter-productive for them to spend time devising support materials for new users. That's a job for others and we don't have enough volunteers for the role. As askwerth says, feel free to assist.

Phil

Well said!

Chris