MX for Beginners.

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Eadwine Rose
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Re: MX for Beginners

#11 Post by Eadwine Rose »

uncle mark wrote:
but these days, when someone picks up a machine from me ... they just want to take it, plug it in, and run with it. Considering these times of great Linux distros, I actually embrace that mentality because I know (and you know this too) that most of today's Linux distros are so simple to "manipulate" customize or whatever you want to call it, that "we" should have no problem creating Linux distros which the masses everywhere are happy to embrace.
I've done a number of Windows> Linux (usually Mint KDE) conversions, maybe a dozen or more. I set up the Desktop and tweak a few settings and do some cosmetic stuff and install a couple of additional programs and that's it. Mind you, I've vetted the client ahead of time, and stay away from i-people and Quicken/Quickbooks users, but of those I've set up, I haven't heard a peep out of any one of them. Not a one. I deliver the machine, set up the printer, walk them through updating, show them the browser launch buttons and office program buttons and turn them loose.
Goes to show the approach you take works :)


All I have done is hand out liveDVDs to those who have rescued their Windows systems with it. The DVD does what it needs to do, and haven't heard a complaint about it. They don't want to install Linux, and that is fine, it's cool to know they have this handy as a backup.

And me, if something acts funny, and then I have to google Windows stuff hahaha.
MX-23.2_x64 July 31 2023 * 6.1.0-18-amd64 ext4 Xfce 4.18.1 * 8core AMD Ryzen 7 2700
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Gerson
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Re: MX for Beginners

#12 Post by Gerson »

I translated it into Spanish for those who do not speak English.
MX LINUX 17: DISTRIBUCIÓN MEJORADA DE LINUX PARA PRINCIPIANTES
No todos ignoramos las mismas cosas. :confused:

clicktician
Posts: 136
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Re: MX for Beginners

#13 Post by clicktician »

I wish review authors would explore what makes MX different from the other 100 distros on Distrowatch. There's a reason it's in the top 10, and this author either doesn't know why, or he's chosen not to share that with the reader.
This could be a review about Xubuntu.

The whole idea that MX support is sub-par is a complete myth that's easily disproved by a simple experiment.
Go to Microsoft Support and post a Windows question. Post an MX question to this forum. Start your stopwatch and see how long it takes for a human to respond to each of them.
If you're lucky, an MS bot might reply with some search results that may or may not be relevant.
But even if you get referred to an MX Wiki on this forum (Jerry's pretty good about this), it's done by a human who read your question.
Son, someday all this will belong to your ex wife.

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Stevo
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Re: MX for Beginners

#14 Post by Stevo »

If we continue growing, we could always look into setting up a paid support service and having Uncle Mark man the phones. :p

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Eadwine Rose
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Re: MX for Beginners

#15 Post by Eadwine Rose »

Stevo wrote:If we continue growing, we could always look into setting up a paid support service and having Uncle Mark man the phones. :p
*slaps hands in front of mouth and nods profusely*
MX-23.2_x64 July 31 2023 * 6.1.0-18-amd64 ext4 Xfce 4.18.1 * 8core AMD Ryzen 7 2700
Asus TUF B450-Plus Gaming UEFI * Asus GTX 1050 Ti Nvidia 525.147.05 * 2x16Gb DDR4 2666 Kingston HyperX Predator
Samsung 860EVO * Samsung S24D330 & P2250 * HP Envy 5030

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uncle mark
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Re: MX for Beginners

#16 Post by uncle mark »

Stevo wrote:If we continue growing, we could always look into setting up a paid support service and having Uncle Mark man the phones. :p
I'm not allowed to talk to customers in my workplace. For good reason.
Custom build Asus/AMD/nVidia circa 2011 -- MX 19.2 KDE
Acer Aspire 5250 -- MX 21 KDE
Toshiba Satellite C55 -- MX 18.3 Xfce
Assorted Junk -- assorted Linuxes

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Gordon Cooper
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Re: MX for Beginners

#17 Post by Gordon Cooper »

Forgetting about the review from OSRadar which has been well and truly discussed (while I was asleep), a couple of comments about getting beginners started.

1. Jerry wrote about a basic popup page and its unpopularity with the Devs. This is the type of aid I was suggesting. A set of instructions that take an MX beginner, I
will call him Fred, step by step through an installation. For example, one of the first steps is making a choice on drive partitioning. If Fred has come from an MS system, it is quite likely that he has never heard of partitioning so needs guidance.

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.

3. Chris comments on help, there is a wealth of information available but Fred does not know where to look. How do we tell him? If he searches the net for Linux, he will get a heap of results, but no mention of MX.

This thread could go on for ever, with a widening range of views. I'm staying with my suggestion that we need a simple guide to help Fred with installation.
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sunrat
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Re: MX for Beginners

#18 Post by sunrat »

Installing an OS is not something that can be done naively. I think MX makes it as easy as possible but it still requires understanding a few of the most basic computer concepts. Maybe a quick start guide would be helpful but it's certain to prompt more questions until it ends up being... the MX manual! and that exists.
Stevo wrote:If we continue growing, we could always look into setting up a paid support service and having Uncle Mark man the phones. :p
I suggest we drag dasein out of retirement for that role. :p

turtlebay777
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Re: MX for Beginners

#19 Post by turtlebay777 »

chrispop99 wrote:
If you search the Whisker menu for 'file manager' it comes up as File Manager. It's described in the menu as 'Thunar File Manager'. Hovering over a panel shortcut shows 'File Manager'. I'm not sure how it could be clearer.

In the Whisker menu, each item has a reasonably clear description of its function under its name.

Compared to many of its peers, I think MX excels in trying to make things clear for all levels of user. There is certainly a lot of work put into that aspect during development.

Chris
See the trouble is, Newbies like me don't know what Whisker Menu means either. For instance, click on the Menu in a default install and find something called Whisker menu. There isn't one.

BTW I'm a fairly experienced Mint user >10 yrs.

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Stevo
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Re: MX for Beginners

#20 Post by Stevo »

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?

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