MX Linux Forum

asqwerth wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 12:55 am That is helpful but perhaps will be better within the context of an introductory slideshow that pops up the first time one logs in, and ends with the current Welcome Window.

Slideshow should be more of a "where do I go to find this?" tour, like pointing out...

This would be a good idea for both new users and people who are reviewing MX.

(OT)
If I would like to suggest some change in the manual (from beginner view point, something I still don't understand even after reading it more than once - so some other beginners may have similar problem), where could I do this, does someone have link handy?

This animated Gif is 1.6MB so I provide a link to Drive.

It highlights various MX features with relatively concise captions, to help someone new to MX and xfce to locate key features and settings.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17uIKR ... tu9GEsyyLR

Best saved locally and opened with a web browser for simple viewing.

Nothing too fancy with no transitions, with a typo or two, but I wonder if it covers enough to get a new MX user somewhat up and running?

* I have noticed the Windows Buttons button in MX Tweak too since...

tascoast wrote: Wed Sep 19, 2018 10:59 pm This animated Gif is 1.6MB so I provide a link to Drive.

It highlights various MX features with relatively concise captions, to help someone new to MX and xfce to locate key features and settings.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17uIKR ... tu9GEsyyLR

Best saved locally and opened with a web browser for simple viewing.

Nothing too fancy with no transitions, with a typo or two, but I wonder if it covers enough to get a new MX user somewhat up and running?

* I have noticed the Windows Buttons button in MX Tweak too since...

That's very nice! However I feel this jumps straight into certain tools/settings (why is MX Boot Repair the first topic?) that a newcomer might not even know how to find.

My proposal just 1 page back would have started from a user's first encounter with MX, as a sort of tour around the desktop. Parts of your tutorial will certainly slot in nicely, e.g. MX Tweak for panel and the single/double mouse click thing; Thunar - stop expanding columns, desktop background (the file manager launcher on the panel can be pointed out).

Slideshow should be more of a "where do I go to find this?" tour, like pointing out:

1. the start button to find apps, pointing out the search field
2. MX tweak in start menu (called "whisker menu") to change panel orientation (vert, horiz, top, bottom) and themes/icons
3. XFCE settings manager (point to icon at the top of the whisker menu) for various settings - explain these are general settings that come with the desktop interface that MX uses
4. MX Tools in whisker menu, which is MX's own custom tools to do many useful tasks and customisations, and that MX tweak is one of these tools, as is the....
5. MX Packageinstaller for installing software. Suggest they search first under Popular Apps tab for a list of curated apps in different categories, as installation from there is quick and for some apps will include certain necessary pre-configuration steps as well.
6. the MX Manual, for detailed information of the OS, but perhaps point to a guide [chapter zero of manual?] with a list of sections to read first, per Gordon Cooper's suggestion.
7. the browser (FF) icon on the left panel - they can use it to access the MX forum and Wiki for even more help, as well as online version of Manual
8. End with MX Welcome screen.

From there, the user would then know that they can find the MX Boot Repair in MX Tools, what the whisker menu is, etc, and the rest of your tutorial will be the next step.

I did order things in a 'first boot' fashion and can see a more general to specific style being more engaging initially.

Adding am/pm to the clock might also be good.

It isn't that hard to make an animation or rearrange things. I did once do this using full screen shots and a bit more on demonstrating Panel and menu functions, adding icons etc.

Thinking of the bigger graphic file this produces led me to adopt a more compact method this time. Elements of both styles might eventually be desirable.

Precisely how such an intro would be used is the other question, with regard to final rendering.

*Some of the content here was a guide and I did mention the search part and Manual, before the Blogger font face started getting cranky with me.
http://mxlinuxguide.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_64.html
I'll do a revision once I read through your notes and comments.

@ tascoast - using a presentation very much like the gif you made, playing during the install or just before or after the install, for example would be nice.
But, once again, most (new) users that need a slideshow/ quick start file probably won't be thinking about Grub recovery... Maybe starting with something more basic like (in no particular order):
1- how to use the menu and how to find applications (and help knowing what the main apps do)
2- clicking Firefox to get on-line (some very basic windows users don't even know that any other browsers exist for a PC, other than the ones that come pre installed on Windows...) also how to connect to a WiFi network
3- using the file explorer to access and use music and video files (referring to VLC as the default media player)
4- same for office files (warning about very good but not full compatibility with MS Office products- it's not the scope of a quick start but you can mention MS Office on-line [ I did a how to over here: https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php ... ce#p462125 ]. At least it has the exact User Interface new users are used to. Not for a Quick Start but handy for newbie users- a quick explanation somewhere on the Libreoffice MX menu about how to change the UI to the "ribbon" most new MS office people are now used to and love)
5- Once again, one of the complains people talk about on-line: software compatibility, in particular Games - show the games that come preinstalled - Solitaire is probably the most used computer game ever and a version of it comes with MX- and of course Steam and how to enable Proton for all games (that's complicated because Valve could change that any time)

Then Troubleshooting: installing drivers, helping with grub problems, how to create and use backups, help with dual boot- once again that's a though one- most people think that computers have only 2 operating systems, Windows for "PC's" and Mac OS for "Macs". And their minds would be blown by the idea that they can have multiple OS boot options...)

A bit off topic: I'm trying to recall why did I begin trying new OS other than Ms's... And apply that to new users. I believe that I grew more worried about using pirated software and began using free and legal OS's and Office suits. Most people don't worry about that because:
1.1- most desktops and laptops already come with a legal (and "Free", because it's already included on the cost people pay) Ms Windows OS, and
1.2- MS windows "new" tactic of first offering their W10 as a free upgrade and later of offering it as a kind of "Freeware"- WinRar style- people can download, install and use it for free without activating it and have basically no other problem than a polite warning on the lower right side of the screen (but still it's a non compliance of it's terms of use).
2- most people don't really care about the legality of what's on their computers.

So I guess there are only a few kinds of users a Linux OS can appeal to: (idealist) people worried about being spied by big companies like MS and Google; tech geeks; people with older hardware that does not play well with other OS; curious people that like to try new stuff or have a system than they can run from a USB stick in case their main system crashes (hey I'm included on all these categories)

P.

My first frustration with Linux was, when (on Mint) I copied some files from one computer to another and user names were different. Of course I could not access the files and I didn't know why. I remember my frustration then, "why Linux has to be so complicated" ;-)

MX setting in Thunar: "Ownership for User" may be worth mentioning for all coming from windows.

I like the idea of a wallpaper on just one desktop. The other desktop(s) could have whatever? on them.

On the one with the helpful wallpaper would be the very basics that a new-ish to Linux user may want to refer to & to also refresh their memory with from time to time.

After whatever period of time, the user would be able to easily clear the image from having the job of being a wallpaper. Though having it still sitting in the ~/Pictures directory wouldn't hurt.

Really, if it came down to it, you could have a number of wallpapers going from the very basics & each moving on through slightly more advanced, or at least wider areas of basic usage.

A user would be able to use multiple reference wallpapers at once, or, move on up the line as it suits them.

I may get around to making such a thing for myself, as my memory is gradually slipping away, day by day...

Something that just occurred to me after I just saved this page: is that if the information was provided to the user, that showed them how to (step by step) create their own wallpapers.

Me, I'm a practical person with nary an artistic bone in my body. So I can see me writing down what I want in either a text editor where I can control the colours of the text & the background, or a word processor where I can do the same.

I could surely make a better job of it in a word processor.

After which I could make a screen shot & then tell my system to use it as a wallpaper.

Which is a much easier & simpler proposition on some DE/WM than others.

Certainly, telling seven different desktops to each have a different wallpaper on Openbox, is something that I would have to do a little research on... lol

As a belated afterthought, why doesn't Dolphin create a video which gives a dummies guide to MX's features? There are plenty of suggestions in this thread, simply go through what's most important, MX Tweak, MXPI etc. The video could be accessed via a button on the MX Welcome screen.

It's said a picture is worth a thousand words, I'd say a video is more effective than that.

handy wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 8:33 am I like the idea of a wallpaper on just one desktop. The other desktop(s) could have whatever? on them....

I like this idea too, but with synapse, I just tape "mx" keys and I have " mx-welcome" first (mx-accueil in french): , and all others mx-references, mx-manual , etc...