[linux-audio-user] what about creating a wiki website to submit "soundcard experiences"

[tim hall]

Last Saturday 27 November 2004 17:10, David Stephens was like:
> My biggest problem is figuring out the config scripts. Just weeding
> through the documentation, some of it is outdated, is a nightmare.
> Perhaps for the Newbie who is trying to migrate from the Big
> Proprietary Software Manufacture, a conscise step-by-step guide.

Yes, this would be good. Several people have and are still trying to achieve 
this.

> My experience is that that other software is just "so easy" point,
> click, sell your soul to Redmond };-)> and it works.
>
> I have friends who want to try Linux, but get beyond the initial
> install and they give up.

My recent experiences with A/DeMuDi-1.2.0 have changed this. 

I'm seeing people install Windows XP and then have to get in an 'expert' to 
sort out all the virus/spyware/popup stuff and then get someone in to clean 
up the registry for them. And then they have to get someone in to sort out 
all the new trojans. Then they give up.

My experience suggests that people would rather pay an 'expert' to get their 
system to do something it didn't do before, than to stop it doing something 
they didn't want in the first place. Once set up and configured, I'm finding 
previously uninterested people are being attracted to use the Debian system 
I've set up, including total non-computer-literates, for whom it makes 
absolutely no odds what the underlying system is.

I find they're attracted by the look & feel, the screensavers, the fact that 
it so obviously doesn't fall over, once configured, it thankfully stays 
configured and the vast amount of free & licensed software available.

So, yes, I'm finding that the best form of advocacy involves me setting up & 
configuring systems for my interested friends. They seem to take it as read 
that computers require this level of support, what makes the difference is 
that after a few hours of fiddling they have some more new software, which 
works, rather than more problems that no-one seems to know how to fix.

Distros like DeMuDi and PlanetCCRMA as well as providing (nearly) all the 
music software you could ever want are also leading GNU/Linux out of the 
ghetto in terms of useability. I'm finding it rather exciting!

cheers

tim hall
http://glastonburymusic.org.uk