In principal thats what I have been doing for many years, enforced now as I dont offer windows solutions in any form.
One difficulty even between us is which linux flavour. What it looks like on the box. Not what runs at command line.
Our local church as I mentioned before wanted to change to windows 11 normally I offer LMDE but along side that I did suggest and talk about Emmabuntüs, as its based on debian but supported by a charity which I thought would not just touch the money but the hearts, still no windows.
Windows has many of the same compilers and build tools as Linux and FreeBSD. You just have to look for them. The Gnu compiler suite is freely available through projects like MinGW, Cygwin, Midipix. There are projects like OpenCobol that work with the gnu compiler suite. Projects like llvm work on Windows. There are also several interpreters that work perfectly well and are freely available. There were a lot of commercial compilers available years ago and many targeted DOS and Windows. However, there were also commercial compilers for Linux and Unix. The unfortunate thing was that there were many choices in commercial compilers years ago but not now. I used to have a commercial license to Watcom which, by the way, is available as Open Source software now. Many of the competitors in compiler development went out of busy. I think the only real competition is from FLOSS now. The companies that won the compiler wars tend to stagnate if they don’t have to keep up with any competitors. Advances from FLOSS compilers and interpreters encourage interesting new development from commercial companies to continue.
Absolutely, Paul. Offering folks a rescue from a dead Win10 will depend on giving them a soft landing and Emmabuntus is definitely that. While our more capable peers worry about shells and compiling and other such complicated stuff, let’s offer newbies the friendliest possible experience. That Emmabuntus is involved with charity only makes it the best choice. I’ve been running the new one, based on Debian 13 beta, and it’s first rate!
Make a list of distributions which are good for new users
This list needs to be there. I'm not talking about a simple list of distributions, but a list which contains information which the newcomer can use to judge whether the distribution in question is something they're looking for. [DistroChooser](https://distrochooser.de/) goes a long way, but isn't entirely there. It'll cheerfully guide a newcomer to distributions such as Void Linux when they enter the wrong answers. A curated list of distributions which assumes the user is a simple desktop user and not a network administrator or software developer is what's needed.
Make a list of applications and their purposes
Most people will be able to find LibreOffice and GIMP with a simple search. These are commonly used applications and they are well known. It's the niche software, such as novel writing software, embroidery pattern software, financial software, etc. that needs to be listed. Not everybody knows about these pieces of software, and there's bound to be people who'd want such pieces of software.
And, sorry, for a lot of people a computer is a simple means to an end. If they want to game: Computer. If they want to type a letter: Computer. If they want to convert an image they cut out of magazine X into an embroidery pattern: Computer. They’re not looking to create software by themselves, nor are they looking for going towards the CLI. So, no software with arcane commands (bye bye vim and emacs, for example).
Of course, this requires actual work. So, how about we get right into it?
I already have several applications which are helpful to novel writers: novelWriter, Bibisco, Focus Writer. Each of these isn’t commonly known, but some of them are listed on the itsfoss website.
Thanks, I have not run it myself just know its base being debian makes me confident it will work and I could easy support it if needed.
For me I like to see screen shots, pictures say a 1000 words idea. Does it look easy ?
Can i see chrome or firefox
Can I see my mail
Can I write a letter or do my calculations
Will it print my document
Can i open my bank statement in pdf
Can I listen to my music, film,
Can I use a VOIP application such as whatsapp
Can I see my family photos
While I can honestly say I’m not a fan of vim or emacs or using them to win over most users to Linux, I find it disappointing that the average response to converting new users to Linux always seems to be related to GUIs and GUI programs. I’ve noticed that attitude with several projects trying to switch users from Windows to Linux. If a user started using DOS and became a Windows user, that user may prefer the command line and console based applications. Some people prefer text based solutions to graphical ones. Command line solutions are often more practical for tasks related to batch processing or automation of repetitive tasks. I recently wrote a blog post on console based software that discussed this specific issue regarding attempts to convince users to switch operating systems. It may be safe to assume the majority of users will prefer a GUI based solution. Do we really want to ignore or worse yet ostracise potential users who prefer using command line and console applications? If fancy desktop GUI interfaces and office suites were all Linux offered, I would not be interested in using it as an operating system.
I think joining forces with or helping promote the End of 10 project is a good start. Events like Software Freedom Day are useful and can help introduce new users to FLOSS options and show them the wide variety of FLOSS programs available. Local Linux or FLOSS users groups are helpful. Beyond 40 is working on trying to revive local users groups in many areas. Good multimedia presentations on what you can accomplish with FLOSS are helpful as well. The National Center for Open Source and Education had a wonderful PDF on Free Software for Schools. Schoolforge had a great database listing all sorts of FLOSS that might be useful for schools (or other groups). Both of those resources are now defunct. It would be nice to see up-to-date replacements for those types of assets. It would also be nice not to have to keep reinventing the wheel and to be able to utilize work already done on projects like these. Delightful lists on Codeberg and Awesome lists on Github could help connect people with useful software that may fit their interests or needs. More projects similar to these that document the use cases and possibilities of working with FLOSS and Free OS distributions would be beneficial.
Of course we should not disregard certain users in favor for others.
That being said, those users which don’t want to deal with the CLI or, worse, are afraid of it, are not going to be helped by being confronted with CLI solutions – TUI solutions might be a different matter altogether, though.
Now, I think CLI solutions should have their own listing – for those who’d want something like that.
Those software listings on github, codeberg, and possibly other places are all nice, but they’re not going to get consulted by Mr. Average. A website would be nice for this task. Possibly providing a means to filter by type of UI? Maybe more filters (such as task the software fulfils)? The website should list applications, not libraries.
I am out of date on that. When I last used DOS/Win for programming compilers were commercial only.
What you are saying about open source tools for Win today implies that Win is really just another GNU/Linux but with a different kernel.
@callpaul.eu I see your tactic. You’re trying to make him to come over and THEN you’re going to convert him to a loyal Linux user via your mind control devices.
How do you teach someone not to drowned?
Take you foot off his head !
Same with converting to linux
You MAKE them use window through an update. After several hours of waiting to do something then they get desperate to touch a working computer, hence linux
