Non-coders helping ubuntu?

[lordyosch]

I can't program for toffee

well,

10 print "I love ubuntu"
20 goto 10

thats about it really.

Can I help develop it somehow or shall I leave it to grown ups? -I've got a spare PC an everything....


Jay

[-grubby]

I'm sure they'd appreciate:


Artwork
Documentation
Support

[Namtabmai]

Don't forget your 5 a day (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/5-A-Day), although to be fair I certainly don't do enough of that.

[days_of_ruin]

You could always give money to ubuntu and/or gnome(or whatever DE you use).

[snova]

If you can speak another language, translation is always appreciated. Launchpad is supposed to make this quite easy, but I can't see for myself because Launchpad won't load. :)

[Zlatan]

I can't program for toffee

well,

10 print "I love ubuntu"
20 goto 10

thats about it really.

Can I help develop it somehow or shall I leave it to grown ups? -I've got a spare PC an everything....


Jay

keep seeding your ubuntu torrent for others to download

[Paqman]

There's a lot you can. Go to Launchpad and register and account. You can start working on translations straight away. The bug squad (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad) are always looking for volunteers, and you don't have to be a code monkey.

You can also volunteer to help with artwork, spend time on the forums providing tech support, write up howtos or reviews on your blog, seed torrents, etc.

You say you've got a spare machine: what about installing the testing branch? It includes an automated bug reporting system called Apport that will send any crashes straight to Launchpad for the devs to look at. No technical knowledge required and directly useful. Being the first to report a bug which gets fixed in time for the release gives you a very warm fuzzy feeling :)

[Namtabmai]

Let's not forget the obvious here, take a look through the forums and see if you can help someone with their problems.

Linux/Ubuntu has a big community behind it and needs people helping where they can, if you can help at least one person on the road to using Ubuntu by solving a problem they've posted, you're helping the community.

[lisati]

Even feedback )"this is great", "that sucks", "the other bit is so-so") can be useful in helping developers get a feel for which areas need attention. You don't need to be a programming whizz to do that!

[wsonar]

Don't forget your 5 a day (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/5-A-Day), although to be fair I certainly don't do enough of that.

I've signed up but failed miserably with participation got a lot on my plate right now

[Namtabmai]

I've signed up but failed miserably with participation got a lot on my plate right now

No worries, as with the 5 a day fruit/veg, it's only recommended not required. Do what you can, when you can. You'll feel better for doing it.
It doesn't even need to be Ubuntu bugs ( IMHO ), what about filing some Wine bug reports or adding update entries to Wine appdb?

[23meg]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ContributeToUbuntu may give you some ideas.

[some_random_noob]

If you have $20 spare (or more) then consider donating to one of the following:


The Free Software Foundation (they are great at lobbying and taking action to defend your rights).
Gnome (It's an excellent project which will be around for ages).
KDE (Depending if you like it).
SourceForge (They host numerous open source projects - many of which are small and cross platform).
Any other small thing which has helped you at some point in time (OpenOffice, GIMP, Inkscape, Abiword)


Joining your local users group is a start. Maybe even get involved in marketing - tell people about Open Office and GIMP, you'll be surprised how many people DON'T know about these basic things!

Edit: Oh, and please please adopt my signature. It's awesome... and useful too! :D