Dragonbite
October 3rd, 2007, 05:42 PM
Hello,
On Tuesday November 6th (2007) I will be doing a 20 minute presentation on Linux :guitar: at a computer club meeting and I want to take this opportunity to put forth a demonstration that gets people thinking about Linux and even trying it! Hopefully it will also increase the participation in the club's Linux SIG.
I may think of, but don't necessarily know where to find out about them or how to set up my system.
For example, I want to have Beryl/Compiz working with a couple of the best "wow" features running but I have never set it up on my system before. Or details on the legal issues with codecs (if I can demonstrate a legal method of playing MP3 and watching video, then all the better).
Some of the research I am looking for (links and summaries would be great) are
A quick summary of the origins of Linux and how the heck to pronounce Linus' last name
How do I get the Cube and other desktop effects working?
I saw a list of programs that somebody posted of OSS or possibly legal multimedia playback programs ... how legal are they (in the US) and what do they cover?
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg,
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base,
gstreamer0.10-plugins-good,
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3,
quicktime-utils,
quicktime-x11utils,
totem,
totem-mozilla,
totem-xine
Using w32_codecs may be easy but due to their questionable (at best) legallity I would rather stay away from it.
When did RedHat stop supporting the community version and went paid-subscription-only (and then split out Fedora)?
How can distros (SuSE, Xandros, etc.) charge money for their distro and not have to provide the source code for free? OpenSuSE may be mostly compatible, but it isn't the same as SLED, it's a "version" of SLED
What is actually covered in the Microsoft-Novell or Microsoft-Xandros (Scalix) deals?
Some ideas of what to demonstrate that I've thought of include
How 99% of everything you (Window users) normally do can be done in Linux
How easy Ubuntu is for maintenance and installing new software (via Synaptic)
How 99.9% of activities and settup can be done without the CLI
That an iPod does work in Linux (I will use my iPod shuffle)
OpenOffice's capabilities and ability to open MS Office files including VBA Macros
Provide and introduction on how to navigate the desktop so users can quickly start using
So if you have any ideas of what to demonstrate, technical information and useful triva knowledge or suggestions on making sure it is interesting and not too advanced/dumbed down, any of which I would be appreciative of hearing.
I definitely want to avoid bashing Microsoft and if I can avoid doing too many comparisons against Microsoft then I would be happier. I think Linux can stand on its own, but since people know Windows then I may have to use it some for a point-of-reference.
Thank you in advanced. I'll ask more question or update with more ideas as they come along. I want to spend 1-2 weeks more brainstorming and developing an outline before diving into the mucky-muck.
On Tuesday November 6th (2007) I will be doing a 20 minute presentation on Linux :guitar: at a computer club meeting and I want to take this opportunity to put forth a demonstration that gets people thinking about Linux and even trying it! Hopefully it will also increase the participation in the club's Linux SIG.
I may think of, but don't necessarily know where to find out about them or how to set up my system.
For example, I want to have Beryl/Compiz working with a couple of the best "wow" features running but I have never set it up on my system before. Or details on the legal issues with codecs (if I can demonstrate a legal method of playing MP3 and watching video, then all the better).
Some of the research I am looking for (links and summaries would be great) are
A quick summary of the origins of Linux and how the heck to pronounce Linus' last name
How do I get the Cube and other desktop effects working?
I saw a list of programs that somebody posted of OSS or possibly legal multimedia playback programs ... how legal are they (in the US) and what do they cover?
gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg,
gstreamer0.10-plugins-base,
gstreamer0.10-plugins-good,
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3,
quicktime-utils,
quicktime-x11utils,
totem,
totem-mozilla,
totem-xine
Using w32_codecs may be easy but due to their questionable (at best) legallity I would rather stay away from it.
When did RedHat stop supporting the community version and went paid-subscription-only (and then split out Fedora)?
How can distros (SuSE, Xandros, etc.) charge money for their distro and not have to provide the source code for free? OpenSuSE may be mostly compatible, but it isn't the same as SLED, it's a "version" of SLED
What is actually covered in the Microsoft-Novell or Microsoft-Xandros (Scalix) deals?
Some ideas of what to demonstrate that I've thought of include
How 99% of everything you (Window users) normally do can be done in Linux
How easy Ubuntu is for maintenance and installing new software (via Synaptic)
How 99.9% of activities and settup can be done without the CLI
That an iPod does work in Linux (I will use my iPod shuffle)
OpenOffice's capabilities and ability to open MS Office files including VBA Macros
Provide and introduction on how to navigate the desktop so users can quickly start using
So if you have any ideas of what to demonstrate, technical information and useful triva knowledge or suggestions on making sure it is interesting and not too advanced/dumbed down, any of which I would be appreciative of hearing.
I definitely want to avoid bashing Microsoft and if I can avoid doing too many comparisons against Microsoft then I would be happier. I think Linux can stand on its own, but since people know Windows then I may have to use it some for a point-of-reference.
Thank you in advanced. I'll ask more question or update with more ideas as they come along. I want to spend 1-2 weeks more brainstorming and developing an outline before diving into the mucky-muck.