We need a unified website for beginners
Posted by coercivemonopoly@reddit | linux | View on Reddit | 20 comments
I'm sure websites like what I'm about to describe exist, and I even tried a couple of them, but they evidently aren't popular enough, and they aren't nearly as big as what I think the size of a project like this should be.
The Linux community and communities that are linked to it have a problem that significantly reduces their growth in members, intimidation. I believe most people in this sub experienced this by themselves at some point, and likely a ton of potential new Linux users don't even give it a try because of this.
As much as I like the vast amount of options we have as Linux users, be it DE's, WM's or distros, to a newcomer it all seems very confusing and everyone giving different advice on what to do and what to use doesn't make things any easier at all.
I believe the solution to that is a website that is dead simple, easy to navigate, easy to read and straight to the point in multiple languages. It should still let people know there are a lot of alternatives when it comes to anything, and encourage people to learn more about Linux, but it should still be very digestible for people who just want to be told which distro fits their needs with a pros/cons chart. It shouldn't be limited to distros, though, it should have sections such as "FOSS alternatives to proprietary software", guides such as "How to set up a VM" or "How to switch to another DE", "Why should we care about open source", etc. Also, I believe it should be almost Wikipedia-like when it comes to said articles, for example, a viewer should be able to easily learn what a DE is in the first place when he clicks on an article about GNOME.
TL;DR is, we need an all-inclusive website that you can easily suggest to absolute beginners.
Unfortunately, I don't have the technical know-how to get the site up and running, and even if I did, due to the ambitious size of the project, I myself wouldn't be able to write every article, but I'm really willing and hoping to organize a group of volunteers who are open to working on this project. If you have any ideas, experience or anything of that sort, or if you just want to volunteer with translation, writing articles, creating the webpage, etc., please reach out to me. I'm simply not qualified to do something of this size, but I believe it would be great for this community, which I love, and if we can get enough people interested in this, it would easily be possible. All I have right now is a raw idea and a dream, the only reason I created this Reddit account today was because a website like this would have been exactly what I needed as a beginner myself.
VividGiraffe@reddit
The irony of course is that you say in your first few sentences these already exist but aren’t to your liking. So we should make another.
gabriel_3@reddit
Is this yet another "someone else should do something to make Linux greater, more appealing, more newcomer friendly, whatever" post?
If it is not a call for action to someone else, take action yourself: you can start setting up for free a blog with almost no technical knowledge, writing and posting some basic article. From there allegedly you will create a community of contributors and get momentum.
VividGiraffe@reddit
Daily two articles.
1) Someone should make ______ on/about Linux so it can become more popular. (obviously not the posters though)
2) Linux is so much better than windows. So much better that I’ve stopped thinking about Windows at all. Nevermind this post I’m making saying how I don’t need Windows though.
coercivemonopoly@reddit (OP)
That was certainly not my intention, but I could see how it comes across that way. I more so wanted to see if people would be interested in such a project and whether or not we could get it off the ground. If I'm convinced this could be a successful project and worth the effort, I am of course willing to learn what to do to give it a start.
But yes, you are right. I acted too quickly and should have made this post after I had something to show in my hands. Thank you.
Business_Reindeer910@reddit
The problem with such a site is that it becomes a full time job if you want it to succeed because everything changes pretty quickly.
LatentShadow@reddit
You can talk to this guy. His project is called roadmap.sh and it is what it says : A roadmap to learn something new. It is open source and he has a website hosted
https://roadmap.sh/linux
https://github.com/kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap
2cats2hats@reddit
Linux moves way too damn fast. If it didn't your idea would have been done. :D
You want to learn linux? Learn by doing.
The following advice goes past linux.
The best way to learn how something works is to watch it fail, and then fix it. It could be a vehicle, your fence in the yard, your dryer or your OS.
Known-Watercress7296@reddit
We have one.
Ubuntu.com
TetrisMcKenna@reddit
You misspelled ArchWiki
horreum_construere@reddit
You very much describe the arch, debian, fedora wiki here. They cover mostly all of the topics in a very detailed way and they are basically linux-wikipedia (especially the arch wiki).
Maybe instead of writing new articles you can collect various articles from all distro wikis and organize and structure them in a beginner friendly way.
kaipee@reddit
I can probably put something together fairly easily. It's actually something I've always wanted to do, and pair it with maybe some shortt YouTube guides.
Problem is, Linux and Open Source are really huge topics.
You would need to be more explicit about what kind of things you think are missing from current guides.
Terrible-Hornet4059@reddit
IMO I would just focus on Linux. Many people thinking of coming to Linux aren't thinking about open source at all. They just want a different operating system than their current situation. And whether they end up staying with Linux, or going back their previous OS, almost always has nothing to do with whether it was open source or not. If you're an Arch user, I imagine you would have little difficulty putting together a collection of beginner guides :)
kaipee@reddit
I've been playing with Linux for 18 years or so and been a member of various communities and forums over the years.
I'm happy to give back in some form if it helps. I just don't want to duplicate the same guides and information that's already out there in Wikis, Forums and YouTube channels
neo-raver@reddit
There are already is one I’ve seen recommended at least two times in Linux spaces recently: Linux Journey. It matches all the criteria (at least the general ones) you give here.
srivasta@reddit
The end product would be great. I didn't think anyone would disagree with the concept.
The problem with the project is: who would do the work? Where will it be hosted? What would be the governance model? How would conflicts and differing opinions be resolved? How often would the opinions and rational be updated to meet the changing field of the app space?
matsnake86@reddit
If you are willing to learn mkdocs Is a good Place where to start.
https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/
No programming skills or html required. Just markdown.
Psilocybe_Fanaticus@reddit
My programming skills aren’t the best but maybe it could be a good practice project
thinking_pineapple@reddit
You could start a Github Pages site using Jekyll. Then it will be easy for people to contribute. But I think it's a mistake to give people all of these options when the advice really boils down to "Use Linux Mint or Ubuntu".
In the end the most important factor is that the distro is very popular with lots of learning material and users available. I think it's a mistake to treat them like distro hoppers, which IMO is a fairly advanced user and offer a ton of options.
LocRotSca@reddit
I 100%, fully agree.
RudePragmatist@reddit
Well in the spirit of Linux, go for it.
Start and they ‘might’ follow.