Linux section improvement/contribution thread

This is a thread designed to facilitate discussion about how we, the Tom's Hardware Linux community can improve the Linux experience of those who seek the knowledge of our forums.

Are there threads you would like to see updated?

Topics you would like covered or stickied?

Etc.

If you wish to contribute something to the Linux/Free BSD stickies please contribute here:

We need to keep the sticky threads clean.

To avoid the congestion of Linux sticky threads and so that the indexing works properly, please contribute your additions here.

Please try to adapt to the format of the original thread section you want to contribute to.

Format your post like this to save the moderators some time.

<Thread>
<Section>
<Information>

Example:

Consolidated Linux Distro and Software Guide
Choosing your distribution
A distribution or distro is a specially configured copy Linux. Each distribution has a different mix of programmes, unique characteristics and styles.


You can think of distributions like ice-cream. Each distribution is a flavour and each flavour appeals differently to each person. Collectively, all of these different distributions are called Linux because they all share the same characteristic of the Linux kernel. FreeBSD is like sorbet, while related being free open source software, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu share a distinctly different kernel to FreeBSD, similar to the difference between sorbet and ice-cream, while both being cold desserts, sorbet is fruit based and ice-cream is milk based.

AFG.

So far I've found there is a disturbing amount of overlap in the stickies and they seem universally outdated. I guess.

I'm not quite a fan of Area51's Best Linux software list, I believe that we should do something homebrew sticky-wise and a little description about the pros and cons of the Linux software, would be helpful I hope.

Format as
<super section header - Free Open Source or Free)
<section header - Office Suites>
<name - LibreOffice> <link - http://www.libreoffice.org/>
<description - pros and cons - Like Microsoft Office, similar interface, does not support Onenote files, does not include MS fonts... etc. information to let the user decide>

Probably something similar for Linux distros.

Do we want a wiki? I can ask to see if my superiors will allow for one linked to us. Would prevent a sticky going outdated, whoever wants to edit/update the sticky can, does not need the permission of a mod or community reporter to do. (provided the Linux community here agrees with the aformated changes).

My suggestion would be a sticky on installing IDM - God only knows how many times the users of obsolete versions of RedHat have asked that one down here.

One approach that might work is a 'list of lists' I've seen this work on a cycling forum where the sticky is just a link to the most interesting threads. No comments and maintained by one of the mods. Given the quality of the search function it might help people find what they need.

I have made this thread a sticky so you can all consult and throw around some ideas about what you want.

Once you decide please PM me and I will make the changes you need to this forum area ... or get AFG to make the changes once her rights have been updated

Please tell all the other penguins in the area that we are very keen to help and develop this section for the greater linux community out there.

Small developers and coders are also welcome to show their new freeware here in this forum section too ... as the work is a shared resource and at no cost to others!!

Workers of the world unite ... er ... or something like that.

I can see the appeal of a Wiki, but I wonder if we can really improve on the excellent Linux help sites that are already available. I must admit that, being lazy, I tend to provide a link to an existing site or blog, where possible, rather than writing detailed answers. Why reinvent the wheel?

Perhaps we need a sticky saying just "Have you tried Google"?

I was thinking of making a wiki to what we already do.

Say audiovoodoo answers a question about IDM. He can put that into the wiki under IDM, subsection installation, his entire answer tweaked a little. His answer doesn't need to be entirely written about by him. It might include 3rd part content. But even that can get outdated eventually.

Now perhaps he takes a holiday, for an extended period. The forum user tries the advice 2 years later, discovers the information is outdated, so he posts on THG. Pyroflea answers it and updates the wiki. I hope I'm not asking for too much.

The problem with the wiki is being motivated enough to continue.

Sorry if I sounded negative; that wasn't the intent. I'm all for anything that would help to make the Linux forum more useful for everyone. At present it is an uneasy mixture of newbie questions and interesting discussions and more esoteric questions (more so than most of the other forums); and it would be great to filter out some of the noise. I wonder if having a few more categories than simply "General Discussion" would help here?

A Wiki is a good idea, and I would be more than happy to help with this in any way that I can. Having said that, I think that much of the content of the Wiki could usefully be links to other sites that explain things already. For example, the first port of call for a query about installing Ubuntu should be the Ubuntu installation documentation; that answers most newbie queries in my experience.

What catergories do you think we should have then?

Should we have a similar layout to the Windows forum?

Should we divide it between discussion and troubleshooting?

Iv'e looked at the forum structure and presently there is only the "General Discussion" subfolder ... which essentially everything is dumped into.

I can't change (add additional subfolders) easily as the Devs are in France and working on a major forum upgrade ... porting content to a new platform.

In the meantime what you could do (once AFG's rights are upgraded to full CR {essentially giving her mod status here}) is :

Close all of the old threads past a month in replies ... these will (in reverse order) slowly push down the thread priority until all new queried threads are at the top ... under the stickies;

Arrange all of the stickies into a coherent structure to appeal to users looking for a particular solution, or wanting to post in a particular frequently appealing thread.

New threads will therefore be directly under the stickies and be easy to see.

These can be answered or the content transferred into a sticky (the CR can move content and delete the empty thread and notify the user by PM) this applies if the query is a common one

If the thread is unique it can stand as is and be dealt with.

A forum section with only one subfolder therefore can be easily managed.

I suggest you work on what sticky titles you want, which would be easy for the majority of your newbies to get quick reference help, along with some stickies for the advanced users.

I do suggest you have a sticky for developers and coders who may want to show freeware, or alternatively, when someone opens such a thread, that you treat them well, and make their thread a sticky perhaps?

Anyway, good luck with moving this area forward.

I bought my copy of Red Hat Linux by Mark Sobell (with Fedora core Ver 5) a couple of years ago ... just took it off the bookshelf and dusted it off ... I am on page 11.

Woo hoo, another change in forum software.

He actually was a moderator of this section, but I don't think that was transferred over when we made some changes to who moderates what. I haven't seen him for about a year now.

Good luck, that will take a while

Interesting. It's a 14 for me.

Would seem it was 14 from the UK and 18 for the US from what I can tell.

Really it should have just been 42 for everything in Linux land.

Suggest telling all ubuntu users to first go here ( https://help.ubuntu.com/ ) before asking at tom's hardware forum (here). A troubleshooting flowchart along the lines of a dichotomous key and/or gantt chart could prove useful to many, as well.

Congrats grasshopper !

Did we still want a couple of sub-forums under this one?

Looks a tad crowded ...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ager-linux

From now on, if anyone posts an IDM thread, it will be closed/deleted. All IDM discussions should occur here.

You would think, I haven't used an IDM in my life, but we get asked a question on IDM at least 1 a fortnight it seems.

Something like that.

I don't know what the exact numbers are, but it is enough to piss off the regulars.

I'd be willing to take part in something like this. I think it'd be a valuable resource to have.

I do think we need to consolidate some of the stickies. Unrelated, but there's just too damn many.

It's okay, I've said it now, so people will know

Me installing Gentoo the first time around (lynx FTW) was pretty rough, but at least there was eventually (after two weeks of struggling) some rewarding outcome: a moderately-functional system

It's nice and consolidated.

It's the Consolidated Linux Distro and Software Guide!

Currently it's a mismash of several different stickies. Will update to a unified system soon...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ware-guide

Time for HW... No more procrastination