Always wanted to switch to Linux, but daunted by the learning curve?
Obsidian Systems in Johannesburg has announced that from next week, it will offer free Linux orientation courses. The courses, open to all, are aimed at new users who have very little or no Linux experience, says Warren Bell, marketing manager at Obsidian Systems.
Bell says that for most users considering using Linux, the uncertainty is the "inertia that prevents them from taking the first step. We`ve figured out a way to deal with some of these fears: If you`re worried about breaking your machine, why not try it on somebody else`s?"
He adds that Obsidian has facilities to cater for up to 12 people at a time. Courses will also cater for users who have recently moved to Linux and he expects a lot of users to attend with "a lot of their own questions".
The courses will be run on Mondays, a day the Obsidian training centre is not in use, and will cover up to four areas based on audience requirements. The courses will run for a full day and will be divided into live, work, play and style sections.
Bell says the live section will introduce users to the Linux basics, including installing Linux from a CD as well as brief introductions to KDE and Gnome. The live section will also include an introduction to the Gnu Public Licence.
"A lot of people ask us: 'If [Linux] is so good, why is it free?` It`s time their question was answered," he notes.
The work section of the course will include introductions to alternative workplace applications such as Evolution for e-mail, and StarOffice and OpenOffice for productivity. The section will also focus on "behind the scenes" applications such as Apache, FTP servers and Sendmail. Bell says the introductions will be presented in "non-geekspeak" so as to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.
In the play section, says Bell, "we`ll showcase things like Linux DVD players, games, multimedia and graphics packages". The play section will also include demonstrations of high-powered rendering applications. Closely aligned to the play section will be the style section which will cover some of the more "cool" aspects of Linux such as Linux handhelds and Linux clusters as well as a look at some of the implementations of Linux as part of film studio render farms.
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