Aurélien Paulus

Hi everybody! I’m proud to announce you that my little guide presenting Ubuntu to the curious neewbies has been entirely translated from French to English by Mike Miller with my collaboration. It is available to download on the Spread Ubuntu website. A little guide, what for? Wanna know some more?

What?

Discover Ubuntu (or have it discover) with this six pages little guide illustrated in color. Designed for LUGs or for other groups of free software users, this document contains everything the curious who start the Ubuntu Experience must or want to know. GNU/Linux, desktop environment, Linux distributions, Open Office, Firefox, comparisons of the technical requirements… are some of the concepts that are being explained step by step.
This document is not intended to replace the official documentation, that’s the contrary: it leads the reader to it through (printable) links and explanations to identify problems and how to proceed.
Printer friendly (3 A3 or 6 A4 pages), illustrated in colors and written in an attractive style but with honest content, this document is to be updated at each new Ubuntu release.

This document has been created with Scribus and is double licensed GNU/FDL and Creative Commons BY-SA.
(source: http://spreadubuntu.neomenlo.org/fr/brochure/discover-ubuntu)

Why?

I’ve remarked that most of the new potential users hesitate long before testing a Linux system. Therefore, the first impression is the most important. Unfortunately, we don’t always have the best person or the best skills at hand to present briefly AND correctly the GNU/Linux world to the curious one. An alternative would be the use of the official documentation, but it’s to fastidious… you perfectly know like me that reading tons of sentences is not from the best effect on the persons who only want to discover something.

That’s why I’ve made the little guide « Discover Ubuntu » (original title: « Découvrez Ubuntu ») with Scribus, a powerful open source desktop publishing software. The goal is to present Ubuntu and lost of concepts like GNU/Linux, the free Software, the communities… quickly and friendly.

How?

To achieve this, I have set a limit of 6 illustrated pages with the most important things to know for a neewbie to understand what is Ubuntu, what’s his use and what makes it different… and not so different from other solutions. The document aimed the members of the community who would like to present Ubuntu to their friends or to other people. It’s easy and cheap to print and it contains lots of links to send the reader who wants to learn more on the official and comprehensive webpages.

Look and download it!

I hope it’ll serve you. Read it and download it on the Spread Ubuntu website. If you can, do not hesitate to translate it in other languages. Do it from French if possible, because it is the original version, but it theoretically won’t be a problem if you translate it from English. Be aware that the document will be updated with each new Ubuntu releases.