Re: General help mailing list?

[Gleef <dzol virtual-yellow com>]

On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Jason Love wrote:
> I'm wondering if there is a general help mailing list for gnome.  

You've found it :-).


> I'm guessing from this list that this one is for more advanced users
> and suggestions on upcomming releases.

If there weren't more advanced users here, who would you get help
from?  We talk about all sorts of GNOMEish things here.


> I've seen a few mails from users new to gnome and sometimes linux in general
> get ignored when they're fairly simple, quick questions that can be
> answered.

The volume here can sometimes be overwhelming.  Also some of the
apparently simple questions give way too little information for
someone to help.  If you don't get an answer in a few days, don't take
it personally, just rephrase the question (hopefully with more
detail), and ask again.


> As another person said in a previous mail, the Gnome project is supposedly
> about bringing Linux to the masses with a more friendly user environment.
> The gnome web page has links to mailing lists (all of which except for this
> one seem to be for developers) and a F.A.Q., which does not appear to be a
> F.A.Q. in the sense that the questions answered on it are the most
> frequently asked.

The FAQ is pretty out of date.  I'm the person who gets to rewrite it.
Look for a new, improved FAQ real soon now.  If you have questions
that aren't in the FAQ, by all means ask them here.


> In the few days that I've seen mails to this list, most of the
> questions asked by new gnome users are:
> 
> 1.) Why won't the RPM's install as per the instructions on the web site
> 
> 2.) Why won't Gnome start properly via xdm, or other methods
> 
> 3.) Why do the same applications keep starting up every time I login, and
> how do I prevent them from staring the next time?
> 
> 4.) Where do programs go when I click the minimize button?  How do I get
> them back?
> 
> 5.) Why do windows suddenly dissapear with no trace, leaving core files all
> over my system?
> 
> 6.) Why does the PPP dialer do nothing?

Questions 1 and 2 are complicated questions.  There is no answer
without more information.

Question 3 I'll address below.

Question 4 is a window manager issue, it has nothing to do with
GNOME.  If your window-manager is GNOME-compliant you can run the
gnome-pager applet, and have another way of accessing these "missing"
windows.

Question 5 and 6 are bugs.  Go to http://bugs.gnome.org/Reporting.html
and follow the directions there.


> In fact, I wouldn't mind compiling this information into an updated
> faq if someone could just post it somewhere in html format.  But for
> this project, espesially after a 1.0 release, I think this sort of
> thing is neccessary.

I'm working on revamping the FAQ as we speak.  One big hole in my
knowledge is session management (eg. Question 3); I don't like session
management, so I never use it.  If someone were to come up with some
common questions and answers about using GNOME Session Management, and
send them to me, I'll happily include them in the FAQ.

Thanks alot,
-Gleef