Support point volunteer manual

• Where do I register as a support point?

  You can register as a support point after signing-in at the Ubuntu-be website. To sign-in, you will need a Launchpad account. Once signed-in, you can go the http://ubuntu-be.org/en/user to edit your Supporter Profile.

  Please contact us from the Contact-us page on the Ubuntu-be website (select the Support Points category).

• I'm only a beginning Ubuntu user. Do you even want me as a support point? Every even sporadic Ubuntu user can help as a distribution point. For giving a demonstration, it's up to your judgement. Please look at the manual for demonstration points. Do you feel comfortable enough with the things you're expected to demonstrate? Then you're ready to go!
• I see there are five users in my town already. Do you still need me as a support point? Yes! It spreads the load. And many volunteers in a small area may at a later time work together in ways that we can't foresee yet...
• Why would I register myself as a support point?

Distribute CDs

As a distribution point, we expect you to hand out an Ubuntu installation set to whoever asks for one, for the time you committed yourself.

• I have no installation sets, but I received a request for one. What should I do?

  • Check https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-be/ . If there are pressed CD sets available, recent list postings should tell you where to get them. If not, ask the list!

  • If you can't get a pressed installation set, burn one yourself. Always check your burned installation set using the CD's builtin checksum utility before distributing it!
• Some hints:
  • Do not ask your guest to bring a blank CD. It's not as if you'll starve from donating a burned CD, and receiving a gift from you will make your guest feel good. If he's well mannered, he will undoubtedly offer you his gratitude in some way or another.
  • Try to meet your guest in person. He's making the big jump. No matter how short or seeminlgy insignificant, personal contact will reassure him.

Demonstration

As a demonstration point, we expect you to give a demonstration of the basic concepts behind Ubuntu and daily Ubuntu use. You should also hand out an Ubuntu installation set to every demonstration visitor.

Some hints

• Print a sheet with useful community support resources for handout at the end of the session. Send a copy to the ubuntu-be mailing list if you do!
• Use a fresh and separate account on a cleanly installed machine for this demonstration.
• Use the default applications. This is what your guest will come into contact with first when he tries to install Ubuntu himself.
• Talk to your guest. Take the time to listen. Ask him what tasks he uses his computer for. Start by showing him the Ubuntu way of accomplishing this. System administration work like software installation comes second.
• Try to let your guest discover similarities between his current system and Ubuntu. Gradually introduce him to the differences.
• Start directly with a practical demo. A demonstration is not the moment for a technical or philosophical talk.
• Try not to use the command line, especially not in the beginning of your demonstration.
• Don't be afraid to say "I don't know that part of Ubuntu". Use this as an opportunity to introduce your guest to online community support channels (forums, irc,...).

The demonstration

The easy part: a simple game, surfing, instant messaging, office applications

• Show a short default game. The smallest minesweeper is a good choice.
• The internet:
  • Surf to a few sites. This is probably closest to his previous experience:
    • his favorite site

    • ubuntu-nl.org or ubuntu-fr.org & other community support sites

• If your guest is not a webmail user, show him Evolution.
• Pidgin. If your guest is not an instant messaging user, offer to create him a Google or Belnet Jabber account.
• Xchat. Show your guest irc.freenode.net, #ubuntu-nl or #ubuntu-fr (community support channel!).
• Let your guest browse the example content and fiddle with it for a few minutes.

The harder parts: online banking, restricted formats, system administration

• Check community support if your guest's online banking is usable under Ubuntu (irc, forums,...).
• multimedia:

  • Try to play mp3 music from http://magnatune.com . Help your guest grab the gstreamer mp3 playback codec if it's not been installed yet. Use this to explain RestrictedFormats.

• Installing software: show your guest how to do it, and intersperse this with the underlying logic:

  • Applications->Add/Remove...

  • System->Administration->Package manager Synaptic

  • Contrast the Ubuntu approach of modular packages in repositories against Win32 .exe monolithic installers.
  • Introduce the "root versus ordinary user" concept.
• Connect a peripheral: a printer, a scanner, a digital camera, a music player, a voip phone. Demonstrate an easy example of free specs and open standards. Example: a usb mass storage mp3 player versus a proprietary one.

More useful suggestions

• the advocacy Howto: http://www.datasync.com/~rogerspl/Advocacy-HOWTO.html, especially http://www.datasync.com/~rogerspl/Advocacy-HOWTO-5.html

• some past presentations about Ubuntu: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Presentations

• Make sure you have read and preferably signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct:

  • [en] http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct

  • [fr] http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/codedeconduite

TODO

• How to show "Security" ?

• Do we want to promote things like Easy Ubuntu? (http://easyubuntu.freecontrib.org/)

Installation

As an installation point, we expect you to help someone install Ubuntu for the first time. You should use the dead moments to give a demonstration of the basic concepts behind Ubuntu and daily Ubuntu use. You should also hand out an Ubuntu installation set to every demonstration visitor.

Some hints:

• Suggest a guest who wants to install Ubuntu on his computer to go for a separate machine with Ubuntu only, not dual boot. Explain them that dual boot is complex to maintain:
  • If you reinstall Microsoft Windows, your MBR seems to disappear. A technical user can fix this, an unexperienced new user can't.
  • Sharing data with a Microsoft Windows NTFS partition is a problem. You can only read from such a partition. (Writable since Gutsy)
  • Some things are a nightmare to keep in sync, or even unusable on the other part of the system: email, ...

• Explain cheap second hand hardware that is perfectly fit for running Ubuntu can be had from several trustworthy firms like http://logstat.be and others.

• Ask your guest to make a backup of his data if he really wants a dual boot solution.

Other questions ? [en] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Installation [fr] http://wiki.ubuntu-fr.org/installation