get GNU/Linux! community

Help improve GetGNULinux.org

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#1

There are several ways you can help improve www.getgnulinux.org.

Translation

Our project, www.getgnulinux.org, is fully internationalized. You can start translating online within a few clicks — read more to get started.

Translation status

Some very fine web material

We are nuts about accessibility, simplicity and clarity. We want to have less words, more space into what thousands first see when searching for “Linux”.

You can help us reach world-class quality, with improved graphics, better wording, clearer illustrations, better coding. The project code is hosted on GitLab where you can report issues or suggest improvements. Bug reports of all kinds are appreciated.

More ways to help

We are still lacking (human) resources to work on the following topics:

  • Content editing. Help us create new or better content, and making sure that existing content remains up-to-date.
  • Multi-cultural expertise. If you know what it takes to reach the Japanese community, or how to best manage cross-border variations in languages — well, you can educate us!

You can also help with fixing bugs or make suggestions.

If you think you can help, feel free to start working, make yourself known, and we’ll hand you the keys. Hundreds of daily visitors will benefit from your skills, and you’ll get eternal gratitude from the rest of us!

Frequently asked questions
#2
#3

It’s nice to hear that you care for elegant and standard conforming code. And one can always improve of course but I think the main discussion should be the content. The question what is presented on the website and in which language. What is our target audience?

I think we should aim for the youth. They are the future and our adversaries have been doing it for decades. Many schools now require their students to use zoom and as a computer science student you are required to use proprietary apps - - and they get them for almost nothing. Because those young people probably won’t change their habits when they enter the job market and even when they get into managing positions.

For a start the youth of today in general doesn’t use MS Windows. They use Android or iOS. That should be our main focus. In universities macOS is also popular.

1 Like
#4

I get a system message every day that I’m the new user of the month. I think this is set up wrong.

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#5

I’m very sorry about this and thank you for reporting this. To rule out that this is a bug in Discourse itself I’ve just upgraded to the latest version. I’ll monitor the outgoing notifications to see if it’s fixed now.

#6

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this matter. I agree with you that the main discussion should be the content. I have been focusing a lot on the code lately and it no longer requires that much attention (I hope).

Our content is mainly focused on newcomers to GNU/Linux and the youth does fit that audience. You are indeed right that mobile operating systems like Android and iOS have become prevalent these days and it makes sense to address these as well. But I don’t have any experience with free software on mobile devices like smart phones. Are there any good alternatives out there? And how easy is it to install these on mobile devices?

#7

I have a lot to do at the moment but I try to make a proposal for an update of the website this month.

There are two smartphones which run GNU/Linux more or less available: Pine64’s Pinephone and Purism’s Librem 5. I will order both devices when they offer a finished product. When you have an iPhone I don’t think you can do much to get away from Apple’s control. But if you’re owning an Android phone you could try to get a free Android like Replicant and LineageOS. Not many models are supported though. Easier but also useful is to replace the proprietary apps from the Google Play Store with free apps from F-Droid.

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#8

If you could write a proposal that would be awesome.

And also, why do I find out about Purism’s PureOS just now? It’s even endorsed by the Free Software Foundation. Seems like a good candidate for our list of recommended distributions. I’m also considering adding Debian to the list.

#9

PureOS is Debian main with no built-in option to include non-free. Sounds good but it’s maintained only by a few Purism employees. Will it still exist in 10 years?

I don’t like it when vendors like Purism and Systems76 create their own operating systems. That’s why I would only include Debian, not Pop!OS and PureOS — and also not Ubuntu and Trisquel. Because I don’t see where the improvement lies. It seems to me like a lot of wasted time to maintain all these distributions which are based on Debian. Only Devuan makes a bit of sense. I switched to Debian with their Potato release and I found it easy to install and use. Since then the installation process even improved further.

As a FSF endorsed GNU/Linux distribution I would like to add GNU Guix System. That’s something really progressive and innovative. While at the moment it’s not fit for beginners it’s worth the effort of learning it and should be suggested to advanced Windows and macOS users.

I understand why System76 and Purism decided to create their own distributions. It’s easier to do it yourself and have full control over it. But it fragments the market. That’s why I work with you instead of creating my own websites with the same purpose.

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#10

I’m really glad you decided to work with me. I could really use the help. Good point about PureOS. I agree with you that it makes more sense to include Debian. I’ll work on a draft to include it in the recommended list.

I understand your concerns regarding the fragmentation of distributions. I personally like Ubuntu because it’s user friendly and provides more up-to-date software packages, whilst remaining stable enough. It also comes with great hardware support, albeit at the cost of user freedom. It has also become very popular which is good in the sense that there is plenty of tutorials and support from the community.

I’ve never used GNU Guix. I’ll have to give it a try. Why do you say it’s not fit for beginners?

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#11

Guix has a very different approach how to manage software and configuration. It doesn’t feel like any other GNU/Linux distribution.

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#12

I’m closing this topic to encourage creating new topics for discussions.

#13