Hi Tsuren,
Regarding partitioning, if my experience of needing to reinstall Windows was not typical, then the most I would suggest would be to add a line saying that if you want to dual boot with Windows, then you need to shrink the partition. It might be worth including as a hint the suggestion to defragment first, possibly linking to a better app than the one that comes with Windows. Again I am thinking of my own experience that even after doing so, stubborn fragments of files persisted right at the end of the partition, meaning the only option for dual boot was to start from scratch. This may have been because the Windows installations in question (there were several) were old and poorly maintained, and addled with viruses; or it may be a feature of that particular rather ancient version of XP and not generally be a problem these days.
The part about Live and USBs is very clear. My suggestion was to highlight that running from USB could be a good option for quite some time should a HD install seem daunting, because Salix is so fast. You have persuaded me it's not necessary, because for most users, it actually shouldn't be daunting.
Regarding open source etc, I agree, unfortunately it can be dull, and there is also the danger of coming across as holier-than-thou. What I was particularly thinking of was the attitude that new users (with little experience of Linux) can bring to the forums, as if they think this is just free support provided by people who have nothing better to do than research your problem for you - or at least that's the impression newbies sometimes give, when in fact the trouble may arise from lack of information about what might be called the sociology of linux, the community behind it. And all too often, they disappear after a day or two, never to come back. The Salix forums are amazingly helpful in socialising new users, as I can testify, but that might prove hard to maintain as the distro grows. Maybe the guide isn't the place to lay the foundations for this. How about a link to a page on the website, though, entitled something like "Information for those new to Linux"? In a nutshell, yes, use it because it's good, but it's good because of its community basis; on the other hand, users need to become self-reliant, and that's a *very* good thing compared to other OSs. There is a learning curve (let's be open about that and see it positively). And the page could have a few helpful links, for instance to off-site documentation. However, it may be that each user needs to find these things out for herself and they are better not made explicit.
Anyway, I did like the spirit of the recent piece on Akuna's blog.
If people think such a page would be worthwhile, I could try and put something together to be considered
I know Salix is not aimed at newbies, but nonetheless they (we) come to it, and it works so well that it may suit them willy nilly. For instance, the Live tools are the easiest to use, the most transparent and effective for their purpose, and the richest in functionality that I have ever come across in any distro.
By the way, the problem with links applies to all pdf files, so it's probably just something in my setup. My pdf reader is evince.
However, just noticed that the internal link to 4.1 takes you to page 2 instead of p. 25. All the other internal links I tried worked correctly.
A new point - I wouldn't say that
people find that Linux does not excel in the area of providing applications with good graphical user interfaces (GUI)
It's better than Windows!
Seriously, you might put people off. Salix GUI, in particular, gives a really professional impression and is a pleasure to use. Surely the point is that the console is sometimes more powerful; but if you want to use core office, multimedia, internet apps, the experience is excellent. A few years ago that may not have been the case, but Salix wasn't even around then.
By the way, if you need a native English speaker for proofreading once the content is fixed, I'd be happy to help.