Re: What's an even easier explanation how to setup gnus ...

[W. Greenhouse]

Don Saklad <dsaklad@gnu.org> writes:

> Please explain the instructions for folks completely unfamiliar with
> computers, for complete novices how to setup gnus... for example for
> grandparents unfamiliar with computers.

Gnus configuration is very simple (a few lines) if you intend to use it
"like RMAIL" (i.e. reading mail delivered to local system maildrop, and
writing mail to be sent by the system's mailer).  Then, assuming grandpa
is using a terminal/workstation that's managed by a competent admin,
it's simply a matter of choosing which kind of local mail storage you
prefer.

(setq gnus-select-method '(nnml "")
      mail-user-agent 'gnus-user-agent
      message-send-mail-function 'message-send-mail-with-sendmail)

would be enough for such a configuration.

Hopefully this tiny example also helps explain why things get more
complex when messages are being retrieved from multiple sources
(i.e. Usenet, RSS, etc.) or when Gnus is responsible for mail retrieval.

Also, in a more global sense, I would focus on turning such users into
people competent to read documentation and support themselves.

Also, please consider
http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/29/kids-cant-use-computers/
when you assume (a) that it's grandparents who are the ignorant users,
when they may have more experience than their grandkids with general
purpose computing, and (b) that it is a wise long-term strategy to cater
to user ignorance.

--
W. Greenhouse
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