How long did it take everyone to become linux-competent?

[tegnoto89]

I'm definitely missing windows right now, but I'm telling myself that linux will be worth learning. So my question is:

How long did it take you guys to become relatively linux-competent? Not necessarily a master, but able to solve problems for yourself and feel pretty comfortable using a linux distribution?

[cobra741]

definitely took me a few weeks of tinkering before I felt like i was relatively competant. that's not to say i'd consider myself an expert or anything. i'm still dual-booting with Vista *shudders* just for those few things i haven't been able to get my head around (and 'cause WoW doesn't run too good with ubuntu on my laptop.. i'll make it work one day :) )

just remember ubuntuforums and google are your best friends during this learning curve!

Just have fun with it! i've had the best time playing with ubuntu since i took the plunge! you may be able to do anything with Windows right now but after a few months you'll be able to do EVERYTHING with ubuntu :P

[earthpigg]

three words: google, google, google.

[newbee70]

I'm definitely missing windows right now, but I'm telling myself that linux will be worth learning. So my question is:

How long did it take you guys to become relatively linux-competent? Not necessarily a master, but able to solve problems for yourself and feel pretty comfortable using a linux distribution?

Welcome to the Forums; a great place with great people who are willing to help.

From 1 noob to another It IS and not really that long.

how long it takes; depends on your learning curve As for me I changed over Cold Turkey about 2 months ago and will never go back.

It just takes time you got to comfortable with the warm and fuzzy hand holding from the people who wanted you dumbed down and paying them for it.

Now your waking up

[earthpigg]

From 1 noob to another It IS and not really that long.

how long it takes; depends on your learning curve As for me I changed over Cold Turkey about 2 months ago and will never go back.

It just takes time you got to comfortable with the warm and fuzzy hand holding from the people who wanted you dumbed down and paying them for it.

Now your waking up

lol you make it sound like the matrix

[BGFG]

Couple of weeks. Although on my first day i uninstalled HAL :) I'm still learning though...

[newbee70]

lol you make it sound like the matrix

In a way that is a very good comparison.

Microsoft has every user right under their thumb Proprietary software and Codex's.
:popcorn:

[lisati]

Still learning, even though I've been using Ubuntu for over a year.

[CatKiller]

How long did it take you guys to become relatively linux-competent? Not necessarily a master, but able to solve problems for yourself and feel pretty comfortable using a linux distribution?

So that I could use it comfortably? No time at all.

So that I could configure it to my tastes? About an hour.

So that I realised that it really wasn't the same as Windows and I had new things to learn? About a week.

So that I was confident helping others on this forum with things I'd discovered? About a month.

So that I could do everything that's possible with my computer? I've been using Ubuntu for about three-and-a-half years, and I still learn new things every day. In the beginning I broke things by playing with them to see what they did. After I'd fixed them again I had a much better understanding of how they worked :) There are still plenty of things that I don't fully grok, but this forum is an invaluable resource. The posts that say "I was trying to do X, and it broke" generally lead me to think "Ah, I could try doing X."

It's all about the mindset. The basic skills and the recall will come fairly easily in a short amount of time, but the necessary mindset can be painful to acquire. It hits the "Power User" ex-Windows people the hardest, since no one likes the confidence knock that comes from their well-ingrained instincts being rendered useless. They either get there, and have a more rounded and general concept of computing, or they don't, and they retreat in disgust to the comfort of what they knew before. I hope for your sake that you'll manage the former.

Welcome to the community, and I wish you well in your explorations.

[NewJack]

I still am becoming "Linux Competent". Been using Ubuntu/Linux for over 2 years and I learn a little something all the time. Didn't take that long to find my way around though, especially with these very forums and Google at my side.

[kevdog]

Basic commands not all that long since I had used cygwin a long time while in Windows, however it did take me a long time to figure out how things fit together. Learning how things compiled and where libraries was another. Learning how to compile a kernel (not that I do that at all) was definitely a valuable experience, since it made me wade through a bunch or kernel options and discover a lot about the kernel itself. Breaking the X windowing system a few times taught me a lot too.

I would suggest you pick an activity or something you want to learn about --- and really become knowledgeable about it. Try to make it your goal to be able to post a HOW-TO in the forums about the topic. Then later move onto a different topic.

After awhile you will not be afraid of "breaking" Ubuntu.

[cardinals_fan]

That depends on what you consider "competent". I've used Linux for 2+ years now, and still feel new at many things. However, I can now install/configure almost any distro, and can perform almost all needed functions in the command line. I'd say that it took maybe two months for me to achieve basic competence, where I could solve almost all my problems by myself.

I learned almost everything I know from installing and using Slackware. If you want to learn Linux, I strongly recommend it (though you should start out with something like Xubuntu, or your eyes will start to bleed ;)).

With that said, your mindset matters a lot. From day one, I investigated everything I saw, explored the choices available, and embraced the command line. My goal was to learn about the system (and have fun doing it :P). With that attitude, it was easy to learn from each hurdle I encountered. This forum is a great resource, but once you have some extremely basic knowledge, solving your own problems is much more rewarding.

[OutOfReach]

I learned the absolute basics in about 1-2 weeks.

But I am still learning, installing Arch Linux (which is now my main OS) taught me a lot about Linux etc, even after 3/4 months of already using Linux.

Basically what I'm saying is that you learn something new everyday.

[EV500B]

I think that the learning curve of linux heavily depends on the hardware and distro ,you're using. So if someone is using only a "generic" LAN card(No wireless card or whatever) to access to the internet, it will work out of the box. So s/he could ignore the network configuration in general.

Nowadays, the Linux distros are becoming more modern and more automagically configured for us.....(users). So there's nowadays less "Linux-competent" compared to before as almost all the configuration of a modern distro, is being either automatically or configured using simple and easily manageable interfaces. Some people only want the out of the box without searching more or any complicated way of configure the same thing.

I say that a "Linux-competent" guy/girl is someone that have passed under several completely different systems, resolving "almost" each hardware configuration problem and also "damn" X problems or it can also be someone that knows his/her computer system (Motherboard chipset, graphic card, ide/sata controller, sound card, etc...) very well; so that s/he could resolve his/her computer problems "almost" easily.

[lyndaj70]

I started fooling with Linux about 10 years or so ago... As I jumped in head-first, it was a rocky ride... Took several months, some new hardware, and a couple reinstalls before I realised that I was actually having fun. A friend of mine has ubuntu installed through Wubi and has had it jumping through hoops since day 1, says it does everything she wants it to, and my boyfriend has had his laptop dual-booted for a few months now but only started playing seriously with it in the past month or so. Daily he calls me up with something new he has discovered he can do on it.

Personally, even after 10 years while I can do what I want to with it I am still learning new things about it, and to me that is the most enjoyable part -- knowing the basics but having enough stuff there not to get bored :)

Hope this is what you were looking for :guitar:

Peace, L

[chucky chuckaluck]

i'm more comfortable than competent (i wouldn't describe myself as competent at all, actually). it's been three years since i left my beloved windows ME behind. now, when i work on one of my neighbors' computers, i feel somewhat out of place in xp and vista (though, i do like what i've seen of vista).

[crazyness003]

I was born with Linux knowlege...but when i used windows most of my life, I lost some of my Linux mojo...im getting it back.

Rule number one: Linux is not Windows. IF you understand that rule, you're already competent.

[ddnev45]

Started using Linux a few years back with Red hat 6. Took a couple months to get comfortable with it and get it doing the basic things I needed it to do. By the time RH 7 came out, I had no problem getting it installed and configured. Now that I've switched to Debian/Ubuntu, I get to re-learn some things.

One advantage you'll have is that the documentation is so much better than it use to be, and there are plenty of forums available.

[kevdog]

(though, i do like what i've seen of vista).

Just a side note. I own 2 Vista machines. I'm not a basher. But seriously -- I can't believe chucky of all people would make this statement. Maybe I'm more surprised given who its coming from than the statement itself.

I'll let the rest of my opinion -- a neutral opinion -- quiet.

[Trail]

About I month if I remember correctly.

[fatality_uk]

About a day and a half with Googles help!

[automaton26]

I've just moved over from Windows, and after 6 weeks I'm quite content. All the general "computing" concepts are the same, but just organized differently. I found that keeping my own text-file notes from the start helped a lot, because I still often forget how I did something even if it was just recently!

Application familiarity is a separate issue - it's all in the mind whether it's seen as a chore or an interesting challenge. I just give myself plenty of time to read the docs, google, and play around with things.

I'll never go back to Windows, so it's definitely worth taking the time, and eventually contributing to the increased use of Linux.

[I-75]

I'm definitely missing windows right now, but I'm telling myself that linux will be worth learning. So my question is:

How long did it take you guys to become relatively linux-competent? Not necessarily a master, but able to solve problems for yourself and feel pretty comfortable using a linux distribution?

Still learning, what is fun about is trying out various distros and seeing what works better ...but I keep coming back to Ubuntu.

[fjf]

I dont think I can be described as competent. With the help of this community, however many of us can manage.

[eternalnewbee]

I dont think I can be described as competent. With the help of this community, however many of us can manage.
You are competent enough for me;)

[notwen]

Lol, after 10+ users of regular usage, I'll letcha know when I get there. Still learning new things everyday. =]

[AndyCooll]

I started off by dual-booting and it was 6 months later when I finally decided there was definitely no going back and removed XP.

Actually I'd kept the dual-boot mainly for playing one game and just in case the missus complained.

After first trying Linux it took me about a month to feel comfortable using it regularly. And two or three months before I felt competent enough that if I hit a problem going back to Windows wasn't the answer to solving that problem.

And 3 and 1/2 years later and I'm still learning!

:cool:

[abhilashm86]

ubuntu forums r teachers and we r students!!!!!!!other way too happens!!!!!:lolflag:just m enjoying ubuntu from 2 months from forums!!!!!cheers forums

[Sealbhach]

It's good to back up anything you need to keep, then play a little rough with the system - or else have a test machine and just keep breaking it and trying to fix it. That's the way to really learn fast.

You could probably use Ubuntu for years without really learning anything, assuming you didn't make any changes to it at all.


.

[speedwell68]

I still am becoming "Linux Competent". Been using Ubuntu/Linux for over 2 years and I learn a little something all the time. Didn't take that long to find my way around though, especially with these very forums and Google at my side.

I'm about the same as you. Although, I am a believer in 'Baptism by Fire', so one day I took the decision that I was going to run Linux, so I simply installed Ubuntu and ditched Windows. I had no idea what I was doing, but as I had no Windows system to fall back on, I quickly learned.

[forrestcupp]

There is a myth that if you have Linux installed, it means you have to learn all the commands and ins and outs, you have to learn to be an elite hacker, and you have to know everything about how the system works.

That is a myth. It's ok to be a user of Linux and not have to learn how the entire system works. There are a lot of knowledgeable Windows users who don't even care how Windows works. You don't have to be a hacker and understand kernel programming to be good at using GNU/Linux as your OS. If you just want to be a good Linux user, then it shouldn't take you very long because most of the concepts that are visible to the end-user work identically to Windows (i.e. main/start menus, taskbars, task trays, File Edit menus, X buttons to close windows, etc.). They just look slightly differently.

But if you still think you have to be a 1337 h@x0r, then plan on taking a few years of hard work.

[chucky chuckaluck]

Just a side note. I own 2 Vista machines. I'm not a basher. But seriously -- I can't believe chucky of all people would make this statement. Maybe I'm more surprised given who its coming from than the statement itself.

what? you think i can't afford vista?

[OrangeCrate]

^,

Nice hat cutie pie, do you come here often?

[ddnev45]

There is a myth that if you have Linux installed, it means you have to learn all the commands and ins and outs, you have to learn to be an elite hacker, and you have to know everything about how the system works.

That is a myth. It's ok to be a user of Linux and not have to learn how the entire system works. There are a lot of knowledgeable Windows users who don't even care how Windows works. You don't have to be a hacker and understand kernel programming to be good at using GNU/Linux as your OS. If you just want to be a good Linux user, then it shouldn't take you very long because most of the concepts that are visible to the end-user work identically to Windows (i.e. main/start menus, taskbars, task trays, File Edit menus, X buttons to close windows, etc.). They just look slightly differently.

But if you still think you have to be a 1337 h@x0r, then plan on taking a few years of hard work.

Well put.

[insane_alien]

a few days for me to be comfortable using it. although, i've been using it pretty much exclusively for years(since the breezy badger was released) and there is still so much that i don't know.

competency is a journey, not a destination.

[SunnyRabbiera]

I like to put myself under the "still learning" category.
Even with 4+ years of experience with linux, I am still discovering new things to do with it because of the dynamic nature of linux.
Unlike windows, linux is not a "one size fits all" OS and its something I like about it.
Now if we are talking comfort level it took me about 2 months or so to get really comfy with linux initially.
My first linux experiences didnt fare so well, but then again when I first got into linux the desktop side of linux didnt have much (this was 2004 or so)
This was before Ubuntu became a hit, back then you only had a small amount of desktop linuxes in the forms of Mandriva, Suse and a bunch of third party distros that no one knows about.
My first two tries with linux: failures as Yoper (my first linux) sucked and Suse was no better.
That two month wait eventually paid off in the form of Mepis linux the first linux to work for me.
I got cozy with it from day 1, it was a dream :D
But again I am still learning, there is still a lot I dont know about linux but I am learning at a good pace.

[chucky chuckaluck]

^,

Nice hat cutie pie, do you come here often?

don't be fresh!