Newbie to Guru: Heart to Heart

[bountonw]

O Most Highly Respected and Admiried Linux Guru (OMHR&ALG),

I have been using linux for a whole two weeks now and am suffering from an Acute Case of SIOL (Severe Information Over Load. This can also be abreviated as ACSIOL). My HNQ (Humble Newbie Question), is how long did it take you to reach your OMHR&ALG status? ISAH (Is There Any Hope) for me? Or is this a karma thing that it takes several reincarnations in order to attain?

Signed,

Struggling

[cwaldbieser]

O Most Highly Respected and Admiried Linux Guru (OMHR&ALG),

I have been using linux for a whole two weeks now and am suffering from an Acute Case of SIOL (Severe Information Over Load. This can also be abreviated as ACSIOL). My HNQ (Humble Newbie Question), is how long did it take you to reach your OMHR&ALG status? ISAH (Is There Any Hope) for me? Or is this a karma thing that it takes several reincarnations in order to attain?

Signed,

Struggling

There is a whole lot of information to absorb. Everybody feels that way at first-- don't sweat it. If you want to be a guru, keep at it. You will be. Once I made it past my first year on Linux, I stopped worrying about every time something small went wrong. If you keep your cool and don't panic, everything works out in the end.

For now, I would recommend that you try to step back and relax. Give yourself some time to reflect on what you have learned, and give yourself a break from the PC for a while. Mow the lawn. Read a book. Play a board game. Get someone some flowers for Valentines Day.

When you have rested enough, you can dive back in there and try to learn some more. It can be tough at first, but it gets easier.

[heimo]

O Most Highly Respected and Admiried Linux Guru (OMHR&ALG),
At ease! (AE)



I have been using linux for a whole two weeks now and am suffering from an Acute Case of SIOL (Severe Information Over Load.
I've been using Linux for ... :-k ... ten years now and I'm still suffering the same symtoms.


My HNQ (Humble Newbie Question), is how long did it take you to reach your OMHR&ALG status? It's something that is not self-announced, but earned from those on higher level of illumination. I can't reveal the details of this process. It's a gradual, incremental path, step-by-step.


ISAH (Is There Any Hope) for me? YNPOTL(AL)A (You need practise on three letter (and longer) acronyms, BOYDF (But Otherwise You're Doing Fine).

Sincerely,
Second-Level Semi-Guru in intense training :rolleyes: ;) :-D

[eriefisher]

Flowers for Valentines Day, wouldn't that be nice. Maybe a box of beer to.

eriefisher

[nrwilk]

beer.\\:D/

[matthew]

There is a whole lot of information to absorb. Everybody feels that way at first-- don't sweat it. If you want to be a guru, keep at it. You will be. Once I made it past my first year on Linux, I stopped worrying about every time something small went wrong. If you keep your cool and don't panic, everything works out in the end.

For now, I would recommend that you try to step back and relax. Give yourself some time to reflect on what you have learned, and give yourself a break from the PC for a while. Mow the lawn. Read a book. Play a board game. Get someone some flowers for Valentines Day.

When you have rested enough, you can dive back in there and try to learn some more. It can be tough at first, but it gets easier.I'm not sure I'm qualified to be called a guru, but here are my thoughts.

The above from cwaldbieser is an excellent answer. I will echo the "take a break and do other stuff when you get frustrated" as well as the "it gets easier" and "you will get the hang of it with time." Hang in there. The first 2-3 months are the freakiest and by the end of the first year you should feel pretty comfortable.

By the way, bountonw, I was in vacation in Chiang Mai last June. You have a beautiful city.

[aysiu]

I'm by no means a "guru" in Linux, but I'll tell you that a few things help to feel a sense of... well, information processing instead of information overload:

1. Dual boot or just use a live CD for a while. Take your time getting used to using Linux and various interfaces. If you still have Windows to "get stuff done" while you're learning, you're far less likely to panic.

2. Offer help to others... with what little you know. When you teach, you learn better.

3. Read. Read. Read. Read. I learned best from... everything. I searched the internet, read forums, checked books out from the library... just soak it in. It doesn't all have to make sense to you.

4. Give it some time. What little I know I learned in only nine months, but I have lots left to learn.

[towsonu2003]

I spend half my day looking at this forum and reading solved stuff: to learn how to solve stuff bf it happens...

we'll reach nirvana soon...

[heimo]

Excellent answer, aysiu - that's how I see it too.

I'll try to add some (more serious than my first post) advice. As aysiu says, you'll learn a lot buy helping others on those things that you know already. I'm learning all the time when reading and writing on these forums. What I'm doing is: I read a post with a question / problem, try to figure out how to solve it and often duplicate / mimic the situation on my computer. If someone is having problems installing some software or doing some funny configuration, I'll try to do the same and answer if I can provide any information / solution.

Of course you may already be busy enough with your own puzzles. Take it easy. :) Little by little, and understand what you're doing. If someone provides you step-by-step instructions, ask yourself (or the one who helps you), what am I doing? What does this command do? Learn to find information by searching web and manual pages. If you don't understand something, do not get frustrated or stuck with details. It all starts to make sense a bit by bit.

Do what interests you. Or just wonder around. To me, part of the beauty of using Linux is the wealth of information available. It may not be obvious at first, but it's there. In FLOSS (Free/Libre/Open Source Software) world you can even meet the developers, see the code and development process (bug databases, mailing lists). There are huge numbers of users and most of the time when you run into some kind of problem, you're not the first.

Enjoy the variety of software. Try alternative browsers, office suites, desktop environments, mediaplayers, image editors. If you're like I'm, you'll start to see the incredible amount of work and love that's put into FLOSS. And some tears, sweat and blood. I've grown to appreciate hugely the accomplishments. These people (edit: devs) are proud of what they're doing and still humble and modest (most of the time). Devs are the smartest, most stubborn and clever people I've ever met. Some of them are gurus (it's in the eye of the beholder), most of them are hackers (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/).

Live. I know pretty much nothing about you - but I guess I'm writing this more to myself. :-k I'm a bit passionate about this subject. Take a break, do something else. Go outside, meet your friends, have a beer, knit a sock, read a non-tech-book. If you're feeling overwhelmed, you're. It can burn your interest and harm learning. Go listen a podcast (http://www.lugradio.org/) or two (http://spacemusic.libsyn.com/). Stay away from bad threads in forums.

:)

[Simian]

I've been using toying with linux for a few years now and I still feel like a noob.

incidentally, I was living in Chiang Mai when I picked up my first linux distro. Red Hat 7. somthing. (nasty distro)

[GeneralZod]

My HNQ (Humble Newbie Question), is how long did it take you to reach your OMHR&ALG status? ISAH (Is There Any Hope) for me? Or is this a karma thing that it takes several reincarnations in order to attain?


This flax weighs three pounds. :)

[fuscia]

some great advice...


(1) choose just one thing about Linux, one thing you want to do --- say, file management --- and then read everything about it.
Try to actually do as much of what you read as posssible. When you think you understand it fairly well, go on to another thing. (2) I know this sounds rediculous, but keep reading things about Linux, even things you don't really understand; one day when you're sitting at your computer, a big chunk of stuff you've been reading that didn't make sense will come clear. You will suddenly understand (and feel great
about it too!)

[Brunellus]

are your problems mostly related to

1) getting used to the new environment,

2) things not working, and/or your inability to get them to do so?

IF mainly 1), my advice is to immerse yourself *totally* in the new environment. Do not--DO NOT--be tempted to sneak back into your previous operating environment, nor be tempted immediately to change the defaults to bring things back in line to your previous expectations. If your native language is English, you don't learn French by speaking English--you learn French by speaking French. Likewise, you don't learn new OSes by hurtling back to your previous ones; you learn by using the new OS. Just relax, learn things as they are, and ask relevant questions. We'll help you out, I promise.

If, however, your problems are closer to 2), then help us help you--tell us exactly what's going wrong, and what you want to do. I can't guarantee that there will be a resolution to *every* problem (some of them are rather thorny and not fully worked-out yet). But we can't help you through the admittedly rather overwhelming flood of information without help from you.

[Stormy Eyes]

My HNQ (Humble Newbie Question), is how long did it take you to reach your OMHR&ALG status?

"Guru" is somewhat relative. To my wife and coworkers, I'm a guru because I can install Linux, configure it, do some troubleshooting, write simple shell scripts, and am comfortable with the command line. To me, people who hack the kernel or X11 are the real gurus.


ISAH (Is There Any Hope) for me?

Don't worry about becoming a guru. Just get used to using Linux, then tinker a little. Learn by accomplishing specific tasks; that's how I did it.

[poofyhairguy]

To me, people who hack the kernel or X11 are the real gurus.


Amen.

[poofyhairguy]

O Most Highly Respected and Admiried Linux Guru (OMHR&ALG),

I have been using linux for a whole two weeks now and am suffering from an Acute Case of SIOL (Severe Information Over Load. This can also be abreviated as ACSIOL). My HNQ (Humble Newbie Question), is how long did it take you to reach your OMHR&ALG status? ISAH (Is There Any Hope) for me? Or is this a karma thing that it takes several reincarnations in order to attain?

Signed,

Struggling

The trick is to learn how to search google for answers. Once you get that skill, overall knowledge can come at a natural pace (aka you don't have to force it to get something to work). I can't tell you how many time I have copied and pasted stuff into a terminal I found on google that I had no idea what it would do and it "just worked."

[fuscia]

"Guru" is somewhat relative. To my wife and coworkers, I'm a guru because I can install Linux, configure it, do some troubleshooting, write simple shell scripts, and am comfortable with the command line.

my neighbor thinks i'm a guru because i told him that he had to install acrobat, not just download it. he's my lawn guru, so it's a nice trade off.

[raublekick]

some great advice...

that's some really great advice.

[bountonw]

I appreciate all of the advice out there and the good comments. All good, and noted.


are your problems mostly related to

1) getting used to the new environment,

2) things not working, and/or your inability to get them to do so?


Problem with 2. English is my native language, but I have learned 3 other languages somewhat fluently and I agree with total immersion. (although I do dual boot so that I can get someth work done by deadline.) I just can't get anything to work on linux yet and I have a full time job, a wife who would like to see her pictures and children who would like to play the games Daddy talked about but can't install yet. When I do a google search I get 23 million pages. Often, I am not even sure what you call the thingy that I am trying to search for! So, yes, it is a little overwhelming.

But I am enjoying the challenge (most of the time) and greatly appreciate the forums.

Thanks again for all the great advice.

[heimo]

Couple links.

Must have:
Automatix (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=80295)

Ubuntu specific documentation:
User Documentation (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDocumentation)
Wiki Search (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FindPage)

Complete guides to complex problems:
The Linux Documentation Project
(http://www.tldp.org/)
If you're looking for software:
Synaptic
(https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SynapticHowto) Package Search (http://packages.ubuntu.com/)
Universe
(https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Packages)
EDIT: Oh, and this command (requires universe and correct graphics chip drivers from Automatix): :D

sudo apt-get install supertux planetpenguin-racer

[Krigl]

Don't worry, you ARE already a guru. For the most of BFU's will consider you a guru, just because of the mere fact you're Linux user. I've been "computer guru" for my family and some friends for several years only because I had vague ideas like "oh, this could be somewhere here, let's look for it, hey it works!" and I was able to start DOS games by a command. So you just need to become guru for more people than now.

[Zeroangel]

Yeah, that you are willing to learn and explore around linux already puts you one step closer to becoming a guru yourself. Just take everything you learn and put it into practice, experiment. Don't be afraid to try and teach because one way of learning something fully is to teach it.

Soon you will be 3l33t. ;)

[bountonw]

Regarding 3l33t, do I have to wait to become one to know what it is? Another strike against me. Not only am I new, I'm not even a Trekie.:-k

Thanks for the encouragement.

BTW, what is this bunny thing. I sure don't speak the lingo around here and am lost half the time. This is part of my lament. I get wonderful advice on how to solve all my problems only not to understand the answer:) Oh, well. One new thing everyday. Keep plugging along, as they say. Although I am beginning to wonder about this expanding universe thing. The horizon seems to be moving farther away as I go along!

[heimo]

Regarding 3l33t, do I have to wait to become one to know what it is? Another strike against me. Not only am I new, I'm not even a Trekie.:-k
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/E/elite.html
EDIT: Of course I must add that using elite language will disqualify yourself from the club, it's only allowed as a reference to lames (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/crackers.html). ;)

You can fix the lack of Trekkieness by watching StarWreck (http://www.starwreck.com)

[grte]

Regarding 3l33t, do I have to wait to become one to know what it is? Another strike against me. Not only am I new, I'm not even a Trekie.:-k

Oh man...You just put a mental picture of Picard playing Counterstrike and cussing out everyone in 1337.

And now it will never go away.