I was wondering...

[TNT1]

There are a lot of threads here about why people started programming, what programming languages people use, and so on and so forth.

So, do you have to be a geek to use linux? I can barely program my dvd player. The digital clock on my motorbike is a challenge, yet I use linux.

Not to say I have never used the terminal to accomplish things, but it's usually when I have searched (mostly here) for a solution, and then I just follow the steps. What I like about my current setup, is that everything is just perfect. Everything woks, and I don't need to constantly fiddle with bits to make my pc usable.

I have no inclination to leaning how to write code and programs and what not...

Am I a minority in the linux universe?

[smellyman]

there are plenty of non geeks using linux, but still....its Linux.....on these message boards you will find more geeks than anywhere else on the net until Linux is adopted by more users.

I have been in IT for 12 years, but on the server/networking/blackberry/telecom/voip/anything other than lprogramming side of things....

[Legendary_Bibo]

Why is that if you want to learn to program you're constituted as a geek? :confused:

Not saying being a geek is a bad thing. I was just wondering why using linux and enjoying learning something such as programming automatically threw me into a stereotype.

[TNT1]

Why is that if you want to learn to program you're constituted as a geek? :confused:

Not saying being a geek is a bad thing. I was just wondering why using linux and enjoying learning something such as programming automatically threw me into a stereotype.

Apologies... I didn't mean it in a bad way... I just mean most people who find out I use linux think I must be a programmer or something. I think people who write code and stuff are great, all respect to them, cause I wouldn't be using linux now without their efforts...

[Darkness Des]

Programming is a wonderful thing, and you have about 45% chance of being inducted into it. Being a geek is strongly recommended as it helps satisfy the dependencies for some packages that you may want to build from source. Otherwise, it is not needed. Though we will convert you eventually. JOIN US.

[TNT1]

Though we will convert you eventually. JOIN US.

No way...

Besides, isn't a testament to the usability/user-friendliness of linux that non-geeks like me use it?:D

[lisati]

Geekdom can be relative. Some of my in-laws and their extended family consider me to be a geek, yet there are many users of this forum who are better qualified.

[Khakilang]

I been in computer for over 20 year mostly on hardware support since the DOS days I haven't use much command line. Everything is so easy to use. The only time I key something is on Open Office word or spreadsheet and of course this forum. When I want something I just go to Ubuntu software center instead of apt-get something or make something and make install something. Ubuntu make me lazy and I like it.

[celldweller1591]

Am I a minority in the linux universe? I am in IT for 3 yrs only and i started my linux journey with suse, then i heard of ubuntu and new i have 4 distros in my pc :)
I am Electrical Engg student and i have nothing to do with programming still i use it coz its safe,fast and free and you learn a lot everyday coz its opensource. IMO windows is making ppl dumber.

[Zorgoth]

Being a geek in every possible sense of the word, I maybe am not qualified to say this, but I think that Ubuntu is fundamentally both a more intuitive and more advanced OS than Windows, and if you don't have horribly incompatible hardware and/or an inquiring mind, more stable.

Geeks have been trying to get people like you to use Linux forever (if only so people will start releasing games for us), and I am glad it is working out well for you :)

[red_Marvin]

You don't have to be a geek to use linux, but since it does not come as the default operating system on most computer sold, a person running linux has probably consciously decided to do just that, and probably takes an interest in computer technology.

[TNT1]

but I think that Ubuntu is fundamentally both a more intuitive and more advanced OS than Windows,



I think that's why I first liked ubuntu. I don't think my brain works like a windows brain. Then I realised, nobody's brain thinks the way windows thinks, cause my wife, kids, parebts, are all happier with ubuntu now.

Was ubuntu (many distros even) created by people, for people? As opposed to an OS that was designed first with making a profit in mind?

[TNT1]

You don't have to be a geek to use linux, but since it does not come as the default operating system on most computer sold, a person running linux has probably consciously decided to do just that, and probably takes an interest in computer technology.

Yeah, fair point... I have worked in the IT industry for close on 15 years now, so maybe I am in some way underestimating my own inherent geekness?

(and to be absolutely honest, I have recompiled a kernel before, in Fedora, beginning of this year, to get a piece of hardware working...) Oh, and that's yet another reason I really believe in the open source principle, cause a complete stranger, I've never met, off a forum, assisted me in doing such. I said to him after, I must meet you and buy you a beer or something, to say thanks. His reply was that I should just pay it forward.

For me, the idea of linux is beyond the simple OS, it's this spirit. Guess that's what ubuntu means anyway.

[pcgeekguru]

being a geek is easy all you have to have is interest,passion,and willingness to learn new things everyday. besides when it comes down to it geek is only a word.....not an organization or group. we are all geeks at something even if its not linux.

[Timmer1240]

My friends think Im a bit of a geek because I can figure their computer problems out for them to me its fun to them their lost. I dont write programs or any of that but I just like to know how to figure things out if theres trouble.Geek no problem solver yes!And when I started using linux they said how do you know all these things truth is I dont I just jump in and learn as I go it fun isnt it learning!

[ubunterooster]

My friends think Im a bit of a geek because I can figure their computer problems out for them to me its fun to them their lost. I dont write programs or any of that but I just like to know how to figure things out if theres trouble.Geek no problem solver yes!And when I started using linux they said how do you know all these things truth is I dont I just jump in and learn as I go it fun isnt it learning!
This. Most Linux users start as this kind of person because "Uncle Bob" [used generically] would never dream of installing Linux no matter how good it was.

[TNT1]

And when I started using linux they said how do you know all these things truth is I dont I just jump in and learn as I go it fun isnt it learning!


Ok, yeah, people ask me the exact same thing, and my response is the same as yours.

[handy]

Apart from a few other qualities, it really helps if you have some of the obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in your veins, to be a programmer.

You need to be perpetually chasing perfection, which is certainly a brilliant way to get never ending exercise. :D

Perhaps there is the possibility of an equation that summarises the relationship between good code & the degree of OCD involved in the coder.