Linux is a lot easier when you know what you're doing!

[aysiu]

I'm coming up on my fifth month Linux-using anniversary (still a newbie, I'd say), and I most recently installed Kubuntu after a long love affair with Gnome came to an end, and installing and configuring Kubuntu didn't take much time or energy at all. I knew exactly what part of the Ubuntu Guide to go to. I changed all the gedit commands to kwrite commands. Now I have streaming video in Firefox, the original Mozilla icons for Firefox and Thunderbird, and a damn solid system with a nice Kwin-Baghira theme and mock OS X icons and all the keyboard shortcuts I need for daily use.

When I see all these new users frustrated that they can't get Linux to "just work," I wish there was some way for me to reassure them, "Hey, just give it some time. Once you learn how things work and where to look for things, it's so simple." But when you're new and frustrated (as I was the first time I tried Ubuntu), the last thing you want to hear is "Give it a few months."

I don't know what the purpose of this post is. I guess I just wanted to say the resources are good for Linux, especially for Ubuntu, if you do a little looking and a little asking... and I'm glad I'm at a different place from where I was five months ago!

Thanks to all who helped me get here.

[weasel fierce]

Agreed. I had to reinstall after buggering up my system, trying to upgrade to breezy, and it went much much smoother the second time, because I knew what to look for :)

[Galoot]

As far as I'm concerned, the same could be said for almost any operating system.

Many Windows users forget how much time it took them to get the hang of using their computers when they first started, and get ticked when they discover learning Linux is every bit as much a process as learning Windows was.

Hang in there, newbies. It gets easier, just like it did with your first OS.

[benplaut]

yeah... i'm still in the habit of breaking things :P

i'm the senior! 6 months, or so :roll:

[matthew]

I have to agree...my linux experience goes back just over 5 months as well. Man, I remember feeling grossly overwealmed at times. It really does get easier with a bit of time and experience. I still have a lot to learn, but I've discovered the information really is out there and with a deep breath and a bit of patience every problem I have had has had a solution appear.

Plus, the people on this forum are fabulous.

[darkmatter]

yeah... i'm still in the habit of breaking things :P

i'm the senior! 6 months, or so :roll:

Heh... I still break things after a couple of years with Linux.

Though, admittedly, it's mostly for fun these days. ;-)

[GeekWar]

Heh... I still break things after a couple of years with Linux.

Though, admittedly, it's mostly for fun these days.


I agree with that one in every way. I've been on and off playing with Linux distros since I was 14 (I'm now 21^). Every time I'd play with it for a little while; break it; and struggle to get the damn computer working again. (Of course this is back before LiveCD's were around...you spoiled kids you) So to put it simple I would certainly get overwhelmed and just go back to Windows since I was so much more comfortable with it.
Then I got my hands on SuSE and enjoyed that for a bit but the lack of (FREE) support, hardware compatibility and file association problems I just had enough of it. I actually got my hoary ubuntu pressed CD from a co-worker (Best Buy's Geek Squad) and he insisted that since it was based off Debian it would be the best I've used so far out of the long list I have.
Gave it a shot and by far have enjoyed Ubuntu more than any other distro out there; A large portion of that I give credit to the community. This is a true consumer driven OS as we as a community are what keeps this distro so strong. All other companies make all the decisions for you and just hope you can work with what you get.
I learn something new every day from the forums that makes my life so much easier with ubuntu or becomes something completely new to play with (and break - but then I get the joy of fixing :roll: ). Just the other day I came across a thread on how to back up the entire system so if you break it you can just unarchive it and be back to it without running a re-install. To better that I've broken that archive down into a system backup; a home directory backup; and a conf file backup. (Didn't I mention somewhere I was going to keep this simple?)

Oh well; all and all... I love ubuntu and I love the community. If there is anywhere that is more compatible for both the newb's as well as the vet's I think this would be it.

[Stormy Eyes]

yeah... i'm still in the habit of breaking things :P

i'm the senior! 6 months, or so :roll:

Don't feel bad. I've been using Linux since 1999, and I still break things occasionally when tinkering -- to my wife's chagrin.