Are those two pinned threads in this sub-forum dated? Are they still valid paths to follow? My perspective is as a newbie regarding Linux. At this point I'm in the very early exploration phase and am going to dedicate at least a few hours per week towards learning if Linux can suit me. TIA
To answer my own question --- There's plenty of information in those pinned threads. I should've more closely examined them before asking my question. Thank you members DasFox, Longboard and Mrkvonic for taking the time to post all that info. It must've taken quite some time.
Youtube is another good resource for tutorials. I'd recommend starting out on the more popular distros because there's a chance their forums will be full of stuff that'll be helpful.
Best place to start with Linux is Ubuntu. Their forum is full of answers and their members are always active and ready to help. You go down the road of Mint and others and you will be waiting ages.
If your coming from windows then i would suggest linux mint rather than ubuntu.And seeing as mint is based on ubuntu it would seem appropriate that the majority of information relating to ubuntu would relate to a certain extent to mint also.
Thanks folks. What do you think of this perspective http://netrunner-mag.com/how-to-master-linux-the-proper-way/ ? (The writing quality is excellent.) I'm not sure that I want to be a master but the writer's premise is persuasive.
Obviously it all depends on what works for you yourself. That could be said for a lot of things in life. I've personally found once you do something hard then everything else seems easier. The way I personally started learning Linux was sticking it on a spare computer in my house. Or, install as many open source programs to as many things on Windows or Mac as you can (cause most are obviously Linux native) and that helps with familiarity. Not only the different distros can throw you off, but also the many https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_environment . I personally like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LXDE & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_(software) but, whatever floats your boat man.
I agree with you on this. Mint looks nice, but Ubuntu has been established for quite a while and many distros, including Mint, are based on it. The Unity interface on Ubuntu has divided people somewhat but I find it very user friendly and intuitive. I am basically a noob with Linux as well, even though I've been a member of the Ubuntu forums since 2008. I was so impressed with 'Trusty Tahr' I purchased a Lenovo laptop with it preinstalled.
Since you've self-identified as 'basically a noob' and you've been 'a member of the Ubuntu forums since 2008', and, if you have the time, I'd be interested in hearing what your Linux learning path has been. Your post implies that you prepared yourself with a long-term plan in mind. I appreciate everyone's responses in this thread. It's been helpful to me and maybe others. Thanks again.
I first experimented with a live Ubuntu CD/DVD around five years ago. I always planned to dual boot with it but it never worked out for me, lack of knowledge and experience with making a dual partition being the main problem. WUBI didn't work on my Win 7 machine either and even Ubuntu stopped supporting it. A few months ago I converted my old Belnea laptop to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 'Trusty Tahr' (it originally ran Vista). I had downloaded the ISO and burned it to a DVD. So I spent a few hours 'cold booting' the DVD and experimenting with it. Eventually I decided to replace Vista with Ubuntu Trusty Tahr. I'd not seen the 'Unity' interface before but I actually preferred it. Possibly because it is quite Mac-like. It is very easy to use and there is no need to utilise the terminal if you don't wish to. The Belnea is x86 (32 bit) and runs at 1.6 GHz with only 1GB of RAM. Ubuntu ran beautifully on it for a while. Although I had some hardware incompatibilities causing me to reformat a couple of times. It still runs now and I found it so easy to use that when I decided to purchase a new Lenovo laptop I thought I'd get one with Trusty Tahr preinstalled. All in all, I find Ubuntu a secure, user friendly, highly competent OS. I have virtually all the apps I had on Windows including VLC, SMPlayer, LibreOffice, GIMP, Pinta, AbiWord, Celestia and Stellarium plus some not often run on MS like the Shotwell Photo Manager, KStars and DreamChess. I can play all of my MP3 and 4 files, and unlike Win 7 (this is a known bug with Asus Nexus 7 2nd generation tablets), it docks perfectly with my Android tablet and I can transfer files between them both. The default browser is Firefox (I use Chromium as a back-up) and applications can be securely downloaded from the Ubuntu Download Centre situated on the dock launcher. Furthermore, I even find file management easier on Ubuntu than Windows. There is a simplicity and logic to Ubuntu that appeals to me and I much preferred an OS I was familiar with than something like Win 8. I am still on the Linux learning curve. My next step is to become more familiar with using the terminal. This will most probably aid with the updating of certain apps among other things. As someone said earlier, the Ubuntu forums are very helpful and 'noobs' are always welcome.
I just wanted to add that the hardest part is the shock of having so much choice with Linux (which is a great thing), and then just developing the familiarity of the software and the OS. It's hard to know where to start. I personally find duel booting a complex thing to setup right, especially for beginners. Like I said above, I'd just start off by sticking it on a spare computer and learning at your own pace. But everyone is different, whatever works.
It is a shock and I can see I have plenty to learn. At this point, I don't know what I don't know. It'll definitely be a long-term project. Thanks for your help. Happy Holidays to you and yours. :- )
Thank you, Daveski17. I appreciate you taking the time to share your personal experience. You've given me much to consider. Happy Holidays to you and yours. :- ) [Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Libertas.]
You won't regret becoming more familiar with the terminal. I use the terminal for updating my software and for installing software. I don't kbow whether you've installed any "indicators" but these are mini-programs that sit in your top panel and are always visible. They can show you your CPU usage, RAM usage, temperature of your CPU and much more depending on which indicator you install. I would say that keeping a watch on CPU usage and temperature are two important things for a laptop user. LibreOffice can get a bit flaky and the indicator will show you when that happens. I suggest you do a bit of reading on indicator-multiload. I don't use it now because Conky does the same job for me but because you're using Unity, I don't think there's an easy way to have a Conky window always visible if you run your programs with their windows maximized. (Beware, Conky is highly addictive.) You can get some information on indicator-multiload using the terminal this way: Code: 09:51 AM ~ $ apt-cache show indicator-multiload Package: indicator-multiload Priority: extra Section: universe/utils Installed-Size: 1403 Maintainer: Ubuntu Developers <ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com> Original-Maintainer: Michael Hofmann <mh21@mh21.de> Architecture: amd64 Version: 0.3-0ubuntu1 Depends: libappindicator3-1 (>= 0.3.91), libc6 (>= 2.4), libcairo2 (>= 1.2.4), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.28.0), libgtk-3-0 (>= 3.0.0), libgtop2-7 (>= 2.22.3), dconf-gsettings-backend | gsettings-backend Filename: pool/universe/i/indicator-multiload/indicator-multiload_0.3-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb Size: 185202 MD5sum: f55634fee4d06224b3a7977867a71ebf SHA1: ab47b93bc8998fe4be299b410c09e4a90de1c34a SHA256: f063dd7b53e43edadf4d62a2483f6fc70efb85531fffef7eb23f20df5eb52e12 Description-en: Graphical system load indicator for CPU, ram, etc. A system load indicator capable of displaying graphs for CPU, ram, and swap space use, plus network traffic. Description-md5: 7e4e71e4d80c60b720d6389a40010459 Homepage: https://launchpad.net/indicator-multiload Bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+filebug Origin: Ubuntu 09:56 AM ~ $ I've bolded one line in the code because that is a bit important: it tells you whether Canonical supports the software or not. Further reading is here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Repositories/Ubuntu Another very nice trick I learned from Ocky is the use of -s. Using that allows you to simulate an action before you actually do it. And, because it's a simulation, you don't need sudo. So, this what I see for indicator-multiload: Code: 09:56 AM ~ $ apt-get install -s indicator-multiload NOTE: This is only a simulation! apt-get needs root privileges for real execution. Keep also in mind that locking is deactivated, so don't depend on the relevance to the real current situation! Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: indicator-multiload 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Inst indicator-multiload (0.3-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:14.04/trusty [amd64]) Conf indicator-multiload (0.3-0ubuntu1 Ubuntu:14.04/trusty [amd64]) 10:05 AM ~ $ One point that isn't mentioned as often as I think it should be, is that one should update the software database before installing software by running sudo apt-get update. A nice link on apt-get is here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AptGet/Howto.