Full Linux Experience

[waggythegeek]

I am thinking about dual booting Linux and Windows, for the extra separation from that "one account" biz and security (parent tracking and Microsoft information gathering T.T) and for the customizability. However, I have sorta picked up that getting the full benefits of Linux takes a fair amount of technical knowledge... What/where/how should I learn to fully enjoy Linux?

[TheGeeker]

Just install ubuntu and just start using it everyday. You will pick up and google if you need help

[Swndlr]

You learn Linux by using Linux

[waggythegeek]

You learn Linux by using Linux

 

 

Just install ubuntu and just start using it everyday. You will pick up and google if you need help

aight, I get it. Can I come here for help? do people know stuff here?

[Swndlr]

aight, I get it. Can I come here for help? do people know stuff here?

Hell yeh, maybe I dont. But there are plenty of fluent Linux users around the forum. A title involving the words "Linux " and "Help" is basically their calling card.

[TheGeeker]

aight, I get it. Can I come here for help? do people know stuff here?

Yeah. I would love to pick up Linux one of these days. I had my laptop dool booted but I just never used it

[PlayStation 2]

Just install ubuntu and just start using it everyday. You will pick up and google if you need help

If he wants to REALLY do a full time distro, I can't say that Ubuntu would be the best of the pack.

[Swndlr]

If he wants to REALLY do a full time distro, I can't say that Ubuntu would be the best of the pack.

I almost didnt recognize you with that profile pic lmao

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[TheGeeker]

If he wants to REALLY do a full time distro, I can't say that Ubuntu would be the best of the pack.

Agreed but it is good to start off. (I guess using my limited knowledge)

[PlayStation 2]

Agreed but it is good to start off. (I guess using my limited knowledge)

Yeah, as someone that's not too knowledgeable about anything Linux, Ubuntu is pretty user friendly at the expense of FULL customization.

[Guest]

http://www.linuxquestions.org/

http://ubuntuforums.org/

My clients, that aren't the best with technology:

Our technology expert Zachary ****(I MagnesiumPC), has been so helpful with all issues we have.

Websites, such as http://ubuntuforums.org/ have been so helpful with any issues that our IT Expert (I MagnesiunPC)

Wasn't available to help us, whether he was with another client, or he was just out of town.

[royalcrown]

Most times Linux questions are answered with, "Google is your friend" or some nonsense, as well as technical answers filled with linux jargon.

 

A good place for simple answers is http://www.linuxquestions.org/

[Kiyuubi]

Introduction to Linux for a very in depth lesson of Linux for beginners.

[S1lent_5am]

Ubuntu or mint both have well kept repositories for software and decent forums for help and both are very customisable.

[Burusutazu]

Along with the help posted above, asking questions here can draw similar help from Linux users here... If they don't argue over what Linux distribution you chose that is. Ubuntu or a Ubuntu based distro will usually have fantastic support. I would look at a few chooices then pick what looks best to you, or just jump right into regular Ubuntu.

www.ubuntu.com

www.linuxmint.com

www.elementary.io

www.zorinos.com

www.distrowatch.com

[ColonelPanic]

Elementary OS is lovely to use and has a lot of package support (having an Ubuntu foundation and all that).

Linux Mint is slightly less nice to look at, but has now become (pretty much, despite what most Linux users will tell you) the de facto Linux distribution of choice, mostly because it has a very simple-to-use user interface, and it's well supported software-wise, again because of it's Ubuntu core.

Zorin OS is alright if you like the look of Windows, I personally prefer the freshness of using something that doesn't look like the Windows taskbar, but each to their own. Support also good for Zorin as it has Ubuntu roots.

Ubuntu's user interface is a topic of much debate. All you need to know is, it's called 'Unity', the first year of its existence was quite buggy and featureless, and old linux users don't like it. Ignore them, it's fine. It's not something you can form an opinion on just by looking at it, you actually have to use it first.

 

Any of these are fine to fully enjoy the benefits of Linux, I've had them all installed in the past 6 months. They all work, all are updated frequently, there wasn't any performance changes with any of my (quite limited) Steam library.

 

Any more questions, feel free to ask around here.
I have a question, what are you expecting "the full benefits of Linux" to be?

[Azgoth 2]

Ubuntu and Mint are great distributions for first-time Linux users.  Ubuntu is specifically designed to be user friendly, and Mint is a variant of Ubuntu that uses a different layout of the desktop (which will be a lot more intuitive for a Windows user), has a few things different under the hood (but, since it's based on the Ubuntu source code, I imagine it's very similar), and some different stuff pre-installed like Flash and other proprietary/closed-source software.  They both are designed so that you don't strictly have to interact with all the nuts and bolts of the Linux environment, and can do a good deal of it through GUIs and menus and the like.  Both have pretty good learning curves, so I can recommend them both pretty heartily.

 

Another one to check out is PinguyOS, which is is also Ubuntu based, but is more geared at being a complete out-of-the-box experience, with lots of (useful) stuff pre-installed so you don't have to do too terribly much configuring to get a working, functional system up.  That said, I haven't used it too much, so I can't say much other than that from my brief experience with it, it seemed like a really solid one, but possibly one that hides even more of the base Linux functionality away from the end user.

 

Of course, all of those are ultimately based on the Debian distribution, which is what an overwhelming number of Linux distributions are ultimately derived from.  As such, most Debian derivatives will have a certain level of similarity between them.  There's OpenSUSE, which I've never used, but people say good things about, and which isn't Debian-based, so it'll be a different experience (it's ultimately based on Slackware Linux, another one of the big branches of the Linux family tree).  Then there's the Red Hat branch, which includes former heavyweight champion of the Linux distributions, Fedora.  I also can't say anything about this one, since I've never used it.

 

But Ubuntu/Mint are probably the best place to start, generally.  Give some of the other ones a look--something might catch your eye--but if none of what I just said makes sense, or nothing you read about the other distributions makes sense (the Linux world can be...very opaque, sometimes, for people without a huge amount of experience), go with Ubuntu or Mint.  I like Mint better, and it's a bit more lightweight as far as system resources, but for most people the biggest ultimate difference just what desktops layouts are available.