On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 8:32 PM, Mark Reid <mail@markreid.net> wrote:

For myself, I've always learned most by actually using the OS and that's applied to the many OSes I've used in the past. But to do that it's usually best to have a stable working installation of the OS to start with as troubleshooting installation issues is about the worst thing a new user can encounter. I've seen enough of your posts to gather that many of your problems have been actually get a working installation of Linux.

In the Windows world computer vendors get around the problem by pre-installation as installing Windows can be just as much of a pain as installing a Linux distro, a point which most Linux critics have forgotten. I've had experience of installing Linux Mint on one computer and Windows XP on another recently. The XP installation to ages and a lot of disks to get it optimised. Mint installed in about 10 minutes and it's only blemish was that I couldn't get it to the top resolution of my screen without a set of command line tweaks on xorg.conf. I'm astonished no-one has thought of a GUI front end for that particular set of tweaks - or have they and I haven't found it yet? That may be a pain to sort out in Linux at the moment, but to my knowledge a similar easy tweak isn't possible in Windows if your drivers don't have the correct resolution information for you hardware.

So my suggestion is to play around with a working version of Linux first before going back to installation issues when you want to start using it productively. This allows you to evaluate it and work out how it functions. When I first started with Ubuntu, I messed around with it for months before I abandoned Windows. Like you I was concerned that I could cope if it broke down and I had to fix it. Actually, the issue was just learning how it worked as it rarely threw up any issues I couldn't find an easy answer to. There are two suggestions I'd offer to get stable evaluation installations.

1. Install VirtualBox in Windows or Mac an then install your Linux distro on that. It's a straightforward installation from CD or iso file, very rarely throws up any issues and gives you a working distro to play with in a sandboxed environment which allows you to test it to total destruction without affecting your host OS. I find that it is quite difficult even for a hardened nerd to break a Linux system once it's running properly - but it can be done.

2. If you really want a dual booting system, always test your computer with a live CD. If it doesn't work easily out of the box with a live CD, it isn't going to do so on an install. Live CDs give you the opportunity to evaluate a distro and gives you the ability to determine whether any installation issues are going to appear.

I've never found books about Linux particularly useful. I have one called an Idiot's Guide to Linux but that's now a bit dated but good for learning basic command line stuff. Another is Linux in Easy Steps by Mike McGrath which is Ubuntu based but because of the quick release cycle on Ubuntu will always be out of date!

It is a steep learning curve to get used to Linux if you are a Windows user (but probably less so for a Mac user), but if you're relatively proficient on Windows, you should be able to suss out for yourself what's what and pull the info you need to do it from a Google search.

I found the Ubuntu Forums and Linux Forums useful places to go when I got stuck as they had beginners sections where I could ask what I now realise where dumb questions! Actually this mailing list is pretty good for picking up ideas although I was past the dumb question stage when I found it. I also have Ubuntu Geek on my RSS feeds as there's often useful articles and software suggestions on it.

Another useful item I downloaded was a diagram of the Linux filesystem with a description of what the directories in a standard system did and what stuff was stored there. The filesystem lies at the heart of understanding Linux.

Hope that helps.

Mark

On 31/12/10 22:12, Simon Royal wrote:

Hi

I've been in and out of Linux for a few years. Various distros (Mint,
WattOS, DSL, Xubuntu, Ubuntu,on various machines and architecture. A
year ago I used it full time but went to Mac. Now, Im back.

It is such a steep learning curve. Ive already had a crash course in
GParted even before Ubuntu was running. While Ubuntu is great and user
friendly, it is still Linux and requires you to be on the nerdy side.

Id like somewhere to start, so I can understand the basics and
underpinnings of Ubuntu. It is no good - with any OS really - having it
working, but not knowing what to do when it does wrong.

Are there any good books or websites you can recommend. I know you are
all here to answer my questions, but I would like to read up and really
get my teeth into it.

Simon

Simon

--

--- Twitter:http://twitter.com/SimonRoyal - LowEndMac:http://tinyurl.com/macspectrum - Skype: Simon-Royal.

--- IBM ThinkPad R31 running Ubuntu 10.10& Windows XP Home. Apple PowerBook G3'Pismo' running OSX 10.4. Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro running 2.1

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