On 28 June 2010 19:21, Steve snjc01@googlemail.com wrote:
Hi
I've been dabbling with Linux for just over a year and am now consistently using Linux Mint albeit secondary to Windows.
I hope, with time, you'll be ditch Windows and fully find your feet with Linux :)
Do you ever run a newbies meeting, I still consider myself as that?
Not as such but come along to the monthly pub meeting tomorrow. We're all friendly and happy to answer any and all questions you have. Bring your machine if it's portable!
Also, how is it possible to know (other than the approved Mint/Ubuntu repositories) which repositories/software is going to be ok, I feel like I may be missing out on stuff and in any case even in the approved repos they have disclaimers.
Well I suppose that's a tricky one. It depends who you trust and what you're after. For example, you might trust Ubuntu to thoroughly check all their package for bugs etc. but if you use software that's marked as unstable or testing, you might find issues. If all else fails, google it or ask someone with plenty of experience - mail this list for example.
Isn't Linux basically Linux won't most stuff play nicely together ?
Weeeeeellllllll, yes/no/yes/no/yes/no/maybe.
Strictly speaking, Linux is the kernel which is the software that knows how to speak to your computer's hardware. Even linux isn't just linux though as, due to it's open nature, people are free to (and very often do) makes patches to the Linux kernel so it does things they want. I suspect Ubuntu uses it's own patched version of the Linux kernel.
The other software you use can vary greatly. Unlike Windows, there isn't just one environment for the desktop, there are quite a lot to choose from. Two of the most popular (I guess because they look and feel like Window and/or OSX) are KDE and Gnome. You can pick and choose. That, for me, is the most compelling thing about using Linux.
I hope that's cleared things up but to be honest, if it has, I'm probably doing it wrong ;)
There's a lot of software out there and a lot of choices to make. Most newbies will stick with the default Ubuntu desktop for a while and hopefully, once they learn more, customise it to their own needs to get the best experience possible.
Fin.
Cheers, Steve