Finally starting with Linux

[imported_LoKe]

Though I enjoy Linux for being Open Sourced and secure, I still can't bring myself to use it as much as windows. The reason I avoid using it is because I don't really know what to do with it...Is there anything I should really be doing with it? What commands are worth learning for an average user?

I'm sure Linux yeilds a lot of benefits and definite potential, but how can I make use of it?

 

[Robor]

What are you trying to do with it? I'm new (this week) to Ubuntu and Fedora Core myself. I'm trying to use it for regular daily use (web, mail, chat (yahoo). I'll admit it's a big change from Windows but with a little effort and assistance from people here it's going pretty good so far.

 

[sigs3gv]

Originally posted by: LoKe
Though I enjoy Linux for being Open Sourced and secure, I still can't bring myself to use it as much as windows. The reason I avoid using it is because I don't really know what to do with it...Is there anything I should really be doing with it? What commands are worth learning for an average user?

I'm sure Linux yeilds a lot of benefits and definite potential, but how can I make use of it?

Just do what you would normally do on a Windows machine

Some simple commands that would be useful to learn:

ls
cd
cat
export
vi,nano (editors)
lsmod
modprobe
lspci
ifconfig
iwconfig
...

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: Robor
What are you trying to do with it? I'm new (this week) to Ubuntu and Fedora Core myself. I'm trying to use it for regular daily use (web, mail, chat (yahoo). I'll admit it's a big change from Windows but with a little effort and assistance from people here it's going pretty good so far.

That's about the same as me.

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: LoKe
Though I enjoy Linux for being Open Sourced and secure, I still can't bring myself to use it as much as windows. The reason I avoid using it is because I don't really know what to do with it...Is there anything I should really be doing with it? What commands are worth learning for an average user?

I'm sure Linux yeilds a lot of benefits and definite potential, but how can I make use of it?

You need to understand what is the functions of those files in your filesystem.
Then you need to learn how to use BASH . Those two points are the main ones for users who are trying to get the hang of it.
Then what comes after that depends on you and where do you want togo from there next.

 

[imported_DarkPenguin]

How is ubuntu? I just installed Fedora Core but I just want an smb file server. Preferences?

 

[drag]

Yep.

First step is to get used to some command line stuff... although it's not as important as it used to be.

Then it's nessicary to learn a bit about sysadmin-types stuff. Like knowing how to keep your system up date and fully patched. Security is a primary concern.. you have to be up to date.

Then it's handy to know a bit more beyond that to make your life easier. Stuff like being able to set a cron job to back up your home directory or something like that.

But after that nessicary stuff (the only realy important part is keeping up to date with patches) then it's just a matter of finding what you want to do.

Instead of going "what can I do with Linux' you go "I want to do X" and then figure out how to accomplish it.

It just depends on what your most interested in...

Want a web site? File sharing?
Audio work? Video work? 3d animation? media streaming? make some simple games?
programming?

Whatever turns you on... more or less.

 

[LokeanSon]

Personally, I would focus on learning how software installations/removal are done first. I would try to do as much from the gui as possible and focus on getting apps you enjoy. Any problems/bugs/opinions you get along the way, you should take the time to report to the Ubuntu devel team to help them advance the state of their distro.

Some first things every desktop linux user should work out... Get DVD playback working. Get CD ripping working. Get avi/wma files playing, shockwave, etc... You want to get your system doing as much of the typical desktop stuff as you can, if you're going to really enjoy it. My 2 cents.

EDIT - Oh yeah, and do play with WINE.

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: LokeanSon
Personally, I would focus on learning how software installations/removal are done first. I would try to do as much from the gui as possible and focus on getting apps you enjoy. Any problems/bugs/opinions you get along the way, you should take the time to report to the Ubuntu devel team to help them advance the state of their distro.

Some first things every desktop linux user should work out... Get DVD playback working. Get CD ripping working. Get avi/wma files playing, shockwave, etc... You want to get your system doing as much of the typical desktop stuff as you can, if you're going to really enjoy it. My 2 cents.

EDIT - Oh yeah, and do play with WINE.

Absolutely.

Like for example on my PC running Fedora Core 4, I have the Java Run Environment (JRE) , Flash Plugin, Shockwave player all types of of streaming media running through the Mplayer Plugin for Fire fox / Mozilla. DVD s play nicely with Mplayer
also any type of format out there plays right in Mplayer including quicktime.
Then after you get that part covered , you want to get some decent software for CD burning, for example K3B is an excellent utility for burning CD s. Also I use Mplayer to schedule recordings for certain talk shows and streaming audio. I use it to record videos from the net and save it to any file formate I like.
And WINE as was mentioned is very important, it's not guaranteed to run everything out there but sometimes it just works amazingly, do you want a good example on that , well here comes, I have installed Red Alert 2 (The Windows version) through WINE and it runs perfectly (except for the online stuff) but still I am playing red alert 2 as if I am running it on windows, not bad, also WINE is pretty nice for simple windows apps , a lot of old Windows apps just run normally in WINE as if you have a win 98 machine or something not bad. While some other apps don't even launch , but that's ok who needs those anyways

 

[pkme2]

Last year, I signed up for a Linux class just to see what it was all about. I learned how to write code like my previous AIX and Unix classes.

What made it nice was the GUI Interface which was like a Windows environment. My instructor told me that what I learned was more than 95% of the people on Maui could ever understand. Being a Windows-User since day one, it was really an eye-opener. Now that I can better understand Linux, I'm building a FC4 x64 machine next month.