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How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

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wubzy
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How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#1 Post by wubzy »

Hey, everybody. First post here and still a newbie to Linux. I've dinked around with Ubuntu and spent some time with Crunchbang, and now I've finally installed straight-up Debian.

I'm curious as to how you wizards and power users gained your skills. I have read (and re-read) esr's "How To Become A Hacker" and the advice strikes me as sound, but then again, I'm not setting out to become a godlike hacker. I mean, I like this stuff, but it's by no means an obsession. From my limited experience, I've found that the only time I retain any knowledge or skill is when I'm working on a project that I actually care about ... even if it's as simple as editing conky. With that in mind, I'm trying to start small, here.

So I'm just wondering, for the sake of making conversation, what project or projects initially got you hooked? Which ones taught you the most? What advice might you have for newbies/posers like me?

Cheers, everybody.

Wubzy

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dasein
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#2 Post by dasein »

wubzy wrote:...I've found that the only time I retain any knowledge or skill is when I'm working on a project that I actually care about ... even if it's as simple as editing conky
You answered your own question here ;)

Seriously, the quickest way to develop core skills is to work on whatever project interests you, or whatever you're curious about. And don't fret if something turns out to be above your current pay-grade; you can always come back to it another time.

tl;dr Staying engaged and motivated is far more important than the specific thing(s) you work on.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#3 Post by Bulkley »

What helped me most was the advice that a broken Linux does not need to be re-installed because it can be fixed. This is almost always true. It can take a lot of time and much work but it can be repaired.

In the same vein, learning to troubleshoot is a big asset.

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wubzy
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#4 Post by wubzy »

Bulkley wrote:What helped me most was the advice that a broken Linux does not need to be re-installed because it can be fixed. This is almost always true. It can take a lot of time and much work but it can be repaired.
That is good advice. At first, I made liberal use of Clonezilla to help me out of jams. I read somewhere on here that a VB is a handy way to avoid the backup/restore dance, but I think I prefer your advice here. And I'm happy to add that Debian is (so far) a lot more stable on my little Chromebook than the previous distros I've tried.

I am getting better at troubleshooting, especially now that I'm working in tech support. Of course, none of that is Linux-related, but the lessons in patience are certainly valuable.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#5 Post by dasein »

wubzy wrote:
Bulkley wrote:I read somewhere on here that a VB is a handy way to avoid the backup/restore dance...
Not exactly. But the ability to take a quick snapshot of a VM is definitely a time saver.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#6 Post by wubzy »

dasein wrote:Not exactly. But the ability to take a quick snapshot of a VM is definitely a time saver.
Ha, well, part of the reason I prefer Bulkley's advice is that I barely know what a VM is. So there's that.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#7 Post by steve_v »

If you want to learn how GNU/Linux fits together, you could always build your own distro.
I found it to be a good learning exercise, if a bit slow to compile... on a 486, back when that was a reasonable machine ;)
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#8 Post by mardybear »

wubzy wrote:
How did you learn to *really* use Linux?
If you're talking just learning Linux in general, some things that have helped me along:

-Perform a minimal install and build it up, as you will be forced to learn more about the guts of the system.

-Don't use a desktop environment, install only a window manager as it forces you to learn with less GUI handholding. Too much of Linux is now hidden behind eyecandy and userfriendly GUI, which is only good until something breaks and then you usually need to look under the hood to figure things out anyway.

-Experiment with other distributions as you have, especially specialty and less user friendly distributions, as they force you to see and utilize Linux in a different way (Debian is a good shift in this direction).

-Use CLI whenever possible, even when it's not convenient, to get more familiar with commands. You don't need to be an uberguru to be decent at Linux (eg. nano works for me, no vim needed).

-Take the time to read man pages or net search for examples.

-Learn a few favourite commands to help you navigate the system. If frequently used you probably won't forget (cd, cp, mv, mkdir, touch, apropros, find, locate...). Google 'learn Linux in 10 minutes' or similar. It's amazing how many experienced Linux users don't know these basic commands.

-I often don't remember specific commands and muck my way through, it's okay no biggie. Why learn a bunch of elaborate commands that you may only use once or twice. Just look them up when needed. Some commands are distribution specific so why bother locking-in your brain to only one distribution.

-As with anything, it gets easier with time and experience.

-Hang out on this forum. There's usually something new to learn, helping others reinforces your knowledge and some of the personalities are quite entertaining.
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#9 Post by JLloyd13 »

Bulkley wrote:What helped me most was the advice that a broken Linux does not need to be re-installed because it can be fixed. This is almost always true. It can take a lot of time and much work but it can be repaired.

In the same vein, learning to troubleshoot is a big asset.
I've learned tons this way. Break and fix. Break and fix. Experiment until you break it, then fix it again. :mrgreen:
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Read: https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian/
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#10 Post by emariz »

By reading and reinstalling, and vice versa.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#11 Post by dasein »

wizard10000 wrote:Also, brushing up on one's search engine skills is helpful as it's pretty unlikely that a n00b will encounter an issue that hasn't been encountered (and resolved) before.
+1 with a bullet
...likely someone has written and posted pretty much anything one would want to do, all you have to do is find it :)
+1 again. I am reminded of the time when an academic advisor asked me to write a perl script to perform a particular string manipulation function. Now, my perl skills suck, and they always have. (My perl tends to look a lot like 'c'.) But I trotted in the next day and announced that I had uploaded a working script to his server that morning. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Got that perl program uploaded this morning.

Him: You wrote that in just one day??

Me: No, I got it tested in just one day. Before I started wasting time writing redundant code, I checked the perl archives. Sure enough, someone already wrote the exact script you were looking for. I spent a good two hours testing every edge case I could think of, and it performed exactly as spec'ed.

He acted like I'd done something amazing (which was my first clue that I'd eventually need a new advisor).

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#12 Post by Linadian »

I got sick of the bloat and spyware in certain other distros and decided I want what I want, not what some hand-holding joke distro wants. So I grew some real fuzz on my junk, lol, did a lot of reading, and just learned, it's amazing how much somebody can get done if they follow documentation/instructions (also, search engines are your friend, putting in the right keywords is an art). I was already a master at tweaking/troubleshooting Windows so the skill set was there already. That all ended when Debian decided to go systemd, now I use something else, I may be switching to Slackware or Gentoo soon, depending on which one doesn't cave to the Borg, I'll keep moving on (like the The Littlest Hobo, lol) until there's no non-systemd distros left, that includes the BSDs. :roll: :shock: :evil:
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#13 Post by MALsPa »

Not much to add to what others here have written. I came into it expecting it to take time. I thought of it as if I was starting a college program. After one year, I told myself that I'd just completed freshman year. After four years, I patted myself on the back and told myself that I'd earned my Bachelor's degree in Linux. :)

Things begin to sink in over time, if you just keep at it. Other people are sharper than I am, but I figured that if I just stuck with it, I'd get there eventually.

A few things that really helped me: Early on, I read something somewhere about "providing the right environment for Linux to run in," something along those lines. I took that to mean that you should try to start out with hardware that will work well with Linux. Another thing, folks will talk about thinking in Linux terms instead of in Windows terms. I woke up one day and realized that I had finally begun to do this, and it was kind of a watershed moment for me.

Also, I stumbled upon a used Unix textbook at a second-hand store. Something like that might not be very helpful with regards to current Linux distros, but looking over that book kinda helped me to get a feel for Unix/Linux filesystems and how they're set up.

One more thing to add, some folks will say you shouldn't do this, but I liked to play around with different distros, and I thought that I learned a lot that way. The old "contrast and compare" approach. I felt like I always seemed to pick up a few things with every new installation, and that it was helpful to see how some things were done differently in different distros.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#14 Post by alan stone »

wubzy wrote:What advice might you have for newbies/posers like me?
You could imitate this process. :mrgreen:
If you're somewhat older and wiser, use this tool to find out what's the best way for you: Learning to learn

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#15 Post by geekosupremo »

Any claim I could make about *really* using Linux would be an over statement, at this time.

So what am I doing to *really* learn?
  • Reading all I can about the subjects that I think I need and a few a that are simply interesting
  • Using this forum
  • Using the Wiki
  • Searching, searching, and more searching
  • As much command line as I can
  • VirtualBox testers for when I want to try things "without a net"
  • Trying to approach all of this a humbly as I can (with varying degrees of success :oops: )
  • Man pages ... lots and lots of man pages - which usually lead to VM tests ya know just in case

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#16 Post by kedaha »

I've used Debian for some time but I've never learned to *really* use Linux. I'm certainly more skilled than when I started but the more I learn the more there seems to learn; I suppose I started learning most when I immersed myself in Debian as a server rather than just using it as a working desktop environment.
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#17 Post by wubzy »

Wow. Thanks for the replies, everyone. There's a lot of solid advice that I would love to address case-by-case, but I think I'll just soak it in, instead.

I operate from the CLI probably 98% of the time. I've been forcing my way through technical documents, which is kind of arduous for an uninitiated n00b. I've done some distro hopping. I've broken my system well over a dozen times. I've cobbled together some scripts in Bash and some GUI programs in Python. I can write functional HTML. My Google-fu is getting pretty mean. I've experimented with different learning styles and approaches. I've completed a couple of very modest projects...

... and I still can't use cron.

I think of all the great advice on this thread, this bit sums up my situation perfectly:
MALsPa wrote:Other people are sharper than I am, but I figured that if I just stuck with it, I'd get there eventually.
And now, time to keep plugging away at the Debian FAQ.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#18 Post by dasein »

wubzy wrote:... and I still can't use cron.
Join the club. :lol:

Seriously, I remember an identical experience when I was starting out. I became so frustrated with cron in my first year with Linux that I ended up writing my own cron-replacement from scratch (which admittedly isn't rocket science, but it does convey the level of frustration I was feeling).

All I know to tell you is that one day, just on a whim, I tried setting up a real cron job for something or another. And it was easy as pie. Dunno what magic switch flipped in my wetware, but one day, without any study or prep, something that had once been my Nemesis was now my servant.
And now, time to keep plugging away at the Debian FAQ.
Time exceedingly well spent.

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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#19 Post by edbarx »

The first time I used a GNU/Linux LiveCD, I was struck with awe, but then, it was a horrifying shock that sent me back to my hiding hole for a whole year! The worrysome difference was how file paths and file media were used in Linux: it was utterly different from what I expected. As a naive newbie, I expected to find GNU/Linux to operate the same way as MS Windows. Another blow was the fact that it became immediately evident that switching to Linux meant that the 'power user' in me was transformed into a clueless beginner. Mind you, I could write my own programs for Windows, so it was, sort of, like a double blow below the belt for me. Switching to Linux took away the ability to write my own programs and the fact that I could manage my system with relative ease.

The recipe for my survival in the harsh world of GNU/Linux was nothing special, but reading and studying. I insisted in my newbie quest to understand how Linux worked as an OS, especially what happened during boot. After understanding that, it was more natural for me to put things into their perspective.
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Re: How did you learn to *really* use Linux?

#20 Post by /tmp »

Very painful trial-and-error.

Pro-tip: don't mess around as su with a live kernel (e.g. delete your kernel while its running) :D
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