am a new user of linux and have no knowledge of what linux is
 

good day, am a new user for linuxx and i use ubuntu. i run it on a virtual machine but dont know the uses of linux and how effective i can maximize it. i need to know its isefulness and also how to get started with its usage and understanding.

i like this forum, thank you.

Use the link in the second post instead of the one that was in this one.

If you want to know what it can be used for, just start playing around with it. Try to do some of the things you use Windows for. Better yet, read at least one book aimed at beginners to get an idea of how others use it.

Whether it is useful to you only you can judge. Other people do find it useful for their needs, but your needs are not everyone else's. You can download Ubuntu's "Getting Started with Ubuntu" PDF for free here: http://files.ubuntu-manual.org/manua...tu%2013.04.pdf.

The short answer is that Linux is a computer operating system. You can use for almost anything you can imagine a computer can be made to do.

It is not Windows and doesn't work like Windows (for example, programs written for Windows will not run natively in Linux), but, with a very few exceptions (mostly some games and some highly specialized applications such as CAD programs, you can easily find Linux applications that perform equally well or better, but they might look and feel a little different.

Here are three sources I found useful when I was starting with Linux:

http://linux.about.com/. It's oriented to Ubuntu, but it's full of good info.

http://tille.garrels.be/training/tldp/. Machtelt Garrels's Intro to Linux.

http://www.slackbook.org/. Slackware oriented, but excellent on the basics, such as file structure, permissions, and the like.

You can find lots of tutorials on YouTube.

Linux is just an operation system and depending on the distro it has thousands of applications at your disposal. There are some apps that are cross platform like firefox, VLC, libreOffice and etc...

Since you are using ubuntu in a VM, you may want to install the codecs to play media files on your system and the browser.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

PS: The way I learn linux was by reading and applying what I learn one step at a time.

Hi tosdek and welcome to LQ!
In addition to links above, a good resource to understand linux is tldp