[SOLVED] One week with Linux, need basic info/tutorials/help
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One week with Linux, need basic info/tutorials/help
I was going to ask for help figuring out how to make my eject button work again since it doesn't since the switch from Mac to Linux. I found where this topic had gotten attention already but what I read was out of bounds of any understanding I currently have. So...I let my teenage neice talk me into the switch to Linux and Xubuntu but now I am worried that much of what makes Linux great also requires that I know a lot more than I do.
THE QUESTION: Where can I find a good overview of what I have gotten myself into and perhaps, some basic tutorial help? Think of me as someone who just dropped in from another planet and has just been introduced to this really interesting machine and wants to know how it works and what else it will do. Thanks.
Indicating which version of Linux you have installed would help someone point you in the right direction. You should see the name on the screen when it is booting. There are well over 500 different Linux distributions and methods for using vary.
Distribution: Debian 8 Cinnamon/Xfce/gnome classic Debian live usb
Posts: 508
Rep:
Firstly, I started with Wikipedia: Linux, linux distributions etc.
After that, I surfed the web for tutorial sites for specific issues I had.
For your eject problem, you can start a thread on this site stating which linux operating system you have and which program you're using which doesn't do the eject properly.
I haven't yet found a site which acts as a gateway for learners to slowly acquaint themselves with linux distributions. There should be such a site though.
Mind you, this forum is a good place to start off.
I was going to ask for help figuring out how to make my eject button work again since it doesn't since the switch from Mac to Linux. I found where this topic had gotten attention already but what I read was out of bounds of any understanding I currently have. So...I let my teenage neice talk me into the switch to Linux and Xubuntu but now I am worried that much of what makes Linux great also requires that I know a lot more than I do.
THE QUESTION: Where can I find a good overview of what I have gotten myself into and perhaps, some basic tutorial help? Think of me as someone who just dropped in from another planet and has just been introduced to this really interesting machine and wants to know how it works and what else it will do. Thanks.
Linux is very user friendly, but it does take some work on your part. The first and most critical step is settling on a distribution. Ubuntu is OK. To understand the faults with it, you have to understand a few of things first:
Linux is about the user, not about the developers giving the users what they think they should have.
Linux software management is different than Windows. In the vast majority of cases, except for things like Wolfenstien and VMware, come in packages that are stored for public use in repositories. Packages function like a chain. If you are missing one package, your whole system (or at the very least, one single application) could come to an immediate halt.
Linux is mostly open-source, which means that to do some things that most people would consider basic (like watching a movie from a DVD or ripping a CD) require a little work in Linux because the codecs that are required to do so are not open source. It's about the easiest part to fix, though.
With that in mind, I'll overview some common distros and the pros and cons that I found with each.
Ubuntu (Including Xubuntu, or really anything with -untu after it) I found to be user friendly off the bat, but quickly become difficult to use and troubleshoot. Although I found it nice on the surface, it had some deeper problems with packages missing dependencies, and simply lacking packages to do what I wanted it to do. Also, Ubuntu had some things to disable before I was willing to use it.
Fedora I find is very user friendly thanks to the GNOME desktop. Although it is lacking in some areas like screensavers, it makes up for in ease of use. Installing software (or really anything you want to do) is a breeze, and it seems very much focused on quality. Fedora is cutting edge, and it releases a major version about every 6 months. You'll most likely come across some small problems with it, but most can be fixed with a quick Google search and a very basic knowledge of Linux.
Debian is more or less the polar opposite of Fedora. Debian is focused on stability. Everything in Debian seems to be either really old, rough around the edges, or both. Personally not my favorite, but worth a try.
openSuSE is not bad, pretty user friendly and made mainly for the enterprise environment. Although being rock stable and reasonably up to date (unlike Debian), it lacks codecs and drivers. Seems slower than most other distros, too. Boot time is about 30 seconds on a system with a 3.3 Ghz quad core Xeon, 8GB RAM, and an SSD harddrive, vs about 17 seconds with Ubuntu and 20 with Fedora.
My advice is to try several big names for at least a week each and see which one you like best. I use Fedora and Mint (based on Ubuntu) and there's almost nothing concerning Linux that I can't do. If you need to, boot two like I do.
So...I let my teenage neice talk me into the switch to Linux and Xubuntu
Your niece is an intelligent, kindhearted and wonderful person.
And as for starting resources: honestly, I'd recommend searching Youtube for the words "xubuntu" and "overview". There's also this video. I haven't personally watched it, but it has a promising title:
Learning the command-line is great, but Xubuntu is designed so that you don't have to leave the GUI if you don't want to.
Newsflash: so are most other mainstream distros.
So don't be afraid to try any distro that suits your fancy. Ubuntu may not be it, but if that's the only one you try then you only get a partial picture of Linux in general. There are lots of resources and reviews out there to help you along, as well.
What do you want to do? If it's just surf the web kind of stuff, you really don't need to learn much. But it's important for you to clarify your needs.
So...I let my teenage neice talk me into the switch to Linux and Xubuntu but now I am worried that much of what makes Linux great also requires that I know a lot more than I do.
THE QUESTION: Where can I find a good overview of what I have gotten myself into and perhaps, some basic tutorial help?
Welcome to the forum — and what a great niece you have!
I'd steer clear of some of the recommendations made above: a lot will tell you more than you want to know. This is the documentation for Xfce, which will be useful: http://docs.xfce.org/getting-started
All of the programs have their help buttons and often websites.
If you need to do something that's not provided for, the Ubuntu Software Centre will find a program, or you can browse here (which also has a section on Linux equivalents to well-known Windows and Mac applications) http://linuxappfinder.com/
I was going to ask for help figuring out how to make my eject button work again since it doesn't since the switch from Mac to Linux. I found where this topic had gotten attention already but what I read was out of bounds of any understanding I currently have. So...I let my teenage neice talk me into the switch to Linux and Xubuntu but now I am worried that much of what makes Linux great also requires that I know a lot more than I do.
THE QUESTION: Where can I find a good overview of what I have gotten myself into and perhaps, some basic tutorial help? Think of me as someone who just dropped in from another planet and has just been introduced to this really interesting machine and wants to know how it works and what else it will do. Thanks.
In these cases I ALWAYS say that you ought to go back to the person who "recommended" you change to Linux. They guided you with good intentions, they should know "you", and should understand the impact of steering someone towards something new. This impact being that the steered person is going to ask questions and need further assistance while they learn.
IF you have patience and a willingness to learn, then follow the recommendations you see.
I think a large bulk of the questions you do have should be addressed to your niece for two reasons: (1) because she recommended it, steered you towards it, therefore likely does know something about the topic and can/should be able to help, (2) if she's unwilling and soon to realize that she wasn't interested in being someone's IT person, she'll gain learning from this to know in the future to not pester someone to try out this great new technology she has a high opinion of.
Welcome to the LQ forum. You've been given some good general advice however I feel it may lead you down several study projects that take lengthy time. The other options are my "query the source" recommendation above, or ask more focused questions in added question threads to get specific answers.
The first thing I tried was the debug code from beachboy2 since that seemed so easy...
And the terminal said that my eject button would now work but...
I popped in a new CD to test the eject button. The CD wouldn't mount and gave me a mounting error message. The eject button didn't pop out the CD. The only other way I knew to get out a CD was that once it was mounted, the little right-click menu on the CD icon gave me an eject option. Now I cannot get the CD out and only know Mac ways which of course, don't work anymore.
I have Ubuntu 14.04.01
After my niece and her boyfriend installed it, I got a couple of answers to some immediate problems then they both disappeared.
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Ubuntu may not be it, but if that's the only one you try then you only get a partial picture of Linux in general. There are lots of resources and reviews out there to help you along, as well.
