I've been a member of LQ, and a linux user since August 2003. For a long period of time I found linux as well as computers in gerneral to be something I was very passionate about.

And then it happened. My hard drive failed, and I found myself reinstalling everything. (Sure, its my fault for not backing up like as I should), but after I reinstalled xp ( I like to play games) I just found myself putting off reinstalling Slackware, to this day (2 months later).

I'm not totally sure why that happened except that for some reason my passion faded and I just wanted everything to work with the least possible input from me. I love linux and the power and freedom that comes with it, but geez... sometimes its just too much tweaking and so much to remember. I don't have an issue learning, but my problem was what to learn and in what order.

After a two month sabbaticle, I looked at my time as a linux user and really miss the open source/linux community. I'll always support linux for the obvious reasons, but it has an aura that can't be matched. Part of the problem for me is my isolation from anyone else even remotely interested in linux or REALLY learning it.

So I get to my question: What do you guys do when your linux adventure becomes a mundane routine? It can't just be me, comon...

And second: Has anyone found something of an outline of what to learn and in what order? I don't need a how to. Just a guideline that would ease the monotony of stopping what I'm learning to go back and learn some prerequisite that I didn't even fathom.

Last question, I promise. Has anyone found a great place where people can talk to and just bs with other linux users? Not just a Q&A forum but like an irc or something similar?

Thanx in advance for any replies....

What I did from the very beginning (this is for anything new I try), is keep a notebook (yes, pen and paper ) and write down things like how I got my scanner working, and what steps I took, and same for printer, digital camera, etc. When I learn new commands (via other hackers or man pages) I write those down in another section of my notebook called "incantations" (a friend of mine calls her notepook a "spell book"). After about 3 or 4 months and about as many reinstalls, I took notes all along and I had myself a good reference guide, especially what I did to configure my system. I even made up scripts to do some of it like IP Tables, etc. That's how I did it. And using the CD-RW to burn backups of my /home/[username] dir (tarballed/bzipped as root, chown to user, moved to user's home dir, used K3B to burn file to CD-R)... That helped as well.

Another thing is once you compile something from source, tarball the binaries or make an RPM so that you don't have to recompile. I made a binary RPM of my kernel since I got a new one and updated. Tested the RPM and that works... so I just will install the RPM when I want my newer kernel back after reinstall, should I need to.

Well, that happens with computers, in general. After programming and hacking for 22 years, even I got burned out and wanted nothing more to do with a computer ever again at times. I just took a break and smelled the roses. I been trying Linux off and on from the very first offering and after many frustrating all-nighters, and giving up on this distro and that, I went to Windows and waited until both I and Linux were ready. Eventually it happened and I am staying. Once you find all you need to do what you did in Windows in Linux instead, just think of it as your computer as a tool. Does what you need. If you have all in Linux what you had in Windows, you won't miss Windows as much.

I'd like an answer to that question too.

BTW, have you checked online to see if there's a LUG (Linux User's Group) in your area locally? Maybe going to meetings there might help too. Dunno if they have 12-step programs but I'm sure they have some helpful folks and maybe a new friend or two.

ntlug.org for those of you in the dallas-ft.worth area..... thanx for the advice misfit-x

anyone else want to add to the discussion??

I dunno if it's really about Linux. I mean, you can get burned out doing anything for too long. Sometimes it's good to take a break and come back with a fresh outlook. Then again, you may find you'd rather be doing something else. That's sort of what happened with me and the Windows development work I was doing. It wasn't boredom, it was frustration that Microsoft kept rendering all my work obsolete. Still haven't moved into the dot-net world and doubt I ever will. Would rather develop on a platform where the time I invest has some value in the future.