How do I learn, please?
 

Please, how can I begin (and continue) to learn about Linux so I can use it instead of Windows on my computer exclusively. I would like also to learn to code in Linux also, although I know that this is probably a large mountain to attempt to climb. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated and followed studiously. Thank you.

Same way you learn to do anything new: read about it and use it. No magic involved.

you need to find a goal and reach it. probably not a large mountain in one, but only a small step.
read, test, check, enhance, practice, and again read, check, play with it...

If you really want to learn Linux, open a terminal session onto the cmd line aka cli and go through this to start with http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

Remember, Linux is not hard. It's just different. Expect it to the different, and you will avoid most of the pitfalls that new users tend to fall into. (It was harder when I started with it, but not as hard as its reputation even back then, and it's gotten a lot easier since.)

You do not have to learn the command line to use Linux for day-to-day uses, such as browsing the web, using email programs, and using an office suite.

About dot com has a good Linux site: http://linux.about.com/

You can find many useful tutorials on YouTube; search for the topic you are interested in. You can answer lots of specific questions with a websearch--just include "linux" in the search query.

When you pick a distro to try, explore its website. The major distros provide lots of documentation and helpful links on their site. Whatever distro you pick, stick with it long enough to that you have a comfort-level with how Linux works before you decide to try a new one.

I just set up a computer with Linux for Second Son--it's an old XP computer incapable of running newer versions of Windows. I chose Linux Mint MATE, because Mint is easy, and made LXDE the default desktop, because it's light-weight. When I showed it to him, I showed him how to change desktops, to illustrate to him that the desktop is not part of the operation system, but a separate component. He was really excited when I demonstrated multiple desktops to him (I'll let you do a web search for all those terms--it will be good practice).

Here are some of the links that I included in the HOWTO I wrote for him:

I saw in my email from Opensource.com today that they are creating a free MOOC on edX called "Introduction to Linux", that is based on a course from their Linux training program that they charge $2400 for. But this MOOC is free. It is supposed to be available this summer.

You can read about it here: http://opensource.com/education/14/3...0000000cVrcAAE

http://linuxcommand.org/


https://startpage.com/do/metasearch.pl

http://freevideolectures.com/blog/20...earning-linux/