Linux documentation


Try that for guides, not been through it yet but it looks good.

The console doesn't act like DOS because it is based on UNIX, which existed for years before DOS. (DOS took the UNIX command line, and crippled it for it's own use.) Every computer scientist I have ever met, has had at least some passing knowledge of unix. Some hate the unix command line, others love it, most are indifferent - it does the job. It is *much* more powerful than the DOS command line, which is why it is unlikely to be "devolved" to that level.

FWIW, I think Linux *is* as easy to use as DOS/Windows. In many ways, easier.

Well if by easier to use, you mean it doesn't crash, or do clandestine activities on your computer, and leave you vulnerable to hijackings, viruses, etc. by allowing a series of security bugs, then yeah it's easier then windows. If you mean that it is easier for someone who knows nothing about the computer to sit down and learn, not even close. I like the efficiency of linux, and the fact that it doesn't record every keystroke I enter on my hard drive, and the fact that hijacking it is nearly impossible, but learning it is not a cinch. The rest of my family knows very little about computers. For these people I am "tech support". If I have trouble learning linux, they sure as hell would too. Lots more trouble. I still don't think it is right that my family and millions of other computer-users are forced to use unethical software designed by corporate crime mafias because they don't have a computer science degree. People should be allowed easy access to OS's that are easy to use that are not products of corporate criminals (albeit ones who are expert at finding loopholes). You shouldn't need a computer science degree to operate your computer without being spied on... All there is to it. Some people are just not willing to invest that kind of energy into computers. They want to use the computer as a media device to communicate, or play a couple games, and that is it. There is nothing wrong with that, what there is something wrong with is corporations such as M$ who take advantage of these people, and their lack of understanding of the computer. That is what I am looking to put an end to, and that is why I am learning linux, so I can get myself, and the rest of my family away from the M$ corporate giant who is constantly gathering and collecting the largest database in the world on people's personal lives and selling the information for proift. M$ doesn't make money by making good software, they make money by buying everyone out, or finding loopholes to cut companies out of their own business, and steal their profits, just like they did to java sun when they stole the java language by finding ways to get around patents. I hate all they stand for, and I think the non-computer savy world should have alternatives to contributing to that mess.

I love open-source, and I strongly believe it is going in the right direction away from the corporate pigs. That is why I will be totally stubborn in learning linux, and overcome all the barriers, and help redesign it so people have better options to M$...

*Bows* Thank you, I am done with my evangelical rapture, we can continue talking tech now!

PS: Thanx everybody in here for all their help!

If you are old enough to remember DOS commandline, you are old enough to learn Linux/Unix command line.
I put a box together for my father a while back - he couldn't get a grip on Windows' installation, so I did that. He has no trouble using it. Isn't it an issue that most people don't care for system maintenance? I mean, it can be tricky to install Linux distros, but for a lot of people, so is Windows. If I have put SuSE 9.2 on a complete from-scratch, ui-only, PC beginner's box, it will be just as easy to use as Windows - the only difference is that most of the programs you'll need are already there.

That would sure be a step in the right direction... It seems one of the hardest things with linux is installing things... even now, I am having trouble installing the programs I like, such as soulseek...