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Is Linux just a hobby?
superboyac:
Hey! Be nice to the newcomers. :eusa_naughty:
-40hz (July 18, 2012, 06:38 PM)
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Truthfully, this is the primary reason that my Linux exploration ended so early when I did it. Whenever I tried to go beyond the obvious, if I ran into problems, it was hard to get help. People would say how great Linux is and recommend that you try it, but when you do and ask a question, you would get derided for your lack of knowledge or ignored. I know that all Linux users aren't like that... but I ran into enough of them during that time that I just shrugged and reformatted the partition as I didn't see that big of an advantage from the depth I was able to get into it unaided.
-wraith808 (July 18, 2012, 07:32 PM)
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It's cool! As long as I can rag back on all you linux nuts. Here's one: I say buttons are easier, you guys say "actually...command line is much easier". Yes, as long as you've memorized the commands. That's like a Frenchman telling an englishman that French is easier than English. no text command is easier than a button with a universal symbol on it. typing "play" is easy, true. But it's not easier than clicking the button with the triangle. It's 4 times harder, actually...you have to press the button that has a "p" on it, then "l", then "a"...etc. ;D
Honestly, I didn't actually try to install any programs, so I was making a statement based on nothing. :-[
I'll tell you exactly why my linux experiment died...drivers. The mouse driver. I couldn't find a way to make it work as nicely as it did in windows, and that was too annoying for me. It's not a big deal, but I use it every 30 seconds, and I don't like feeling a little frustrated every 30 seconds. I'll give linux a little more of a shot when i get a good chunk of time.
40hz:
People would say how great Linux is and recommend that you try it, but when you do and ask a question, you would get derided for your lack of knowledge or ignored. I know that all Linux users aren't like that... but I ran into enough of them
-wraith808 (July 18, 2012, 07:32 PM)
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I think a lot of that has changed. At least in the USA. I haven't seen very much of that except where somebody was treating forum or irc members as their own personal unpaid support staff and getting indignant when unlimited help wasn't forthcoming. About the only time I ever got a little short with someone was when one woman introduced herself as "a consultant" who had taken on a paid project to migrate a business over to F/OSS - and stated up front she knew next to nothing about it - and could we please help her? When some of us gave her a list of websites she could look at and some books she should purchase and read first, she became indignant and abusive. Told us she "didn't have time for that" and virtually demanded we just answer her questions because "that's what Linux is supposed to be about - people helping other people for free."
Her very first question was: "How do you do a virtualization of a server?"
Where do you even begin with a person like that?
Other than that person, I haven't seen much 'newbie abuse' in the places I frequent. And what little there is usually earns the abuser a quick rebuke from several other people.
Also, anything that involves opening a console would probably qualify as "programmer-skills".
But I do disagree with superboyac: installing stuff in linux is 100 times easier than in windows.
Actually, now that I think about it, windows is the worst OS from this point of view: installing in Mac is even easier than linux: since the introduction of the app store, the app's site can have a link that opens the app's page in the app store where it's one click away from download and install.
-jgpaiva (July 18, 2012, 07:08 PM)
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Agree 100%. Using the console is an intermediate skill and not really required by most users unless they want to get into it.
But in addition to easy to use package managers like Synaptic, several mainstream Linux distros are now starting to offer software stores. Ubuntu and Mint now have similar software managers that take a lot from Apple's App Store. The only difference is that 99.8% of what's listed is free for download.
Short (not that great) demo of how Linux Mint does it follows:
Like the man says: It's butterscotch, baby... butterscotch! :D
A quick lite review of Mint (including Software Manager) can also be seen below if you want to see what a modern Linux distro looks and works like:
8)
40hz:
It's cool! As long as I can rag back on all you linux nuts. Here's one: I say buttons are easier, you guys say "actually...command line is much easier".
-superboyac (July 18, 2012, 08:22 PM)
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Rag away. :Thmbsup: But I don't think you're going to find many Linux nuts in this forum. Users maybe. But not nuts. We just like it because it works. And the day it doesn't, we'll kick it to the curb without a second thought. ;D
Regarding the command line: I like buttons and GUIs too although I'm pretty handy with the command line in windows, BSD, and Linux. For some things buttons are easier. When it is, I use the GUI. But for other operations, like copying an entire folder full of files with subdirectories to a new location, the command cp -r /<original loc>/* /<new loc> is easier (to me) than opening up a file manager, highlighting a bunch of stuff, and then dragging it to a new location. But that's me, so YMMV.
Where the command line really gains power is when you realize Linux (like Unix) basically treats everything as if it were a text file. So you can run a command, and then pipe the output to another command as input. And you can chain a series of such operations together in ways similar to Autohotkey and save them as a script which can be used over and over. It's a very flexible system that really comes into its own when dealing with multiple items or a series of operations.
But that's for later. ;) 8)
superboyac:
Truthfully, I'm a little envious of the Linux users. because like you said, there is so much flexibility with the command line. You don't have to go to mouser or whatever to request every little feature!
For me it's a decision I've made to not dive into something that is not going to be a major part of my life. And Linux is not in my plans right now. I'm even avoiding learning any more nonsense career stuff at this point. I'm in a sense saving my brain for music. I only want music "memorized" if I can help it. I can deal with most other things as they come up, you know? Like Oscar Peterson said when he was asked why he didn't try his hand at other instruments..."I have a hard enough time trying to play this thing! [the piano]"
40hz:
Truthfully, I'm a little envious of the Linux users.
-superboyac (July 18, 2012, 09:38 PM)
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You shouldn't be IMHO. It's just a skill set. Not a gift or god-given talent.
If you're interested or you need it - you learn it. If it's not something that's important to you, it's best avoided. Only so many hours in a day - or a lifetime. Use them wisely.
P.S. Somebody did a study once and discovered something like 90% of all programmers and 80% of all "serious" computer users play at least one musical instrument. Not surprising in that rocking a PC, a guitar neck, or a piano keyboard has more overlapping brain functions than most people realize.
To me, designing a server solution is very similar to composing music. And troubleshooting a network issue is very similar to improvising a solo in the middle of a complex piece of progressive jazz.
Do anything well enough and it all starts to seem like music to me. ;D 8)
8) :Thmbsup:
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