Slashdot Mirror
Technical FAQ for New Linux Users
Jay writes: "This article is really helpful if you're new to Linux, or even if you're not-so-new. It helps Windows users transition to Linux, but those converting from other operating systems will find useful information here as well." Personally, I'd think that learning a new OS would be worth the cost of a book (which I note is out of print - does that mean a new edition is on the way?), but if you're too cheap to buy a book, well, here's a pretty decent guide to getting started with GNU/Linux.
There is a problem in the last paragraph on page 36 about hard linking directories. I sent the author a note, suggested a change, and got a quick and thankful response. He said he welcomes comments, even if the l-faq is not his official project right now. (He'd like to see "maybe change ... to ..." feedback instead of "... is wrong, please correct.")
BTW, I am also @us.ibm.com, and I use the document to educate the few remaining WinXX users around me. It works fine with engineering types, but some of the stuff in there would be too complicated for Joan Doe in marketing.
WARNING, the above link is not a link to goatse.cx. Don't click it!
Looking through it, I've already found one inaccuracy. On page 12, it says that you can copy a file off a floppy by doing cp /dev/fd0/bookmarks.html /home/yourusername/.netscape. This is incorrect. The floppy drive must be mounted and you must then copy the file from the mountpoint. I've just notified the authors.
How is gnome part of Linux?
Just a point to make about the O'reilly book that was mentioned to be out of print. It may be out of print but it isn't offline. And it's not PDF either :0
> Can anyone point me to a document which explains the logic of /usr, /usr/share, /usr/local, etc.?
See the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
> How about an Intuitive UI Instead?
I can't fathom the common notion that you can put an "Intuitive UI" on a Turing complete device.
The presupposition is that people are born with an intuition about what is computationally possible, along with an intuition about some "right way" for every possible computation should be expressed. Neither is remotely near the truth.
In practice, "Intuitive UI" tends to be a euphemism for "straitjacket". You could build a computer with nothing but a single toggle switch for its UI, but you would find it inconvenient if you had more than two things you wanted the computer to do.
The nice thing about UNIX and its clones--along with MVS and VMS and almost every operating system that came along before the Mac--is that it's a full-featured OS that lets you do almost anything a computer can do, and do lots of it pretty easily if you can be bothered to learn the arcana of expressing exotic computational requirements.
However, those OSes will also let you cover them with an optional straitjacket if you do want to limit their operations, say for a net kiosk or a POS system. But not everyone wants a POS system (pardon the pun!).
Simply put, Windows and Mac have traditionally been designed to make life easy for Joe User by filtering out the complexity of general-purpose computing, i.e., Joe User runs a handful of apps, and that's "computing" for him. But lots of people need computers that are general-purpose computers rather than expensive limited-purpose appliances, and for us the "hide the complexity" strategy makes life more difficult rather than more comfortable. No one can make a menu that lists every operation I want my computer to undertake, because even I don't know today what I might ask of it tomorrow.
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
This FAQ suggests using the built-in Linux PS/2 mouse drivers for the trackpoints on IBM Thinkpad laptops. You could do this of course, but there is a much better open source driver that allows you to take advantage of some of the enhanced capabilities of the trackpoint, such as the hardware sensitivity control and z-axis control. If you have a thinkpad, you might want to check out this driver if you haven't already.
I can't answer the question about where the logs are on a FreeBSD system, but there are definitely SSH clients for Windows, so if you replace telnet with SSH, you should have no trouble accessing it from a Windows machine. Sorry I don't have any links or names of programs, but a Google search for Windows SSH clients will probably turn up what you need.
Personally, I'd think that learning a new OS would be worth the cost of a book (which I note is out of print - does that mean a new edition is on the way?), but if you're too cheap to buy a book, well, here's a pretty decent guide to getting started with GNU/Linux.
Actually, the link to the ORA debian gnu/linux book is one link away from the full text of that book, online & free, courtesy of O'Reilly.
--sean
Files in /sbin are system binaries. These files are usually run by the administrator to configure or control the system. Different Unix operating systems have different commands here.
> If "Desktops aren't the entire world" why is Linux being actively developed to be forced into the market to people to take windows off the "
"Desktop" market?
Because people are free to persue whatever goal they desire with Linux. Its Free and you can't stop them.
You'll notice it's also pretty actively developed in the embedded, distributed, super computer and server sectors too.
The reason for the continual "Linux on the desktop" drive is becuase more and more people are doing it. Trends; where do you see them stopping?
I can only see them leading to lots of corporate IT managers seeing tidy savings (and larger bonuses) to be made without Windows and Office licenses - especially monthly. These same people are already using Linux in their servers more and more.
"Linux isn't a desktop OS" means nothing tomorrow. It means nothing to many of us already. Its about Apps, as you no doubt know, and 99% of the windows using world will find everything they need on most recent distributions. In fact, there is probably more than they need.
As for those who can't stand Linux, well I dare say their legacy will die along with their OS choices. At least our work can be incorporated into the next best Free OS.
Well, access to the source code has meant it has caught up and surpassed Microsoft's best benchmark output in a very short period of time. If you can find somewhere it hasn't, by all means, make the noise. You will only fuel to the drive to make it happen there too. Microsoft have learned that much from Mindcraft at least. Do you hear them play that record any more?
They're _trying_ to play ours now.
A few points to your questions for the sake of completeness.
.vbs? Why does my screen go blue? Why do I have to hold my breath when using my scanner in case it has anything to with that blue screen appearing.
;) (Seriously, AOL will port when it suits them, and it increasingly does with the tension between them and MS these days).
I'm not really a games player but Wine is solving that problem. It ran Windows Half Life when I last tried it (about a year ago). I'd wager it will run most of the above. If not and you know Windows, why not get involved - its the nearest you'll get to hacking windows code under the currently license terms MS offers.
The package systems solve dependecies well enough. In 6 months most dists with use an APT-like layer making this problem redundant. Debian already does.
Its much better than downloading 6mb VB apps just because the author had to bundle umpteen ocx files you already have.
What is root? What is a user? How about Why did my Outlook just send 30 emails to other people without my asking. What is Lovebug? What is
Why do I want to use AOL
XFree86 4 lets you do the resolution changing (as long as the driver supports the feature). In time all will. They all seemed to offer the RENDER extension quick enough.
Yes people really use it. More and more in increasing increments. Why else do you think MS are making so much noise about it?
Linux has lots of killer apps, remember you're talking about "most users". They'll be happy enough with Blender, Gimp, gPhoto and BCast2000. In a years time, Koffice, Gnome Office and Star Office 6 will no doubt cause quite a buzz on the corporate desktop. The developer world already has its fair share of killer apps (between gcc, emacs, python and glade I'm happy enough - to much to consider windows again for that purpose).
Where there is a lack, it will be solved in time, that pattern is clear. I think its less about "if" and more about "when".
Take into account that lots of new computer users will see Linux in the future, not Windows (the Chinese for example). The western market is already saturated - which is why MS is trying to charge you repeatedly now, and diverging into a games company.
Lots of downloadable utilities to make any window transparent. It's even built into the operating system, rather than the ugly hack ...
... I just used the option in the gnome-terminal ... without downloading anything!? If it's built into the operating system why do you have to DL something? Sounds like your solution is the "ugly hack".
hmmm
One of the guys I work with saw my box at work, saw transparent windows, and told me "I don't care what it takes, I want transparent windows". I gave him the standard warnings (no photoshop, word, etc. etc.) but he didn't care. I chuckled to myself, because that's what caught my intertest in linux in the first place. (e.themes.org, I think even all ye console purists can agree that the right E screenshot can convert anyone.)
.... this was weird to me, because I've being doing it so long, because when he got frustrated, it was like "fscking linux" instead of "fscking gnome, unstable mozilla, stupid rpm." It takes a while to explain how all those things interact and come shipped with a distro, remember they are used to everything coming from one vendor. "No, you can't update KDE with Red Carpet", "Oh, that sucks..." ... you get the idea.
:)
.....
This is what I learned, in a nutshell of course:
1) Teach them to use the console method first, then, when they've done it a while, show them the GUI way, that way they'll learn how it works.
2) The multi-user thing coming from windows is kind of hard to get over. "Why do I have to be root to install this?"
3) Guy calls it all linux, not GNOME, KDE, Red Hat, Ximian, mozilla
4) He needs to know his hardware, regardless of distro - everyone knows this, I hope.
5) After he got a hold of it, he found linux easy to use and maintain (I used Ximian GNOME in this case). Because it's different doesn't make it hard. Once you get them to 'think outside the box' (hate to use that phrase), learning linux can be easy and fun.
6) Nothing will help you learn linux faster than teaching someone. I consider myself an average linux guy, this experience taught me alot, and in the end, we all want to learn something, right?
7) The most important IMHO: The simple things are hard, the hard things are easy. Yes, you don't need to defrag, virus scan, worry about privacy issues, 'registration', or worry about BSODs, but yes, it will take us 2 hours to get yout ghetto ass CD burner working right
I didn't find it seamless at all. I took my old burner that I bought in 97 or so, and tried to get it working in 2k. Yuck, a real mess.
I didn't have ASPI installed, so I go searching for it. Turns out you get an ASPI driver with some products, like Adaptec's stuff. I eventually found a FAQ that linked to two versions of Adaptec's drivers, an old one that would install, and then a new one you could upgrade to. Without that, they look for an Adaptec product and exit if they don't find one.
If you don't get Adaptec's, you need to find AspiMe.exe, which I think was written by Steve Gibson, except it's violating some copyright and thus it's fairly hard to find. Not to mention it's a few years old.
Without ASPI, my CD burner was just a reader. Really useful.
I actually find Linux easier in this regard.
There are many different people who are drawn to Linux and not all of them have the financial resources to lay down $30-$40 on a book. Think kids in not-so-wealthy school districts for one, or even adults who are currently stuck in low paying jobs who are trying to improve their situation.
This is one of the benefits of free software. People are able to bootstrap theirselves in a way that conservatives claim the great American capitalist meritocratic system makes possible. In reality, increasing your earning power often has a steep price tag. Free software helps allevitate some of that cost.
So while there are plenty of people who are too 'cheap' to buy a book, so what? Although those people start off as leaches, and may remain leaches forever, just the very basic fact that they are running Linux almost insures that in some small way they will return something to the community... Even if it is nothing other than just once showing a newbie how to mount a drive.
I found Pico and Pine to be quite the easiest shell-based editor/email client. Why isn't it on more Linux distros, especially ones that try to make things easier, like Corel? Correct me if I'm wrong on Corel's attempt to make things a bit easier for Windwos users. I just found it a lot easier to pick up than good 'ol VI.
So I click your link, and what am I greeted with?
"View the PDF"
Whoops.
Heh heh.
Well, I was going to post a favorite, but it's kind of hard. (pun intended?)
---
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
The shareholder is always right.
Sorry, but this is more basic than that - geared more toward Windows users who would like to understand how to get around. Methinks you could benefit more from the HOWTOS
You have to download something because for the most part it's left up to the application to control its transparency and most applications don't do anything along those lines. What's built into the OS are the hooks that applications can use.
The only application I've used that uses this is DUMeter, which displays a graph of inbound/outbound network traffic. In the current version, you can set the window to any transparency in 10% increments, then leave it in the corner of the screen and still be able to see what's behind it.
The one feature I'd like to have added is for it to pass any mouse activity through to the window behind it unless that window is the desktop - have your traffic meter visible but not interfering with any application use! Since it normally resides in the system tray, this wouldn't keep you from interacting with DUMeter itself.
-- fencepost
fencepost
just a little off
And that's why Linux will never succeed on the desktop. All the Linux geeks like you.
First of all, I develop numerous Open Source applications. So, while I may not contribute to Linux (an OS I think is crap anyways), I do my fair share.
Second of all, if no one complains, nothing gets better.
Maybe you should try OS X?
I will make it easier for you. How about someone make the install of the fucking OS simple and SECURE?
Personally, I'd think that making the OS easier to use would be a good idea.
Call me crazy...
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
I only wish this had come out when i started using linux. I had no help so i picked up the good old "Linux For Dummies" book.
DON'T BUY IT IF YOU'RE SWITCHING!
Most books state that they don't require any prior knowledge of linux or unix but the authors seem to write as if they're explaining linux to all those "newbies" who have been using linux for a few years.
My only advice, other than reading this FAQ (which is really good, BTW) is to simply fsck around with your new OS. Break it, then fix it, then break it again. Besides - if you're not using linux because you A)want to try out new things and B)want to get into the guts of an OS, then you're probably safer with windows and AOL anyway. Most of the people I know using *nix and it's variants on a *real* basis these days are the ones that were breaking their parents' cable boxes in the process of trying to figure out how they worked when they were kids.
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
There would be a whole lot more people going to Linux if there weren't tons of pirated copies of $90 OSes on the internet free for download.
I look at it this way: some users need GUI, some need CLI. I, personally, am most comfortable having both (which is why it irks me that I can't run OS X).
The fact is that as much as people complain about learning curves, Linux is what it is. It's Unix (if dmr says so, it's Unix; certifications be damned), and that means it takes time to learn. It's not for everyone, though it can be made so with a little tweaking.
As for controlling everything from a GUI... just doesn't happen without a lot of work. Even on the Mac you need ResEdit to change some settings, and some of those you need to hexedit. XML is helping to close the gap, and LinuxConf is an excellent program (couldn't live without it myself). But sometimes, there's no choice but to geek out.
/brian
I'll have to read this when I have some free time - I never really understood the way things work inside the kernel, how X works internally, and that sort of thing. Let's hope that's all in there.
You had to "learn" windows too, jackass. its just that you have probably been learning it over your entire life. Everyone had to learn how to use any OS at sometime! You cant just expect to have some kind of gnosis while your computer is booting!
I don't care what it takes, I want transparent windows
Or just give him Win/2000. Lots of downloadable utilities to make any window transparent. It's even built into the operating system, rather than the ugly hack that you need to do to make it work on X (which doesn't natively support it).
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Actually, "duh" and wrong, at least as far as Telnet goes. Telnet does not use the shell (although Ping does). You can put Telnet on the menu anytime you want, it's just not there by default.
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
If it's built into the operating system why do you have to DL something?
Try clicking on a menu... you'll notice a fade effect. Try dragging files in file explorer, and you'll notice the files are transparent.
Win/2000 has it, but it just doesn't beat you over the head with it. The utilities you can download are ones that allow you specify transparencies for various windows, borders, dialogs, etc.
To tell you the truth, I credit Microsoft with some taste when it comes to this. The other platforms with this effect (and I include Apple in this) seem almost nouveau riche, like wearing big gold chains just to prove you can.
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Actually they were talking about Win2k so your parent post is correct. Under 9x telnet is a separate GUI application, but under Windows 2000 it is a command line utility. There are also other things under Win2k that must be done from a command line, ipconfig /renew comes to mind. There is no "winipcfg" utility in Win2k. Rather than weakening the command line interface in Win2k as suggested by the original poster, MS has expanded the command line. They claim you can do almost everything you can do from a GUI (system tasks) from the command prompt.
Enigma
Enigma
IIRC, all CD burners emulate SCSI in the Linux environment. Try the CD Writing HOWTO for more information. It sounds like your burner is behaving normally.
Enigma
Enigma
Personally, I think that anything that makes the transition road easier for the masses (who don't have to use Linux, who aren't under any legal obligation to be technically proficient, and who are currently quite content in their Windows world, if only because they don't know any better) is a Very Good Thing. Remember, it's up to us to prove our case to the layperson, they aren't obliged to immediately see the light and become Bourne Again users just on the say-so of some geek who says, "Linux is 1337".
If it does, wouldn't it be a good idea to include this with any given Linux distribution? The how-to's included with Linux right now are good.. but sometimes they aren't good enough.. and they lack details that I have to spend hours searching for on the net. I honestly doubt that most people are willing to put in as much time as I'm going to.
Heh. Whenever I'm using a windows box I've always got at least 10 DOS prompts open and _nothing_ else. Windows user's think I'm really wierd. I guess it's the *nix user in me. Comes out even if I'm not on a *nix box :O)
Either that or the DOS user is in me is still there after all these years.... I never really did spend all that much time in a point 'n click environment. Pretty DOS and UNIX all my life...
But your post just reminded me of my parent's in law who always look over my shoulder when I'm using their computer and ask "Why do you do so much typing???? Can't you just point and click like everyone else?"
--
Garett
If a little more effort was put into usability and interface, some of that stuff would be obvious even to a beginning user.
This is a big problem in the adoption of Linux. Look at Sourceforge - there are like thousands of projects, 75% of which are in permanent beta. Think what Linux could be if just 1% of the time spent coding was spend writing documentation and refining interface!
At one point I tried 'learning' Linux, and found that it would take 20 times longer compared to the other OS mentioned.
If you can't see that the lack of cohesive interface, user-friendlyness, quality documentation, and a common GUI are holding Linux back, I don't know what to tell you. But they are.
Someone with moderator points, please mod parent back up. It might sting, but it's true.
When I started to get into linux 2 years ago, linuxnewbie.org was an invaluable resource, and the plain english NHF's, and friendly people, were a welcome break from the (then) cryptic HOWTO's and man pages.
Now I generally hang out at linuxjunior.org - which is similar in function.
Newbies dont know now to post "my rpm wont install" to kernel-hackers, and many people get fed up the 5th time in the day they tell someone to type ls -a to see their ".foo" file. Thats where these sites (and sites like linuxorbit and linuxquestions) come in.
Copuple with the horrible GUI windows-esque installs of distros like mandrake, and WM's like KDE, its never been easier to make the move. People can sit at a linux box, never even having heard of it before, and manage to get to their favourite website (if the system is set up).
While any pro-newbie move is good, this would have been news 2 or 3 years ago, not now.
Initially i thought this would be a paper for every windows user transitioning to linux but that obviously isn't the case. It seems that only proficient windows users would understand the majority of the paper. all the talk about mounting and swapfiles and ports... i think that's too much for mom and pop users who expect their computer to work like magic... then again, they're also the last people to even think about linux. so i guess this is a good start down the road of demystifying linux and making it easier to understand.
isn't there some kind of auto config option for installing linux? if it were to be a desktop os to contend with... asking lots of technical questions is a lot to ask for a user, regardless of expertise. well, even though i'm not a linux user, i can't deny the sheer power of a good ol' command prompt =)
Most day-to-day computer users don't have a clue and they don't particularily want to get a clue. Thats fine, but thats hardly an argument for linux being useless. Home/end users are unimportant in the grand scheme of computing anyway. They will eventually just be using thin computers or some such derivative anyway.
As far as your quote "I'm going to make a bold statement now...There isn't one thing that I can do in Linux that can't be done in Windows." - Thats laughable. Try again when you have used computers for something besides writing email and browsing the web. Desktops aren't the entire world, only a small part. If you don't care to do anything other than read your email, than windows has probably got you covered, as does linux. If you want to run mathematic simulations, write your own sound processing interfaces, attach custom hardware to your computer, or whatever other crazy thing than you probably would be much better off with linux. Some of us just do more with our computers than the average desktop.
I've got a cheap acoustic guitar and a custom-cut and finished strat with custom electronics sitting right here. Sure, the strat can't play any notes the acoustic can't, but thats no reason to claim it's not a better guitar. It just takes someone knowledgable and skilled to use it to it's full potential.
Uninnovate - Only the finest in engineering.
I spend more time helping new linux users find replacement applications than anything else. To help alleviate this, I have set up an easy to use linux software index that works a little different than most. Just choose the task you need to do and the index tells you the single best program to do it in linux and advice on common pitfalls with it. You used photoshop? Ok, choose Graphics -> High-end Editing and it will tell you all about getting and installing the Gimp. And so on.
There is some other general help stuff, but I feel that applications are what hold most people back. They surely aren't sticking with windows for the OS itself. The link is in my sig if you are interested.
Uninnovate - Only the finest in engineering.
If you're new to Linux or even been around a little while, you have to check out the LINUX Rute Users Tutorial and Exposition.
Been referencing it exclusively ever since I found it.
There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
Despite your mod down to Troll status, you're quite right. The idea of needing to read a 50-page manual before using a piece of software has been obsolete since 1984. Most of the computer-using world knows that it's obsolete, but /. is a haven for command-line nostalgics. Apparently there are people who prefer to spend their time memorizing commands rather than using software to get something done, just as there are people who would rather tinker under their car's hoods than actually drive anywhere. I have nothing against this taste, but what seems to be missing on /. is an understanding that this inclination is and always will be in the minority.
Tim
I've known how to use UNIX for twenty years now, but I prefer to use my Macintosh. Everything is easier, and easier means faster, because the software works with me rather than against me. While system stability on the Mac is worse than on Linux, application stability is much better. I got a Linux box (Red Hat) last year out of curiosity, and played with a bunch of software I downloaded, but everything about the application software was so painful, awkward, ugly, slow and unreliable that I found myself still using the Mac for everything. After a few months of idle time on the Linux box I gave it away. I haven't missed it once.
Tim
It is always nice to spot an occassional reasonable person on Slashdot. Thanks for posting.
I think one of the things that made using Linux not so difficult for me was that I grew up using DOS and VMS, and editing BBS configuration files since Junior High. Think about the newbies who've never had to leave the GUI world? In a lot of respects I think I like Linux so much because it brings me back to BBS days in a sense; it lets you become a provider of something (by setting up minor servers and stuff), and it gives you a chance to play around. Bringing up a config file in pico reminds me of fixing up dropfiles in DOS edit :)
Like a BBS, there was a default install -- but chances are you changed it to represent your own personality; Linux is similar. What packages you install and how you configure everything is almost an expression of yourself. Let us not forget the l33tness attitudes originated from the BBS scene.
OK, I'll byte...
:-)
Q: Internet Explorer is 100x better than Netscape. So why should I run Linux when it doesn't have a decent web browser??
Nobody tells you to use Netscape, you can use the excellent Konqueror, Mozilla or even Opera instead.
Q: Windows is super easy to install. To install Linux I have to do an fdisk, whatever that is. What's the deal here?
Try one of those easy distros, Red Hat, Mandrake that come with a graphical disk editor, couldn't be easier.
Q: There aren't any WYSIWYG word processors for Linux. How should I do my school work??
StarOffice? Lyx? KWord?
Your last question is really lame
This is not new, from long ago Linux comunity helps windows users with lots of documentation like this to enter the GNU world.
Goatse.cx has an excellent, nearly complete collection of HOW-TOs and even full-blown guides on just about anything related for Linux. Certainly worth more of my time than working for money to buy an overpriced O'Reilly book.
--
Is your company running tools written by ma
What is the difference between /bin and /sbin?
Gee, I hope it's not encrypted ;)