Newbie

[thoutam]

Hey, this is thoutam. I'm new to linux. Just installed fedora 12 live cd on my lappy. I need help in learing what linux is meant for and how to use linux.
thanks is very advance

[GNU-Fan]

Hi,

Linux is NOT Windows

[oz]

I need help in learing what linux is meant for and how to use linux.

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Linux is meant for users that want more freedom and control of their operating system and it's meant to be an alternative to other operating systems. The best way to learn about Linux is to dig in and start using it. You'll need to download it, burn the ISO files to your installation media, install it, and then experiment with it until you get a good feel for what you are doing.

Best of luck to you, and we hope you'll have lots of fun with it.

[ArchiMark]

Hi thoutam,

Hope you have fun with linux....

FWIW, I've been using it for several years and have really enjoyed it and learned a lot about how computers work as a result.

I think you can use linux in several different ways, it's up to you and what you want to do with it and what investment of your time you are willing to put into it.

You can use it very much like you use Windows or Mac systems, just boot it up and start using it, running apps, etc...or you can learn how to use the terminal and get deeper into how the operating system works and make your computer work more the way you would like it to work. So, less dependent upon what apps are available, etc.

So, it's up to you....

Visit the forums, read through some tutorials, wiki's, FAQ's, etc, on subjects that interest you, play with your computer, and then after that ask specific questions if you need help....

Hope this helps!

[Siddly]

Reminds me of a conversation with a colleague some years ago when he said he had installed Linux on his PC at home, then asked what you could do with Linux once installed.
I simply pointed to my laptop on the desk opposite. He was providing 1st. level tech support and I was providing 2nd. level on Mainframes and Enterprise Solaris SPARC systems, so I was doing all the things he was and more.
So here I am today, using only Linux since the days when WFW 3.11 was king.
I can remember what I called "the class of '98" when guys were asking embarassing questions such as how to create a .bat file in Linux and watched how those guys eventually became knowledgeable.
I installed Linux on a laptop for a girl student and soon she and her mother were all over it plying games. One 78 year old retired welder and a 66 year old retired bus driver who both use Linux for browing the web, listening to music, digital camera work, skype, Instant Messaging, email, burning CD's and DVD's, word processing and more - quite a lot they found out by themselves.
The 66 year old only started 6 months previously with a donated P166 and Windows 2000, the 78 year old had never used a keyboard before, so had to be told what the backspace key did when I mentioned backspace, next he pointed to the space bar and asked what it was and what it did.
Both these guys find it easy to do their stuff and in the last 4 odd years I get the odd simple question or two, anything serious has been a hardware failure - an on-board sound card gone faulty and some months back had to replace the motherboard/CPU/memory for the 82 year old. These guys make heavy use of their PC's and their grandchildren when visiting have their own logins after messing up grandpa's desktop settings.
Oh, they both have openSUSE installed which some say is complicated compared to Ubuntu.
I demonstated to colleagues that I could do powerpoint presentations using StarOffice, run X3270, Lotus Notes under wine for company email, Citrix Linux client to connect and work with apps on our W2K servers, use Cisco Linux VPN client to connect to our corporate systems and also have multiple connections to large SPARC systems partitions, something you couldn't do under Solaris or Windows.
Bottom line is - You use Linux to do whatever you use Windows to do and more.
Right now in the middle of several ham radio Software Defined Radio (SDR) builds, I'm using Linux. I do invoices, database work, spreadsheets, electronics CAD ... the lot.

[thoutam]

Reminds me of a conversation with a colleague some years ago when he said he had installed Linux on his PC at home, then asked what you could do with Linux once installed.
I simply pointed to my laptop on the desk opposite. He was providing 1st. level tech support and I was providing 2nd. level on Mainframes and Enterprise Solaris SPARC systems, so I was doing all the things he was and more.
So here I am today, using only Linux since the days when WFW 3.11 was king.
I can remember what I called "the class of '98" when guys were asking embarassing questions such as how to create a .bat file in Linux and watched how those guys eventually became knowledgeable.
I installed Linux on a laptop for a girl student and soon she and her mother were all over it plying games. One 78 year old retired welder and a 66 year old retired bus driver who both use Linux for browing the web, listening to music, digital camera work, skype, Instant Messaging, email, burning CD's and DVD's, word processing and more - quite a lot they found out by themselves.
The 66 year old only started 6 months previously with a donated P166 and Windows 2000, the 78 year old had never used a keyboard before, so had to be told what the backspace key did when I mentioned backspace, next he pointed to the space bar and asked what it was and what it did.
Both these guys find it easy to do their stuff and in the last 4 odd years I get the odd simple question or two, anything serious has been a hardware failure - an on-board sound card gone faulty and some months back had to replace the motherboard/CPU/memory for the 82 year old. These guys make heavy use of their PC's and their grandchildren when visiting have their own logins after messing up grandpa's desktop settings.
Oh, they both have openSUSE installed which some say is complicated compared to Ubuntu.
I demonstated to colleagues that I could do powerpoint presentations using StarOffice, run X3270, Lotus Notes under wine for company email, Citrix Linux client to connect and work with apps on our W2K servers, use Cisco Linux VPN client to connect to our corporate systems and also have multiple connections to large SPARC systems partitions, something you couldn't do under Solaris or Windows.
Bottom line is - You use Linux to do whatever you use Windows to do and more.
Right now in the middle of several ham radio Software Defined Radio (SDR) builds, I'm using Linux. I do invoices, database work, spreadsheets, electronics CAD ... the lot.

I think there could be a problem in my installation process. I cant play music or movies. some layer-1 MPEG required is the message I found.