new to linux any of you old school linux users got any tips n tricks

[mayor89]

im new to linux! LOVING IT! so fast, dosent crash easy to use ish learning my way around it! out the window with windows! i keep telling all my friends about it but they just dont understand .

well do any of you linux veterans have any tips or tricks you would like to share with me?

[atreyu]

I can't think of any tips off the top of my head...but I have a suggestion: assign yourself a task to do in Linux, you know, something to make you more familiar with your system.

Here's some classic examples (you may have already done these - they're just ideas):

1. Learn the ins and outs of your system's package manager (yum/rpm, apt-get/dpkg, etc.) and perform a complete system update (that one's actually pretty important).

2. Figure out how to encrypt your home folder.

3. Set up some sort of network (if you have other PCs) and set up some sort of network-based server (Apache Web Server, FTP Server, etc.)

[peter__barnes]

I am also new user of linux, if you want to know something about linux ,just ask "man",he know most of things.

use dump and tar to backup your files, if something wrong ,restore them.

shell command is very powerfull, gui can help new user use linux quickly,but if you want to use linux very well, shell command are more usefull.

[jayd512]

Adding to those good suggestions, learn a few different terminal commands.
Most of them can come in pretty handy when troubleshooting a problem, or when switching to a different distro or Desktop Environment.

LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts.

[atreyu]

I am also new user of linux, if you want to know something about linux ,just ask "man",he know most of things.

You're absolutely right, that is the best advice to a n00b. and mayor89, if you don't know what he means:

man man

[mayor89]

thank you all you loverly people i will deff do these things! it will prob take me a while to learn how to do thes things but i will keep you updated on my progress 2 questions whats a shell command and whats this man man thing

[jayd512]

A shell command is a command that you type into a terminal, which is similar to a Command Prompt in Windows.
And for man man, type that one into the terminal..
It will bring up an on-screen manual on using the man command.
You can do the same this with any command you have some questions about.
Typing in

man cp

will give you a manual on the cp command. BTW, cp copies files.

*EDIT*

This might help, as well.
Online version of the man pages.
http://linux.die.net/man/

[elija]

My advice? Take your time, embrace the differences, expect some frustration at times and above all have fun.

Also, try out different distros and desktops to see which ones you like (and which ones you don't) but I warn you it can be addictive

[oz]

Hello and welcome!

Like the others have said, take your time and have fun with Linux. Every one of our members started off right where you are, but they took the time necessary to reach their current skill level. It was undoubtedly easier for some than others, but that's just the way of life. If you stick with it, you may eventually find Linux to be easier to use than Windows... I certainly do. I'm working on a Windows 7 laptop at the moment and that OS is driving me totally nutty!

Hope you will continue to enjoy your new playground!

[jmadero]

I think patience and an open mind is a good starting point. Also, I've had to do a lot of finger pointing since changing to Linux a decade ago -- unfortunately some things just "wont' work" no matter what you try, I've learned to stop yelling at Linux being at fault and focus more on who is really to blame, the software and hardware giants who hurt all of us by refusing to work with open source communities worldwide. I also think contributing back (either financially, spreading the word or/and helping others in the forums) is hugely rewarding. A bit more unique advice is keep up with the politics of open source, there are several pieces of legislation currently being pushed hard that will undoubtedly hurt our community and possibly make what we do (as users using open source tech) illegal (now what this means is up for debate but one example is Microsoft patenting the ability for users to become superusers (ie, sudo command that has been around for a long long time in Linux). This means keeping up with how your representatives stand on the issues and decide how important the issues are for you as a user, my representative (although he has many faults) is actually pretty friendly towards open source which I appreciate -- obviously not the only thing that matters to me.

Lastly, like all the others, welcome to LF, hope you enjoy, experiment with as many distros as you can before settling down. I spent years on Fedora, switched to Ubuntu, and recently have switched to Bodhi. In between I've tried many and enjoyed most.