So I got a nice form letter.....

[genisx1]

Informing me that I'd been a member for 7 days and it might be time to introduce myself....
I looked through the polls (Age/distro/ect.) and got a bit of a feel for the demographics of this forum - I'm not average I guess .
The quick stuff is - I've got an older copy of Suse 9.1 pro (came new in a box with the manuals and such).
I've installed it on two different machines (both of which I built) in various different forms and levels, and have had varying degrees of success. Or failure, depending on how the result is viewed. Linux now has it's own box in my house.
I didn't know if it would work, and really didn't have any expectations of Linux to tell it straight - what I did want though was something that let me use what I expected to learn in a productive manner, as opposed to the mind numbing stupidity I've come to expect from M/S systems. (How much do you want to spend today? )
I've been mucking with home P/C's for about five years, and must admit to complete computer illiteracy before then. The first P/C I had was given to me, (an original pentium machine with windows '95) and this journey started as a result of my dissatisfaction with that box, and my attempts to upgrade it. Hell, I just wanted it to do anything.
Skip ahead though - I dumped a fair amount of $$ into hardware, thinking that was the source of my ire, only to find that sexy hardware running M/S was about as satisfying as owning a boat - just a place to dump more $$, and maybe get a few pretty pictures on the monitor?????????
I can turn on the T/V for that.
I know a guy that runs a Linux server. He sent me an article titled "In the beginning was the command line". I think he may have been tired of fielding my "WTF is windows doing to me?" questions.
I am now ruined. Do I like beating my head into the wall with Linux? Well, no, if that's all I get. But I have a smidgeon of hope that I may actually learn something worthwhile out of all this, and eventually be able to write some embeded system apps for controller projects that actually would be interesting to me, and gawd - do I dare hope - know what I'm doing?
So I'm currently a hack in the most ignorant sense of the term. I am mostly reading up on Linux in the O'Reilly books - "Running Linux", "JDS Linux Desktop" and the "Suse Linux 9 Bible", plus reading tutorials here and various links to the man pages and RFC's.
I have yet to manage an system upgrade or app install over and above the initial install - dealing with editors is a bit over my head still, but I can now at least pronounce "VI" and "EMACS".
Apologies for the running diatribe, I'll cut it short here. The first time I actually get a new app to install and run is going to be some cause for celebration on my end of the keyboard though.
I'll be around to bother many of you in the pursuit of that end no doubt, and thanx to all for asking questions I didn't yet know I had.
B.

[Cabhan]

WELCOME!

Yeah...Linux can be a pain to get started. Imagine my horror when, as an ignorant Linux-newbie, I installed Red Hat to find out that my graphics card didn't work (I later downloaded the drivers with someone's help).

However, as you get more comfortable with a Linux environment, it becomes second nature. Also, as far as books, they can be useful, but the best experience is doing it on your own. I've never opened up a Linux book in my life (unless Rev. Torvalds's autobiography counts as a Linux book), and I've learned a lot by fiddling.

So yeah...have fun (not as root), learn, and feel free to ask questions.

I looked through the polls (Age/distro/ect.) and got a bit of a feel for the demographics of this forum - I'm not average I guess .

So what demographics ARE you? O.o

[fingal]

Hi there,

Good luck with it all. It takes a while to get over the initial learning curve, but once you've done that things start to get easier. If you don't mind a few tips in no particular order:

* Take notes during a project. Keep these... They'll come in useful and you'll be amazed how much time this will save you.

* Give yourself a good 18 months as a newbie. We're all still learning in one way or another.

* Ask clear/well thought out questions on the Forum and you'll get better answers - At least I hope so!

* Learn all about your distro's package management system. This will make installing things less painful.

* Keep compiling from source to a minimum, and prefer to install binaries.

* Learn to use the command line. It's not that scary and it is the source of much power! (Deliberate Yoda-like phraseology). It's a great way to manipulate files.

* Choose your text editor with care. You might like to try programming with it. Some are definitely better than others.

* Learn all about boot loaders: GRUB is good if you're multi-booting.

* Read a lot of stuff - It'll come in useful at some point.

There are many more things, but I don't want to bore you (or me) to death.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums, genisx1 - glad you've joined the community!

I hope you'll find all time spent here enjoyable, and that you'll visit often...

[genisx1]

So what demographics ARE you? O.o

Well........it seems a majority on this forum are actually pretty young - I was twenty something a few decades ago, other than that I'm solidly in the middle.
Except I'm not running Red hat or FDC3 .
And thanx for the welcome too......

[Cabhan]

As a first little prod in the right direction:

SuSE (which I can see that you use) uses a package manager called YaST. What this does is that you give it a source, and it will search that source for packages and it will install them for you.

The hard part is configuring YaST to work with sources other than the CD. It's kinda weird. But luckily, thanks to awesome Linux documentation, Novell has provided an easy walkthrough:

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/11504.html

Since it looks like you're using SuSE 9.1, change all mentions of 9.2 to 9.1. And just so you know, SuSE is currently on 9.3.


Once that's done, you can just go to the "Install Software" section, type in a package, and it will be found and installed. And so will all of its dependencies. Which is EXTREMELY useful.

So yeah. Welcome and best of luck to ya.

[genisx1]

The hard part is configuring YaST to work with sources other than the CD.

I spent a bit of time yesterday trying to do just that, and couldn't figure my way through it.
I'll be on my way to check that link now - thanx Cabhan!

[NeoSNightmarE]

Welcome to the forums. I think that everything that has been said is the best possible advice and the thing that I want to touch on is learning by reading which is what a lot of ppl do. The thing to remember is not to be afraid to get your hands dirty with the commandline. There is so much you can do that it's amazing. It's best to have a (more or less) balance between reading and testing. Other than that, welcome and hope you enjoy your stay.

[bryansmith]

Welcome aboard and best of luck.
Throw those questions our way and we will do our best to help you.

Do I like beating my head into the wall with Linux? Well, no, if that's all I get. But I have a smidgeon of hope that I may actually learn something worthwhile out of all this

You sure will learn something. You will learn more about how a computer works and how truly awesome the mighty penguin can be.

Bryan

[drakebasher]

I was twenty something a few decades ago...

You certainly aren't alone. Welcome to the community.