raymac46 Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 What was the most useful thing you learned when you first got started with Linux? For me, it was how to set up a properly encrypted wifi installation. This was back in the days when Network Manager really sucked. If you had it at all, it might support WEP, but not necessarily. I had an old desktop and a crappy pre-Ethernet laptop I wanted to run WPA wifi on. I needed a PCI board for the desktop and a PCMCIA card to slide into the laptop. So what did I learn? Hardware selection - back then Atheros chipsets were the way to go, so you had to be sure you got a card that featured an Atheros setup. The terminal. You needed to be able to see if your card was recognized and the right module was loaded. Also to see if it was up and working after the rest of your configuration. Writing .conf files. wpa-supplicant needed one with the Wext driver configured properly. Making .init scrips. This was before all that systemd service bumph so without a proper .init script the wifi wouldn't come up when you booted your machine. I can't tell you how cool it was to see that PCMCIA card blinking slowly and steadily after I did everything right. Of course, everything I learned is unnecessary today because just about every distro is hard wired to support wifi. Maybe you need some firmware, but that is it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Most important thing I learned from GNU/Linux: - Linux is NOT MS Windows. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goretsky Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Hello, Well, on the installation side, how to identify hardware in order to try and figure out whether it was compatible with Linux, and how and where to search for information, both in the operating system (man -k and apropos come to mind) and on the web (e.g., properly formatting search queries so that you get useful results). Regards, Aryeh Goretsky 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 That having a Live Linux Distro burnt to a cd/dvd or usb and kept close to hand was a life saver. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 3 hours ago, abarbarian said: That having a Live Linux Distro burnt to a cd/dvd or usb and kept close to hand was a life saver. Imma hafta agree with AB on this one. LiveCDs were the tool that allowed me to dip my toes in the Linux pool. Allowed me to try out Linux on my system, get comfortable, and then get familiar....with no fear of making any stupid or irreversible changes to my underlying system. Without LiveCDs, I'm probably STILL using MS Windows, buying a new computer every time a new version of Windows comes out (because upgrading in place cripples the now under-powered hardware), and complaining about it on a regular basis. Yeah...LiveCDs...Klaus Knopper deserves to be in that same pantheon as Linus & RMS, IMO! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 2 hours ago, Hedon James said: .Klaus Knopper Knoppix was my first Live Distro. I wrote a question on their forum not expecting an answer and the man himself replied, I was blown away. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturnian Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 Yeah, finding out about live Linux sessions was huge for me, too. I'm thinking that it was probably the most useful thing I learned about. I could boot my Windows PC with a Linux disc and access all the files on the drive! I could repartition the drive from the live session! No more Partition Magic (I used to have a bootleg copy of that)! Ha-ha, I don't use CDs/DVDs for this stuff anymore, but those live sessions (from flash drives these days) turned out to be quite important to me. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mauser Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 The most useful thing I learned about Linux which took years to find out is unfortunately many in the Linux community are from a different galaxy or are retarded which explains the ones in the Linux community have no manners and have an alternately reality which is the opposite of the reality of the Milky Way Galaxy. This is based on my own personal observations and the Star Trek episode with the Kelvins where Spock states "in an other galaxy the laws of physics and reality are much different." These are the ones that make up excuses for shoddy work which is why certain things never get fixed or takes years to fix. Fortunately the rest of the Linux community is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 I find the opposite in the Linux communities. Developers fix issues rather quickly and others fork to improve on already great projects. Perhaps you are referring to some users and not the actual developers who work to improve Linux. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Also, remember that most developers are not paid for their Linux contributions and do these things in their free time as personal projects. You are more than welcome to improve on a piece of software/code if you have something to contribute. Otherwise, why talk about people's efforts to make Linux a great operating system? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 17, 2020 Author Share Posted May 17, 2020 I think if you choose carefully you can find forums like this one where people will help without attitude. I am sure that a lot of the problems users find on forums is due to the fact that they don't research before asking questions. We all know how to avoid that sort of thing. Stuff already online like the Arch or Debian wiki can go a long way toward resolving problems. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 15 minutes ago, raymac46 said: I think if you choose carefully you can find forums like this one where people will help without attitude. I am sure that a lot of the problems users find on forums is due to the fact that they don't research before asking questions. We all know how to avoid that sort of thing. Stuff already online like the Arch or Debian wiki can go a long way toward resolving problems. Yeah, as long as you do not post on the Arch forums without first searching. They can be a bit bullish if the question has already been answered. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 6 hours ago, Mauser said: ...many in the Linux community are from a different galaxy or are retarded which explains the ones in the Linux community have no manners and have an alternately reality... Umm, have to agree with Josh here. 4 hours ago, securitybreach said: I find the opposite in the Linux communities. I have VERY rarely run across a bad GNU/Linux online community. I'm sure there may be a few out there, but the only one ever where I felt the above sentiment was -- sorry, Josh -- the Arch Linux forum. There were, sadly, some serious asshats at that place at that time (2006-8 or so). And actually, I should mention that @securitybreach had an awesome Arch community going at G+ for quite some time. I liked it so much, I was even a member there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 17, 2020 Share Posted May 17, 2020 Just now, V.T. Eric Layton said: And actually, I should mention that @securitybreach had an awesome Arch community going at G+ for quite some time. I liked it so much, I was even a member there. I have one on MeWe now but its not as big as the G+ one: https://mewe.com/group/5bbc9a2fa40f3002b383449b 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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