A Good Linux Tutorial?

[Popular Front of Judea]

I took the plunge last week and installed Mint on my donated tower. (I am a precarian that has always used older Windows computers.) The install was easy. I was up and online in short order.

That is the good news.

The bad news is that underneath the familiar GUI it's still Linux. Me and a savvy friend bashed our heads in frustration simply trying to install a screensaver. Googling our questions was no help. The answers were all over the place, almost all assuming that we had far more familiarity with Linux than we indeed have.

So clearly I need a start at the beginning, assume nothing tutorial. (My Windows experience is clearly a liability.) I would prefer it in printed form. A pdf would be okay, I can view it on my laptop.

Any suggestions?

[argeiphontes]

I got started with The Linux Bible (http://www.amazon.com/Linux-Bible-Christopher-Negus/dp/111821854X) but it looks there aren't any cheap used copies (and carrying it around might hurt your back). It's pretty good though.

They have a PDF User Guide on this User Guide Page (http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php) but I haven't seen it yet.

With a good desktop distro like that one, thankfully you shouldn't have to look under the hood too much, but sometimes you probably will. Or eventually you might want you. Feel free to ask me any questions, too, just one more reason to spend all day and night on this site ;)

[argeiphontes]

Oh good, it uses Ubuntu repositories so you'll have lots of good software and little or no problem with package dependencies (though that problem is mostly gone with modern desktop distros, Ubuntu is still probably the best in that regard.)

[Popular Front of Judea]

Oh good, it uses Ubuntu repositories so you'll have lots of good software and little or no problem with package dependencies (though that problem is mostly gone with modern desktop distros, Ubuntu is still probably the best in that regard.)

Uh you wanna translate that into Windows? :)

Put the Linux Bible on the wish list and have signed up to the local user group e-mail list.

[Remus Bleys]

A repository is where the software is stored. So you go to the app installer, or whatever mint uses, and and search for software you can get.
Ubuntu is an operating system, but id say xubuntu is better.
This might be difficult, but do you use xfce? Did you just get a vanilla version of mint?

[argeiphontes]

Oh, your 'package manager' is going to be like the Add/Remove Programs thing in Windows, and the 'repository' or 'repo' is basically a directory on somebody's server where they keep these for people to download.

A 'package' is some compressed form of the program you want to install. Linux programs are more modular, so a program will almost always depend on some others. The package manager has to resolve these dependencies and the correct versions of everything it needs. You could do it by hand, but that would be masochism. For example, my command-line tool is called 'zypper' and it installs packages called 'RPM's (after Redhat Package Manager). So when I go to install something, it'll do something like this:



hermes:~ # zypper install mpg123
Loading repository data...
Warning: Repository 'OpenSUSE-12.3-Update-Non-Oss' appears to outdated. Consider using a different mirror or server.
Reading installed packages...
Resolving package dependencies...

The following NEW packages are going to be installed:
libmpg123-0 libopenal1 mpg123 openal-soft

The following recommended package was automatically selected:
openal-soft

4 new packages to install.
Overall download size: 378.3 KiB. After the operation, additional 803.4 KiB will be used.
Continue? [y/n/?] (y):


It's going to download all the software libraries and other crap it needs.

The package manager for Debian and other distros that're based on it, like Ubuntu and Mint, is called 'apt', and it's a set of programs so the installer is called 'apt-get'. But the GUI will have a GUI version so you shouldn't have to use the command line. Some of the GUI front-ends are really nice, some aren't. If I wanted to install mpg123 (a command line mp3 player, so almost useless but just an example) on Mint, I could open a shell and type



computername# apt-get install mpg123


It'll be downloaded and installed then.

Because of all the different versions and dependencies, for some software like music and video players e.g., it used to be the case that it was sometimes hard to find the dependencies. For example, MPEG is a commercial codec so maybe you had to find a third-party repository that had the codec software that your music player needed, and the version wouldn't work with the library versions you already had on your system, so you ended up in 'dependency hell'. If you stuck with OGG though, a free codec, you wouldn't have the problem. So you'd only be able to listen to music you'd ripped from your own CDs. ;)

Ubuntu doesn't have problems like this so you'll be fine.

Oh, the 'shell' is like an actually-useful Command Prompt. You can use it to basically do anything you could in the GUI. You can start LibreOffice Writer by just typing 'oowriter', edit text files, it even has it's own built-in programming language. There are choices in that regard, too, but most people just use the 'bash' shell. Only a real nerd would use ksh ;) The icon or menu item will be called 'Terminal', 'Shell', or 'Bash', but sometimes it's a more advanced program like KDE's Konsole. Usually, you can right-click on the desktop and open a shell.

The commands usually take some options, which can be just a '-' followed by a letter (Unix style) or, for better remembering, '--' (two dashes, GNU style) and a word. So, to list some files...



[email protected]:~/doc/test> ls
file1 file2 file3
[email protected]:~/doc/test> ls -a
. .. file1 file2 file3
[email protected]:~/doc/test> ls --all
. .. file1 file2 file3


ls is like dir in Windows, and ls -a lists all files, even hidden ones, which are called 'dot files' because to hide a file all you have to do is make the '.' the first character of its name. The single dot with no name represents the current directory, the double dot the parent directory.

The other thing is that, Linux is a multi-user operating system, so it's very secure in that regard. The user that's called 'Administrator' is called 'root' on Linux. You can use the 'su' (switch user) command to become root to install programs or do other privileged tasks, like system-wide configuration. In Ubuntu though, and maybe Mint, they'll want you to use 'sudo' which is like a one-time version of su so you're only root for that one command, though it does remember your password for a while.

The absolute, most important command is 'man', and then 'apropos'. Most software, including the operating system, installs what are called 'man pages' which is short for 'manual pages'. I couldn't do my job without man ;) If I want to search the manual for pages about something, I use 'apropos', then find the keyword and "section" I need. So, for example:



hermes:~ # apropos zypper
zypper (8) - Command-line interface to ZYpp system management library (libzypp)
zypper-log (8) - Zypper logfile reader
hermes:~ # man 8 zypper


That would display the zypper page from section 8 of the manual.

Eventually you learn the joke...



hermes:~ # man woman
No manual entry for woman
hermes:~ #


Not sure if that's helpful, but maybe as a little overview. Hopefully you're not more confused than before... :)

[Popular Front of Judea]

I am quickly realizing that if you have an allergy to the command line Linux is not for you. I wish a sentence stating that was prominently displayed on all introductions to Linux.

[Remus Bleys]

I am quickly realizing that if you have an allergy to the command line Linux is not for you. I wish a sentence stating that was prominently displayed on all introductions to Linux.
The command line is not needed for the simpler ones, like Xubuntu.
However, it would be good to try.

The code in this is really only one or two lines that actually have to be tried, though it appears to be in superuser.

All in all, you don't have to know how to use it. (If its debian, just sudo apt-get install is all you'll need to know).

However, fortune | cowsay is fun

[argeiphontes]

^ He's right, you will probably never need it. In OpenSUSE I could probably get by without it. I was just babbling because I'm used to shell and didn't have much to say about Mint's GUI...

Damn it, no cowsay in the OpenSUSE repos... stupid Linux.

[Q]

Another suggestion is ElementaryOS (http://elementaryos.org/), which is also based on the large Ubuntu (12.04) base, yet has a very polished UI.

Mint is popular but has quite a few lackings in my experience. It is supposed to be simple, yet misses quite a lot to be truly that.

If you want to dive in and learn Linux, I suggest Gentoo (http://www.gentoo.org/). Simply installing it will teach you a ton (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?full=1) about the inner workings of Linux and operating systems in general. Alternatively, if you don't want to compile everything, you might consider Arch (https://www.archlinux.org/), which also has great documentation (https://wiki.archlinux.org/) or its more easy to setup derivative Manjaro (http://manjaro.org/) which I'm running myself now.

Finally, if you want really good documentation (http://www.freebsd.org/handbook/), you might consider FreeBSD (http://www.freebsd.org) and ditch Linux.

[Quail]

I am quickly realizing that if you have an allergy to the command line Linux is not for you. I wish a sentence stating that was prominently displayed on all introductions to Linux.
I use Ubuntu 13.04. Generally everything works wonderfully and smoothly and I use the command line from time to time (it can be quicker and easier) but the GUI is really user friendly. There is also loads of stuff online if you get stuck, and the forums are quite helpful. I definitely prefer it to Windows.

[Revoltorb]

Going off what Q said, the Archwiki (https://wiki.archlinux.org/) is actually really good even if you don't use Arch or its derivatives since Arch packages are very close to, if not exactly, vanilla upstream packages. They go over pretty much everything you can think of. It's actually what helped me learn to use Linux effectively and I've used it for both Ubuntu (what I used to and now some of my friends use) and Arch (what I currently use).

And don't fear the command line, it's actually really simple if you try using it for a bit.

EDIT: Ah, didn't see that Q already linked the wiki. In that case this is basically just seconding it.

[Sea]

I don't know about you, but for me it's as simple as running the xscreensaver program.
If you want to dive in and learn Linux, I suggest Gentoo (http://www.gentoo.org/). Simply installing it will teach you a ton (http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-amd64.xml?full=1) about the inner workings of Linux and operating systems in general.Or Slackware. Installing Gentoo will teach you more about Gentoo than about Linux generally. Slackware keeps things pretty vanilla and keeps the distribution-specific stuff to a minimum. Slackware's installation process is harder than the GUI-based installations and starts off in textmode, but has a nice menu (http://slackbook.org/html/installation/setup-program-w.png) system that isn't really any harder than a GUI. Once you're installed, there's a bunch of nice textmode tools (they can be used from within the GUI as well of course) for adding users, updating the system, installing packages, and other things like that.

There's the Slackbook (http://slackbook.org/), which is a great source of documentation and help. There's AlienBOB's blog (http://alien.slackbook.org/blog/), which is a great resource. AlienBOB has also contributed hugely to Slackware through providing packages, build scripts, instructions and more.

Slackware uses KDE as the desktop environment. The configuration of KDE on Slackware is very vanilla and doesn't contain all sorts of whacky Slackware-specific things.

If you want to give it a try, I'd be happy to walk you through the installation process.

You can also install VirtualBox and experiment with other distros that way, while still keeping Ubuntu for now.

[Popular Front of Judea]

So can the assembled minds here tell me where the Electricsheep screensaver that I downloaded went? Allegedly I have installed it but I cannot access it.

(Again Mint 15 )

[argeiphontes]

If you right click on your desktop, is there a Desktop Settings thing there? (Some GUIs might not have it.)

[argeiphontes]

Also, just a quick google said there should be a System Settings option in "your menu", which I'm assuming is a menu at the bottom left of the screen. When you open it, it'll probably look like Control Panel in Windows.

I would look for something like Display Settings or Configure Desktop in there...

[argeiphontes]

Actually there's a Screensaver & Lock Settings option in there, but I still don't how to get "there", i.e. here:

http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Linux-Mint-15-System-Settings.jpg

[Revoltorb]

If you're using the Cinnamon DE, you can right click on the taskbar to bring up a settings manager. It should be in there somewhere, possibly under the Lock settings. If that doesn't work try opening up the app menu (like the start menu in windows) and try searching for screensaver.

[Revoltorb]

Have you tried the solution offered in this thread (http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=141436)?

[Q]

Installing Gentoo will teach you more about Gentoo than about Linux generally.
Not starting a distrowar over this but Gentoo is pretty vanilla itself. The major 'addition' is Portage, the package manager that compiles everything from source directly. I mean, the running joke is that it is basicly LFS (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) with Portage added to it ;)


So can the assembled minds here tell me where the Electricsheep screensaver that I downloaded went? Allegedly I have installed it but I cannot access it.
Oh, never heard about it before, but it looks shiny!

In my case I just installed the package and then it became an option in the screensaver section of the system settings (using xscreensaver).

[Revoltorb]

In my case I just installed the package and then it became an option in the screensaver section of the system settings (using xscreensaver).

That could be the problem. If PFJ isn't using xscreensaver then it might not show up. I think Cinnamon still uses gnome-screensaver and not xscreensaver.

EDIT: Through some quick googling found out they use cinnamon-screensaver which is just a fork of gnome-screensaver.

[argeiphontes]

Not starting a distrowar over this but Gentoo is pretty vanilla itself. The major 'addition' is Portage, the package manager that compiles everything from source directly. I mean, the running joke is that it is basicly LFS (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) with Portage added to it ;)


Definitely. You learn to partition the disk, create filesystems, unpack the stage tarball containing the directory structure, compile a kernel, and install the bootloader. You even set the timezone manually in /etc/localtime. Probably lots that I've missed. Once you get used to it it's fast and easy other than compile time.

Once I had a job where we used Gentoo in production and I was supposed to build a system-deployment system (in Python). To test it, I'd let it run overnight to compile and install the new system, and check the logs in the morning to get the errors, so at most I could run it maybe twice a day ;) We hadn't built any mechanism to fetch binaries from a local portage overlay yet ;)

[argeiphontes]

Also, just being comfortable with the compiler, linker, and library tools can make you stand out in some workplaces. Gentoo can teach you a lot, and source is the most flexible way to install stuff which believe it or not actually comes in handy sometimes. Gentoo FTW ;)

[Popular Front of Judea]

I just want to avoid the "Microsoft tax". :)

[Q]

I just want to avoid the "Microsoft tax". :)
Then Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, ElementaryOS and Mint are definitely the options you want to investigate Mint you already tried and has some rough edges. OpenSUSE runs KDE which looks a lot like Windows with a ton of config options. Ubuntu is trying to do its own thing UI wise and ElementaryOS has a polished UI (they worked two years on that alone!) which is inspired but not equal to Apple's OS X (they're kinda offended when you say that ;) ).

You can find even more distro's at DistroWatch (http://distrowatch.org/). There are hundreds of flavors to choose from, surely something will fit you.

Protip: In the Unix world the file hierarchy is pretty straightforward: Everything in /etc has to do with systemwide configuration, everything in /home has to do with your personal files, etc.

You can put /home on a separate partition during installation (or later, with tools like Gparted). This way you can format your install and install as many distro's as you like while your data is still safely on the /home partition. I've been using that method for a decade now and it has served me well at occasions :)

[ckaihatsu]

I just want to avoid the "Microsoft tax". :)


I, for one, hear you, and think that the "Holy Grail" -- whether explicitly stated or not -- is to have a good, free, non-technical open-source alternative to the Windows hegemony.

Just posted this at another thread:





My personal reservations, until recently, is that no one mix-and-matched the components just right for a good drop-in replacement desktop distro -- now there's Point Linux, which I find to be the *culmination* of the entire Linux endeavor:


Another significant update to the desktop Linux saga....

http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=2627751&postcount=72

[argeiphontes]

How is it going with this? Did you get the screensaver to work?

[Popular Front of Judea]

How is it going with this? Did you get the screensaver to work?

I haven't been able to get the two preloaded screensavers to work. Not exactly mission critical but rather symptomatic of this endeavor.

I am glad that I am not trying to free myself from Google also.