7 Tips for Linux Beginners | Linux China

Takeaway: We consulted with authors in our community to share their first-time experiences.　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　 　

The number of words in this article: 3747, the reading time is about: 6 minutes

Any advice for new users of Linux? We asked authors from the community to share their best learning experiences.

1. Make good use of Linux resources

My buddies tell me that Linux is like a "software building kit" (an outdated term referring to the building blocks that were popular in the 1950s and 1960s), which is an apt metaphor. Back in 2001, 2002, I used Windows 3.1 and Windows NT to try and build a safe and useful K12 school district website, when there wasn't much material available online. Among them, the recommended "ROOT User Guide" is a "too-too" professional tutorial with rich information, but it is difficult to get started.

For me, the online course on Mandrake Linux is the most useful resource. This course provides a detailed explanation of using and managing a Linux desktop or server. I took the course and also took advantage of a mailing list service maintained by Red Hat and asked the community for help when I had questions.

—— Don Watkins 🔗 opensource.com

2. Ask for help in the Linux community

My advice is to ask a lot, you can start by searching for information online to see other people with similar questions (or even better ones). What to ask and how to ask will take some time to become familiar with.

Once you're more familiar with Linux, check out the various forums you're interested in and see if anyone has already asked the same question and got an answer before asking a question.

It's also useful to join the mailing list, and in the end you'll find yourself answering questions professionally too. As they say, you also learn more by answering other people's questions.

At the same time, you will become more and more familiar with the internal operating mechanism of this operating system, and you will no longer be ignorant when you are a beginner.

—— Greg Pittman 🔗 opensource.com

My suggestion is to use help commands like man , info etc to get information. Also, take as much time as possible to become familiar with the command-line interface and really understand UNIX's design philosophy. In fact, one of my favorite books is a UNIX book from the 80s, very helpful in understanding files, directories, devices, basic commands, and more.

—— Alan Formy-Duval 🔗 opensource.com

My best advice is to fully trust the community's replies, the details of the man pages, the HOW-TO documentation that describes the different options. Anyway, I started learning around 2009 when there were a lot of tools and resources available. There is a project called "Linux from Scratch (LFS)" - to create a Linux system from source, in this project I learned a lot about the internals and how to create an LFS image.

—— Sumantro Mukherjee 🔗 opensource.com

My advice is to read extensively. Use forums like "Ask Fedora", "Fedora Matrix chat", etc. to read other people's experiences and opinions and try them out. I learn a lot by reading other people's online arguments, and then I try to figure out the cause of the problem.

—— Steve Morris 🔗 opensource.com

3. Install dual operating systems

I started dual operating systems (Windows and Linux) in the late 90's, and although I really wanted to use a Linux OS, I ended up booting up Windows to work in the familiar desktop environment. One of the best suggestions was to change the computer system boot order, so every time I didn't react fast enough and automatically entered the Linux system. : )

—— Heike Jurzik 🔗 opensource.com

A guy on my team challenged me to do a knowledge exchange.

He's our Linux sysadmin and has built a website using Joomla (our web team is good at this and he wants to learn more) and I have Linux installed (I've been using Windows until now). We started with dual booting because I still had a bunch of OS-dependent software that I needed for the business, but it gave me a leap forward in my use of Linux.

When we each learn a new system, the other as an expert helps each other to help each other grow together, "one can't be missing!" Perseverance is a big challenge.

After a rather embarrassing low-level error, I put a large sticky note on the monitor that said "Think before using any rm operation". The administrator wrote me a command line guide (there are many similar ones on the Internet), which is very useful for getting familiar with the basic operations. When I started using Ubuntu's KDE desktop environment, I found it helpful for beginners who were accustomed to using a graphical interface.

I've been using Linux since then (except my work computer) and that admin is still using Joomla, and it looks like we've both grown.

—— Ruth Cheesley 🔗 opensource.com

4. For safety, please back up first

My suggestion is to use a distribution with simple and powerful backup software. New Linux users create, edit, destroy, and restore system configurations. It's very frustrating for them when the operating system doesn't boot and loses data.

With backup software, their data is secured.

We all love Linux because it gives us the freedom to fly, but it's a "double-edged sword" and can go terribly wrong when used incorrectly.

—— Giuseppe Cassibba 🔗 opensource.com

5. Share your Linux experience

My suggestion is to share your Linux experience. I used to think there were some distros that were better for new users, so when they asked about using Linux, I always recommended these "new user" distros. But when I sit in front of their computer, it looks like I've never used Linux, because I'm not familiar with some of the new features. Now when someone asks me, I recommend the distro I use, not necessarily the "best" version for beginners, but I'm familiar with them and I'm able to quickly fix their problems (and of course I myself learn something new by sharing).

—— Seth Kenlon 🔗 opensource.com

There used to be a saying, "Don't just use the distribution advertised on the magazine cover, use what your friends are using, and you can better ask for help when you encounter problems." Replacing the keyword "magazine cover" with "internet" still works :-). I've never followed this advice because I'm the only person in a 50-kilometer radius using Linux, surrounded by people using OSes like FreeBSD, IRIX, Solaris, and Windows 3.11, and in the end, I'm the one being asked for Linux help people.

—— Peter Czanik 🔗 opensource.com

6. Insist on learning Linux

Before working at Red Hat, I was a distributor partner and I had several home health agency clients who provided travel nurses using a package called "Carefacts", originally for DOS, in travel notebooks There is always an error in the synchronization between the computer and the central database.

The best advice I heard early on was to take a hard look at the open source movement. Open source is mainstream thinking in 2022, but a generation ago, buying a Linux installation CD from a Red Hat retailer was a revolutionary act. Open source breaks the rules. I think open source should be viewed objectively, but it does amaze a considerable number of people.

My company built its first customer firewall in the mid-1990s, a product based on Windows NT and Altavista, but it crashed frequently. We built a Linux-based firewall ourselves and never had any problems. So we replaced the customer's Altavista system with Linux, and it ran steadily for years. We built another customer firewall in late 1999, when I spent three weeks reading a book on packet filtering and the proper use of ipchains, and when I finished it was awesome, it solved everything. Over the next 15 years, I built and installed hundreds of firewall systems, mainly using iptables technology, some using bridging or ARP proxy and QOS to secure video conference transmission, and some using IPSEC and OpenVPN tunnels. I earn my living by managing a personal firewall and some dual-system hot-standby systems, which is pretty good, and I used to use Windows systems. I even built some virtual firewalls.

But the technology is developing at a high speed. In 2022, iptables is obsolete, and my previous firewall technology has become a good memory.

A word of current experience? Never stop exploring.

—— Greg Scott 🔗 opensource.com

7. Enjoy the process

Be patient, Linux is not the same operating system as you are familiar with before, prepare to embrace a new world full of possibilities and enjoy it.

—— Alex Callejas 🔗 opensource.com

via: https://opensource.com/article/22/5/linux-advice-beginners

Author: Opensource.com Topic: lkxed Translator: lightchaserhy Proofreading: wxy

This article was originally compiled by LCTT, and was launched with honor by Linux China

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