A distro for noob?

suicidaleggroll · 05-30-2012, 10:42 AM

I would recommend sitting down and giving this a read:
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

After you're done, think about it, and then read it again.

Linux is not Windows. Linux will never be Windows. In fact, the entire reason why you're even here thinking about making the switch to Linux is BECAUSE it's not Windows. Think about that for a second. If Linux worked the same as Windows, then Linux would BE Windows, and it would suffer from all of the same problems you're trying to get away from. You WILL have to go through a learning curve with Linux, just like you went through a learning curve with Windows. The best option is not to fight it and keep searching for a distro that is the most Windows-like, you should instead just suck it up and start learning.

Like corbintechboy said, everything about Linux is fundamentally different than Windows. Trying to make Linux look and function like Windows does nothing but make things LOOK more familiar, but underneath it's just as different as it always was, and you will STILL have to go through the same learning curve, you will just be infinitely more confused while you do so.

IloveLinux49 · 05-30-2012, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by corbintechboy

But you had to learn to drive a car. As well as you had to learn how to use Windows (and whether it is old or new is a moot argument).

The problem is that everything in life has some sort of learning curve. Aside from sleeping or whatnot. You had to learn to program the time on a VCR, or did you just watch it blink? You didn't learn how to drive a automatic car and all the sudden jump into a stick shift and go? Why do people use this theory in an OS? You can't use one and just expect to know the other just because a car is a car and an OS is an OS.

I'm sorry, but this thinking bothers me. I also hate to share knowledge just to get a call a week later about the same subject. I get it all the time people in general don't feel the need to take the time to learn. But we do it to drive, we do it to work, we learn to have a relationship with our spouse, we learn how to raise our kids, we learn how to work our cell phones, we learn how to work a {insert game console here} but yet we expect our PC to just work without any thought involved? The logic simply escapes me!

You point is correct. Most things have a learning curve. Can you imagine giving a new Linux user a Slackware or Arch install though? Baby steps is the ideal. A OS should be able to be used by a person of average intelligence. I get how you feel but unless you do something all the time its easy to forget. I recall my first few times making a live CD of a Linux distro on my Macbook. Its easy but I forgot once and had to use google. A few weeks ago my Mint KDE wouldn't update. I figured out why but I could easily see where someone who had a lot going on and limited patience might get angry.

Some people catch on to new tech very easily. I Jailbroke my iPad but was clueless a few months ago when my friend handed me his iPhone and asked me to do something. Linux is becoming more popular because many distros have become new user friendly. I like that. I don't mind more advanced distros but again for the record. People want to be able to use their computers to do actual work. They shouldn't have to have a IT degree to get them to function. There is a funny video of a aged man trying to use Windows 8. He was lost. He was able to figure Ubuntu easily. That to me is the beauty of Linux, choice. Don't like KDE? Try Mint with LXDE. Ubuntu's Unity not your bag give GOME a try. Its there. The OP of this story wants a easy to use interface. Linux offers that and offers more as he learns. Baby steps.