2011/12/8 LinuxIsOne <linuxis...@gmail.com>: > On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Alan McKinnon <alan.mckin...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Don't take our word for it, go look for yourself. > >> I could give you examples of how that forum works, I could give you >> links that show what we are saying, but NOTHING can prepare you for >> what you really find on the Ubuntu user forums. > > Okay but at least Ubuntu is good for new users and Windows convert and > for those doesn't it give a learning curve in Linux? >
Well, maybe my experience will be useful to you. Ubuntu was my introduction to linux. First, I'll start by saying that before linux I didn't know absolutely nothing about computers and the like. I had my first desktop pc at home (windows xp) when I was 15 or 16 years old. Before that, only my father owned a pc, for his work, and I was not allowed to use it. My high school was centered around humanities/classical studies: ancient greek, latin, philosophy; after high school, I managed to get into med school. So, no computer science/informatics at all. However, I was really curios about computers, and I messed up my family's desktop pc a couple of times :) At 19, I was given a laptop, only for me (windows vista, if I remember correctly). I decided to install linux on it, and I chose Ubuntu because it was the distro of wich I heard about the most. After some months, I decided to move away from ubuntu because I felt it was too limited - I wanted to learn. In the following two years I tried other distros, but at last I felt that only two were apt to me: Gentoo and Arch Linux. Of these two, I tend to prefer Gentoo. What's the point in this story: I started as a computer illiterate. I think that, had I chosen Gentoo (or Arch, or Slackware) as my first distro, probably I would have given up with linux. I could never get started so abruptly with the terminal, CLI etc. I needed a gradual introduction, to get familiar with filesystems, directory hierarchy, basilar command line usage etc. Ubuntu, at the time, provided this. Just remember that *probably* you won't learn much by using Ubuntu. If you want to learn, when you're ready, you will have to move on. You learn more after an attempt to install Gentoo than in one year of plain Ubuntu usage :) At least, that is my real life experience and my opinion. I'm just one user; on this ML there are really knowledgeable users, so you should listen to them[1]. [1] BTW, I just want to say that I really love this ML. Thanks guys. Hope this helps, Lorenzo -- Nothing is interesting if you're not interested.
