Tips you would give Linux newbies

[PossiblyAxolotl]

Hey everyone hi! I'm working on a sort of Linux introduction / tutorial type thing meant to be super easy to follow and not too boring or anything, and I was wondering if you all had any tips to give to Linux newbies that could be good to mention. I also asked this on the RejectConvenience Forum, but if you've got anything I'd love to hear. (this could also be a good thread for future reference for other people too!)

[starbreaker]

Tips for Linux newbies? Hmmm...

Let's just say you probably aren't prepared for the learning curve Linux imposes if you've grown up on Windows. It's like trying to play Elden Ring if you're used to cozy or casual games.

It's not as bad as it used to be, though. 1998 was my "Year of the Linux Desktop", and back then it was more like playing Demon's Souls for the first time

Maybe the following might be helpful:

• Unless you know a system administrator who's willing to keep your Linux machine running for you, you are your own sysadmin. If you aren't prepared to actually learn Linux, you're gonna have a bad time when something goes wrong. It's not as rough nowadays as it was 25 years ago, but it still isn't easy. You can't just take your machine down to Worst Buy and pay the Geek Squad an extortionate fee to deal with it.
• Embrace the terminal. No matter how sophisticated a graphical environment gets, there will always be things that are easier to do by typing commands. Even copying, moving, or renaming files can be easier in a command-line interface. Besides, if the graphical environment shits itself, you're going to be stuck dealing with the command line anyway. The sooner you learn, the less frustration you'll face.
• Learn to write shell scripts. Even simple scripts to automate commands you use often can eventually save you time and effort, and it can be an accessible introduction to programming.
• Keep your /home directory on a separate partition. It's no substitute for having proper backups, but it can still make your life easier if you need to reinstall your system or want to indulge in distro-hopping.
• Ignore Ubuntu and Linux Mint in favor of Debian. Trendy distros like Ubuntu and Mint are based on Debian, but Debian is one of the OG Linux distributions. If you can cope with Debian, you can cope with just about any Linux.
• Never assume that you computer can run Linux. The older it is, the better-supported the hardware. Figure out what components your machine uses, and try to do some research before making the switch.
• Here's how to quit vi/vim/neovim: Press the ESC key. Then type ":q!". Then press Enter. If you made changes and need to save them, then after pressing ESC type ":wq" and then press Enter.
• Using NVIDIA hardware on Linux is NOT FUN. It's doable, but you've got to figure out which drivers to install, and because they're proprietary (unlike drivers for Intel and AMD graphics hardware) you'll have to jump through additional hoops to install them on most Linux distributions.
• If you aren't sure of what a command does, try typing "man <command name>" in your terminal. If you're lucky, you should see detailed instructions on how to use that command.
• Never assume that the games and apps you know from Windows or macOS will work on Linux. Unless you're using abstraction layers like WINE or Steam's Proton, your Windows apps and games won't work on Linux.
• When asking for help, provide as much information as possible. Don't assume that any part of an error message or stack trace is irrelevant; details you might dismiss could prove crucial to the person trying to help you solve your problem.
• DON'T PANIC! You don't have to learn and memorize everything at once. Learning and memorization will come over time, as you use your new system. Reading documentation will help, too, but you can do that on an as-needed basis.
• Emacs can seem really weird at first, because it was made by some crazy dudes at MIT who weren't using AT&T or BSD UNIX but Lisp machines and something else called the Incompatible Timesharing System, but if you can get your head around it you can do almost anything in Emacs. Of course, vi/vim/neovim is cool, too. So's nano. There are lots of other cool little text editors to try, too. Regardless of which editor you learn (and you should learn at least one), plain text is absolutely awesome, especially on Linux and the BSDs, because UNIX-like systems treat plain text as a first-class citizen.

It's no coincidence that both UNIX and Black Sabbath started around 1970. Both are heavy metal.

[Loebas]

Choose a distribution that works for you. Try out a distribution in a VM first before you commit. And dont settle before you know the distribution works for you.

Dont get a distro because someone said so, or for the memes. Its not worth your time.

I've learned the hard way that arch doesnt work for me.

[warlock]

If you don't like the way your desktop works, don't be afraid to install a different one! You don't need to do a complete reinstall just to switch desktop environments, and it can be really fun to experiment with different ones.

Make sure to update your packages every once in a while. It can be really easy to forget when your computer isn't begging you to do it 24/7 or forcing you to restart when it wants.

The arch wiki is a good resource even for non-arch distributions. A lot of the guides they offer are distro-agnostic and can help with installing/setting something up/debugging.

[invader_gvim]

The comman cmatrix, once installed, will give ultra kewl scrolling matrix text on your terminal. Similar for the program nyancat, but with nyancat.

A text editor like vim is imo better than a word processor for writing because it lets you have tabs and panes to edit multiple files and see multiple files on your screen at the same time without having to move windows around. Additionally, if you find yourself distracted by font choice, text color, and other things that don't matter as much, then a pure text editor like vim is great. I recomend writing everything in vim and then doing whatever aesthetically needs to happen to the doc in a word processor like libreoffice.

yazi is an awesome terminal based file browser which imo is better than mc.

Make sure that you format your flash drives correctly so that they work with both linux and windows.