Answer to a newbie.

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Nothing to do with grammar police, it is simply that you are rather loose in your use of terminology. For example in your first Post

Download this on to either a thumb drive or a disk (make sure it has a lot of ram).

There is no RAM on a thumb drive or disk, you describe it as capacity or (storage) space.

I can explain it, but I cannot make you understand, so if you want to give out incorrect or incomplete advice to your friend, it will be you who ends up looking like the Newbie when things go wrong.

Wizard
 
You people have got to be kidding. I made this thread to perhaps help a new individual to Linux know how to obtain it and how to place it on their machine. The reply's on this forum leave quiet a bit to be desired and I now suggest this individual seek another better forum about Linux than this one. I don't give a hoot about spelling or grammar I care much more about content and if what I have tried to convey is understood by the individual receiving it. The so called experts on this forum have not provided correct information and sure have not been of any help to this individual. Yes my first post stated RAM and perhaps I should have said while Linux will operate on a machine with little RAM it works better with one that has higher. I should have said make sure if you use a thumb drive or disk that it has sufficient GBS.
 
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I don't give a hoot about spelling or grammar I care much more about content and if what I have tried to convey is understood by the individual receiving it. The so called experts on this forum have not provided correct information and sure have not been of any help to this individual.
There is a big difference between spelling/grammar mistakes and incorrect terminology.

Spelling mistake:
I added more ran to my pc today. (Should be ram)

Terminology mistake:
You can download an exe file for any Linux distribution and use it to install Linux. (Exe should be iso)

No one cares about spelling or grammar
mistakes here since this is an international forum and not everyone's first language is English. We do however care about correct terminology being used because it being technology we are dealing with and using incorrect terminology with technology creates confusion when it comes to solving problems.
 
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You might also want to change that 'download to' thing. You don't (normally) 'download an iso to a USB drive'. You download it to your computer and then use a tool to write the .iso to the USB drive. If you just download the .iso onto a thumb drive, it's not gonna work.

That said, have a nice day.
 
You people have got to be kidding. I made this thread to perhaps help a new individual to Linux know how to obtain it and how to place it on their machine. The reply's on this forum leave quiet a bit to be desired and I now suggest this individual seek another better forum about Linux than this one. I don't give a hoot about spelling or grammar I care much more about content and if what I have tried to convey is understood by the individual receiving it. The so called experts on this forum have not provided correct information and sure have not been of any help to this individual. Yes my first post stated RAM and perhaps I should have said while Linux will operate on a machine with little RAM it works better with one that has higher. I should have said make sure if you use a thumb drive or disk that it has sufficient GBS.
Your original post was unusual for a first post from a new member. It was confusing to me when I first read it. It said that you got an email from someone who needed help to switch from Windows 11 to Linux Mint. The description that followed was an overview on how to switch. In my opinion, that overview needed corrections and essential details to help a lost beginner.

I could not figure out the main point of the post. (At first I thought you might be another spammer, but you're not.) I was not sure whether you were asking for additional help from the members here to improve your overview of how to switch? Were you sharing your answer with others? ... It later became clear to me.

Please do not jump all over everyone here. I think they were just as confused as I was at first. After that, people were trying to help you improve your instructions to the email friend so that they are clear and correct. It was never about grammar or spelling.

My advice would be to invite your friend to join Linux.org. Both of you will gain a lot by hanging out here. You will get to know a good bunch of people who care about Linux, but do not care about spelling and grammar. Heck, the Aussies here mispell words like "colour" and "honour" all the time. Not me. ;-)
 
Heck, the Aussies here mispell words like "colour" and "honour" all the time. Not me. ;-)
Guilty, your honour...
 
Heck, I've been to the UK. I've even spent time in Australia.

It was embarrassingly recent that I figured out they use 'enquired' and 'enquiry'.

When I first mentioned this elsewhere, someone asked how I'd never noticed the National Enquirer. I was pretty pleased with myself to have not noticed that, 'cause I've never actually been tempted to read one.
 
I do agree with what @sphen has said above......I also agree with @wizardfromoz's wods, when he says

"No, be sure to give the right advice.

You download the iso to your computer and then burn it to a USB stick or disk using burning software"

We are an ever so pedantic crowd, when it comes to detail, here.
Occasionally an error such as the one above will slip past us. That is not good....not good for the reader, especially if it is a person new to Linux and trying to get a grip on what is supposed to happen in their initial efforts.....

I, for one, would be quite happy for all of the previous posts to be put to rest and start a fresh, being more aware of what is expected.

We do pride ourselves on being the friendliest Linux Forum online and also the most accurate.

The accuracy is maintained by a great number of members here having "pre written speeches" saved on their pc's so that they can simply copy and paste their solutions etc...(perhaps with a few minor alterations to suit the individual circumstances,)...and in that way they make sure that the accuracy of their comments is consistent and is preserved.
 
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We are an ever so pedantic crowd,
Being one of the few regular Brits, I could so easily become pedantic over some of the spelling we see, But I don't really care as long as I can, interpolate and understand the problem. If a new member doesn't know the technicalities for the question they need to ask, I would rather extract and interpolate 2 paragraphs of waffle than the oh so common, my Wi-Fi won't work, My internet won't work, Etc. without any explanation.
 
Lighten up @wildman

I now suggest this individual seek another better forum about Linux than this one.

Good luck, I think you would need it. I am a Member at 12 or more forums and I spend nearly all my time here because it checks more boxes than any other.

The so called experts on this forum have not provided correct information

I would doubt that, but if you can provide examples we may be able to look at them.

To newcomers who expect more of us than we can deliver I say

Just in case of any misapprehension on your part, we are not an official arm nor organ of Linux, just scored the dot org name - we are manned by volunteer staff who share a love of Linux and have varying skills in various departments.

But you have been here over 4 months - perhaps swing over to Member Introductions and meet a few people?

Cheers

Wizard
 
I did not want to get into a contest on this subject. I agree if one does not understand what I have tried to convey all they need do is ask to explain and I will do my best to so just that. I saw no one on this site tell the individual there was a place where they could obtain Linux Mint as an ISO and tell it to download to a thumb drive or a disk. This lack makes me question just how good is the information provided by this forum. Now all that I have stated thus far is from stuff that I have actually done and accomplished. I have no ego problem and have stated that I am no expert when it comes to Linux I however do not believe this is the same for some that I have seen posting on this forum. As far as a better forum hate to tell you but you ain't the only forum for Linux and perhaps not the best one after all.
 
I saw no one on this site tell the individual there was a place where they could obtain Linux Mint as an ISO and tell it to download to a thumb drive or a disk.
Where is the download site that you use for this...?
 
As far as a better forum hate to tell you but you ain't the only forum for Linux....

Not a surprise to me, as I said

I am a Member at 12 or more forums and I spend nearly all my time here because it checks more boxes than any other.

Those are linux forums and my statement stands. Also, there are only a couple of them that cover all of Linux rather than just one specific distribution.

You say things like
I saw no one on this site tell the individual there was a place where they could obtain Linux Mint as an ISO and tell it to download to a thumb drive or a disk. This lack makes me question just how good is the information provided by this forum.

and I have offered
I would doubt that, but if you can provide examples we may be able to look at them.

Why not tell us the URL for your friend's Thread or Post, and I/we can look at that? Or his username?

Friday here in Oz, so

Avagudweegend, all

Wizard
 
I saw no one on this site tell the individual there was a place where they could obtain Linux Mint as an ISO and tell it to download to a thumb drive or a disk. This lack makes me question just how good is the information provided by this forum.
If no one responded to their topic what also could have happened and I've seen it happen before is because this is a smaller Linux community compared to some others. Is that someone creates a topic and then after that 5 other people create a topic or a reply, what then happens is that first topic gets lots in the other topics, in combination with most people having jobs, living in different time zones etc things like that happen. I've seen members on this forum going above and beyond trying to help someone figure out a problem, so my personal opinion is you are too quick to judge this forum based one topic. Your friend could have tried to bump the topic if it didn't get answered after a day, also I've seen topic starters create topic which consists of 5 words and a topic title of one word, those get ignored most of time because it shows mostly that the person didn't put any effort into their question.

P.S Have you seen how many replies you have gotten here?
 
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The so called experts on this forum have not provided correct information
Nowhere on this site [to my knowledge] do any of us refer to ourselves as experts, we are just experienced Linux users giving our free time to try and help others, We do not always succeed, but on the whole between us, we usually manage to sort out the majority of problems given to us. The active members of the forum are not mind readers or crystal ball gazers, if the question is devoid of information, or we cannot interpolate what the poster's question really means then we cannot answer it,
 
Nowhere on this site [to my knowledge] do any of us refer to ourselves as experts, we are just experienced Linux users giving our free time to try and help others, We do not always succeed, but on the whole between us, we usually manage to sort out the majority of problems given to us. The active members of the forum are not mind readers or crystal ball gazers, if the question is devoid of information, or we cannot interpolate what the poster's question really means then we cannot answer it,
Oh, ab-so-lute-ly! So many folks treat Fora as help desks, and think that their question should automatically take priority over those of others....

And so many don't give any usable details. I've seen posts that are full of waffle, yet don't actually tell you anything.....and I've seen countless posts from what I call "cagey" individuals, who try to hide their identity to the nth degree; they're always asking "on behalf of a friend", but reading between the lines makes it obvious they're asking for themselves.

One of the various fora I belong to is LinuxQuestions.org. They have a very good blog post on how to ask a GOOD question, which I'll link to here:-


It's one of the best descriptive answers to this issue I've seen anywhere.


Mike. ;)
 
Oh, ab-so-lute-ly! So many folks treat Fora as help desks, and think that their question should automatically take priority over those of others....
You mean you're not here on forum waiting for my computer to break so that I can get help and get back to my social media. o_O

And so many don't give any usable details. I've seen posts that are full of waffle, yet don't actually tell you anything.....
My computer doesn't work can someone help me it's a Windows computer and with Linux on it and it don't work no more. o_O

I've seen countless posts from what I call "cagey" individuals, who try to hide their identity to the nth degree; they're always asking "on behalf of a friend", but reading between the lines makes it obvious they're asking for themselves.
No way Mike. o_O
 
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This thread has gotten silly, but does @wildman have the information they need for their email friend? How is the transition from Windows 10 to Linux Mint working out for them? It also seems that wildman is stuck as an intermediary, playing "telephone". Did wildman invite them to join Linux.org?

I am also curious to know which Linux-oriented websites that wildman likes and recommends.
 
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