Another Linux noob onboard

[david.da1]

I am v.e.r.y. new to linux .. a week or so into the realm of wonderment and magic of Mint. Looks to be fun-ish.
I will warn now that I will be asking questions, some dumb .. some even more so. Hey, I’m learning - even at 60+, though I have been playing with ’puters since my first ZX-81.

 

[camtaf]

Welcome aboard.

Everyone has to start somewhere, so ask away, we're quite friendly....

 

[KGIII]

Welcome aboard the HMAS Linux.

 

[MikeRocor]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux. If you ever tried to learn Z80 assembly language using that ZX-81, I can assure you that -everything- is easier now... although there's a lot more "everything" than there was back then.

As for questions - a firearms safety instructor I once knew was fond of saying, "The only dumb question is the one that wasn't asked."

 

[Alexzee]

Welcome aboard!
No, question is dumb, in fact, if we didn't ask questions we wouldn't be able to learn and grow.

Have a look at trying Linux without installing it:-

Things To Try Before Installing Linux on Your Windows machine

One of the handy things you can make use of to try Linux without installing it is Virtual Box. https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads That way you don't have to worry about messing up your Windows partitions or have to take time to learn how to shrink your Windows partition in order to...

writerforlinux.wixsite.com

 

[Brickwizard]

Welcome to the forums' youngster, your journy has begun, sit back, kick off your shoes, grab a beer and enjoy the ride.

I got a zx81 for my daughter, but I go back a wee bit further than that with computers,

If you ever tried to learn Z80 assembly language

that was the easy part, I bought an 80 in kit form [saved £20 on a pre-assembled one, ] took me weeks to put it together.

 

[MikeRocor]

I got a zx81 for my daughter, but I go back a wee bit further than that with computers,

that was the easy part, I bought an 80 in kit form [saved £20 on a pre-assembled one, ] took me weeks to put it together.

Wow, you're... ummm... highly experienced.

My "ZX81" was actually a Timex Sinclair 1000, $40.00 at a "computer expo". <NOSTALGIA>Not really much of a computer, but the UI was a thing of beauty, with keyboard input always seeming to be in the right "mode" such that the lame little membrane keyboard wasn't even that much of a drawback.</NOSTALGIA>

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

 

[Brickwizard]

Wow, you're... ummm... highly experienced.

Not really, but growing up in the countryside with not a lot to do, I drifted into playing around and trying to fix things like radio's and old TV's as a hobby, and that drifted me into fixing computers, [still as a hobby] for friends and family, I don't do as much now
[old eyes and loss of some dexterity]

 

[MikeWalsh]

I will warn now that I will be asking questions, some dumb .. some even more so. Hey, I’m learning - even at 60+, though I have been playing with ’puters since my first ZX-81.

Welcome, welcome.

Sounds like you're about the same generation as me. I, too, have been playing around with these things pretty much since leaving school here in the UK, at the age of 17.....waaay back in 1979. I did a night-school course later that same year, only to discover that I seemed to know more about the things than even the teacher did.....and that wasn't a lot! Together, we all of us somehow stumbled through the course.....

My younger bro and myself got gifted a brand-new Commodore 64 by the old man Xmas 2 years later, '81. Younger bro had just discovered girls ( ), so he really had no interest in the thing! Which means I had it all to myself for quite some time. Taught myself BASIC coding; even wrote a couple of small programs, including a 'Hangman' game.

Gave up on Windows at EOL for XP; I'd "had enough" after nearly 30 years of it. Googled "free operating systems", annnd.....well; to say I was gobsmacked at what came up would be an understatement! Started with Ubuntu for 6 months, then after much distro-hopping migrated to Puppy Linux. And I've been there ever since.

Most Linux communities are pretty friendly. This bunch certainly are.....and so are the Puppy community. There's a few of the older veterans still around who, unfortunately, WILL snarl "RTFM" at you (look it up; it's a bit 'rude'!), but they're few and far between nowadays. I guess, since these guys had no choice but to teach themselves how to do everything from the ground up when Linux first appeared in the early 90s, that some take the attitude that "Well, I had to do it the hard way. Why shouldn't you?" I'm sorry, but that's an attitude I simply don't understand. Me, if I can help anyone with anything, I will.....

(shrug...)

Stick around. Hopefully, you'll soon get your "sea-legs" with Linux.....although learning is itself a lifelong process. There's always summat new to get the hang of..!


Mike.

 

[Brickwizard]

older veterans still around who, unfortunately WILL snarl "RTFM"

I often feel that way, but manage to hold off, A lot of people may be newbies to Linux [any flavour] but there can't be many problems, where the question has not been asked or solved somewhere, the modern search engine is your friend, just remember RI RO.. if you Ask in the wrong way, you will not get the answers you are looking for.

 

[kc1di]

I am v.e.r.y. new to linux .. a week or so into the realm of wonderment and magic of Mint. Looks to be fun-ish.
I will warn now that I will be asking questions, some dumb .. some even more so. Hey, I’m learning - even at 60+, though I have been playing with ’puters since my first ZX-81.

Welcome to Linux.org forum. enjoy the journey.
We were all noob at one time

 

[tinfoil-hat]

Nice to meet you

 

[hasser33]

nice to meet you here

 

[david.da1]

Much appreciated .. thanks, everyone, for the encouragement. I probably forgot to mention that I'd installed Mint - running on an old Toshiba laptop. The "freeware" aspect drew me away from the WinWorld. So, the laptop had been retired years back because the wifi dropped out - presumed to be a dead module. Well, amazingly enough, I dropped in a spanking-new WD Blue 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, and threw an iso at it. I was shocked to see the wifi back online after the install! Arduino has become my latest interest, albeit a bit late.So, yeah .. it ought to be fun. (Me hopes.)
My step-daughter is taking courses in Cloud Security/something-another, so I figured I'd learn a bit to help her out if/where/when she needs it. I now know more about SQL than ever anticipated.

FWIW .. I don't consider RTFM at all rude .. I'm more accustomed to RTFS.

 

[mquclinux]

FWIW .. I don't consider RTFM at all rude .. I'm more accustomed to RTFS.

80-20 rule...
1) RTFS 2) WTFM (video) 3) RTFM (documentation) , otherwise you'll end up accumulating useless junk in your head. . (help reference manual for unsupported format)

it worked for me since 2 months back i started my linux journey distrohopping (ubuntu, mint, manjaro, arch, gentoo) and working on baremetal instead of VM.
its worth it though i ruined my 500gb hdd.

 

[Brickwizard]

its worth it though i ruined my 500gb hdd

if it's the original then 10 yrs of normal use is good, traditional plate spinners have an average life of 3-5 yrs [although they can last 20 if only lightly used]

 

[MikeWalsh]

if it's the original then 10 yrs of normal use is good, traditional plate spinners have an average life of 3-5 yrs [although they can last 20 if only lightly used]

Uh-huh. I had an old WD Caviar Black that lasted nearly 16. I eventually switched that out for a SSD. Boy, ain't it worth it..!

When I got this HP Pavilion desktop rig, a swap to an SSD was one of the first things I did, going from previous experience. The 1TB Toshie made way for a 1TB Crucial MX-500......and the Toshie is now doing duty as an external backup drive in its own enclosure.

Heaven...

Mike.

 

[MikeRocor]

Uh-huh. I had an old WD Caviar Black that lasted nearly 16. I eventually switched that out for a SSD. Boy, ain't it worth it..!

When I got this HP Pavilion desktop rig, a swap to an SSD was one of the first things I did, going from previous experience. The 1TB Toshie made way for a 1TB Crucial MX-500......and the Toshie is now doing duty as an external backup drive in its own enclosure.

Heaven...

Mike.

I just finished going through a big box of old HDs to recover any salvageable data (looking for some old photos of my now-grown kids). The ones I have done were all old ATA drives (40-pin ribbon). Some of them were over twenty years old, all of them were over 15 and only a couple wouldn't mount. After getting what data I could, I've "fully decommissioned" the drives and I now have A) a bunch of data (that probably doesn't include what I was looking for, B) a box of scrap aluminum, C) a big stack of shiny round things (with finger prints all over them) and D) a pound or two of those really cool magnets. -And- I can now confidently toss that junky old tower that is my last system with 40-pin ribbon connectors.

There are a couple more drives to go but they are the more modern SATA type so they can wait.

Now I can index all the photos I've recovered, de-dup the whole mess and see what's there. Yeee ha!