Filed under: OS Updates, Features, Linux, Open Source, Troubleshooting
Flipping the Linux switch: 5 tips every new Linux user should know
by Kristin Shoemaker Jan 3rd 2008 at 2:00PM
Linux is a powerful operating system, but chances are it's a very different operating system than any you've used before. The dizzying number of choices in distributions alone is enough to make your head spin, but it also means there's something out there that really suits your computing style. There are some things in Linux you just have to work out for yourself -- distributions, applications, neato screen savers (hey, we like distractions as much as the next guy).We're taking a departure from the norm this week and not discussing a specific piece of software. Instead, we've been thinking about what we most wished we'd been told on our first foray into Linux-land. These tips run the gamut from installation planning to how to best ask for help. We chose these tips because they are not distribution-specific, and the majority of new users will at least find a few tips apply to their situation at some point.
1. Experiment with LiveCDs
Reason: LiveCDs are full-bodied, working versions of Linux you can run without touching your hard drive. Many distributions now offer LiveCDs, and we recommend trying a few to really get a feel for the different Linux flavors and desktops. If you've chosen a distribution that doesn't have a LiveCD, we strongly recommend having a live disk of some sort around. If you should be unable to boot your system (yes, even Windows!) you can use your LiveCD to repair damage or retrieve files that you can't live without.
2. Install /home on a separate partition
We have our qualms about mentioning this, due to the involvement of two subjects new users find intimidating anyway: partitioning and installing. But it's probably the single most useful thing to know as a Linux user, and will make management and any subsequent installs of your system a whole lot easier.
Reason: Installing /home (your user folders) on a separate hard drive partition means this: If you want to try another flavor of Linux (or you mess something up beyond belief) you can keep all your /home folders (and their contents) intact.
How to do it: This is most easily set up when first installing Linux (though it can be done after the fact). It's a bit tricky because you'll need to manually partition your disk, either through the system's installer or through a program like fdisk. We recommend using the system's installer should your distribution have one that handles partitioning (Ubuntu, openSuSE and most distros that new users tackle first have built-in system partitioners). Trust us, it's easier that way.
In its simplest form, you'll need three partitions on your disk with the mount points /, /home, and swap. Swap should be the smallest (the usual recommendation for swap is twice the size of your RAM). /home and / can be divided over the remainder of the disk space, and it's okay to make /home larger if you've got ridiculous amounts of drive space.
3. When in doubt, use the vesa drivers!
Reason: Graphics support is sometimes an issue with Linux. Many distros give you the option to configure your card if it is not immediately recognized by the system. This is where a lot of new users get tripped up. They tend to pick the driver that seems closest to their graphics card model. Sometimes they're lucky, and it works. But if you're a brand new user, your safest bet is to use the vesa driver. You won't get fancy effects, and it'll look ugly, but you will have a graphical interface. You can then search for the correct drivers for your card.
4. Fear not the command line.
Reason: You don't need to be a guru to use the command line. Sometimes the quickest, easiest way of getting to the root of a problem is to whip open a terminal, and type the name of the program you want to run. If it's segfaulting, or can't find a component it needs... the output will tell you. The command line often gives you hooks to dig into a problem, whereas just clicking on the launcher might just get you an endlessly bouncing cursor and nothing to go on. Linux is particularly forthcoming with useful error messages, but you need to know where to look.
5. Ask for help before you get frustrated.
Reason: Frustration makes things worse for everyone. Going into a forum and prefacing your problem with "This sucks, I'm going back to Windows/Mac" (whether you mean it or not) doesn't make people more willing to help.
Best ways to get help: If you've heard it once, you've heard it a gazillion times: Google is your friend. If you have a problem with something on your system, chances are someone else has too. If the solutions you find don't help, by all means post your question to a pertinent forum or mailing list, telling all the details. We mean all the details. Tell the world your hardware, distribution, error messages, show any logs or configuration files you think might be useful, and explain what you've tried to do to solve it. Nothing makes an old Linux user happier than hearing a tech question beginning, "I searched here, here and here, tried this, and this, and I still have a problem."
Making the switch to Linux can be intimidating, but it doesn't have to be. There is a lot of advice out there, some good, some bad, and some that just won't apply to your situation. With these five tips in your arsenal, you're well on your way to a positive Linux experience.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Oldtechie said 3:41AM on 4-10-2008
So tired of the Microsoft shills trying to coerce us to be politically correct, when they are the ones who insult developing nation's attempts to provide home-based technology by using BSD and/or Linux!
Microsoft execs have sworn in court and quarterly SEC filings the power of Linux, that 25% of ALL users now run Linux, with no report on other competition, of which BSD and Mac are also substantial, with >3% growth per annum!
Better OSes, that are FREE and are free, are causing the greedy proprietary companies to respond with their attempts to compete in quality, with huge failings, to date.
Who 'owns' your data! Try opening your 1996 Excel spread sheet, or business ledger, or archived correspondence from that time, in Microsoft Office! You'll need MS products from then, which might not function in Vista!
Open Office imports all the legacy formats, and can export all modern file types! And provides the FULL SOURCE CODE!
The world outside of the USA runs Open Source software, as a matter of freedom and home grown prosperity for people everywhere.
I recommend that Vista users try Vixta. You might like to
review/DL any of the 300+ Live CDs at http://livecdlist.com
SimplyMepis works for me on laptop installs, using NDISWrapper to run some wifi cards using Windows only drivers. For many of us, ~300 GNU/Linux Distros and 30+BSD OSes, are the thrill of the chase in investigation of safety, competency, and ease of use!
Some of you Earthlings seem to lack the skills to download and run a LiveCD, so don't even try it; you have no right to complain. It isn't the fault of the OS that nature didn't equip you with the ability to evolve in your thinking!
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shanoboy said 4:03PM on 1-03-2008
I've been toying with the idea of giving Ubuntu a run for a while now and this guide will be awesome help.
One of the main reasons I've always shyed away from Linux is because I don't want to have to relearn how to use a computer.
I hate the idea of feeling like my parents when they hop on a pc.
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Allan said 7:25PM on 1-03-2008
If you can get past the feeling that "This is baby stuff, I know this" and push yourself to sometimes study things that you feel are beneath your level, you might be surprised to learn that there are gems to be found.
Rick said 6:27PM on 1-03-2008
"The dizzying number of choices in distributions alone is enough to make your head spin, "
and it's enough putting you off completely. In an attempt to not make the wrong decision you make no decision at all, or
as I do, I'm constantly changing and never settling for one distro, trying to find the one that's "better".
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shanoboy said 7:59PM on 1-03-2008
So, what's your favorite? What's best for a total noob to linux?
Rick said 2:00AM on 1-04-2008
PCLinuxOS 2007 is a good start.
Bruno said 9:01PM on 1-05-2008
I was in the same situation as you, then I decided to go with a
fully adapted (customized) linux distro. I choosed Gentoo and trust me, it was the distro for me.
It took me a week to get my system up and running with a full featured desktop environnement and the set of applications I wanted, but it was worth it.
Kristin Shoemaker said 7:57AM on 1-07-2008
@Bruno
You are certainly ambitious! I have a real soft spot for Gentoo. I'm not using it now, but I have in the past. It wouldn't be what I'd usually recommend for the first distro, but it seems it worked fine for you.
Gentoo has *great* documentation. I use their documentation, a lot, in fact, for installing more experimental packages in other distros. And the plus of Gentoo is you know exactly how your system works.
@Others: My first distro was SuSE 8.2, and I think I've tried most of the major distros... Several times. Even did a Linux From Scratch install to see how it all worked. I would say the average new user would do best with Ubuntu, Xandros, openSuSE or a Fedora-type Linux (never had Fedora do too well with my hardware, but it is fairly easy to maintain).
ElDiablo said 6:41PM on 1-03-2008
I tried linux about 10 years ago, then dabbled on and off every two years since then, but often gave up in frustration. Then, along came the Ubuntu/Debian distro's and I've not looked back since. These days, the distro's seem to work a lot more seamlessly out of the box than perhaps they did all those years ago.
I would recommend that any new user makes sure their internet connection will still work once they upgrade, as it certainly helps with those ohh poop moments when you're not sure what to do next, and helps to get any additional components that perhaps you might need.
I've also found the user communities around Ubuntu/Deb tend to be better and more helpful than the RedHat/Fedora user base, but thats just my experience.
Good luck, and have faith!
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Kristin Shoemaker said 5:56AM on 1-04-2008
This is good advice... I've found it's less of an issue with high speed wired connections than dial up, and less of an issue with wired connections with wireless, but there are some LAN cards that take a bit of configuring. (WLAN almost always takes some fiddling, but in general internal adapters are easier to configure than USB ones).
Back in the day (the dark ages of 2001 when I started using Linux) I still had dial up. Since I had a Winmodem (didn't everybody?) I had to buy an external hardware modem to connect to the 'net. It made Windows (I was dual booting at the time) crashy as heck, but worked like a charm in Linux.
Pádraig Brady said 6:58PM on 1-03-2008
Good tips. I'm still surprised why distros don't default to installing /home on a separate partition?
I would add the tip: "get to know how packages work".
It's one of the main differences from linux which sometimes
scares people off, but is easy to learn.
Here are hopefully some helpful links:
http://www.pixelbeat.org/cmdline.html
http://www.pixelbeat.org/docs/packaging.html
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Kristin Shoemaker said 6:34AM on 1-04-2008
Funny you should mention that, Padraig. There's actually a future Switch piece in the works on packages/package management.
Steve Anness said 6:25PM on 1-06-2008
I have to agree with most of these tips for the switcher, because obviously using the VESA drivers, asking for help, and using the command line are great things for people to do when they are first running Linux. However, the first two I think are bad tips, using a live CD is great and installing on a separate partition isn't bad if the machine must be a production system, but when it comes down to it the user is going to learn more when they install Linux and run with it. In the end the user will learn more and learn to RTFM.
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The Dippster said 9:55PM on 1-03-2008
Anybody who is thinking of making the switch to Linux should definitely try Ubuntu first. I did that recently, and wow, what a difference. It is a bit tough at first, but once you learn what you are doing, it is totally worth it. There are guides online to help you with most everything, so you can google most of your problems.
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Curt said 11:03PM on 1-03-2008
Great bits of advice. I would also add that anyone installing gnu/linux on a laptop should gather every bit of info they can on their wireless cards and video cards before they install, especially if they wipe the windows partition. For those wary of messing with partitioning (it can be a bit daunting for someone not used to it), just back up /home/misc_user on a usb key or external hd periodically and use it overwrite the wiped directories if you need to re-install.
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Ken Rice said 8:18PM on 1-05-2008
I would advise users/installers to utilize the
Linux on Laptops site prior to installation, located at:
http://www.linux-laptop.net/ .
(Don't be shy about adding your laptop or adding to the information present!)
michael said 12:16AM on 1-04-2008
Download Squad should start being call Linux Squad.
It's hard to not come across the front page without seeing something about open source/Linux software to download.
I thought Download Squad was more of a site to find neat 'useful' downloads for Windows and OS X. Not Linux.
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David said 3:23AM on 1-04-2008
And what makes Linux not a OS like Windows or OSX?
As a matter of fact OSX is based on Unix, a forefather of Linux...
michael said 7:27PM on 1-04-2008
@David:
Not saying Linux isn't an OS X. Saying that for a site that's called Download Squad, it's a misleading title for a site that puts up a lot of Linux-based news.
Fredrik said 2:07PM on 1-05-2008
I was just eying the front page. The majority of articles is still about Windows. So this leads me to the question, are you remarking about the existence of GNU/Linux articles, or the growing number of articles? Because as I interpret your comment, it makes me think that you dislike the very fact that there are any articles about GNU/Linux here at all.
And since GNU/Linux is as good an OS as both Windows and OS X, why shouldn't there be "neat useful downloads" for it as well?
As a pure Devils-Advocate counterpoint to your reasoning, since the majority of the articles on the front page is Windows oriented, shouldn't they in that case rename the site "Windows Squad"? ;)