said by Aint Skeered:
Wow.
I'm a noob at Linux, just installed Knoppix on the hard drive an old 333mhz acer, I had some questions I wanted to ask, but this thread makes me think twice about it.
Why all the hostility?
Sometimes we noobs don't know just how to put a question to "experts".
[text was edited by author 2003-07-27 01:04:58]
Dear Aint,
Do not be afraid - people here are actually friendly, and there are rules against RTFM, and unkind answers.
As linux becomes less geeky, there will be lots of people like me who have done the basics a lot, and can answer the "What do I use to attach a network printer?" kind of questions, and the toms and pauls and mikes and fritzs will bail us out when we need real help, and then there are the people who can actually write decent scripts, whose posts teach us a lot about how the pc thinks, so, all in all, this is a very friendly place.
The only problem you will find is that sometimes you get an answer which is the very thing you are trying to do, and, of course, if you knew how to do it, you would not be asking.
My favourite is the error I get in mplayer. It tells me to recompile mplayer. Now, without instructions, that statement is meaningless to a newbie, because the words themselves have no meaning to us.
Then there is another problem, that, unlike windows, where XP is XP, and mine looks just like yours, and where it is different, it is because of some programme I installed, or you did. Now, I run debian from a commercial distribution called Libranet. It is stunningly good. The placement of files is not, however, the same as in RedHat, or Mandrake. Thus, although I know by now where my files are, that information is only useful to another debian user. Thus, Linux is rather splintered.
Now, on top of that, the forum has a number of bsd gurus, and they are, well, people who can make a machine dance at the edge of physcis, and they are not even the solaris and other unix geeks, who have yet different knowledge.
So, you can ask anything from what options you need in a kernel recompile, which leads to heated debate as to the usefulness of the new vesa modules, and few of us understand what the issues at stake are, until we find the loading screen at some horrible resolution, to, as I did last night, when I was too tired to think, how do I get a .sh script to run.(Dumbest question of the month, by the way.....I had forgotten to change the directory, as I am not a geek thinker)
So, you should ask away, because some person reading here will benefit from the question.
The more basic the question the more people it will help. We all begin by "turn on the computer."
Good luck to you.
Martin
Sorry for the off-topic.
[text was edited by author 2003-07-27 01:44:40]
