[Wiltshire] Linux meeting in Swindon

[Simon Fryer]

G'Day,

On 24/06/2008, Greg Browne <greg.browne at gmail.com> wrote:
> Simon,
>
> Thanks for that sound advice. Hopefully, some will still take the plunge, in
> the knowledge that they will completely mess up their system at some stage
> and have to re-install both windows and Ubuntu (having backed up their data
> first, of course).

Yes. Quite often learning something new requires a lot of getting it
wrong and seeing what works for you. Pretty much anyone starting out
with Linux and who desires at least a basic understanding of what is
happening will get it wrong a couple of times - and learn from the
experiance.

AFAIK the more recient installers make it easier to install and go
with minimal learning on the part of the user. There is still risk
where something unexpected happens, rendering the user either helpless
or worse, in a position to do some damage to their data!

I find the offerings from M$ tend to turn most people into the
unknowledgeable user, making most of us helpless. Not a position I
personally, or most of the people on this list I expect, really like
to be in.

> If you rely on your computer for work purposes, and the
> subsequent pain is too difficult to contemplate, then Simon is right.

Suitable computers in order to tinker with are commonly available on
Freecycle. It is getting to the point where machines that are faster,
have more memory etc than my fastest machine are appearing on
Freecycle! If space or power consumption is really that much of an
issue then any of the virtulisation environments are the way to go...

> I have fought through the advice forums with no one to sit down with and
> explain anything to me, and learned a lot in the process - but it can be
> very time consuming and frustrating. Linux people are very helpful.

Learning just from advice on forums and reading can be very difficult.
This is especially true if you are trying to learn the basic concepts
and why the concepts are the way they are. The way things are is based
on a lot of history...

I was very fortunate and learnt the basics from talking to my peers
while at university. Still I try to keep my knowledge current by
attending the LUG meetings and following mailing lists.

Simon

-- 
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"Well, an engineer is not concerned with the truth; that is left to
philosophers and theologians: the prime concern of an engineer is
the utility of the final product."
Lectures on the Electrical Properties of Materials, L.Solymar, D.Walsh