- Thou shalt not log in as root.
Use “sudo” or “su -” for administrative tasks. - Thou shalt use the package manager when possible.
Sometimes installing from source code can’t be avoided, but when you use your distro’s package manager to install software, you can also use it to update and remove it. This is one of the main strengths of Linux. - Thou shalt be a part of the community.
Freely give what you have received for free. Offer help and advice whenever you can. - Thou shalt read documentation and man pages.
Always read the documentation. The people who wrote the software tried to anticipate your questions, and provided answers before you asked. - Thou shalt use the available support system.
Switching to Linux can be tough. It can be frustrating, but there are a lot of people out there who want to help you. Let them. - Thou shalt search.
In most cases, your question or problem has already been addressed. Try to find the answers that are already out there before asking someone to provide a new one.
- Thou shalt explore.
Linux opens a whole new world of options and possibilities. Try everything you can. - Thou shalt use the command line.
Especially when it comes to configuration, use the GUI tools to get your system working, but get to know the command line versions as well. In many cases, the command line is the only way to use some of the more advanced features. - Thou shalt not try to recreate Windows.
Linux is not meant to be a clone of Windows. It’s different. Embrace and appreciate the differences.
- Thou shalt not give up.
I tried several distributions before I found one I liked. I still try other distros from time to time. I also tried several different programs to serve one purpose before settling on what I use now (amarok, xmms, beep, exaile for music - azureus, ktorrent, deluge for bittorrents). If you don’t like the defaults, remember that you can change almost everything to suit you.
Can you think of any rules to live by to pass on to the new Linux users reading this? Put them in the comments!
91 Comments
11. you shalt usae archlinux, the best linux distribution.
good commands list here http://www.debianadmin.com/basic-linux-commands-with-man-pages.html
That is a good list. Thanks, Dave.
As for Arch Linux, what makes it the best distro?
1.# Thou shalt not log in as root.
The Truth about running as root:
Peter van der Linden wrote:
The “don’t run as root” mantra dates from the days of
timesharing servers. When you run on a single user PC, your
most valuable resource is your data, not the integrity of
the system.
If your system is compromised, the attacker can do all the
things he wants to do in your user account, equally well as
a root account (store files, send spam, run zombie
software). Being or not being root doesn’t hinder him at
all.
On a server it is bad to be root all the time because a
mistake by you could affect many other people. On a single
user PC behind a firewall there is no compelling reason not
to run as root.
If your system is compromised, the attacker can do all the
things he wants to do in your user account, equally well as
a root account (store files, send spam, run zombie
software). Being or not being root doesn’t hinder him at
all.
What?? So it’s safe to run a web browser as root?? Someone manages to hijack it, then they can run system wide scripts that can do allot of damage, run on at boot time, load into the kernel level, hide themselves… etc.
It’s still a much safer practice to run non-administrative programs with reduced privlidges.
Remember, this article is for new users. Think about how much code you blindly copy and paste as a new user. I don’t want them doing that as root.
Thou shalt not use the words “Micro$oft” or “Windoze” when looking for help in a forum or mailing list.
Thou shalt not reinstall Linux at the first sign of trouble; instead, thou shalt diligently attempt to use Linux itself to solve the problem.
(Yeah, I know it’s a bit long.)
I run as root all the time, I’m just not stupid and throw in any command into the command line. It’s the same as running Windows as administrator, which I’m sure millions of people do and are fine.
Why WOULD you log in as root? It’s just a bad idea. Everybody makes mistakes at 3 AM and you can seriously fubar your system. It’s common sense. There’s nothing controversial about it.
Actually, I can tell you from experience working with a large manufacturer that millions of people run Windows as administrator and are *not* fine. Far, far from it.
Thou shalt not use a netinst package on a dial-up connection
Re: not always logging in as root. It’s a simple enough precaution to take, so why not run as another user?
i hate the fact that there are so many “vista” themes for gnome right now. if we wanted to use vista we would, let’s see some more original stuff!
James House: Take a look at the following link to see a comparison between Arch Linux and Ubuntu (and why Arch is the best
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=1782918&postcount=123
@Gary, even Microsoft has figured out that running as root is a bad idea. Maybe you think you’re smarter than all the Linux developers, but surely you can’t think you’re smarter than Gates?
@d, word.
God bless the creator or sudo
About the “Vista” themes. The reason there are so many out there is because some people like the Vista style but do not want Vista on their machine (though I don’t really understand why.) I use Vista without a hitch, but that’s not the point of this post. Just saying that some people use Linux but want it to look and feel like Windows. Not everyone, but some people.
Rule #1, the golden rule!
RTFM
People performing day to day activities as the root user is just plain dangerous.
When something goes wrong and you are logged in as a user, you can screw up your account. Generally that’s as far as it goes. When something running with root privileges goes wrong, you can screw up the whole machine. Here’s a few good rules:
1) Use the lowest required privilege level for everything.
2) Back up anything you don’t want to lose.
3) Encrypt all data you don’t want public.
ramen!
slackware #1
Addendum (AKA the guy-who-always-knows-better-comment)
1.”su -” means “spawn a login shell as root”, thus exactly the same as logging in as root. You should only do this if you want to perform a bunch of tasks at the same time, without having to sudo them each. Always log out when you are finished. If your session gets hijacked and you are logged in as root, a rootkit can be planted and the logs deleted or edited, removing any evidence that you’ve been hacked. Plus - and this is more likely - YOU can screw up the system with root access. You can not with user access only.
2. You can break the package management when you compile and install software yourself. This could leave your computer in an unbootable state.
3. Don’t expect everyone to contribute to the community. You will both be disappointed and scare away a fair bunch if you try to force them. Just advocating linux is enough.
4. man pages, c’mon. Welcome to the 21st century. No one cann seriously expect a new linux user to study manpages. They’re far too technical. Pressing F1 is usually enough, and if it isn’t, something is wrong. And it’s not the user. Also see point 6.
5. People who want to help are located at IRC, look in the proper channel. #ubuntu for ubuntu related questions. They will guide you to the right channel if you don’t know. (You can use BitchX or Pidgin/Gaim to connect to IRC)
6. Imagine hanging out in the #kde channel and there is a new bug that broke something hard. People logging in and asking the same question once every five seconds are gonna make you go postal. Please don’t mind their verbal abuse, just look at the channel topic or google the error message. You’ll probably find a solution or a workaround within the first five results.
7. Or just be satisfied with your daily porn session. Linux is very customizable though, so you could probably get your porn delivered hourly to your tivo with a bit of exploring.
8. If you’re not interested in development (see 7) or testing, you shouldn’t ever need to use the terminal (command line).
9. Linux is made to be better than Windows. If you think it isn’t, try again, you’ll like it when you get used to it. Seriously.
10. You’re welcome to try again in a year if you do give up. Linux is always under heavy developmment. Main features are added daily in contrast to Windows and OS X where they are added with new versions and releases. You can get that with linux too. They’re called “stable” releases. They have been tested by the entire community for quite a while, so they really are stable.
11. thou shalt not enter the command “rm -Rf /”
12. thou shalt not type and enter “rm -Rf . /”
(*note the space after the dot)
OMG - are you guys for real ? Running a linux system as root is to be avoided at all costs. “su -c” or “sudo” if neccesary but the damage that can be done by a user logged as root doesn’t bare thinking about. Google parachutes, circuit breakers, etc for examples of peace of mind…
Thou shall not bathe, shave, brush teeth, etc.
Go to hell. I’ve been running linux for 15 years, probably 10 more than your smug little newbie ass. I log in as root all the time. You can take your package manager and stick it up your ass. I compile my software like a man.
It’s my freaking computer and I’ll do what I want with it.
Newbie.
There are two kinds of people…..
1. The people who have made a serious error as root, and don’t run as root all the time anymore, and
2. The people waiting to make a serious error as root…..
Rule #13
Linux blows. Linux users have no life which frees up the necessary time to learn it (see post #27 above). If you have a life, buy a Mac and continue enjoying your life.
Oddly enough, I’ve never made a mistake on the command line as root. It’s kind of hard to type rm -rf / on accident. Plus, when you sudo, what’s to stop you from doing a stupid command that way? You’d be surprised how much more effective and faster you can be when you don’t have to enter your password every 5 minutes.
Thou shalt not pay attention to T-man, for he is an idiot and is destined for eternal virginity.
@gary
I once did a “rm -rf .*” in my home directory (wanted to clean all the dotfiles)
I forgot that “.” and “..” would be included. Yes, I was root. Yes it wiped my entire file system.
Thou shalt use “$@” and forget that $* ever existed.
Thall shalt read this thread and remember that linux admins like to argue about something called root…
Amen to that brother
I believe that this applies to advanced linux users as well not just noobs
p.s.
windows stinks
*Standing* *ovation* to the author of this post. You are a credit to the IT world!
As for all the flames and arguments: Let me guess… this post got to Digg’s front page?
That’s OK folks, if you don’t like what we have to say then just move along; we are all only trying to help you by telling you the plain truth and giving you the help you’re always asking for. Forgive us.
Nice one
Learn vi if you want to know the only universally available editor for Linux/Unix/Mac.
by the way… @lester
who says: “man pages, c’mon. Welcome to the 21st century. No one cann seriously expect a new linux user to study manpages.” …and… “you shouldn’t ever need to use the terminal (command line).”
Why, looky, looky! What have we here? It is a directory to a bunch of… MANUAL PAGES! All of it documenting the advanced commands of the Windows XP MS-DOS command line environment.
It’s astonishing how you can show people things like the Windows man page for Findstr, which is equivalent to the grep command documented by this Linux man page, and yet command lines and man pages are this fundamental problem with Linux and Linux only. And don’t look now, but Apple just adapted GNU Bash for the Mac. Is it OK for Linux to do it if Windows and Mac does it, now? Is it OK if we do it even better?
thou shall not be a slave to capitolism by working your ass off and having no life just to afford a mac just so you can put an apple sticker on your car to show off how dumb you really are.
I am a beginner Linux user, and these commandments just show the ignorance from Linux geeks towards normal users. You want Linux be be mass adopted and beat M$ down into their shoes? Well, wake up, do what needs to be done to convince normal average users to stick with Linux if they try it out.
First, a list like this should not be needed in the first place. Make things easy and obvious enough to figure out and use without having to RTFM, without having to search for help in forums, without having to use an ancient command line, without having to be stubborn as a donkey when approaching problems.
Second, if people are used and comfortable with using M$ Windows, then they will be a heck of a lot more likely to switch if they can come to Linux and not have to re-”explore” everything they have learned about using a computer. Either make it easy enough to use where things are obvious and self-explanatory (NOT command line), and/or make features similar to that other OS you all hate so much.
I know most of you hate hearing this, and probably will flame me for saying what you hate hearing. Admittedly, if you want to keep Linux as some small unknown OS for geeks only, then preach this kind of crap to users, and it WILL keep them far far away from Linux.
Robert, welcome to the Linux community! I hope that you enjoy the choice and ultimate freedom in computing that Linux has to offer.
On your first point, you have to realize that no OS is going to be completely ‘user intuitive’ I support about 700 windows users on a daily basis, and trust me, they have just as much trouble with windows an any operating system. As long as you have programs you will have to have the proper documentation. Desktop Environments like KDE and Gnome have made great strides in the past years on improving the ‘intuitiveness’ of the GUI interface. There is very little a typical user has to do from the command line. I think the gist of it, though, is not to be afraid of it, as there is a lot of things that can be done easier from the command line, as is the case with windows.. (try to flush the dns cache from windows without using ipconfig!)
If you want Linux cloned to act like windows, there are distributions like Xandros that you would probably be more comfortable with. However don’t expect everything in all distos to be laid out in such a way. Different stokes for different folks I guess.
Linux is really about choice, after all.
Cheers
I along with some others I also disagree with the validity of the first rule.
Obviously I agree with not running the average application as root, like say Firefox. But say if I’m “ssh-ing” into my mail server to troubleshoot a message for example, what are some commands I’m going to use? postqueue, postsuper, postkick, tail -f mail.log… which all require root privileges. So I either type sudo in front of everything, enter su, or just log in from the get-go as root. And if you ask me there is no difference between logging in as root or logging in as me and then using su.
The first rule should be “Be safe, be smart, and take your time as root”
11) Thou shalt not *ever* try to set up a wireless connection on Linux and expect it to work without guru intervention.
thou shall not use Linux on dial up… cause it sucks.
To all the command line nuts out there I hereby decree no more GIMP no more blender etc do it all from the command line–the purpose of a gui is to increase productivity and allow a user to “”USE”" his system not spend hours exploreing or fighting his system. Most developers to day use visual and object oreinted programming can they do it all in just plain code probably but the GUI speeds them up and allows for greater productivity and quicker assimilation
can stuff be done faster with just a command line –yes in some casses
in some casses learning all the hot keys and dumping a mouse is faster to but by allowing a mouse and gui you allow more to contribute that otherwise might not be able to and again increase the speed of assimilation and productivity.
So stop preaching the cli crud for gosh sakes unless your prepared to give up a mouse and monitor to–if you dont need a gui why even a monitor–heck lets just use the old punch card programing method..You think you are speeding up development and addoption –sorry wrong this kind of elitest attitude is only holding you back
Is the option to have this a strength yes but like so many of linux’s strengths its also its greatest weekness
choice for instance
choice is great but there is such a thing as to much , at wich point schisms and divides can be formed as well by to much choice. How much parallel development is being done that would better benefit by joined development
heck beryl and compiz finally buried the hatchet for this very reason
take the two gui heavy hitters and combine them
and leave a couple light weight ones and combine them so instead of 50 desktops 5 or 6 just make them more customizable
heck you can preaty much get any of them to look and act like one another as is–thats just silly when you get down to it
but the diversity is a strength and a weakness
the CLI is the same.
Remember theese people are “”USERS”" not programers dont expect them to act like programmers lets face it when you have work to do you dont want to fight your system or spend 3 hours fixing something or learning somehting you want to do what you intended to do
If every time before you drove your car your mechanic recommended 3 hours under the hood first how fast would you flip him the middle finger
now maybe you understand why so many users think your nuts and basically flip you the finger
do I use the CLI yes and love it but I realize that the whole CLI thing is way over done on linux
next root
lets face it most of the system crashes will be probably acts of god, hardware failure or something you did yourself
lets say updateing your systeml, installing new software, changeing some settings all of wich one way or another your gona do as root any how. whether su sudo gksu kdesu or just plain old logged in as root or by giveing your user root privaleges
and I hate to say it no matter what you do if enough energy is commited to breaching your security–I bet it will eventually be breached. Its a shame but true…Lets face it how many of our own tools like nmap jhon the ripper etc are used against us
any how let me just finish by restateing the fact that the minute you need to pick up a manual or spend time figuring it out is time taken from productivity.. You know when I come home after being driven nuts by mac, linux and windows users all day and just want to play some quake 4 online the last think I want to do is have to login first as root for 3 hours because its gone haywire
wether its windows, linux or mac I just want it to work hence why mac’s new add moto rings so sweetly–it just works wether true or not is a matter of opinion but for 99.999% of the world that is all we dream of
It just works not it just makes me work
re: sudo / su - If it is your machine, and no one else has to rely on it then log in as root and have your way with the system. If you kill it or cause some problems then have yourself a good chuckle and repeat after me - ‘we all learn from mistakes, sometimes they are ours’ sometime they are someone else’s.’ Then learn how to fix what you just broke. It is nice to know how to build the system and what the error messages mean.
re: use the command line - While it is true that some of the more advanced features may require the use of the command line, use the GUI whenever you can. It will give you more time to poke around and learn. The command line stuff will come in time. Webmin is your friend.
Last) Enjoy yourself while you are learning.
I just bought a Dell with Ubuntu pre-install. Why? Because i freaky like Ubuntu. What make Ubuntu better, they limit your choice. Thats right. I don’t give a ____, if i have the choice of xfce, kde, etc, rpm, tgz, emerge– what ever portage is. Why is the Linux Kernel so freaky important, it standardizes a TON of stuff. If the GNU Herd ever had been finished in the last 100 years, GNU HAVE WOULD SUCKED BALLS, As event by MS Windows, People dislike five billion choices.
Normal people like Macs, ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE IS GOOD. Saying linux gives you all these choices is like saying, “I’m freaky RMS, i haven’t done anything but eat for the last 20 years” | “i’m RMS, i tell people to make free shity clones of software that is actually innovative, because i can’t actually create anything myself.”
Honestly, Linux is quite hard to learn for beginners several years ago. However, with the latest distro in the market, it has actually help users to switch from using Windows (or Mac OS X) to Linux. The powerful thing about Linux is still the command line functionality.
uh, i guess ..first of all, if you’ve read this many comments, then you’re probably only reading them because you’re bored. like i did.
second, i use root on the systems, but i never directly log in to the systems, so su is the way to go. thats not the point. who cares what you use? i fucked up plenty when i started ..it is to be expected. embrace the fucking up. it helps. seriously. someone said they rm’d the whole thing. good for you. you probably learned a valuable fucking lesson, right? i advocate doing whatever the fuck suits you. whether it be running windows / mac / linux / unix[me].
third, why do people feel the need to post on here why linux is better or microsoft is better? its the same thing with religious wars. difference in opinion has been the cause of a lot of deaths. i use freebsd and gentoo and xp and vista and osx. i use command line [where applicable]. if you use gui, GO YOU - ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY. if you use linux or windows or mac, GO YOU - ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY. i dont care. noone should care. and noone should get mad.
fourth, read the fucking manual. seriously. someone said its too technical? so? learn some technical shit.
- heden
b.heden@gmail.com
11. Thou shall not steal ideas from other OS’s…
Try to come up with a new idea with out ripping off OS X or Windows
You understand that OS X is based on BSD right?
1) thou shalt not argue about the need to log in as root. Instead thou shalt recommend that people login (from the login window) as non-privileged users and run necessary commands as root when needed.
2) thou shalt not get mad at ignoramuses, lest they fall back to their beloved M$ or Macs. Instead thou shalt be patient with them and help them to find the answers to what they are looking for.
3) thou shalt become familiar with gui tools for performing tasks as well as knowing their cli equivilents so that thou canst give the BEST (easiest/fastest/most convenient/least obscure) solution to problems people come up with.
Thou shalt read the examples in the man pages. Oh, oops sorry, the dickweeds at the GNU project decided for some reason that man pages examples were only for the computationally unfit, and that only Nietzschean uberman would be allowed to figure out how to use GNU tools.
>Go to hell. I’ve been running linux for 15 years, probably 10 more
>than your smug little newbie ass. I log in as root all the time. You
>can take your package manager and stick it up your ass. I compile my
>software like a man.
>
>It’s my freaking computer and I’ll do what I want with it.
>
>Newbie.
Now I know one of the most important commandments of all: Use Linux however you want.
Just as none of us will be running an enterprise server on our system (even though Linux is capable of it), not everyone is going to do everything the same. Do whatever you think you want. Eventually you’ll develop your own habits, which may or may not conflict with the things listed above. But DON’T, and I mean DON’T, try to force your habits on somebody else.
That is all. Think before you flame.
Your user should not have the same level of privileges as root. While you can still easily wipe out your entire home directory as a regular user, you of course have up-to-date backups and can restore the data in moments. Your OS and file system are intact, because you weren’t operating as root.
This ‘mantra’ is valid, even on a single-user system. You can never completely eliminate the damage you may do with a mistake, but the more you minimize that damage, the less time you’ll spend trying to recover from these mistakes. Mess up as root and you can lose the whole OS, requiring you to reinstall everything, then reconstruct the various configurations, etc.
Don’t run as root, unless it is required, and then only do so for the least amount of time possible. You’re just asking for trouble if you ignore this advice.
But, if you feel very strongly about your right to log in as root, then by all means, do so. It’s your computer. Maybe you’re perfect, and never, ever make any mistakes. Or at least, never, ever make them as root. But consider this: almost all good software packages have an ‘undo’ function that allows you to back up what you just did, because people do make mistakes.
But still - everyone should have the right to shoot himself in the food if he wants to. No one should be prevented from logging in as root.
For new people, however, the general advice I’d offer is to avoid root as much as possible, using it only when you must, and get out as quickly as possible.
As for using man pages - I agree, they are outdated. They contain a wealth of useful information, but there is no good reason for limiting help information to the man pages, when your application runs as a GUI. If nothing else, make the same man pages viewable from the GUI, without requiring a person to start a console session and read the pages that way. An application with inadequate documentation, or documentation that is not conveniently located, is, in my not-so-humble opinion, broken. The authors of much of this software are volunteers, and they may be bored to tears with writing documentation. That’s their right - but their programs are still broken for all of that.
Actually commandment 10 (besides others) is the perfect reason why linux will never be able to compete with other OSes in the desktop-segment. As a professional who lives mainly on working with a computer I don’t have the time and nerve to try things out. I just cannot afford it. And I don’t have the money to pay for someone to maintain the system. As much as I like the idea of OSS, it is therefore not an option for me. The other issue of course being the lack of features in the software itself. Maybe if enterprises like Adobe would finally port their products, but for now, there is no alternative.
After reading those 10 ‘commandments’ I am sure that many, new potential linux users just gave up trying linux.
It does not matter if you are su’d in, sudo’d in, or logged in a root, if you make a mistake.
It is possible to use the package manager to remove important packages by mistake due to dependencies - like if you uninstall a package it removes kdm, and a whole lot of other stuff.
But commandments 1, 2 and 6 are good advice for normal operation.
my IMHO (in russian): http://bobrik.hovel.ru/2007/08/15/0xa/
Thou shalt recognize that GNU/Linux and other open source OSes are about choice. Therefore, thou shalt be free to choose a distro that gives you high configurability and lots of choice, or one that limits your choice and is easier to use.
Thou shalt not engage in religious-style wars over distro A vs. distro B vs. MacOS vs. *BSD vs. Windows. Each has its uses, benefit, and weaknesses.
I’m impressed.
“Don’t run as root” => “I’ll run as root if I want to.”
“Choice is good” => “Choice is confusing.”
“Read The Fine Manual” => “Make things obvious so I don’t have to read any documentation.”
“Don’t copy other OS” => “Choice is bad, make things obvious.”
“Do not fear the command line” => “Copy other OS so as to use less/no command line”
“Do not do regular things as root” => “I run as root and it never cau$%^& NO CARRIER”
“Linux is for no-life fanboys” => “Windows is for know-nothing drones” => “Macs are for lock-step sole-source conformists.”
Gee, these comments are lots of fun to read, but the arguments are kind of predictable. I’m surprised that there is only one “vi” comment and no “emacs” follow-up. All in good time….
Great summation Bob!
i am root
These are all good comments, and I have to say that there needs to be alot stuff done to linux to make it better for new users.
1) For a start, I have to say that I am currently using Windows 2000, why? Because it has relatively few restrictions yet I can still (and this is importaant) PLAY GAMES. Youre average user cannot see the point in switching, hell, even a power user can’t. I can get most software i need free, and i can still play games with ease. When I was running Ubuntu, I had real trouble getting my flash drive to work with it, I spent hours trying to get it to work. I also had to work to get graphics acceleration on my desktop, an annoyingly arduos process that REQUIRED me to use the command line, either to run a tool, or to edit a system file. Now I am fairly comfortable with the command line, but my brother, competant with a computer but not good, isn’t. Most people can’t use Linux at all.
Admittedly, Windows causes many problems, but not out of the box most of the time. The only reason I had trouble with Win 2000 was because it had outdated drivers, expected from an almost-decade old OS.
I have to say, that I could not agree with you in 100% regarding o.us poetry, but it’s just my opinion, which could be wrong
The most appropriate title for your list is:
Top Ten Linux Turnoffs
I fail to see what is the problem with running as root. Mistakes will happen either if you use su - or sudo.
sudo strikes me as an “Are you sure?”-like thing.
That’s why sudo is better than su. It gives you as much rope to hang yourself with, but it makes it perfectly clear that you are taking it out and throwing it around the tree branch. And it is just a short term thing, so you are much less likely to completely hose your system, as you’ll take it down when you are done.
If the man pages were written so as to be understandable by ordinary people, it would be a great help.
On the ‘COMMUNITY’
I’m an amateur Windows developer of 10 years who recently switched to SUSE and was having trouble using ‘find’ in a bash script.
#SUSE on freenode was filled with people who were generally kind and informative, but they couldn’t help and recommended that I go to #BASH, so I did. There I was immediately ridiculed as a ‘noob’, which i was, but it didn’t deserve any ridicule.
Although I had googled and read man-pages and tried receiving help in #SUSE with no luck, the ‘COMMUNITY’ at #BASH was determined that I google more, read more man-pages and accept insults for not knowing how to use ‘find’ with ‘for’ and ‘while’ statements.
After another hour of tinkering I found that using ‘-exec’ to call another sh script provided the functionality I needed. A simple pointer in that direction from an ‘expert’ would have saved me a lot of time.
While I love Linux, I wish the community would get some bug fixes.
@Zack (way, way back at comment #49 :-)):
“11) Thou shalt not *ever* try to set up a wireless connection on Linux and expect it to work without guru intervention.”
Actually, by far the easiest setup of a wireless connection I’ve ever experienced on any computer, any network was using Puppy Linux 2.15 (and later 2.16, 2.17) to connect an Intel wireless card to a Netgear router using WPA-PSK. Slicker than goose grease. Not even a bobble. Just copy in the encryption key from a flash drive (yeh, like most contemporary Linux distros, removable drives are a snap to mount), and bob’s your uncle. Muuuuch easier and faster than the usual WinXP wireless connection from that computer. Other distros (including earlier Puppy distros), not so slick. I carry my Puppy on CD and flash drive with me everywhere I go, now.
Oh, and yeh, Puppy runs everything as root by default, but since I have the entire OS on a bootable CD and backups of my pup.sys session files are easy-peasy, no sweat. Reboot and problems go away. *heh* Love my Puppy. But yeh, I use WinXP, Win2K, Ubuntu, Debian and even PC-BSD. Transitioning between them all is nothing. Folks who have trouble with Windows (and Mac–the user horror stories I could tell! *LOL*) will have trouble using any OS. I visited with a(nother) user just the other day I considered seriously telling, “Hon, you’re too stupid to own a computer. Put it in your next garage sale and go back to pencil and paper. But be careful, now. You can put an eye out with a pencil! Oh, and don’t stick it in your ear. It might get lost in space.”
That I don’t tell three or four users a week things like that is due more to my self-control and native talent for lying to users than anything else.
Remember: half the population is on the lefthand side of the bell curve. What’s worse, rule number one of computer use: about 95% of the right hand side of the bell curve experience a functional lobotomy when they sit down at a computer, so 97%-98% of users are dumber than the dumb boxes they use. It doesn’t matter what OS is in the box; they’ll screw it up somehow (though, to give credit where credit is due, the Mac straightjacket keeps the suboptimal loonies’ hands off the OS innards better than most… )
i was running as root and the website told me to type:
sudo dd if=/dev/randuom if=/dev/hd0
i said it would make my linux faster but now the computer wont boot?
@Im not Dumb: I’m not surprised you’ve just blown away /dev/hd0. A rebuild job I’m afraid.
I do it a slightly different way. I make myself a member of the group wheel and then edit sudoers to allow members of the group wheel to run sudo without a password. I do the same in /etc/pam.d/su where I implicitly trust members of the group wheel and require that people allowed to su to root be members of the wheel group.
as someone who wanted to check out linux and reading ALL of your comments I still don’t think I could understand how to use linux let alone figure out how to use the comand line.. help me figure it out or at least try. plz
@matt
The best way to learn Linux is to dive in. Find a distro that is beginner friendly and just dive into it. I recommend PCLinuxOS, Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuSE. All of these distros have good user communities which will help you when you run into problems.
Testing Threaded reply.
Can I run a linux OS and windoze on the same hard drive or do I have to partition? Or should I get an external hard drive for my laptop??
Well, to run both on the same hard drive, you’ll need to partition your drive.
You can always run a “live” distro to see if you like it. This means to boot it from a CD and work from it temporarily. There are some distros that work within a Windows “parition” (ie, disk drive) but I’ve never tried them.
Found this today. Might be just what you’re looking for, Matt.
http://wubi-installer.org/index.php
Thou shalt use the package manager when possible–or thou shalt use CheckInstall.
Good point on the package manager / checkinstall! Otherwise, your package database gets all screwed up!
“Thou shalt not try to recreate Windows.”
Erm.
what about: “Thou shalt do whatever you want to do!” ?
“8. If you’re not interested in development (see 7) or testing, you shouldn’t ever need to use the terminal (command line).”
You have got to be kidding me….
Logging in as root: As a n00b, just don’t do it. don’t set stuff up to run as root. If it breaks, or a security hole develops, crackers have root access to your machine, instead of unprivileged user access.
Command Line Vs. Gui: the GUI is nice for a basic configuration of a complicated piece of software. When you want to do something other than a basic task - when you want to get down into the nuts and bolts of that piece of software, you’re going to be using a text editor and a command line.
There are several orders of magnitude between the capabilities between a windows GUI user and a linux command-line junkie. The linux command line is more powerful than all the windows programs I frequently used combined.
Voldemort (51): GUI’s have their uses - advanced configuration tasks that should only be performed by people who know WTF they are doing is not one of them.
If you can’t figure out how a properly commented configuration file works, you don’t need to be messing around with it. If you don’t know how it works, you’re guaranteed to do something stupidly. Ignorance and Computers is the primary reason why microsoft operating systems suck ass: they had to lock down any option that could truly foul up a computer if misused, so the people who could make use of that option no longer had an easy way to access it.
I considered myself a professional windows user. In 3 months of using Linux, I’m back to the point I was at with Windows, and I feel like a complete n00b.
If I wanted to do half the things in Windows that I can now do in Linux, it would cost me roughly $25,000 in software packages and upgraded hardware. Personally, I’d rather spend a couple months learning how to do it than to pay someone the better part of a year’s salary to do it for me.
Apparently, Voldemoort, you have more dollars than sense.
root is like a gun it is ok in the right hands but give it to an idiot and gun control laws are born. I login as root to my servers because they are servers there is no X no fluff I only login to do administrative task. If you use a server for surfing or anything not server related your bad.. as far as the rm -rf game you only lose once a trooper will get back on the horse re-install and start reading peoples advice with a grain of salt
Dave (112): Thank you for saying “cracker”.
Really.
And while we’re on the subject of the power of a command line, how about “Thou shalt use the shell history. No longer shalt thou re-type commands anew”
#1 is a good point unless your doing administrative work you dont really need root.
theres always the old:
root[~] # rm -rf /var/randomstuff/ *
thats when you start thinking, mabey i should of made some backups…
thanks for the site, james. as soon as I get through downloading it I’ll let you know how I like it.. thanks again
JAMES.
looks good.. so far so good.. thanks again..
Glad I could help. If you’re using Fedora, check out my Fedora Feather script to install Java, MP3, DVD and Flash.
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