The Newbie Learning Curve
Hello Debian Userlist Readers,
I will wholeheartedly agree with all those who shout the virtues of
Linux.
I will praise Mr. Tovalds for his most worthy accomplishment, and his
great act of charity, a far more noble man than Mr. Bill Gates (and by
the same token a lot poorer). I greatly admire this man for his act.
But please, learned ones, don't insult the intelligence of "Mr. Newbie"
by telling him just how easy linux is to learn, especially in an
informal
and unstructured environment.
The debian documentation has improved by leaps and bounds over the last
three months, and it is still doing so. Coming available online is much
more information (if he strives to look for it) which will give the new
comer a much better orientation relative to learning linux. Initially
what the newcomer needs is some type of roadmap (a syllabus) to show him
how to learn linux. From what I'm learning, the Debian Documentation
Team is making a great effort to put something together.
Those of you who have "cut your teeth" on unix type systems are at a
great advantage using linux, and I envy you for it. You're where I
want to be.
For those of us who have leaned msdos first, we've found it a lot eaiser
to learn. They teach msdos in quite a few schools, at all levels. More
people use msdos systems, and therefore, it is easier to get informal
instruction on msdos. It is also easier to get access to msdos systems.
At this stage of the game, linux is something different (special), and
the newbies are making the effort to learn the ground rules. That is
why we are here. Do you think its easy for some of us to use the "net"
to solicit help, expose our ignorance on a given subject, and then have
someone tell us its easy, or give some quick sofisticated reply that
flies right by us? Put yourselves in our shoes, how would you feel?
It is not easy for the newcomer without ANY unix exposure to find his
way
around a linux system. There is a certain price to pay, the "learning
curve"? I fully agree that all those who aspire, should pay the full
price, but, help us, please "don't blow smoke", and tell us its easy.
Asking for help on the userlist, and having a lot of fine people
offering
their resouces to rescue us (the newbies) is magnificent. I personally
appreciate the effort they make to understand some of the "gibberish" we
sometimes write, while trying to explain our problems. The gibberish is
not
by design, at this stage, we just don't know how to put it all together
to
fully explain the troubles we are experiencing.
As the saying goes, many times the "learned ones" are making "sense" out
of "nonsense", while trying to construct a reply to our questions.
Again,
I thank you, the "learned ones".
In the last four months, I've read more than three thousand messages on
various lists. So, I know of what I speak, relative to what appears on
the lists, not of linux.
Maybe after paying our dues, and having vaulted the early hurdles, we
may change our perspective, but for now, linux ITS NOT EASY.
Bert Conliffe
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