Scott --sidewalking-- wrote:
I turned 70 in December. I got all my formal education before computers became pervasive. My degrees are in Physics. I used computers a lot during my career, but always in an environment where they were really controlled by "experts". When I retired I decided to see if I could become an expert. I can't say that I am, but I have learned a lot while trying. I like Debian because of the community. I get help. I get helpful answers to questions. I get intelligent explanations. If I have ever been flamed, it has been so subtly done that I am unaware of it happening.All, I am new to the Linux world and have settled on Debian as my winning horse for learning Linux, to the best of my abilities. The talk on this list is a little out of my comprehension now, as I am so new, but I am still taking general ed classes in college, and am hoping I can survive the math classes to pursue a CS degree. There is aclass or two on Unix essentials or Unix internals, but that is all. Some programming, of course, is involved.I wonder if all (or most) of you are in similar careers and that is why you are so proficient with compiling and testing and tweaking all of this stuff. Or is it just a hobby that has gone on for so long that you have advanced your knowledge of Linux/Debian to these levels that all of you are at? Just curious... :o) Scott (sidewalking)
Not all of us are proficient at the stuff you mention, but, on the other hand, there are a lot of detailed instructions available. Mostly I keep looking, and asking, until I find help that I understand.
I recomment Debian. You can survive as a somewhat incompetant user, and you can go as far as you want to in learning the internal details of how the computer operates. The choise is yours. And, its FREE software.
Paul