(The updated version of this series can be found here.)
As noted from the start, this is DIY computing, but you aren’t alone by any means.
Ideally, you would make friends with a Debian user in meat space. There’s nothing like finding a fellow-traveler to keep you sane. Next most useful is just about any Linux user. Unfortunately, most serious Linux users are exceedingly partisan in favor of their own brand of Linux. It’s more a matter of their current pleasure than a realistic analysis of your needs. The zeal borders on religious fanaticism at times, so be warned.
To some degree you could run into the same problem if you joined some online forums, which is about the next best thing to a live human contact. You’ll need to spend some times reading the prerequisites, as such a busy forum can’t work if it’s littered with ill-considered noise and the same questions repeated endlessly. You can use the built-in search function to save time. It makes sense to simply read some of the problems posted and how folks reply, or how they may not. The official Debian forums are populated with some decent folks, but most of them seem oriented on system administration. Mere desktop use is but a minor interest there, but they will help you if they have time and know the answer. They do have a decent Beginner’s Guide posted permanently.
Each major branch of Linux development has a forum of some sort, dedicated to folks who use that one brand. There are other kinds of Linux forums and general computer user forums covering more than just Linux. Each has its own good and bad points. If nothing else, simply learning how to use a search engine really well is more than enough for a lot people. Linux users in general, and Debian users in particular, run all over the map in terms of personality. However, there is a preponderance of folks who are great with computers largely because they are so inept with their fellow humans. Just being an ordinary user who simply wants to get their work done may well put you at odds with people who find you insufficiently enthusiastic about the peculiar philosophy of Open Source Software and Linux.
Thus, most of the books and websites dealing with Linux tend to be highly tilted to the technology fan-boy crowd. This, while the greatest teachers are those who can remember not knowing what they teach, and are ready to help you cross this territory that is wholly new to you.
You really do need to learn more about the Linux commandline. There are times when you’ll simply have to use it because something went wrong and only via the CLI can you fix it. The same goes for Windows, Mac and a great many other operating systems (your author has had to use it on those others quite often). So let me recommend a couple of places that might be especially helpful. Linux Command is a nice, fairly short course in becoming acquainted. Here is a very brief description of some commonly used commands and the basic ideas. Finally, for a more traditional academic approach, the Unix Tutorial for Beginners from the Electronic Engineering Department of Surrey University in the UK is as good as it gets.
Frankly, you will only remember well what you actually use. The more you use it, the more comfortable it gets. This is an entirely different world. But it’s a world that has accomplished a lot out of the spotlight and lacks publicity only because it lacks the high profits to pay for heavy consumer advertising. So much of it is done for free by people who aren’t the best at understanding publicity that it remains less well known than the commercial operating systems that are simply not any better in terms of user experience. Try to avoid thinking that different is either good or bad.
You have now begun to explore Linux. Get used to the mindset that you can do just about anything you really want, even if it may take some time. Once you get comfortable with this new way of thinking about computers, you’ll wonder how you ever got along the old way.
This is your computer; take charge.
(Readers are invited to comment on other issues and areas you think I should have covered.)
