Do You Have To 'Learn' Linux To Use Linux?

This question keeps coming up again and again. Do you need to "learn" Linux in order to be a Linux user? Well...let's discuss.

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[RedSntDK]

Awk is magic and you can't convince me otherwise

[adolforosado]

No you don't, but you will. Thanks!

[nihil]

Well, you kinda learn it naturally with time, just because terminal makes your life so much easier. I tried to read books before diving in, or using a vbox to learn stuff, but just having Ubuntu as the main system and spontaneously studying it was the solution.

[cbbcbb]

Sometimes it seems as if Linux experts act like you shouldn't do anything with Linux unless you already know how to do everything with it.

[Technopath]

I didn't NEED to learn Linux, but I went down the rabbit hole wholeheartedly because it was fun. Now? Now I'm not on Windows anymore and loving every minute of it. I didn't realize how much my hands were tied behind my back in Windows until I properly had a feel for how Linux works. :)

[hopelessdecoy]

Most of these tasks can be achieved without the use of the command line or "learning Linux" almost as easily if not more. find and replace with regex support is a common text editor function, not just a vim tool. Most file properties menus have the ownership controls in them.

[heroe]

That's the strength of Linux and ultimately FOSS, if you want to go deep down and use those software at their full potential, modify them etc you can, but tons of them also have user friendly implementations

[javaman]

You stated it well. No, you don't have to learn Linux in order to use it, but if you want to make it your own, you do. I was a Unix programmer back in the day before I got into Windows. The commands I still remember from Unix don't always work *quite* the same way, and much has been added, so I have to learn. I'm currently frustrated with the state of my distro and want to do a fresh manual installation of Arch, so I am going through the guide and learning as I dive down one rabbit hole after another. I *want* to learn this.

[jgarbo]

In fact, he had to "learn" Windows, too. Where the files go, where the apps are, how to install them and what they do, how to print, send email, etc. However, most Linux distros are about the same, ie, you don't need the command line. It's there if you want it (Windows, too) but it's not essential. I sometimes suspect that the Linux crowd obfuscate newcomers to do what - denigrate, humiliate, demean them? One Youtuber does it to his wife to prove how hard Linux is! And the fool gets it wrong: most of "command line" is not Linux (the kernel) but 1970s Unix (modified by Stallman). These days Linux is often easier to learn and use than Windows.

[JackBender]

+1 Derk definitely makes more sense, simplifies the whole situation a lot and it undeniably rolls off the tongue.

[spleaque]

I learned so much from this video, thank you DT!

[Fozz]

I was today years old when i found out that; after launching the Application Launcher (windows key)in kde-plasma and you type "=", you can do a basic calculation after. That's the newest Linux thing i have learn't after 2 years.

[capnsalty]

I think instead of learning all that I will just come back and watch this video when I need it. Thank you for being a great reference.

[alh-xjgt]

pipe example in a single awk: awk -F / '/^[^#]/{ arr[$NF]++ } END{ for(key in arr){print key} }' /etc/shells
/^[^#]/ -- Match lines that don't start with # and ..
{ arr[$NF]++ } -- .. produce array with unqiue keys. As $NF hold "sh" or "bash". this will count how many times "sh" is in the file.
END{ .. } -- After going through the file ..
for(key in arr){print key} -- .. loop through the array and print the key of the array.

[master]

Really helpful video. Thanks a lot, Derk.

[nichtgestalt]

Awk is just black magic. In fact it is one of the forbidden spells, right next to ffmpeg.

[Blackcountrysteam]

I've used Linux Mint now since 2020 I mainly use it out of the box but added some software to it via the software manager and one time got brave and used the terminal to install software. I've never found the need to get into Linux any deeper.

[tescomealdeals]

Before watching the video, my answer would be this: Almost noone who's considering switching to linux is brand new to using windows or just computers in general, in all likelihood they've been using their computer for many years already, possibly since they were very young. Because they're so familiar with using windows, they forget the fact that they actually did have to learn how to use it, that it took time for the computer to stop feeling abstract and more like they were directly interacting with it. They forget that kids in school actually take classes about the basics of using computers i.e. what a username and password are, how to write a text document, how to use a web browser, universally accepted keyboard shortcuts like ctrl+z or ctrl+c, how to write an email, even something as basic as how a mouse works (which when you think about it is actually a super abstract way to interact with software).

It's not that linux especially requires learning, they've simply not realised that any operating system requires learning, and that even the simplest of tasks on computers are far from intuitive to new users. Hell, I started using windows when I was about 4 or 5 and I still remember being 14 or so trying a mac for the first time and barely being able to open my settings. If anything, I'd argue a good chunk of the learning required for linux isn't really learning but rather unlearning, unlearning the abstractions you've taken for granted and building a more intimate understanding of what your system is ACTUALLY doing.

A large part of this also comes down to the simple fact that linux carries a reputation which windows and mac don't. You ask a member of the general public who's heard of linux but never used it and they'll most likely tell you that they've heard it's super hard and only for computer nerds who spend all day programming their own graphics driver in haskell. I think what these people need to be told instead is that linux is what you want it to be, and that includes difficulty. Sure, if you try to get a newbie to install LFS with dwm with zero help (or, let's be honest, even with a lot of help), they're most likely gonna give up within 10 minutes, tell you it's not worth their trouble and never touch linux again. But if you show them that they have literally hundreds of options for friendly and approachable distros, each with their own unique look and feel, most of which they can go from having downloaded the iso to having a working desktop where they'll never even have to see a command line in less than 30 minutes, they're probably gonna be a lot more tempted to give it a shot.

But beyond that I feel there's also an importance in showing new users that "linuxisms" like the terminal aren't reserved for the power users, and are in fact a tool to allow normal people to interact with their system with magnitudes more freedom and efficiency. Sure, it terrified me at first, even just running "apt-get install firefox" without googling whether the correct package name was firefox or Firefox felt like I was gonna brick my laptop. But before long, whenever I had to use windows I missed the fact that the terminal was only ever one keyboard shortcut away, and the longer I used linux the stronger that feeling became. I missed package managers, I missed being able to clone and build a git repo without ever opening a browser, I missed that I had the freedom to change my desktop environment as I saw fit and with only a couple of commands.

Just my thoughts, apologies if this basically just reflects what you say in the vid.

[matman]

As a new beginner I would recommend that people understand file permissions and understand user permissions. One of the common things that I see people don't get, why they can't execute a file or edit a simple text file. Understanding directory structures, read, write, execute permissions. Things like vim, grep, awk, cat will come latter with urge to learn more. Youtube is a great place to learn, hence why we are here watching DT. PS: I just learnt about the shells file.

[stefun]

Hey DT, I rendered my system stuck without a display manager, and all things wonky, because i fat-fingered my key-bind to recompile xmonad while running a kernel update during the post install hook of pacman. Oh boy. I got it fixed on the TTY within 10 minutes. Thankfully I was too lazy to create a snapshot before running the update. Also due to your teachings I got this sorted out quickly, Thanks for that, Sir!