image credit: Nicolas Rougier. Click the image for the other Baby Tux images.

The MakeUseOf guide is quite good, in my opinion. It goes straight to the point of what the newbie can do to start using a Linux distro. In this case, the writer has chosen Ubuntu as the distro, and there is also a guide on how to install it and how to get a copy of it. But the writer also mentioned about the existence of many other Linux distros. There are people who say that Ubuntu is not the most newbie friendly (but close enough). However, for the purpose of this guide, Ubuntu is a good example of what a new Linux user could do.

More information on TLDP’s guide to Linux

If you’re already comfortable to explore different aspects of Linux then it’s probably time to check out TLDP’s guide. It is regularly updated so there shouldn’t be worries that it is out of date, as compared with other Linux guides. I think this is one of the guides that you could come back to each time. This is a one stop shop (and document, in case you choose to download the PDF) for your Linux learning. There are even some bits of history included in this guide. This might feel too text-heavy for some but that could also be seen as an advantage for those who seek explanations and answers.

TLDP also has a cheat sheet focused on the command line stuff so check it out too.

Post from: New Linux User

• vi introduction
• Upgrading to Alsa 1.0.20 on Ubuntu Jaunty
• Quake Live to Support Linux

vi Introduction

vi

Not all newbies know what vi is. vi happens to be a text editor in Linux and it’s available on the command line. This editor has modes and it could be quite confusing to those who are just starting out. But there are practical reasons for learning vi such as going mouse-less, editing files on a remote Linux machine, and chances are you need to know how to use vi and this will be tested when you take exams for certification.

This guide is easy to follow as you see the commands and what happens because of the screenshots in this guide. It also gives you an idea of what you should expect in the different modes in vi.

Upgrading to Alsa 1.0.20 on Ubuntu Jaunty

ALSA or the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture is what makes us able to hear sounds on our computers by giving sound device drivers for our sound cards. And sometimes we have problems with our sound cards because of much needed upgrades, or sometimes, needed distro upgrades. This guide shows you how to upgrade to the newer ALSA version by compiling it on your computer. It has a step by step guide so don’t worry

Quake Live on Linux

Fan of shooter games? Quake Live is on Linux now. If you look at the home page, you will see the icon of Tux. It’s a 100% free-to-play arena shooter game. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you can join.  And what’s interesting about it is that you can just play it through a plugin which it will install on your browser.  I am not a big fan of shooter games but it really made me curious.  If you’re also interested just sign up and then the plugin will be installed automatically for you. Have fun!

Post from: New Linux User

• The Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide – This website’s blog has various links to articles and guides for Linux users especially newbies. But you could also go straight to their guide for Linux newbies. It even has sections to let you understand what GNOME and KDE are. You could also follow them via the Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide Twitter feed.
• Linux Newbie Guide: Shortcuts and Commands – This is a lot of command line stuff that might seem daunting at first but at least it’s all here now. It tells you what the commands are and what they are used for. The explanations are short, and hopefully, they are easier to remember because of that. The writer/s of the guide also includes notes for the ones who are unfamiliar with UNIX.
• tuXfiles: the Linux Newbie Help Files, Tutorials and Tips – This guide has different sections that you could check out. Whether it’s about the Linux command line, shortcuts on the keyboard, compiling and installing software and Linux cheat sheets and tips, there’s information about these for Linux newbies. There are explanations that come with the steps that they enumerate in their guides. The explanations about the procedures and concepts will put the newbies at ease. It will also make it clearer if they are doing something wrong or something correctly.

For now, these will be my list of Linux newbie guides. I hope that newbies and not-so-new Linux users will benefit from these guides. After all, there’s something new that we could learn each day.

Post from: New Linux User

Things to remember:

• APT repositories have packages that have information about the packages and the repositories. This is in the packages.gz file.
• Remember to be consistent in which is machine1 and which is machine2 because if you get confused you’d have a hard time following the instructions in the guide.
• Make sure you make a backup of your sources.list file — you could probably make a copy first before you begin the process.
• Don’t panic.
• Always have someone to guide you through it if you’re too nervous about what you’re thinking of doing.

You’d be doing a lot of copying of information back and forth the two machines you have so it’s best to be attentive and alert. Basically you will be generating a download script to fetch the packages you need and their dependencies. Afterwards you need to copy the files you were able to fetch to the machine where you want them installed. I suppose that in case you decided to ask your neighbor to let you use his/her computer to do this, you might have to discuss something about Linux so you might as well prepare yourself for some questions of a curious person who might decide to check out Linux too.

Thanks goes out to the wonderful people on planetoss.com for making that tutorial for us.

Post from: New Linux User

What does it involve?

• Removing the WPA supplicant installed by default.
• Installing WPA supplicant from the Debian repositories.
• Installing MadWifi drivers.
• Creating wpa_supplicant.conf_MINE
• Creating a new network configuration.
• Making sure that you fix the network monitor icon.

The steps are all there and you just need to follow them one by one.

Hope that helps you with your wifi needs! All thanks to the people of the EEE User wiki and Timelady.

Post from: New Linux User