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2022-01-14

Re: My Linux journey

tags: mind

Via

Exploration Surprise

I found this capsule a few days ago

gemini://axiomatika.flounder.online/

and in there

gemini://axiomatika.flounder.online/linux-journey1.gmi

local copy

gemini://axiomatika.flounder.online/linux-journey2.gmi

local copy

Let this be a lesson to all those who are thinking of switching from Windows/Mac to Linux: Do not rush things!

The author retraces their journey into Linux land. Trying life distributions first and not liking it. Coming back later. Trying vim (plus cygwin shell) on Windows! Then installing Ubuntu (not a bad choice, imho), getting lost and needing to reinstall (yes, that's what a newbie's choice is, due to lack of better problem solving strategies). There is more hillarious and brave stuff in there! Go, read!

For me it was a great read, because I try to teach Linux as a class to newbies once a year. And for informed, nerdy folks, it is very hard to move their brain anywhere near the state of mind of a beginner.

The introduction to my class contains (among other things) this: Ladies and gentlemen, we (the group) are standing in front of a gate[a]. Interestingly, we can go all around the gate, it does not seem to lead anywhere. However, if we choose to enter, we will arrive in an entirely different world. Everything in this new world is strange. It's pretty dark. And we will find out, that this world is full of doors with strange signs on them. And if we choose to enter any one of those, don't be surprised to find another strange world, completely different to were you just left. This is the good and the bad of these new worlds (or spaces or universes, if you prefer). I can be your guide to find your way around some of these spaces. I can help you read and understand the signs and find your way around. There is a catch: you have to walk yourself --- no guide can walk for you[b].

During the class (12 evenings, 1/week) I always have too much stuff, that I would like to present. I always think, that presenting and working on some item will take like half an hour --- and then it actually takes one and a half or even two hours.

I prepare worked examples on paper and as files. A thing that worked surprisingly well is this:

I open an instance of emacs, adjust the font size and move it to the presenter screen
In there I open the file with the handout
And I open another buffer and run a shell in there (M-x shell)
In that shell I set PS1='$ '
That opens space to add # comments about what I'm doing
I have to call pwd often, but that's ok.
I can delete lines which I don't like or are erroneous.
At the end of the session, I save this buffer into a file.
Then I offer this file for download (python3 -m http.server 8000) right there.

The audience confirmed, that this file has helped tremendously. So: Highly recommended!

Thanks to axiomatika for writing this up!

Cheers,

~ew

Home

[a] Michael Ende, Die unendliche Geschichte; engl: The Neverending Story, 1979

[b] This is actually important. Once at the gathering of the local linux user group a lady walked in and started to ask questions. After some lengthy exchange it turned out, that she actually expected us to install Linux on her computer, fix it all up and be done once and forever. She reacted kind of nasty once I told her, that we don't offer this as a service, because the questions begin the moment, the installation is finished. At this point she left.