Hint: :q!
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sudo in Windows.Please report posts and comments that break these rules!
Important: never execute code or follow advice that you don't understand or can't verify, especially here. The word of the day is credibility. This is a meme community -- even the most helpful comments might just be shitposts that can damage your system. Be aware, be smart, don't fork-bomb your computer.
I've also got the Linux Basics for Hackers book but it's at home while I'm on vacation.
I'm just really happy rn yall :) this install took some work, SecureBoot kept getting in the way and I'm not the most savvy person so there was a lot of Googling and trial and error in the way of getting here.
Welcome to the club! Mint is an excellent choice, especially from a beginner's perspective. Don't let that stop you from trying other things though if you get the temptation. Fedora and Arch are the two other 'families' I can think of to play with, though I've stuck with things in the Debian side of things myself.
Different distros deal with securebot differently. If you try OpenSUSE, secureboot works: you will be asked to enroll your keys after the install reboot. And you will see the ooensuse-secureboot entry in the UEFI boot order list.
Schotts provides a free 'internet edition' .pdf of TLCL, last updated 11/1/2024:
That's pretty awesome, thanks!
That Linux command line book is really, really good. I love how it actually explains the commands and why to use them instead of just being a copy of each commands help document or something.
Congrats on ditching Windows!
Congratulations! Enjoy the journey! You'll look back in a few years and wonder how you ever managed with a Windows set up while you slip into the comfy-ness of your customized system.
The Linux Command Line book opened up a lot to me. How Linux Works is very good, but the command line is so essential, and that book gives you some great starting knowledge like aliases and shell scripting.
Especially aliases. Take note of aliases, when you start using aliases it can change your world once you realize how much you can accomplish with what essentially are one line programs you wrote for you own personal needs.
Welcome beyond the pale, friend. You've made it to the other side. Only freedom awaits, should you have the determination to work for it.
Linux mint my beloved
Giddyup!
You've got this! 🔥
Nice. I'm currently waiting on a "new" laptop, get off this old Core2 duo I'm typing on. Under $300 from a trusted ebay seller and I'll be in the right decade. Linux is awesome for using old hardware but my favorite part is the "free as in freedom" aspect.
If you do run into windows mandatory stuff it's not all that hard to run virtual machines now. I've been using VMWare player but on my incoming machine I'm going to give QEMU-KVM a shot. Move away from proprietary VMWare and onto free as in freedom software.
Nice!!! I'm trying to be like you
What’s your initial impressions of the How Linux Works book?
Really clear and helpful! It's taken a lot of the intimidation away I think. I'd definitely recommend it to other noobs
Welcome! Don’t listen to anyone trying to shame you for your distro choice. The most important is that you didn’t choose windows.
I agree that’s why I don’t listen to all the hater’s who say my distro Choice of Android Tv is bad.
No, no! Listen to the shamers! Change your distro eight times over the first month as you listen to them whine, and eventually return to the first one you chose, full of wisdom of why those other distros suck so you can tell the noobs who choose one of them first instead of your glorious choice!
Thanks! I plan to experiment with others, but I wanted a nice smooth transition for my wife and I both, so Mint seemed like a great starting point.
I have been using Kubuntu as a daily driver for almost 10 year now, and never regretted it. I had one Windows box for things like special cases (like dumb website forms that won't let me use Linux), Pearson Vue exams, and edge cases related to work, but it's on standby as a secondary system I RDP into. I am not a gamer, so I didn't need it for that. I saved so much money not having to buy hardware in the last decade or so.
Sadly, Windows 11 won't work on anything I have (TPM issues, too old), so I recently got a cheap Windows 11 laptop before the tariffs hit and I pay more for dumb Windows-only reasons.
Linux all the way, man. Gave me a career, a life, and my hardware back.
Way to go! Welcome to the club buddy! If you need help, don't be shy. You can DM me anytime and I'll do my best to help. :)
That's very kind of you, thanks!
Good job, welcome to the free world of tech. Installing is often the hardest part.
Next lesson: forget about downloading installer from the browser, check out the software center or learn package manager commands, that's the first new thing about Linux.
I am extremely excited for you. Welcome.
Be mindful that Linux changes faster than a lot of books. I would stick to online documentation.
Schotts actually provides TLCL for free, and last updated it a month ago:
Those books were published in 2019 and 2021. They'll still be mostly accurate a decade from now. Open-source developers usually try not to introduce breaking changes to mature software unless absolutely necessary.
Books will teach the essentials: my core UNIX knowledge comes from an SVR4 book I read in the late 2000s (a decade or more after it was relevant) and it's still applicable today
"I'm just really happy rn yall" - be careful with that rn command if you're anywhere near Arch, wouldn't want all your happy uninstalled! Seriously though, good for you! Welcome to freedom.
sudo right now -rf /
This instantly tripled my free space.
Great work! Glad you're with us