What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Quick to answer questions about finding your way around Linux Mint as a new user.
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snappydog
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by snappydog »

1) If possible, don't feel like you have to make the move all at once. Go with a dual boot setup, or if you have an old machine, install Mint on that.
2) Put a copy of Clonezilla on bootable media and make a clone of your clean freshly installed Mint partition. Keep the clone file and a copy of all your personal files on a separate partition. That way you can experiment to your heart's delight without fear of screwing things up (or losing data), and you can always return to your clean install at the end of the day. As you start getting things setup the way you like you can always make new clones to represent different restore points.
3) Make notes. Keep a log of the things that work, the things that don't work, and your problems and solutions. This will not only save you time when you go back to your clean install, but will also allow you to help out the next newbie who comes after you.
4) Find software in the Software Manager to replace what you have been using with that other OS, and migrate over to your Mint setup one task at a time. Stick with the software that's in the Software Manager to start with and you can save yourself a lot of grief.
5) Play with WINE. There were a couple of programs from that other OS that I was unwilling to give up, but was surprised to find that with a little experimentation I was able to get most of them to work with WINE. It can really make Mint start to feel at home when you discover you don't have to give up ALL your old friends. Make notes of what works and what doesn't and then revert back to your good clone and install your programs correctly in WINE and then make a new clone.
6) Don't avoid using the terminal. It all may be just a bunch of gibberish now, but as you get used to using it, the "gibberish" will start to take on meaning and in time you'll find yourself popping into the terminal to do simple tasks without a second thought. You don't have to give up your gui's, I promise, but sometimes it's just quicker and easier to take a shortcut.
TacticalBacon

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by TacticalBacon »

Tony.B wrote:
tdockery97 wrote:Read, read, and read more.
daveinuk wrote:be prepared to learn and make mistakes
proxima_centauri wrote:Hang around the forums
LongRider wrote:There is plenty of info already out there
grey1960envoy wrote:above all else HAVE FUN with it!
... and then try to wipe the silly smile off your face when you realise you understand things that the "experts" at your local computer shop haven't even heard of.

Welcome to Linux Mint.
Amen to that.
The Cysko Kid

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by The Cysko Kid »

My top tips would be

don't give up

and

google is your friend.
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sfrusciante
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by sfrusciante »

why not a little irony?

my best advice is:
I hope you have a lot of free time.
I got a crazy number of people to disappoint. -me
robgoss

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by robgoss »

Don't be afraid to break things because it's a lesson in learning. We have some great people here that are always willing to help out.
JungleWahine

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by JungleWahine »

I'm a total noob, and this is probably listed here somewhere in 28 pages. But I spent a good hour on this, and when I finally DuckDuckGo'd the question I noticed hundereds if not thousands of posts with the same question on various forums (reddit, tom's hardware, yahoo answers)etc. "What is the Linux folder equivalent of program files?" Haha, silly me, there isn't one! If you have been using Windows all of your life though, it seems like a perfectly natural thing to be searching for. :oops:
JEB

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by JEB »

Newbie to Newbie...install it and use it. Had a laptop sitting around that was running Vista..yea, yea,..installed Mint 17.3 Cinnamon over Vista, that felt gooooood....so long to that system! Since Mint is my first experience with linux, and reading so much on the Mint Forums, I decided to install Ubuntu 16.04 along side. After using Ubuntu for a few days, it just didn't feel right and I decided to reinstall Mint only on the laptop. Had I ever done anything like this before? Never! Always had windows. Tried a live disc of Mint 17.3 on the desktop, but it would not pick up the wifi. Read the Forum, a great place to start searching for answers, and found that the intel 3165 adapter does not work with this particular kernel. I still am not quite sure what a kernel is, I know by definition only. However the Mint 18 will have a new kernel that should support this particular adapter. It worked with Ubuntu 16.04, which, from what I have read, is the base for Mint 18. So I am anticipating the new release. What does all this mean? For someone who has never attempted anything other than accept what was marketed as what you needed, this feels very good! Good bye to Microsoft, as best I can, and also learning to do without 'googling'. Never knew there were so many other search engines available. Feel like an gopher who just looked up!! A LOT to learn!
Castillo

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Castillo »

- Be sure to have a backup
- The forum and google are your best tools
W3j_schultz

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by W3j_schultz »

Just wanted to pop in and say hello :) Day #1 with Linux for me. Although it was an intensive install process for a newb, I'm already hooked. Love the set up and how quickly someone can get commfy with such an amazing tool. Thanks!

p.s. I switched from windows for over all speed in a web browser. Mints works like a champ out the box but any tips would be much appreciated.
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Pjotr
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Pjotr »

W3j_schultz wrote:any tips would be much appreciated.
Welcome! You might find these tips helpful (10 things to do after installing Mint):
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... /firstmint

Have fun with Linux Mint! :)
Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
flygrounder

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by flygrounder »

3 tips:
1. Change everithing you can: theme, sounds, effects etc. This way you would remember how to change anything -this must help you with solving most problems.
2. Don't be afraid of using terminal. Really, it is very usefull - you can make some things you can't do without it and lots of things faster then usually
3. Participate in community(e.g. this forum) :D
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Moem
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Moem »

My tip is: when you have a problem (which is pretty certain to happen at some point, as with anything new) don't wait untill you are angry and frustrated and ready to give up. Ask your question in the forums before those things happen! :D
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If your issue is solved, kindly indicate that by editing the first post in the topic, and adding [SOLVED] to the title. Thanks!
Steve Odom

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Steve Odom »

plain and simple: forget the right amount of windows bs and have fun using Mint. I'm only a month in at the moment and I feel like I have been using Linux all of my life. It's easy once you get past some of the things that are handled different, like looking for packages or updating software.

I would also recommend to learn some basic terminal commands. It can make life easier in the long run and people are impressed if you do it in front of them. :mrgreen:

Third thing would be: look around the internet for some cool stuff you can do with Linux. It's very much fun, for me at least, to learn using it because it all is so damn easy. Never let anyone scare you off Linux, as it is more intuitive than windows will ever be.

Last thing: never think you're a fool asking questions. While Linux Mint is very easy and intuitive, some things are handled differently, if you don't know how to do some things, it probably is bad (windows) upbringing, not you being stupid.
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Goz
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Goz »

I'd suggest you select a couple of forums,the size of this one or smaller and read/post often.
Also,follow and get to know certain people who especially impress you. Some of these people
may be willing to help you off forum at say Google Hangouts. It never hurts to ask.
Also,be patient with others as well as yourself.
Think of Windows 10 as Hotel California for computers.
Wompoo
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Wompoo »

Steve Odom wrote:....................................................

I would also recommend to learn some basic terminal commands. It can make life easier in the long run and people are impressed if you do it in front of them. :mrgreen:
...................................................
Is there such a thing as as glossary of terminal commands? Or should that be inventory of commands?
Desktop PC #1
Linux Mint 20.3 MATE desktop (64-bit), Asus
ASUSTeK model: P5G41T-M LX, 8 Gb RAM
matt

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by matt »

I got started using Linux through VirtualBox and VMware in Windows. At first it was just curiosity in finding out how things work and I'm really interested in getting to know the CLI (command line interface). I was never attracted to eye candy. I'm leaning more towards:
  • Security - although nothing is 100% secure
  • Performance - lightweight and speed of both boot and file access
    • My notebook is single-boot Linux Mint on SSD.
    • My desktop is dual-boot with Linux Mint installed on the Seagate Barracuda HDD because I still have Windows 10 on the SSD for things/apps that I currently don't know how to do/use in Linux...unfortunately.
    • I need it for full usage of my NVIDIA GPU on Steam. I exercise caution on the NVIDIA PPA as certain quirks tend occur that a newbie like myself is currently not capable of solving yet.
    • I still use the VMware Workstation 12 Pro with Linux Mint on it so I can Learn. Try. Break. Repeat. without the fear of having to replace a new hardware. This is the ONLY place where I try codes (that I've Googled - performance tweaks of course :wink: ) that an experienced Linux user, giant or immortal would use.
  • Command line - I love it. But I will admit to harnessing the power of the mighty copy/paste more than half the time :D . I still Google how to install .deb, .run, .tar.bz, .tar.bz2, .tar.gz and so on in comparison to Windows where I right click and select "Run as Administrator" on an executable file (.exe) and 7zip for file extraction or compression.
  • Fun - I'm having tons of it. I'm not going to lie. It's going to be a learning curve for me as I have to learn new terms (e.g., sudo, chown, grep, man, etc.). I have to think in Linux and not in Windblows.
Yes, as the most of the abundant amount of replies state: Give yourself a chance to learn it. Don't give up so fast.

With that said...

Welcome to Linux Mint.
sithload

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by sithload »

Wompoo wrote:
Steve Odom wrote:....................................................

I would also recommend to learn some basic terminal commands. It can make life easier in the long run and people are impressed if you do it in front of them. :mrgreen:
...................................................
Is there such a thing as as glossary of terminal commands? Or should that be inventory of commands?
Hi. There are a ton of hits if you search for "glossary of linux terminal commands." I'll link to http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guid ... gloss.html from The Linux Documentation Project, but it might be worth doing your own search and finding a site laid out to your liking.

If you remember a command but don't remember exactly how it works, you can also use the "man" command right inside the Terminal in Linux. Try opening a Terminal window and typing "man grep" for example.
Wompoo
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by Wompoo »

Thanks for the information sithload.
Desktop PC #1
Linux Mint 20.3 MATE desktop (64-bit), Asus
ASUSTeK model: P5G41T-M LX, 8 Gb RAM
vahid-mint2

Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by vahid-mint2 »

psychological :)
i have 3 tips for you:

1- jump in: (just install it and start using it...try new things until you learn them)

2- face the fire: (there may be some problems....don't scape! stay and fix it....all problems are temporary and fixable)

3- consider a loophole...there are times at start that you dont have time for fixing a problem (for example you need to do something in office and you dont know how to do it in libre office) (for example a paper dead line:) ) use dual boot, virtual machine,... for this situations.


technical :

1- learn about updatemanager, software manager.
2- learn about some of terminal codes (for example what is sudo? what is apt-get?).
3- fixing driver problems...if any
---------------------------------------
appearances are so important for some people(me for example). you can have the most beautiful desktop and menu so do it .


<<we are happy to have you in Gnu/linux world>>
InkKnife
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Re: What are your top tips for a Newbie?

Post by InkKnife »

JungleWahine wrote:I'm a total noob, and this is probably listed here somewhere in 28 pages. But I spent a good hour on this, and when I finally DuckDuckGo'd the question I noticed hundereds if not thousands of posts with the same question on various forums (reddit, tom's hardware, yahoo answers)etc. "What is the Linux folder equivalent of program files?" Haha, silly me, there isn't one! If you have been using Windows all of your life though, it seems like a perfectly natural thing to be searching for. :oops:
usr/bin is the Linux equivalent of the Windows Program folder.
i7 3770, 12GB of ram, 256GB SSD, 64GB SSD, 750GB HDD, 1TB HDD, Cinnamon.
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