Dear Garuda organisations

[tobaccattack]

Dear Garuda entities,

How can we bridge the knowledge gap between developers and users, allowing them to contribute to and develop Linux more quickly? I believe there must be a way to make learning Linux less of a specialised programming language or mode of communication delegated by Linux professionals who have the knowledge and skills but lack the critical ideas that the average user isn't always consciously aware of articulating.

However, there are plenty of language dragons to slay in Linux, and comprehension isn't always that great. What appears to be arbitrary language placement and organisation while attempting to perform simple tasks in a new operating system or at the terminal, which can be a new foreign venture in and of itself based on text, numbers, and symbols? Unless, of course, it is learned in the same manner as any other foreign language.

Are the general public even aware of the power that computer programmers and hackers, among others, have over the direction of their lives and what they believe when they are sleepy or addicted to mass media? Who is in charge of the computers? Is this about artificial intelligence, or are we still talking about computer geeks? I mean that in the most lighthearted way possible. It's easy to become disoriented in the Linux maze, skipping all of the dead ends and rabbit holes.

Let's face it: to the average beginner or Windows milk drinker, you guys are magicians!

I've realised that we work more effectively in groups, but how can we quickly gain access to the Linux knowledge we've accumulated over the years?

When I looked up "posix," the first video revealed... standard IEEE, rules, standard C, programming language, and so on. So, by POSIX, do we mean a compatibility translation of how we understand the system interface?

In my opinion, Linux users have learned a form of language that allows them to communicate their ideas, knowledge, art, and so on within their respective worlds. When I say "Linux language," I mean technical insider jargon and the many computer-based programming languages, the Linux language culture in general, how we currently disseminate our information, how we bridge the language gap, remove barriers to attracting more people to Linux, or, perhaps more relevantly, how we keep evolving everything we understand is available.

In context, I've been a Windows user my entire life, and I'm 30 years old. I just don't think I'd be able to learn enough about "Linux" at this point to jump on the "Arch" train as a high-flying pro game player. So, in order to stay on Linux and make it work, I required something like Garuda, which cut out a significant amount of the effort I might have had to endure to accomplish the most basic mundane computer tasks.

What are your thoughts on making the "Linux language" more accessible to newcomers?

This, I believe, would be consistent with the computer science world's "freedom" ethos and the "transparent" liberation it purports, albeit obscured behind a rather contrived curtain of absurd programming languages that the average user, hoovered up from Bill Gates' excavation, will highly likely not consider and may never fully comprehend in a lifetime. We might be able to progress if we can speed up the process, simplify communication, and evolve beyond us and them, which I doubt will happen over night.

However, please excuse my scribblings and refrain from overthinking them. Communication and the English language fascinate me, as do its acquisition and how we use it to create and manifest our realities.

Finally, I have no intention of asserting myself with anyone; these are just some personal thoughts that came to me and landed here of all places. Make of it what you will. I'm pleased with Garuda Linux and glad we left the window frames behind to continue exploring this new and fecund land.

Regards,

AppleJack666

[BluishHumility]

@tobaccattack

What are your thoughts on making the “Linux language” more accessible to newcomers?

I have found Linux to be extremely accessible. Anyone is free to learn as much as they wish about any subject, with the only prerequisite being a willingness to read and learn.

The advanced materials need to be worked up to gradually, as with any discipline; to master calculus you must start at the beginning, with 1 + 1 = 2 and advance from there with studying and practice. This does not make calculus less accessible; rather, it is the accessibility of calculus proven out–no one is born knowing calculus, after all.

Whether you are thirty or thirteen, Linux is as exactly as accessible as you want it to be.

[Firas]

@BluishHumility

Linux is as exactly as accessible as you want it to be.

[Bro]

@tobaccattack

What are your thoughts on making the “Linux language” more accessible to newcomers?

It’s all freely available on any Linux website or forum. But like all languages, in order to be proficient one must apply themself to “learning” the new language.

EDIT: I loved the old, huge manuals that used to come with SuSE.

[lum1nuss]

@tobaccattack

In context, I’ve been a Windows user my entire life, and I’m 30 years old. I just don’t think I’d be able to learn enough about “Linux” at this point to jump on the “Arch” train as a high-flying pro game player. So, in order to stay on Linux and make it work, I required something like Garuda, which cut out a significant amount of the effort I might have had to endure to accomplish the most basic mundane computer tasks.

Welcome!
I’m also a noob who’s been using Windows all my life until almost 4 months ago. Also hugely appreciate how this distro is a ready-to-use Arch-based one - it’s allowed me to get used to the new environment first rather than worrying about how to get the thing working from the ground up, and then probably thinking it was too much effort to get it to work, which would throw me back to Windows

Not sure if I’m just stupid or too ballsy for my own good, but my previous few times using Linux Mint on a VM while I was still a Windows user made me really hate Linux - everything felt so tedious… yet I had the guts to just nuke my Windows install on my main machine and stick Garuda in its place and now I love learning and using Garuda, while Mint on my backup laptop is now tolerable and easier to use for me… because I’ve used Garuda. Lol, I’m doing Linux backwards in a sense, as people normally caution against Arch-based distros for beginners. Sounds like it might be the same for you!

@tobaccattack

What are your thoughts on making the “Linux language” more accessible to newcomers?

I think having all the information/‘Linux language’ be more easily accessible is a major thing. In this regard, the Arch Wiki is a godsend - the most important information is all in one place, and if any concepts mentioned are too advanced, you can always refer back to the same spot once you’ve learned a bit more about how stuff works.

As the others have mentioned/alluded to, age is not so much a factor to understanding the ‘Linux language’ as willingness to learn is. If I was 12 instead of the age I am now, I’d have the brains to learn Linux, for sure… but I’d be learning the bare minimum about the system. If it breaks? Oh, let me just reinstall it real quick…

In addition, this system gave me so many headaches in the first few months. My friends would joke that my system was infecting theirs with technical problems, and my rl friends would tell me to throw the laptop out of the window when it would decide to have a hissy fit Without perseverance and willingness to learn, I would’ve said goodbye to my install and given it a nuke and pave… maybe with Pop!OS instead of Windows, at least.
Nowadays it’s improved a lot - very few issues, and ironically it’s become more stable with time because I’ve been hitting the big issues on the head.

In short, don’t give up!

Ahh, and final edit lol… the bit about magicians is way too true. Even now, I look at Linux people who know the terminal super well and think, “Just what kind of black magic is that?!! Where’d you learn that from?!”

[tbg]

@lum1nuss

and ironically it’s become more stable with time because I’ve been hitting the big issues on the head.

Generally, it’s not the system that becomes more stable over time, it’s the user. Most new users point the finger at the distro when they experience a bunch of “bugs” after installation. Often it is not the OS that is buggy, it is simply the new user’s lack of experience with Arch (and Linux in general). Over time, if your system starts working better it’s usually (but not always), because you’ve become better at not introducing problems and learning how Arch works.

[Bro]

@tbg

experience

@tbg

learning

The two key words.