Learning Resources for Garuda- For complete Beginner

Hi there everyone,
After facing a very bad first experience on Garuda, and going back to windows(In between shitting on forum writing help topic without giving enough infos). I'm here again this time, i'm thinking of learning the basics first of how the Garuda Linux is setup under the hood so that i can solve errors, and issues and most important stop being a help vampire.

I want to ask is there is any Garuda 101 type thing that teaches about this OS or Should i search for Arch linux courses which are more available so that i can understand deeply the Garuda Docs. I'm complelely new to linux but want to make the transition. So i'm asking for any advice you guys can give me.

Detailed, Long, nerdy answers are most welcomed.

I corrected the topic header spelling. It will function better with search engines that way.

I would start with the Garuda Wiki, were it me. (Come to think about it, I did.) You can find the link in the upper right-hand part of the forum screen. Where it says Wiki. :slight_smile:

There’s also the Forum FAQs & Tutorials section. So you might make use of the already prominently featured resources. And avoid YouTube videos. They’re mostly crap.

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Getting into Linux requires UNLEARNING bad habits taught to you by using Windows.

I'd watch some of the linux videos from Chris Titus, Switched to Linux, Distrotube and a few others to get to know some of the things about different distros. (Chris's video about Distros don't matter for example)

Make sure you're keeping enough backups in case you break stuff. I break stuff all the time.

Keep notes about new commands you learn. Physical notes if you can.

Learn to use the console as much as possible. GUI tools can fail and not give you important info about failing.

Be patient. You're not gonna be an expert overnight.

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I followed the Garuda Wiki and install and run the linux on my laptop but after restarting the laptop freezes so bad, and after that to find solution and ask for help i don't even know to show what the errors are what command to run on the terminal to get the current info so that you guys can tell me what's the issues was going on .

Try the LTS kernel. Laptops and linux can be very picky.

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Agreed! to the fact I'm not gonna be an expert overnight or even in upcoming year. I love to be learning linux as life long journey.
Yes i want to learn console as much as i can as i hate using mouse most of time.

Going to give it a shot.

Quit whining and read the forum. Nobody here is going to feed you pablum.

garuda-inxi, please. As instructed.

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I understand nobody gonna spoon feed me, I'll read the forum. But Just want to know the the steps you guys take when you were at the same spot on this journey as i'm now.

I also would consider to add as a resource the great Arch Linux Wiki section too that contains a lot of relevant infos !
https://wiki.archlinux.org/

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Use computer > Want to do something new > Look at options > Try it out

I don't think there's a thing I do on the regular that Linux can't handle. I used to distrohop but I got 64GB of ram now so I just spin up VMs instead now.

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That's nice advice, to learn something best is to try it out.
Quick Question: i want to switch to garuda linux but i want to have windows also for the cases when i was shot in time and there was an nasty error. I don't want to use VMs , second option dual boot which isn't supported or recommended, I want to ask if i install gruda linux in separate ssd then it will have separate boot sector and the chances of windows interfering with boot sector of linux are less which is the main reason why dual boot isn't recommended. Can i able to use the pc without any error in linux caused due to winodws.
I will completely go linux after 2 weeks or so.

I know this will come off as a bit unrelated, but hear me out ^^;

I find when it comes to learning something complex like Linux or Blender, a good approach is to just jump straight in and do the research when you hit a roadblock. If you only search, search and search but have nowhere to apply the new knowledge, all you're doing is passively learning which means you're not necessarily absorbing the best parts of the info. Yes you will make mistakes along the way (like nuking your GRUB by accident or something), but when you learn to fix it, you will remember it for a long time.

Sometimes when you read stuff like the Arch Wiki or even some copy-paste guide about setting up your own cloud server, you'll feel the need to learn absolutely everything on the page, but the best way is to take it in bite-sized chunks and save the rest for later when it's more applicable.


About your last comment, as you know, the community here can't help you out heaps if you decide to try dual-booting Windows and Garuda. However, if you're willing to try some other distros that do work well with dual-booting (please don't kill me for speaking the names of other distros here lol :cold_sweat: ), give Linux Mint or Fedora (slightly more advanced level) a try. These two have very fleshed out GUIs so you can learn comfortably while also beginning to dip your toes in terminal stuff. In addition, I've found the syntax of apt and dnf to be somewhat similar - Arch's pacman is the outlier here lol.

I think it's more important that you get used to the new environment first rather than trying to dive straight into learning how to use the terminal. Linux and Windows are fundamentally very different after all, but if you can find similarities here and there, you will feel more comfortable before diving into the differences.

I understand the initial hesitancy of not wanting to wipe Windows off, but just keep in mind that it could end up becoming a crutch, and eventually you might end up back with it altogether instead of using Linux full-time.


5 months ago, I was in a similar boat to you. Initially on Win 10, I was using a VM with Linux Mint - you are welcome to try a Linux VM but you will learn a lot slower, a lot less and you might even find yourself hating it because as Zakep mentioned, Windows habits (and knowledge). Also, please don't try to use Garuda in a VM - you may know this already but Garuda and VMs don't get along very well.

Eventually I decided to dive in head-first, nuke Windows off completely, and install Garuda. That's when the learning really began, and the first few weeks were a struggle since it felt like I was fighting the computer a lot, so it's definitely not for the faint of heart. Definitely don't do this when you have something urgent coming up.
However, I learnt much more in the first week after the big nuke compared to a few months of using the Mint VM on and off. This is why I advise learning small chunks at a time - you might not feel like you're learning, but in a few months time when you look back, you will see the progress. :slight_smile:


There you have it, thanks for coming to my TED talk :relieved: I hope this was the type of detailed, long, nerdy answer you expected lololol

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You will be surprised if you use the forum search or the Garuda Linux Wiki, there is a lot you can use.

The first thing you should learn is how to search properly.

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I agreed to you , recently i started learning app development with flutter, i was struck in tutorial hell but as my collage project date comes near i stared coding and what i found as compared to learning with tutorials, i was learning extremely fast and able to grasp new topics easily.

I want to knockout windows completely out of my system but as I'm actively developing my project, i don't want to mess that up in between trying to fix errors related to Linux.

I want to dual boot because i don't has other system to experiment and as i tried only Linux doing that made my laptop freezes and at that time had to give update about my project to my collage so i panicked and switched back.

Thing about Linux mint and pretty much other distro is that I don't know really why but i want to start with Garuda. I had used kali in Vm (when i got fascinated by cybersecurity), there was a time when i also learning terminal doing bandit overthewire challenges but i leave them after level 22 as my exams come and i had to start prepare myself of the project.

I wanted to know the troubleshooting methodology for garuda linux, that will help me a lot, can say because when i don't know anything about flutter but know how to find the root of error in the code using debugging tools that helps me keep going fixing bugs errors in my code.

I will knock off windows after completing my collage project and gonna install it, dive arch, garuda docs, experimenting with garuda doing all the crazy stuff.

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I remember my own mistake for which i appreciate my self . While learning linux I mistakenly deleted the boot partition of windows that was on my laptop , after that I was never able to boot back to windows and I think that was a good mistake as didn’t needed windows anymore at that point (I was just a little bit frightened that , if my father would get to know this then he would probably scold me , literally when I was a kid my father used to be too strict) , but he never used my laptop and he didn’t said anything for that :joy: , the only tension I got was that how would I update my BIIOS system but then I got to know that DELL laptops support manual updates and they have a guide to do it in linux .

@boyd I would just say , don’t think too much just dive in it , I would just recommend to have at least a working pendrive that is booted to linux and back up all your personal data before starting experiments and that’s it what I did when I first started using linux .

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Ohh, i see! Your experience with learning programming and terminal stuff will definitely come in handy - maybe Mint is actually too noob of a recommendation for you :joy:

LOL i felt that - exactly what I thought right before the nuke. I put it down to the Garuda team doing such a good job with theming Dr460nised :relieved: it’s a good thing that Garuda isn’t only about the looks!

Yes, this is a good idea. Finish up your project first - try not to use Linux to procrastinate, though it’s very tempting… :joy:

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Yess it is :rofl:

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Y’know what? Windows deserved it :rofl:
I’m sure if your father checked out your laptop now, he’d have no complaints it’s not Windows, since it runs. :smiley: Maybe he’d even get super hyped because you’re using the ‘hacker people OS’!

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https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Pacman/Rosetta

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