I spent a lot of time around other Linux users and forums, asking questions like "I'm a total newbie to Linux - what distro do you recommend if I want to learn this OS?" and I was almost unanimously told to get Slack and avoid distros like Ubuntu. So I downloaded and installed Slackware 13.1, 64bit.
The whole point of learning linux was that I would learn how the system works - and that includes knowing where the files are for the packaged apps I install.
Hell, it would be nice if it actually
informed me of where it was going to put stuff - but most things seem to install their configs into hidden directories somewhere in my /home architecture. Hidden even from the shell, by god. Almost as if linux doesn't actually want me knowing where these things are! How very ...
Windows it seems to behave.
So if I'd installed a distro that made things easier, do you think more would have been hidden from me, or less? How much would I have learnt about where files go by using Ubuntu?
FWIW, yes, Linux is
hard for someone coming from Windows 7, and let's face it - the UI in any of the desktops is just horrible, as each one badly supports apps written for the others. GTK apps look bad under KDE, KDE and GTK look bad in e17, etc etc. But that's just eye-candy, and nothing really to do with the underlying OS. Which is what I wanted to learn. And it seems that packages and linux itself deliberately make that harder than it needs to be.
At least with Slackbuilds I'm actually downloading source and compiling my own packages, which gives me some measure of control that I wouldn't have if I just downloaded packages. My poor /tmp directory is straining at the seams now though
Mind you, at least I know where those files are and can delete accordingly!
D.