Learning in Linux community

If you are using Linux, then you are involved in the Linux community. As in the Linux community, most of the software are open source software, which is about sharing and distributing the source code among the community.

As a Linux user, I am not just learn to use the free software happily without paying money. Using the Linux is more benefit than just saving the money.

As a Linux user, I know that reading manual/documentations is important. There are a lot of questions are mostly answered in the documentations or manual. In order to find the answers, we should read the manual. If the answers are available in the manual, yet a newbie is asking in the forum, he or she will be asked to RTFM.

Internet is a good resource for the answers. Utilise the search engine and look for the solutions. Look for solutions properly before asking. Only if the solution is not available, then only we ask in the forum, IRC, or question-and-answer websites such as unix.stackexchange.com.

When using forum, IRC, or question-and-answer websites, we should practice good netiquette. Always ask politely and be grateful to the person who answers your questions. Besides that, wait patiently for the answers. It is community-based, do not expect there is 24 hours 7 days support to your problem. When asking, please provide necessary information so that others will know what is going on. When using the forum, other than netiquette, choose the related forum to post the topic. We do not ask Ubuntu related questions in Fedora forum.

Sometimes, we may see some annoying problems in a Linux distro. The problems may not be solved manually because those are the bugs. If they are bugs, we should file the bugs report properly. However, before file the bugs, please check whether the bugs are not yet reported. After file the bugs, do not expect the bugs will be solved soon or immediately. If you want to solve the problem immediately, sorry to say, you need to solve it by yourself.

Wiki is a good resource in the Linux community. It is a community-based documentation. Read them, search them, follow the instructions if available. Sometimes, the wiki is not updated or there is minor error, contribute to the wiki and update the page. Also, read the “talks” of the wiki page, which may give you some ideas about what is going on.

If you are a programmer or software developer, and if you are able to patch the bugs, then contribute the patch to the community. This will be a wonderful contribution to the community. Because this is also what you need when you found some bugs.

Some Linux distros may have limited packages available. If we need to have other packages, learn about packaging and share the packages.

As a conclusion, become a Linux user is to be involved in the open source community, which will improve your own learning ability, problem solving skills, and communication skills.