Kubuntu Noob to Expert

[jlittle]

... I have been researching hardware for my next build, and I have found that there are tons of incompatibilities.

I'm surprised to hear that. Hardware incompatibilities are important for laptops and pre-builts, but for a desktop built with discrete components I'd check a GPU and maybe search a motherboard model with "linux". Maybe naivety is showing.

Which neatly leads to a reply to your main question. We're all noobs, in some sense. I most definitely am a noob. No-one can be an expert in everything, especially the deep stack that is Kubuntu. (At the bottom there's semiconductor physics and silicon, through lots of electronics, OS, graphics, UI...)

My prejudice, if you can call it that, is that the truly "noob" is the one who does not firstly think, and secondly search, and thirdly ask. And I observe myself and see that that prejudice is unfair, I don't know that person's circumstances.

If you've got the time, I suggest lurking in kubuntuforums.net, affectionately known as KFN. I've learned heaps here.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Thanks for your post @gshockxcc. We have a good set of knowledgeable members who can offer assistance (I'm not in their class).

If you're going to be building your own system, please let us know whether you are aiming at a desktop or a laptop. I've built both, back in the day, but today I would recommend going to a laptop platform.

There are plenty of used systems out there if you want to keep costs lower, however laptops do limit your choices on what kinds of components you can install. That being said, I'd still go with the laptop.

I've had many laptops and suggest that you stay with one of the major manufacturers. Hp, Compac, etc. There are some caveats to watch for, such as compatible drivers for video and wifi. For example, my current laptop is an HP Pavilion and it has an older Broadcom wifi chip (bcm43142) which is simply not supported by Linux drivers. I use an external USB wifi adapter instead.

As you shop, please do feel free to ask for feedback on makes and models. Members are more than willing to offer their opinions .

[edit] my laptop is the HP Pavilion (not Latitude)

[oldgeek]

YouTube has a lot of videos on the subject. Type in Linux for Beginners and you'll get a whole lot of tutorials--I've just checked it out. A suggestion: try 'The Complete Linux Course, Beginner to Power User.' I downloaded that awhile ago and it should suit your needs.

[gshockxcc]

I don't know where else to post this question, and it's too open ended for a concise forum post, so I figured the Cafe was the next best place.

As the post title indicates, I'm a Noob for about the last 10 years. But, I don't want to be a noob anymore. I just don't know where to start.

I'm interested in building a new Desktop PC with only Kubuntu as the OS. I did this about 10 years ago, and it was largely successful. The PC was damaged in a flooding event and I never replaced it. I've been using leftover laptops and just installing Kubuntu on those with the bootable USB. I even tried Groovy on my 2013 Macbook, and it's been nearly perfect since the install. A couple of hiccups, but it's working great. I can't take any credit, it's all thanks to the Kubuntu developers.

That said, I want to be more than a "noob", but I have no idea where to start. I have been researching hardware for my next build, and I have found that there are tons of incompatibilities. So finding the right hardware combination is an effort, but one that I'm ill-equipped to take on right now.

I'm NOT asking anyone to give me a build list. That's just silly.

I am trying to learn more about the Linux operating system/kernel, why it does what it does, and how it's different than other OS. More importantly, I want to understand how the OS interacts with the hardware, so that I can figure out what is important in my hardware selection and what is not.

After all that, and my long-winded introduction; my question is, Where do I start? Is there advanced Kubuntu/Ubuntu documentation that I can review? Can I just volunteer to be a developer and learn as I go?

If you've had the patience to read this far, thank you for your time. And thank you in advance for your response.

Best regards,