[sf-lug] Relevant articles and mini Op-Ed

[aaronco36 at sdf.org]

Relevant articles and mini Op-Ed

The apparent topic of last week's BALUG mtg announcement by Michael P
was "MEETING TODAY (Python and other programming languages on Linux)
2025-02-18"[01]

A topical article directly from this week's DistroWatch Questions
and Answers (by Jesse Smith) 'Learning to program and improve Linux' at
[02] is an attempt to address the following: "Offering-a-hand asks: Any
advice for someone who wants to learn how to code and help make Linux
better?"

Quoting the previous 'New Linux User!' posting by John S at [03]:
> My 11 year old grandson has a Chromebook for school and expressed a
> desire to learn/do more.  I bought him a laptop with Linux Mint in it
> along with a couple Beginner Linux books.
> Now he is bombarding me with questions about Virtual Box and wine,
> for which i have almost no knowledge.  Eeek!

Topical article by How-To Geek of 'What Are Virtual Machines, and How
Do They Work?'[04].

Topical article by How-To Geek of the '6 Best Virtual Machine Programs for
Windows, macOS, and Linux'[05]. The article's mention of QEMU omits
mentioning KVM...
"Kernel-based Virtual Machine is a free and open-source virtualization
module in the Linux kernel that allows the kernel to function as a
hypervisor."[06]

---

In this mini Op-Ed, would like to point out two extreme POVs.
1. At one extreme is the completely "Immersive Experience" often taught at
coding bootcamps, which I'm calling here the "Sink-Or-Swim; Going Off the
Deep End" approach.
This effectively means that YOU the end-users MUST go through the high
learning-curve of performing the vast majority of learning efforts all by
yourselves.
Examples?
- Would-be Linux coders thrusted upon to learn GNU Assembler[07] or GCC's
C language[08] thru using GNU Emacs[09] all by themselves
- Beginning Linux users imposed-upon to install Arch Linux[10] or Debian
GNU/Linux[11] -- w/o any outside live assistance(!) -- after completing
their full, demanded-upon and overly-extensive RTFMs[12] :-(
- Linux users thrust onto becoming proficient in installing and using
KVM/QEMU [13][14][15][16] as well as libvirt's[17][18] commandline-driven
virsh[19] as virtualization software w/o any other guidance whatsover!

2. At the other extreme is more _gradually_ developing the skills and
experience to learn any of the above, which I'm calling here "Taking
Things One Step At A Time".
This means that we end-users DON'T necessarily have to go through the high
learning-curve of performing the vast majority of learning efforts all by
ourselves and can learn at our own paces through the help of clear,
well-written documentation as well as the useful assistance of others.
Examples?
+ Would-be Linux coders starting off by learning Python or even Scratch,
as the above-referenced DistroWatch Q and A[02] recommends
+ Beginning Linux users seriously considering Linux distribution advice
from such expertly-crafted webpages as Rick M's 'Which Linux distribution
should I get? Which distribution is friendliest to new users? Should I get
Ubuntu?'[20] and even DistroWatch's Beginner-friendly distro search
guide[21]
+ VirtualBox[22] as an excellent starting-point for installing and using
virtualization software, as his 11 year old grandson is possibly intending
to "eekily bombard" John S and others with questions on[03] this upcoming
Sunday :-D
( IMNSHO, while the big multinational computer corporation Oracle's
VirtualBox TOS[23] may be far from ideal for some of we FOSS purists, at
the same time, VirtualBox does have excellent and comprehensive
documentation through its downloadable PDF User Manuals; v7.0.24[24] and
v7.1.6[25] )

Points 1. and 2. are two of the extreme POVs, and am interested in reading
or conversing with what others have to write/say on this before/during
this Sunday's SF-LUG March 2025 Mtg[26].

-A


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REFERENCES
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[01]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2025q1/016087.html
[02]https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20250224#qa
[03]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2025q1/016088.html
[04]https://www.howtogeek.com/what-are-virtual-machines-and-how-do-they-work/
[05]https://www.howtogeek.com/890379/best-virtual-machine-programs-for-emulating-another-os/
[06]https://linux-kvm.org/page/Main_Page
[07]https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/as/
[08]https://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-c-manual/gnu-c-manual.html
[09]https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/documentation.html
[10]https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Main_page
[11]https://wiki.debian.org/
[12]https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rtfm
[13]https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/KVM
[14]https://www.linux-kvm.org/page/FAQ
[15]https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/QEMU
[16]https://wiki.qemu.org/Main_Page
[17]https://libvirt.org/drvqemu.html
[18]https://wiki.libvirt.org/VirtualNetworking.html
[19]https://www.libvirt.org/manpages/virsh.html
[20]http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/kicking.html#distro
[21]https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=All&category=Beginners
[22]https://www.virtualbox.org/
[23]https://www.oracle.com/legal/terms/
[24]https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.0.24/UserManual.pdf
[25]https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/7.1.6/UserManual.pdf
[26]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2025q1/016090.html
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