Most people use GUI tools to search for files.  They don’t realize that they can use command line tools to search for them as well! GNU ‘find’ is such like a tool which can not only search files but can even copy, move or delete these files on the fly.

So let’s see that how ‘find’ works.

Find Your Lost Files!

Let’s start from a simple example:

Suppose you want to search for a file named ‘master.txt’ in your home directory.

Open the Terminal and issue the following command:

find . -name “master.txt”

‘find’ will immediately show the results.  If ‘find’ does not show any result, this means that the file, in our case, ‘master.txt’, does not exist.  It is not always the case that you want to find something in you home directory.  The lost/desired file may be anywhere in your computer.  Suppose you want to find a file named ‘space-01.jpg’ and you only know that its located somewhere in /usr directory. You can find it by issuing following command in Terminal:

find /usr -name “space-01.jpg”

and ‘find’ will tell you that this is located under /usr/share/backgrounds.

Using Wildcards

Maybe you want to search for a file but you don’t know its exact name?  Don’t worry!  You can still locate the file using ‘GNU find’ and wildcard will help you in this regard. Wildcards are a way of searching files when you don’t know much about your desired file.

One of the commonly used wildcard is asterisk (*).  Lets consider an example to better understand the things.

Suppose you want to search a file named ‘Jumping_Flowers’ but you only remember the ‘Jumping‘ part of the file name.  So issue the following command in Terminal:

find . -name “Jumping*”

And it will display all the files starting with the word ‘Jumping’.  You can use asterisk (*) anywhere with a file name.  For example:

find . -name “*Jumping*”

And it will display all the files which contains the word ‘Jumping’.

Here are some more examples of use of a wildcard:

find . -name “Jumping*Flowers*”

find . -name “*Jumping*Flowres.mp3”

Searching For Different File Types

Sometimes you are not looking for some specific file but you are looking for a group of files.  For example, you may be looking for all the .txt files in your home directory.  To find all the .txt files, you will give the following command in Terminal:

find . -name *.txt

In case of mp3 files, the above command will be:

find . -name *.mp3

When You Want to Search with Respect to Time

If you want to search for files by the last time they were accessed, you can use -amin flag with ‘find’.  In this case you have to put a minus (-) sign before the time.  The time here is in minutes.  In order to search for .doc files which were accessed in last 10 minutes, you will give the following command:

find . -amin -10 -name "*.doc"

Similarly, to search for .doc files which were modified in last 20 minutes, you will use -mmin option as follows:

find . -mmin -20 -name “*.doc”

Search For Files which are Eating Your Hard Disk

There may be files on your system which are not only huge in size but also located obscure places.  You may also may not know when they were last accessed.  You have to use -size option with ‘find’ to locate them.

Let’s see how we can do this:

find . -size +100M

It will list all those files which are greater than 100 Megabytes.  You can replace ‘M’ with ‘G’ (for Gigabyte) or with ‘k’ (for Kilobyte)

Copy, Move, or Delete Unwanted Files on the Fly

Copy – ‘find’ can also be used to copy or backup your files.  You can use ‘find’ to copy certain files from one location to other with one simple command.

Suppose you want copy all of your mp3 songs from your home directory to your Windows Partition.  Enter the following command in Terminal:

find . -name "*.mp3" -exec cp {} /path/to/Windows_Drive \;

And all of your mp3 files will be copied to the desired Drive/Folder.

Move – There may be situations that you quickly want to move all of your document files from your Hard Disk to your USB to keep them safe.  To move all of your documents from your home directory to your USB, you will issue the following command:

find . -name "*.doc" -exec cp {} /path/to/USB \;

Delete – Suppose there are a lot of .tmp files and you want to get rid of them at once.  Again ‘GNU find’ is at your service and does the work for you.  Issue the following in Terminal and all of the .tmp files are gone…

find . -name '*.tmp' -exec rm {} \;

Which Files are Owned by You and Which Are Not?

There may be a situation when you want to know that which files in some other directories (or even in your home directory) are owned by some other user of your computer.

Suppose there is another user named ‘blackstar’ with whom you are sharing your PC.  Now you want to know that which .doc files in Windows Directory is owned by this user ‘blackstar’.  You can do this by issuing the following command:

find /path/to/Windows_Drive -user blackstar -name “*.doc”

Just replace ‘blackstar’ with your username to search on your system.

Direct the Output of ‘find’ to a File

You can save the results of your ‘find’ command to a text file which will allow you to examine the results in detail at some later time (or to create playlist of your songs).  For this purpose a greater than (>) sign is used (referred to as “piping the command”).

Suppose you want to save the list of all the mp3 songs in your home directory to a text file (which you can later share with your friend), you can do this by:

find . -name "*.mp3" > mp3.txt

It will save the complete path to all of your mp3 songs in the file named mp3.txt.

Find, a Handy Command Line Tool

This article is basically directed towards new users of Linux which are not much familiar with command prompt. This is a small but comprehensive article about ‘GNU find’ . The man pages of ‘find’ list a huge number of options which are difficult to explain in detail in one small article. I tried to cover those option which are commonly used. Obviously, to know more about such a powerful tool , one has to visit its man pages again and again and spend a lot time with ‘find’

GNU find – A Multidimensional Tool originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on November 24, 2010.

1. Not all Communities are the Same

Each Linux distribution has its own distinct community with their own ideas. Think of owning a vehicle or a certain brand of appliance…along with the ownership of this comes the lifestyle that is reflected by users/owners of the product. The same is true with Linux. Each community will have a different idea on what is important. What is important to you may not be even on the radar of those users and developers of that community. Find one that suits you.

Keeping this in mind, be patient. Ask questions the smart way. Be explicit and tactful. Be precise and direct. Provide more information than you think is necessary…no one will become upset if you provide too much information but they may not answer your question if you have too little.

2. Many Linux “Guru’s” are actually master Google searchers

That’s right! Many of the guru’s in Linux are actually average Linux users savvy at searching Google or another search engine. You can be too…use http://google.com/linux for searching Linux only content and use the advanced search help to get an idea how you can pinpoint exactly what you’re looking for. Pay specific attention to the search operators linked on that advanced page.

When someone does help you, ask them exactly what they searched for and how they searched for it to find a solution. Learn from these users. Often, they may have searched for a specific word order or searched within results from a query. Not asking the user who helped you find this will only inhibit your ability to find answers in the future. When asking, please remember the proper way to ask a question

3. Just Like members of Social Networks (MySpace, Facebook, etc), Linux Community Members Can be Rude

Linux communities are sometimes politically charged. They’re also socially interactive. Communities often ascribe to different philosophies and standards. The best way to navigate through becoming part of a community or finding one that fits you is to respect others. You may not get that same respect in return because there are always those few that choose to be intolerant of opinions other than their own. Be cognizant of this fact. Understand that by not reciprocating the bad behavior you may find, you’re actually improving the community you are participating in

When someone answers a question for you or helps you out…don’t forget to thank and all those who helped you. A small thank you often help those few attitudes to adjust.

4. The Software is Free and In Many Cases…So Is The Support

Many Linux distributions are free. You can download them, install them, use them how you see fit. The support is community based and is often times free as well. The support is done by volunteers from around the globe.

Keeping this in mind, do not assume to know that the person you are speaking to inside a forum or Instant Messenger or IRC is English speaking. Don’t assume they are male. Don’t assume that they have nothing better to do than to help you. Don’t assume that helping you is #1 priority for them. Assumptions will only inhibit the ability to learn and improve. Assume nothing about the other person; remember to ask questions the smart way and keep a tactful approach. With free support, the the person helping does not OWE you that support…they GIVE YOU that support for free. Do not become upset with someone who is giving you a gift…even if they give you the that gift with a crufty comment.

5. Linux can be a Cult of Personality

Once you use Linux for a while and see the choice/freedom, you begin to get used to it. You start to live in a blissful state where you feel sorry for those that do not have choice. Users in those communities then begin to ignore small problems they may find with distro X.

Communities are often standoffish to this real criticism, even when it might help them. Be patient and continue to voice this criticism in a tactful way. File bug reports and follow them. Don’t blame people for the failures you see directly in a community…remember, there is no centralized support heirarchy and it’s FREE! It’s a gift! Why get angry when someone gives you a gift?

There are many distributions out there to choose from and in each distribution, a set of users that identify with the advantages/features of that distribution. Find the community that fits you. If one community is not a fit for you doesn’t mean there will not be one that does fit.

Part of the foundation of the General Public License under which Linux is distributed is the concept of sharing. One gains and all others gain as well. It’s what makes Linux strong and technologically superior in many aspects to other software. Think of this concept and try to live above this “cult of personality” where everything inside the community revolves around that individual distribution…Don’t slam honest criticism that could help make your community or distro better. Through sharing opinions, code, and help…you participate in your community. Get involved!

6. Remove the Veil of Anonymity

I always use the comparison of driving a car to explain this. If you’re driving a vehicle and cut someone off or are cut off by someone, it’s normal. People do this all the time while driving. Now picture yourself in the line at the bank. If someone comes in after you, do they cut you off in line? No, that wouldn’t work. The reason that this doesn’t work is because there is a veil of anonymity with vehicles…the person driving doesn’t have to interact with you on a personal level.

Sometimes, Linux communities can be this way. People will not think that choices or words they make or say will have a large impact on others. While this is faulty thinking, it is the nature of the internet. The internet is the main vehicle that powers Linux distribution and development.

Keeping this in mind, remember that your actions have an impact on others within your community. Sure, others will cut you off from time to time with rudeness (see #3) but you can improve the quality of your community by making certain you do not do the same.

Closing Thoughts

Many journalist and technical pundits will have you believe that Linux communities are chock full of nothing but unruly kids that contribute crappy code to a hacked project. This simply isn’t true. Large companies dedicate engineers to Linux development because their business is Linux. When you get started with Linux don’t buy into the hype that these people spout. Find out for yourself by joining a community. Ease your learning by asking questions the right way and have patience. Eventually, you’ll find a community you can be a part of and contribute to.

It took me 4 community switches before I felt like I actually belonged to a community. Through it all, I kept tolerance for opposing opinions and a special region of my heart for helping users with even less experience than myself. In doing so, I was able to attract like users into the community I participate it. Can one person change their Linux community? I believe they can and do regularly. As a new user, see what you can do to change your new community for the better.

A New User Guide to Linux Communities originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on February 6, 2008.

To get maximum exposure in the past, you had to use keywords. Now is no different. The keyword we’ll focus the most on is one that can get you thousands of hits in a few minutes if submitted to the right news outlet. That keyword is Ubuntu. Add this keyword to EVERY post you make. Name your blog with Ubuntu in the title to make sure that it is vaulted up the rankings. Just remember, you must use the word Ubuntu in everything you post.

For your first post, announce that you’re going to stop using Windows XP and use Ubuntu instead. Do a lousy job of documenting your installation procedure and make sure you don’t talk about anything of worth to someone who might be making the same change…just talk about how cool it is to be running Ubuntu and go over all the pluses. Don’t focus on anything negative…afterall, you don’t want any of the fanbois to come in and flame you now do you? Best to avoid confrontation…you know that someone else will fix that nasty problem you ran across during install right? Why should you report it? You’re just a blogger trying to amass hits and/or a journalist trying to become hip right?

Ok, so now that you’ve announced to the world that you’re switching and you’ve blogged about installing and setting things up…you have to follow it up with a “this is the best thing since sliced bread” post. Make sure you talk about how Ubuntu has completely replaced everything you’ve ever done…talk ferverently about how it does your laundry, makes you breakfast, and changes the linen on your bed.

Make sure that you make claims about how Ubuntu is THE best Linux available despite not trying another distribution of Linux or having anything other than Windows XP to compare it to. Remember, always use the word Ubuntu!! When you go to install and compile a program that can install and compile on ANY DISTRIBUTION, make sure that you title it “Installing SoftwareX on Ubuntu” so that everyone will know that you are cool and hip by using Ubuntu…plus, it’s good to confuse people into thinking that SoftwareX can only be installed on Ubuntu and no other distributions out there.

Finally, always speak as though you are a complete subject matter expert on Ubuntu. Don’t worry! You won’t have to be. Countless people will flock to your aid in comments on your blog. You won’t have to defend yourself at all…even when people bring up actual problems or maybe discuss the shortcomings of Ubuntu there will be many people that will completely thwart these idiotic attempts to actually improve Ubuntu. And how dare people even think they can improve Ubuntu! They don’t work for Canonical and everyone knows that the best distros out there are from companies and people who get paid to develop for said company.

Follow this how-to and you’ll be raking in the readers! Plus you’ll be considered one of the coolest and hippest bloggers/journalists around! You don’t need talent…you don’t need knowledge…you don’t even need experience…you just need to remember the magic word Say it with me now…Ubuntu!

This blog post has been brought to you by the letter U and our word of the year Ubuntu. Remember, Ubuntu is not a four letter word…it has 6 letters in it. Claims of this bloultg about Ubuntu doing laundry may not work for you as results may vary.  If you start to believe that this post is from someone who is ignorant and that it is a serious blog post, hit yourself on the head numerous times with a tack hammer and point into the sky shouting “airpane!! airpane!!”.  Someone will get you the help you need

How to Become a Cool Blogger and/or Hip Journalist originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on May 7, 2007.

The point of all this is that from the standpoint of a new Linux user, having a snazzy looking interface is all well and good but it means nothing if users have to revert to the command line to perform what should be simple tasks. Installing new downloaded software is one of the most common tasks performed by desktop users at home and in small offices. Until the Linux suppliers can make this task trivial, they will continue to miss out on a whole world of users beyond the command line geeks.

NOTE: I normally don’t re-publish news like many of the “blogs” you see out there but in this case the article was pretty good and hits home with a theme I’ve been stating a bit lately.

The article above was taken from ITWire…IT News in Austrailia.

This article was a good read and I believe it to be true. Until Linux can come up with ways to make the user oblivious to what is going on underneath the GUI, it won’t make inrroads to the desktop.

UPDATE: 3/2007

Penguin Pete, the not famous blogger over at penguinpetes blog flagged this post as being the main reason that he no longer posts links to my blog. Interesting in that if anyone were to read this post out of context, they might not know what I was driving at for this post. The main intention of the post is to show that new users need to first feel comfortable in their OS before they drop down and get dirty with the shell. That’s a fact jack. Nothing is going to sway that…I’ve had many users I’ve switched over DESPISE dropping to the shell and cite that as the main reason they go back to Windows. This is what I was agreeing with in this instance…that New Linux users need to be semi oblivious to what is going on underneath and not have to worry about it in their beginnings…not to ‘dumb down’ Linux or remove functionality underneath it.

ITWire in Australia on the Desktop originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on March 26, 2006.

Notice that I say New Linux Users as apposed to just New Users. A new Linux user would be one that is new to Linux on as a whole. A new user would be one that is trying Ubuntu for the first time not crossing over from another distro or another *nix OS. So let’s be real clear up front that this isn’t about those that have Linux knowledge trying Ubuntu for the first time. This is about your mother-in-law or grandmother or aunt/uncle who, if they tried Linux, would be doing so for the first time ever. This is about my Wife, who tried Linux for the first time ever last year. This is about all of those people who possibly haven’t even heard of Linux before. This is the target audience. This is who all programmers and application designers should keeping right in the middle of the bullseye. Not convinced? Let’s chat a bit more about it.

We can only move forward toward acceptance if we allow everyone, no matter what their preconceived level of experience with technology is, to understand Linux. Apple understands this. Google understands this. Both companies offer easy to use interfaces to their software and if you look under the hood what do you find? *nix. That’s right. Unix and Linux. Novell is a company that is beginning to get it. But why aren’t individuals? Why aren’t more distros?

The target audience for Linux to gain acceptance on the desktop…that is, to make it mainstream..is to appeal to even the most technologically challenged user out there, and make Linux as easy as point and click to operate.

Ubuntu is making great strides toward making Linux good for the desktop. There are others out there that one could argue are doing a fine job…PCLinuxOS, OpenSuse, Mandriva. However, when someone hands a new Linux user a disc, most likely it is Ubuntu or TheOpenCD. Are you doing that person a favor? I don’t think so.

Ubuntu isn’t a distribution that is set for any new user. The average user wouldn’t be able to tell you how to clear a cache, let alone what spyware or adware is. Don’t think I’m right? My wife asked everyone in the office where she works why they don’t use Firefox as a browser. None of them even knew there was something called Firefox that was an alternative to IE. And that’s just one part of open source. Imagine what else they haven’t heard of!

The average computer user does not possess the technical expertise to drop to a command line and issue commands…nor should they be asked to. Yet that is exactly what Ubuntu demands to allow its users to do simplistic things such as surf the net.

For example, say that a webpage requires JRE to display correctly. Windows and IE offers an auto download or manual with double click install. Many distributions of Linux come with Java already installed. For Ubuntu…you have to drop to a command line and sudo to install it. What new Linux user is even going to know to do that? What new Linux user is going to feel comfortable doing that? Of course, let’s say that the new Linux user is sporting a nice Ubuntu 5.10. That’ll fix that sudo stuff right? Wrong. Automatix be damned…you still have much command line stuff to do.

Needless to say, until Ubuntu can provide an experience that is only one or two clicks away, it will forever remain second best to distros such as PCLinuxOS and SimplyMEPIS. It simply cannot compete against distros that work right out of the gate for new Linux users. Remember, new LINUX users…not just new users in general.

In closing, if Ubuntu works for you…that is great. I’m glad you’ve found a good distro. Ubuntu works great for me as well. As for my mother-in-law, wife, sister, uncle/aunt, etc…when they decide to give Linux a try and I want to really showcase how easy it is and how fantastic it works…you can bet that I won’t be showing them Ubuntu.

NOTE: For those of you emailing me constantly about Automatix being the save all for Ubuntu…remember one thing. To install Automatix, you have to drop to a console/shell. Enough said eh? The resolution seems to be part of the problem. I also really think the URL for the Automatix package is about the most non-professional URL that I’ve ever seen a debian/ubuntu package hosted on. I highly doubt my mother-in-law would be hyped up to visit that URL.

Why Ubuntu isn’t for New Linux Users originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on February 24, 2006.

What makes menu’s more user friendly? Wizards. Setup your internet connection in a snap! Configure your printer in a few clicks! Etc…so on and so forth. I know that some of you are probably thinking “what the heck is this moron spewing!?” but hear me out. I’m not saying we should make Linux become Windows. I’m saying that we should cater to new users to make Linux more user friendly which will in turn make Linux even more popular and mainstream. What happens when Linux becomes more popular? Companies will start listening. What happens when companies start listening? That gap we were speaking of in driver support becomes smaller and smaller. We need wizards! D&D need not apply. Sorry Gandalf.
I’ve thought of projects I could start millions of times in Linux. I’m usually content with just supporting in other roles such as Project Management or Webmaster. Now I find myself wanting to become a programmer to address this issue. But what language? What programming language would work for all xwindow environments? This is a questions I’d put to you, the reader. Mainly because I have no experience with menu or wizard designing and I’d like to know. I’d like to know if it is difficult and takes tons of time or if it is something that you can do in an afternoon of work.

Nothing get’s me more riled than hearing people get mad when someone suggests that Linux become more user friendly. “No!” they shout. “Let them find out things for themselves! I did and I’m better for it.” Fine. Be exclusive. Rumble off into your l33t Linux club and close the door on open source. Or…perhaps you can understand that an operating system is something that should be made to WORK FOR YOU. Not against you. The main goal an operating system should have…ANY operating system…is to become easier to use and more efficient. I say that wizards will do just that for new users. As for older and more experienced users close the wizard when it launches or push cancel. Easy enough eh? You don’t have to use them if you don’t want them.

I know, I know. Perhaps I’m being crass and standoffish…but I’m really tired of people not understanding the benefit of an operating system that caters to your need and becomes more efficient. Sure Windows is a money hog and is full of security holes. However, it is extremely new user friendly with wizards for installing, removing, and adding hardware. With this the case, wouldn’t open source benefit from also having similar functions as well? We don’t have to make it ‘just like Windows’ but we can make it friendlier than it is right?

Perhaps you’re not convinced yet. Perhaps you’re a die hard open source fan that just can’t get past your favorite Linux distro becoming more ‘windows-like’. That’s fine. That is your prerogative and is your right. However, don’t trash new users who don’t share your view. The beauty of open source (in our case, Linux) now is that just about anyone can use it if they have a bit of technical knowledge. I hope we can expand that audience to include users that have zero technical knowledge. The idea? Let open source and Linux become inclusive and not exclusive. Appealing to a wider audience will never hurt Linux.

To make things truly user friendly, more care needs to go in to letting people know what is going on with their operating system and how they can control it. A user should have to be able to program in perl or C++ to tell what error their music player gave them when it crashed. Things should be more user friendly. The menu driven wizard will do much for making Linux more user (especially new user) friendly. Hopefully, people will realize this fact instead of criticize this fact.

State of Linux: The Linux Wizard originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on August 11, 2005.

Devnet: Please tell us a bit about how you got your start in Linux/Computers/Open Source…

Texstar: My first successful Linux install was Red Hat. I later found Mandrake which was nothing more than Red Hat with KDE at the time. I moved to Linux after watching Microsoft abuse their monopoly on the desktop. I formally provided unofficial 3rd party rpm updates to Mandrake users between releases until that function was taken over by Mandrakeclub.

Devnet: What type of person do you see yourself as?

Texstar: I’m kind of quiet, laid back, humerous and easy going person. I don’t take life too seriously. I look for the good in people. I enjoy chatting with fellow Linux users on our IRC channel (efnet #PCLinuxOS). What a great bunch of people…except for that Lewis guy. Just kidding Lewis! We love you, we really do

Devnet: Why did you start PCLinuxOS?

Texstar: To provide an outlet for my crazy desire to package source code without having to deal with egos, arrogance and politics. I love to package. It is like a puzzle where all the pieces have to fit together or the code doesn’t work.
That is my favorite part of doing PCLOS. The other reason is I wanted something that worked out of the box, looked fabulous and didn’t require a technical degree from college to get it working.

Devnet: How did you come up with the name?

Texstar: It is Linux for your Personal Computer. I wanted something generic that people could easily relate to and the name matches our website.

Devnet: Who is your target audience with PCLinuxOS?

Texstar: Someone who might be considering Linux for the first time. PCLOS gives them the opportunity to boot from a livecd, test for hardware compatibility and play around with it. Later if they like it they can also install it to their hard drive.

Devnet: How large is the community surrounding PCLinuxOS?

Texstar: I’m not sure how many people are using PCLOS but our website has over 6500 registered users.

Devnet: How many developers work on PCLinuxOS?

Texstar: 12-15 people are directly involved in the development of pclos and many others who provide volunteer support in various capacities.

Devnet: What would you say to someone (like some of those posting on this blog) who states, “PCLOS is just Mandrake/driva repackaged with slight mods?”

Texstar: You know, if we took Mandriva 10.2 (2005) and slapped some graphics on it and called it PCLOS then they would have a valid argument but that is simply not the case. We took Mandrake 9.2 as our base and have built up around it. We have our own kernel developed by ocilent, our own KDE which is packaged totally different than Mandriva. Our menu system is different. Our gcc is different. We have our own custom graphics and iconsets. We use a different package management system utilizing apt-get with a synaptic frontend and a valid upgrade path. Many people are still running Preview 4 fully updated.

We do utilize code from Mandriva as well as Fedora, SuSE, Yoper and others for that matter. I’ve seen patches and repackaged rpms in Mandriva’s source that came directly from Fedora. Does that mean they are ripping off Fedoras code because they didn’t come up with the patch/code themselves? I don’t think so.
Opensource allows one to share and share alike.

Devnet: PCLinuxOS is still in a “Preview” version meaning it hasn’t released a ‘full version’. Where would you like to be with PCLOS and the first full version? (features of 1.0, etc.)

Texstar: I’d like to have everything work properly out of the box for the first time Linux user. No fiddling with configuration files, plugins and drivers.
Everything just works.

Devnet: Will PCLinuxOS always be free to download and use?

Texstar: As far as I know. Sometime next year I’d like to provide boxed sets with an instruction manual for a modest fee.

Devnet: Have you read the experiment on YALB and if so, do you agree with its conclusions?

Texstar: As long as Mrs. Devnet is happy then I am happy. Honestly, I think we still have a long way to go to get to where I would like PCLOS to be but in time we will get there. The fun part is being along for the ride and seeing how far we can push the limits of opensource.

Devnet: What do you tell users who think rpms only invite dependency problems in package management? (For us Debian users )

Texstar: With Debian, if you want to upgrade your system you run apt-get update, apt-get dist-upgrade or you run Synaptic which is a frontend to apt-get. In PCLOS, if you want to update your system, you run apt-get update, apt-get dist-upgrade or you run Synaptic which is a frontend to apt-get. The only difference is ours are rpms and theirs are debs. Debian’s advantage is they have a larger repository with over 12000 packages and ours is just now topping out at close to 4000.

Devnet: Does PCLOS have any plans on porting to other architectures (i.e., power pc)?

Texstar: We have no plans to port PCLOS to other architectures other than maybe a 64 bit version later this year.

Devnet: Some distros ship with mp3 support and some without. Why is PCLOS downloadable with mp3 support when some of the big names such as Ubuntu and Fedora without?

Texstar: I don’t know anything about that. Seems like some do and some don’t for whatever reasons.

Devnet: Where does one go to get involved with PCLOS?

Texstar: www.pclinuxonline.com is our website.

Devnet: If a train left New York going 60mph and another from San Francisco going 50mph, what would the gross national product of Cuba be?

Texstar: The gross national product of Cuba as of 2003 was 10.6 billion.

—End of Interview

I want to personally thank Texstar for taking time out of development of Preview .9 of PCLinuxOS to talk with Yet Another Linux Blog. I also would like to thank him and all those involved with development of PCLinuxOS for providing a distro out there that ‘just works’ for my wife. We are now happily Windows Free on all computers save one that dual boots Windows for my work. Still to come, I’ll be taking a detailed look at each of the distros we examined in the experiment and offering input from my wife as to what they might be able to build toward to attract new users (new to Linux that is). I’ve also got a couple of tips and tricks articles coming up that I’ve been working on steadily. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

Experiment: Interview with Texstar of PCLinuxOS originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on June 8, 2005.

I look fondly back at this time and have spoken about it before…not because I don’t think something like this exists now…just that I think it is a rarity. There was a time when this “spirit of open source” was all about educating and furthering the program/app that you were working on. Now it seems that when a new user comes in to any channel on irc or forum, they are told off with a hearty RTFM (Read the ‘Friendly’ Manual).

Where did this Elitism come from? Where and when did Linux and open source become about the mentality “you must be this knowledgeable to ride?” It pains me to see people do this to new users…distancing themselves from potential advocates of open source…zealous ones at that. It’s a real testament to some of these new users STILL wanting to plug open source and Linux, despite being squashed by elitists in forums.

I’m sure that some of you are saying, “this kind of thing doesn’t exist in my application/project/distro’s community. We are all open to all users, be they new or experienced. Sounds nirvana to me. I challenge you to take a closer look at your community and if you find Elitism, squash it. Having personally been involved in quite a good share of communities of major Linux distros (let’s just say, some major Debian and RPM based ones) I can assure you that despite the claims of new user friendly, most had a fair share of elitists swimming in their help channels.

Elitism has no place in open source. Open source is about freedom of everyone to look at the source of a program…EVERYONE. There are no country clubs for open source…you do not need to pay to get in. There are no qualifications for people to use open source. Since there are no criteria…why are people holding new users and others with limited knowledge…to a standard as if there are criteria?

It’s ridiculous for current ‘expert’ users or developers to withhold information or help from new users simply because, “new users need to cut their teeth”. Why? Because not everyone learns the same way. In the past, the only people who used Linux and open source were those that learned by reading and pouring through documents. A more coder mentality existed among those flocking to open source banners then. Fast forward to today’s learner. You’ll see many differences. Among the largest one is the visual learner.

The visual learner learns by examples and seeing things happen with his/her own eyes. There have been vast advancement in this arena on the internet. Today, we have websites with embedded videos, flash tutorials, and audio blogs with step-by-step processes and how-tos. Despite all this technology, people still send new users to the same avenue to learn. RTFM or do a search. What if that isn’t good enough for the person you’re telling it to? What if that person can’t learn things in this capacity? What if they need to see things in action?

In closing, we must rethink our approach to answering questions on forums and in chat clients. I challenge each and every single one of you to think about your responses to new users or those limited in knowledge. Helping these people to attain knowledge in different capacities can make or break their will and create a friend of open source for life…or through not helping, a foe.

As always, Yet Another Linux Blog is open to users of all walks of experience. If you have a question, please ask away in the comments.

mv elitism /dev/null originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on May 31, 2005.