Re: [orca-list] sorry if offtopic: my problems and hoping to get solutions regarding first time linux users, that does not know anything, and does not have other machine to googling.

["B. Henry" <burt1iband gmail com>]

I booted my first Linux live CD in the summer of 2010, and with in a week had switched to Linux as my primary 
OS. I had a few years of windows 
experience, but was far from a computer expert, and while I knew more than many windows novices I was far 
from what I would have considered a  
power-user. I had older slightly buggy hardware as well, but did not take that  long to get up to speed on 
Linux with the help of folks on the Vinux 
mailing list. 
Mostly due to minor hardware bugs I did have to  reinstall a time or few, but on reliable hardware I can 
usually keep a linux instance running for 
years. I had just as many problems with windows on the  buggy hardware as I had running Linux on it.
   But yes, sometimes we do break our installations. 
As with windows or any other opperating system having good recent backups is if not a must, at least the 
obvious way to avoid major frustration and save 
many hours of time. 
When you get your system customized  to your liking after new installation, back it up. 
Then when ever you  make a major change such as installing new software that you like and use, changing 
settings such as display prefferences, making ap 
specific orca settings, or updating a lot of software, back up again. 
You can set up automatic backups  on a scheduled basis. Daily if you run a distro like arch that updates 
software a lot or if you do a lot of important 
work on your computer and have vital data entered or updated frequently, maybe weekly if you only use your 
computer for basic tasks like web browsing 
and communication, (chatting and email), or what ever schedule seems best for you. 
Many people do partial backups often, daily is common, and do complete system backups once in a while, weekly 
or monthly. 
There are many ways to do back ups, and one can not automate the prodcess and just make backups when you have 
something important that has been changed 
or added. Backup strategies and  how to use different back up software is a major topic in itself, and 
something that I won't go in to. Google is your 
friend. Just for the record I usually use rsync, and have daily backups of my most important settings 
automated, along with lists of all installed 
software that I can use to restore my computer to a  comfortable working state, or recreate an installation 
on a fresh installation on the same or 
another machine. I Usually try to have an image of my whole system available, but this I  only update 
occasionally.
Another thing that I do and reccommend to everyone who is doing much more than testing ta  distro, or running 
a more or less default system for training 
purposes is to make a separate /home partition. This way one can re-install with out using personal data, 
docs, music, other media and user specific 
settings and customizations. This is best done when first installing, but a /home directory can be moved to 
its own partition later with a bit more 
work. 
These are all obviously ways to deal with potential problems, up to and including total disaster such as 
catestrophic disk failure. Ideally one will 
rarely have to reinstall an opperating system. 
Distros such as Ubuntu, fedora, etc. that come out with new releases every few months, or in the case of 
Debian or long-term-support Ubuntu releases 
every couple of years, (no schedule for Debian, but more or less every couple of years seems to be average), 
are best installed from scratch rather than 
trying to do release-upgrades, (upgrading from one release version to another in place).
Rolling release distros, Arch is a popular example continue to update software as it becomes available, 
including major  updates. If you run a rollilng 
release distro you need to update frequently so that there are not too many major updates to apply at one 
time, and changes are not too drastic making 
things more likely to break. 
I reccommend trying to not go more than a week with out updating my Arch running laptop, and usually update 
more or less daily. 
Once in a while things do not update correctly, but they can almost always be fixed, and one can go years 
with out having anything break during an 
installation. I've gone a year or more a time or two with out any issues at all, and seldom is a fix more 
complicated than removing a few files that are 
left over from an old program version or some program that has been uninstalled, or downgrading from the 
latest version of a software package to a known 
to work version of the program in question. 
One usually gets in to serious trouble when one panics and starts trying one thing after another, especially 
suggestions from different sources with out 
evaluating what the commands being run actually do. 
Always make a list of all commands you run, and if you forget to do so  open your shell's history file and 
see what  you ran, most likely this will be 
your ~/.bash_history file and or /root/.bash_history and copying the commands related to any updates or 
changes you made, and fixes you may have tried 
in to a file that you clearly label.
Also, when something appears not to work that you think should REBOOT! I know I've forgotten to do this a 
time or three and written to a mailing list 
like this one, a group or forum asking for help only to find out that everything was fine once I either 
restarted a graphical session or rebooted. A 
full shutdown and cold boot is the best way to make sure that no old junk is left in memory that might be 
causing a temperary issue. 
Do not ever type commands from unreliable sources, and in general try to never run any command with out 
having a pretty good idea as to what it is 
supposed to do. 
When looking for help online or in user manuals and such check dates. Often there are popular search results 
that are 8, 10 or 15 or more years old. 
Some things really do not change in major ways for many years, especially with some basic utilities that have 
been around for as long or longer than 
Linux, and certain commands and proceedures for doing some tasks have not changed much in more complex 
software, but in many other cases both hard and 
software are much more powerful and or have been changed and improved in ways that make doing things the old 
way less than desireable, or downright 
dangerous; and in other cases old commands just won't work. 
One does certainly not need to know anything about programming to use modern Linux. One can do most things in 
many or at least a few different ways. 
Some users prefer using the commandline, typing in commands or choosing items from relatively simple menus 
and lists either by arrowing or by using 
keybindings to run commands or select menu items. Others prefer to only use programs with graphical 
interfaces where they mostly select items from 
menus, press buttons, etc. Many other folks, myself being one, use a lot from both categories. Configuring 
and cpustomizing your system both in ways 
that are obvious to the user and in ways that effect performance under the hood as it were can also be done 
both on the command line and from graphical 
interfaces.
When you change a program's settings, especially ones  you are not familiar with you should make one change 
at a  time  and then see how it works. If 
all is well,, then go on and change something else.
This is even more true when you are making changes to the opperating system itself, i.e. things that will 
effect how many applications and or services 
work. 
When you go to upgrade any OS, windows included, read through the list of changes before pressing y or an OK 
button. Especially if you are not using  a 
distro like vinux, F123, (probably sonar is similar, but I'vew never used it), that is targeted at blind 
folks you might uninstall orca because to a 
mainstream distro it is an optional package. This could happen if you go to install some program that has 
dependencies different from Orcas that 
conflict. I've had to not install an app or two because of this, and not been able to update others because 
of a package version  that was incompatible 
with something Orca required. 
One more general tip that comes to mind is to remember that most of what you read in Linux help and how-to 
articles intended for a mainstream audience  
will also apply to a screenreader user, but some tips only effect the way things look, and sometimes 
something that makes for a pretty screen might 
actuaolly break accessibility, or if not break, degrade it.
One thing that can be hard is waiting, but when something breaks to the point where one loses speech and they 
do not have much of any idea what is 
broken or why, then it's best to wait to get a few minutes of sighted help. If you have a good android or 
iphone you can use an OCR ap to read what is 
on your computer's screen as an alternative in many cases. If your computer has not actually booted when you 
think it has and you start pressing keys 
you might foul up your bios. 
       Each case is different, so why why you had to reinstall LInux or thought you did anyway is not 
something we can answer with out a lot of case 
specific details, but you should usually be able to run a given Linux installation for years with out 
reinstalling. 
I highly  reccommend that those new to conputing or Linux join a good  user support group. 
The best I've found is the Vinux-support google group, but if you do not use vinux or Ubuntu then you should 
find a community of blind folk that use 
your distro. There are F123 support mailing lists in English, Portuguese and Spanish. I know that a couple of 
people on this list try hard to support 
sonar users in a list for users of that distro. Some other groups are less 
helpful, but still of value, and then there are IRC chat rooms. Google is for sure our friend. I'd say %95 of 
my questions can be answered by a fairly  
simple google search.
   

-- 
     B.H.
   Registerd Linux User 521886


  Amir-Trend Plus wrote:
Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 06:47:43PM +0800

> Hi,
> sorry if offtopic.
> but since 2014, the first time i tried linux, always i get
> problemssssss. changing distros is a must for me, desktop shells as
> well. first unity, gnome, then mate. i can use it about several
> months, then it broke. what is wrong? i mean, do any of you experience
> it? am i the only who is too stupid and that is why i always destroy
> linux? this morning, after doing update, my vinux cannot boot. then i
> install sonar, i got different language, not english, eventhough i've
> chosen english us as my language. then i use my other computer, find
> the solution to change the language, then, restart and orca does not
> speak. that was today, how about a year ago? i left linux for a w
> hile, and use pirated windows since i cannot afford it, hoping to come
> back again to see improvements. i don't blame anyone, but i don't
> know. i see a lot of people here in this list, using orca and can use
> linux as default os, but why i can't? what is the different? are linux
> users a great programmer only? i mean, does you need to know
> programming in order to use linux? if that, i don't have the
> knowledge. no, i dont think everyone on this list are advance user.
> there must be a beginner user at least. but why he can use linux, i
> cannot? and, why his system doesn't broke, and mine is? i just did
> updates and install some cool stuff, sutch as corebird (on vinux), and
> pidgin, and audacity from other repo, and vlc andso on! why it broke!
> and then, if something is not working, i need internet connection to
> fix it? then how the people in the 90s witch does not have internet
> learn and use linux? how do they know that they need to go to
> terminal, type sudo apt-get install gnome-orca, to install orca? as a
> beginner user, i find quite dificult to setup linux, because, each
> time i need to repair ot install something, need to google. just know
> i installed sonar mate, you  mate, cannot find wireless, so i am
> stuck! at least i have another windows pc to use to find the solution,
> the language problem i mean. but after fixing it, then orca stopped, i
> am screwed! come on, can i use linux peacefully? i mean without
> reinstalling, and googling for things. i don't know what to say
> anymore, i don't want to use windows because, it is expensive, and for
> now, i am student, i want to use linux, that is free and so on. the
> programs are awsome too! ok let us say that one of you purchased a
> computer and it is ppre-install with linux, sonar, or vinux, fedora,
> ubuntu or so on. but you don't know how to use it, you don't have the
> knowledge to do the terminal, or even launching orca. then, what will
> you do? that is your first machine, no windows, no nothing. then how
> will you get started? windows is quite popular then linux, so i don't
> think there a lot of people around you know about linux. sorry again
> because offtopic, but i need solutions! why other people can use linux
> but i cannot?
> _______________________________________________
> orca-list mailing list
> orca-list gnome org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
> GNOME Universal Access guide: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
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