Linux forums - your opinions

[ImpPatience]

What other linux forums do you guys like, trust, or use? No offense to Tom's, they have been good to me. But Tom's is mostly a hardware forum and as such most of the traffic here is in hardware, not software.

Thanks

<font color=blue><b>Purchase object A, install object A, curse object A, repeat...</b></font color=blue>

 

[TKS]

I like <A HREF="http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/index.php?" target="_new">TechTalkForums.com</A> because it gives me a chance to see what new users are asking...you know, what the issues are. Also <A HREF="http://www.linuxquestions.org" target="_new">LinuxQuestions.org</A> which is where I do a lot of my posting at...hence why I don't post here a lot either...I've switched my focus to be linux for quite a while now and have been noticeably absent from toms. I also like to hang at <A HREF="http://www.justlinux.com/" target="_new">JustLinux.com</A>. So that's about it...I get most of my news from <A HREF="http://www.slashdot.org" target="_new">Slashdot</A> which seems to have all of the linux cutting edge news I need. Enjoy!

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<b>It is always brave to say what everyone thinks. </b> <i>Georges Duhamel</i>

TKS

 

[silverpig]

I use gentoo, so the gentoo forums are where I go. They people there are really helpful so long as you don't post stupid questions: "How do you install linux?"

Some day I'll be rich and famous for inventing a device that allows you to stab people in the face over the internet.

 

[HolyGrenade]

How wrong you are. Most of the traffic here is trolling, flaming, flame baiting, political arguments where neither side will ever convince the other side of anything, and Insults. Fool! um... thats it. Hardware is just something that may start some of the conversiations. Its downhill from there.

But I've used linuxquestions.org and may have used linuxforums.com in the past. Sorry can't remember.


<b><font color=red>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."</font color=red><font color=blue> - Benjamin Franklin</font color=blue></b>

 

[poorboy]

True enough. The software forums seem to be somewhat more civilised... Sure, some of us have opinions on Gnome vs KDE or Fedora vs Debian or whatever, but it's nothing like the Intel vs AMD and ATI vs Nvidia fanboy-ism that goes on in the Hardware forums.

I usually find info on the forums specific to the task at hand. If it's printing, I'll look on linuxprinting.org for example. The generic forums either don't get into the specifics needed, or it's too much work to filter the noise.

I'm not sure how other folks see it, but I see places like Tom's as a starting point for folks to get their feet wet. Eg, asking those "dumb questions" and addressing the uber-newbie issues that come up when you're booting Linux for the first time from an ISO your mate (who doesn't use Linux either) gave you.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

 

[iccaros]

I normally stay to the list that I'm working with. Like Linux from Scratch or Beyond Linux from scratch. Core Linux. Thin station and Devils Linux. This is the only general forum I use. I stay away from windows forums because I do lot of government network security work so by the time I get home from work I hate windows. Oh I forgot the KnoppixMAME project. This form is good because windows users can come on and not be flamed as badly for stupid questions. If you want to see flaming go to Linux from Scratch and top post. You will get at least 50 emails explaining that it is bad form to top post. And don't ever post HTML... I don't think you'll get a single answer.
Linux is also not where you look for answers its how you help. So no matter what forum you use try to help someone.

Willaim S. Huskey
Network Engineer
SAIC
"there are 10 types of people in this world. They who understand binary and they how do not"

 

[ImpPatience]

Thanks TKS, silverpig, Holy Grenade, poorboy, and iccaros. At the risk of sounding naive, the internet is a big place. I would much rather go to a place recommended by someone than by a search on yahoo or google.

I don't have friends who are into Linux and to complicate things I've decided to cut my teeth on Slackware. As a result, I have a lot to configure and tweak. Yes. I know that there are easier distros to play with, but I learn the most when I have a problem I want to fix. I've learned a lot this way, either becaus I found the answer or I stumbled across some tidbit I never knew existed.

As soon as I can stand on my own two legs in Linux, I hope I can return the favor. Thanks again

By the way, what does it mean to Top post or use HTML?

<font color=blue><b>Purchase object A, install object A, curse object A, repeat...</b></font color=blue>

 

[iccaros]

Most forums are email based. To top post means when you respond to an email you hit respond and type your response at the top of the email. Developers don't really like this because they have no real clue as to what the problem is. They rather read the questions or a short quote of the question then your response. This way they can read from oldest to newest and know the whole thread.
As for HTML, email clients like outlook and outlook express, Netscape, and Mozilla do HTML by default for their (I may be wrong on Mozilla) email. If you are using Evolution or Kmail or as the old school guys a text based email program it makes your question or answer unreadable. (note Evolution and Kmail can do HTML but it should be turned off for security. ) I don't use Mozilla or Netscape for email so I am not sure how to turn it off or if it's turned on by default on the newer versions but its best to check.
The point is for email there is no reason to post with HTML unless your an advertiser and then I don't want your email remember this is a comunity and all things shared means questions and replys.
Slackware is a great place to start. After your finished with that try Gentoo or if you feel real brave use your Slackware system and go to Linux from Scratch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ and build your own Linux distribution. If you want a quick lession in building your own distribution try Core Linux http://coredistro.sourceforge.net/ it took 8 hours but the Tony Whitmore guides are worth there weight in gold. http://www.tonywhitmore.co.uk/core/ they may even help you in slackware.

Good luck


Willaim S. Huskey
Network Engineer
SAIC
"there are 10 types of people in this world. They who understand binary and they who do not"

 

[Dev]

When I started out I used Usenet a lot. alt.linux.newbies was pretty good back then, but its about five years ago. It may just be spam nowadays, but you might want to check it out.
I also recommend subscribing to your distro's mailing list(s). You get tons of information and many tips you wouldn't have thought about otherwise. I also like to subscribe to the mailing lists of the applications I like the most as people there tend to be very helpful with more obscure problems. Other than that google is your friend...

Dev

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