Absolute Linux N00b... Several Questions...

Hey...
Not sure if I'm doing the right thing here and I might harvest some mighty laughters and namecalling *ducks and knows she's a bit stupid* ...
But I have just bought the Acer Aspire One as I needed a light, inexpensive, small laptop to use for documents, calc sheets and presentations.
I went for the Linux Version as it turned out to be half as expensive as the windows version, thinking I could learn Linux fast enough... Well.. little did I know...

I read in the forum "enter yum yum suba and what not" and all I understand is "I'm hungry!" ... Frankly, I have NO clue ...

I noticed, that on "My Disk" out of the box it says I have 3.4 Gig of free space on my hard drive of 6.0 gig - I thought there was a 8 Gig SSD Drive in there? What happened to 2 Gig and what the heck is eating 2 and a half Gigs without me having installed any programm?

Why does Drag and Drop not work? Like when I have something on my files, that I want to show on my desktop ... It wouldn't let me drag and drop there...

Oh well... uhm... Is there any absolute beginners tutorial for Linux, like:

"Hi Dummy, I am Linux and in order to get me to work start like this:

Step 1: "press the power button of your computer"
Step 2: "computer will start up"
Step 3: - To run an already pre-installed program, double click
Step 4: - to install a program start by pulling your mouse here or there and click this and that .. something will open or won't open... ... "

Right now, I am quite lost... *halp*?

 

If all you want are docs, spreadsheets and presentations you should be fine with the One as it is...

That is for people wanting to install extra software... I suggest you don't do this (for the moment)

The operating system is stored on the disk and this takes up space (just like XP would do if youd bought that version)

You can't drag and drop to the desktop, that's just for launching applications.

As I've said, you probably won't need to install anything, so I woulnd't worry about that for now. Just make sure you can do what you need to do, and when you come across specific problems, post specific questions (or search as the answers are probably already there!)
Hope that helps,
-Duncan

 

Hello Zeanana

The OS (Operative system) is using that space so thats why you are left with 3.4 gb.

I think you cannot drag and drop because the desktop environment is XFCE in GNOME you can drag and drop.

 

I found this article
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/09/05 ... _one_tips/
I found it useful. It tells how to put Skype on your desktop. I did not do this but made other modifications.
I already like my desktop, though I have some way to go!
But Linux is all about typing and "playing". If you don't want to invest a lot of time then charm an expert!

 

I picked up my Aspire One a couple weeks and went for the Linux system for much the same reason as you did. I was also interested in lerning about Linux and that made the decision easier. I've found that most difficulties and problem can be overcome through taking some time to search for answer as well as asking question in the forums. It does take some time though.

I'm hoping to keep my AA1 for all my ultra portable needs and eventually building and installing Linux on a desktop for my heavier lifting.