Here I am, just a regular Joe, doing my best to use my computer to do my daily work. I am not a super smart brainy type. I know just enough to enable me to get through the day. I don't want to know any more than that. It hurts my head and I hate my work anyway. I just want to go home at the end of the day and relax.

Sometimes I have problems with my computer and I don't know how to fix them. When that happens there are several things I can do. I can call someone out to fix it. But that costs me money and at the moment I am having a hard time putting bread on the table and keeping a roof over my head.

All that I can really do is to ask my geeky friends or go onto the internet for answers. I get really frustrated with that though. I guess I am one of those dangerous types who tries things out first before asking for help. That is probably why my computer keeps breaking down a lot. I don't really know why it breaks down. All I am doing is trying to get my work done.

I also do not want to ask my geeky friends too much or they will become angry with me and not want to help. So as much as possible I search on the internet for my answers. I save my geeky friends for times when I can't figure it out for myself  

The problem is that when I search for answers on the internet it is very hard to understand what I am doing. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Generally the people I ask on the forums and mailing lists are pretty helpful as long as they understand that I am genuinely trying to fix things. They can be pretty harsh to those who ask stupid questions.  I can understand that though. Some people can be pretty dumb, not that I am that smart myself. At least I have common sense  

I have this program called Linux which my friend installed because my computer is not able to support Vista. I can't afford to buy a whole new computer just to write my documents and read my email. This Linux program is not too bad actually. It works almost exactly like my old Windows XP but faster. It even has that Firefox program.

Yet some things are different and that is when I need to ask for help.  Especially when I can't find a program to do what I want. Sometimes I can find the program but it doesn't work properly. My geeky friends call it a bug. Those times I ask on the forums and try to explain my dilemma.

Generally they tell me to open up a command line. I didn't know what that was at first but they explained that to me. After I have opened up a command line they give me some commands to type and tell them the results. I have no idea what they get from that. To me it is all just gobbledygook. I asked them why they use the command line all the time instead of telling me where to click. They gave me a very good reason.

They said that it is very hard to explain graphical terms in a text manner and that I would be more confused and would confuse them. They said that everybody has different ways of describing things and it uses up a lot of time reaching an understanding. They said that with the command line it is easy to copy and paste the commands and results. They said that this removes any confusion and allows them to help me better.

Since they put it that way and I like the help they give me. It really does work. They give me a line, it generally starts with sudo or something. I copy and paste that to my command line. Then I copy the results and paste it into the forum. Then they give me another line which fixes my problem.

Thinking back to my Windows days I remember that it was never that easy to fix my problems. I had to pay someone to reinstall it every month or so. So far I have not had to reinstall my Linux program. I am very happy about that. I still don't know what they are doing with those command lines but at least they fix my computer. That is all I really want. I asked them once what those commands mean and they told me to RTFM. I asked what RTFM means and they said Read The Fine Manuel. Maybe later  

Locutus is a regular blogger on http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/locutus and http://www.locutus.us. He is a self confessed Linux advocate and has been involved in Linux for many years. As a member of the Borg persuasion he is actively trying to assimilate everyone into the Linux Collective.