Can someone please elaborate what Wendell was talking about being productive and contributing to linux? It was in the TekLinux video today and honestly it made me feel like i shouldn't switch. I just want to have an OS that l can customize and make it work the way i want it too. What am i supposed to give back/contribute to linux? Will i be shunned by communities if i dont? If i can help out I will I just dont understand what that is in the Linux world
im pretty sure i've misunderstood Wendells words so that is why I am here asking
Linux is open source and all of its users can file bug reports, or even patches that they coded them self. This is how many Linux distro's improve.
None of this is necessary however, and no one will get mad if you don't help out. Even if you never file one bug-report you are still helping Linux just by being a part of its user base.
I am no Linux expert, forgive me if I am wrong about bug-reports/patches
Do what you like. Thats the good thing about free software/open source software. Its there to use. If you contribute back awesome; if you dont, awesome becuase your using it and it works for you.
Contributing back doesnt mean programming. It can mean sharing your knowledge, programming, documentation, helping people, bug reporting. Clicking that report bug button when a program crashes.. thats contributing. Dont feel like you have to go out of your way to contribute back, you dont have to if its not something you really want to do.
Nope, not at all. You can just be an end user of Linux if you so choose. You actually improve Linux just by using it because it increases the user-base and the demand for official driver updates from hardware manufacturers.
No, you do not have to contribute. But you will WANT to for 3 main reasons
1) If you like to customize your computer, you are going to get to a point where you will want to edit some source code to get a program to run EXACTLY how you want. When you do this, it is EASIER to give your changes to the community, then hoard the change to yourself. Maintaining your changes yourself is much more difficult than giving your changes to the community and getting them to maintain your chanes.
2) You're going to run into bugs. Writing bug reports is a valuable contribution back to the linux community.
3) It feels good to give back. It is such a minor thing, but I'm proud to have tweaked the kernel for my hardware, I'm proud to have have helped test some patches for other kernel developers, and I'm happy to have helped people learn how to get up-to-date kernels
You may start out just wanting to learn things for yourself, and if thats the extent of what you do with linux, thats awesome. But I suspect most of the Tek Syndicate audience are people who will want to contribute back.
Its a good talk. and about 9 minutes in from the guy who created the free software movement and started it all (RMS) he mentions exactly this topic. And his answer is the same as what we all say, you dont need to be a programmer, you can take the program and just use it if you want to do that.
Relax...You are overreacting a bit...Linux is community based thus you are free to contribute IF you want to, to the best of your ability. It could be as small as a just bug report or feedback to actual code if you have the abilities.
But noone you ever monitor you or shun you for what you are contributing. There is no obligation to contribute and there is absolutely no way that anyone could enforce that practically anyway. Its not a club (even if a few trolls might see it that way but these are the minority, believe me. Typical in every single human community ) .Of course people that do contribute will be respected more, and that is natural, but noone will care if you do not. It all about freedom to use your tools as you see fit.
He tends to be right on track on most things, even if those things he says happen 10 years after he says them. But yes, you have to remember that open source software is for all purposes free software, and free software was created to give the user the freedom to do what they want and have control over their system. That includes being able to take the program and use it without doing anything in return.
Thanks everyone for the support i went head first into installing linux mint. 16 hours later i have a working linux machine! but my mechanical keyboard doesnt work which makes me sad but thats for another thread
No, just by using it, you already do contribute to Linux. It is nice if you have programing knowledge to share something you fixed etc., I am ordinary user like you, so..., I do not contribute to Linux in that manner, but i do contribute by using it and sharing experiences. problems, solutions etc.
I am not going to bother answering the question because so many people hit it right on the head.
Instead, I wanted to share a video with you about how to contribute to Linux, if you want to, if you are not a developer.
Episode 350 of the Linux Action Show
on a side note - this was a great episode overall especially the part where Noah plays a phone call from when one of those Indian BS people called him to essentially steal data or infect his computer. He actually convinces the guy to try Linux and the guy goes from trying to steal stuff to then ask Noah for advice. SO GOOD! :) - https://youtu.be/K3bHryPqlh8?t=55m46s
Contributing could simply mean base tech support. It could mean writing code. Don't worry to much until you get some experience under your belt. I have been using Linux on and off for 10 years and tech support is a big part helping...trust me