Does using Linux make you a 'geek' or just a user who is a 'notch above' the rest?

[whatthefunk]

I think others view Linux users as geeks, but I dont consider myself to be a geek. When I tell my friends I use Linux, I sometimes get smirks and geek related jokes. But then when my Microsoft using friends get viruses I joke at them and when my Apple using friends spend thousands of dollars to get the latest iCrap I laugh at them. For me, Linux is great because it allows me to solve all my computer related problems on my own. Ive always liked to tinker around with things and Im overly independent so I feel the need to do things by myself. Linux is perfect for this. If there is a problem, I google, ask on forums, and 99% of the time I can fix the problem on my own. I can also set it up to exactly meet my needs. I suppose this all would make me a "notch above the rest" as far as computer skills go, but I wouldnt call myself a geek.

[rms]

Calling Linux users geeks is completely proprietary propaganda! If I remember correctly we've been also called "commies" when that was fashionable, and are we? The only real difference between us and other computer users is this.

[Qqmike]

There's Real Geeks (TM) in both camps. Now, in Linux, if you do Arch or Slackware or such or build your own (Linux), well, ... that is a geek by most people's street definition of "geek."
Windows: You BETTER be something of a geek so you pin down correctly AND maintain what you need to run it: defraggers (and updates, say through Perfect Disk or equiv.), CCleaner or equivalent, virus/malware programs, seemingly necessary adjustments to Register, learn the C:, D: disk/partition system should you want or need more than one OS to dual boot (and how to do the edits to set up dual boot), this list goes on and on.
If you don't need very much from your PC, either Linux (esp K/Ubuntu/Mint/Puppy) or Windows 7 are easy to turn on and click Go (for email, web, a movie, pictures, whatever)--no geekiness required by either in that case.

[Flip the Switch]

I use Linux.

I am not a Geek

I am also a Radio Ham.

I am not a Geek.

I also love Steam Trains.

I am not a........Ah what the hell, who cares! :cool:

[Qqmike]

Good point, Flip the Switch. As I said in Post #13, "Some people are not label-ers; they are doers."
More generally, as you indicate, almost everyone is a "geek" in some way or some sense, by virtue of their interests and the expertise they've developed in work or at their hobbies. Thinking of a clerk at a local Farmer's Market, ex-Navy/Nam, hell of a nice guy, a happy sort who really, really loves to read books--fiction and nonfiction. And he has gotten into every nuance of the new readers, electronic books, downloads and uploads, and 20 different ways to get and read your book. He's an expert at that level. But he could give a rat's ass about all techy-geeky stuff. What he really loves doing is reading the darned book! The computer-geek stuff is only a step toward that.

If you are properly motivated (or interested), almost anyone with half a brain can learn and master almost anything at almost any time in their life in almost any way they have at their disposal.

[ScottyK]

The drones at Office Depot seem to think Linux users are on a level above Windows. When browsing for a new laptop, mentioning that I plan to wipe the HD and install my favorite distro of Linux stops cold the talk of Extended warranties, Office installs, "system optimization", and crap like that.

I think it lets them know that you know what you are doing around computers, so dispense with the up-selling crap.

But I certainly don't act "Elitist" around my family friends when it comes to Linux. What's the point in it? I still help them clean up their window machines, but at the same time I politely inform them that in Linux, that problem wouldn't have come up or something like that.

I use Kubuntu because I'm tired of shelling out money to Microsoft and then to the cottage industry of antivirus, malware cleaners, etc.

Like an above poster said, something breaks on my Linux box, there is a very good chance I can fix it myself. It just means tweaking a .conf file or something.

iCrap, like it, have to remember that term...

[GreyGeek]

...The MS "critics", point to "installing" it. Well, they evidently have never had to install a Windblows OS. .....

There is a HUGE difference between COMPLETING the installation of a preinstalled version of Windows on a newly purchased PC, and RE-INSTALLING Windows on any other PC. Just about anyone can do the first, which is identical to a Linux install from a LiveCD, and very few people can do that latter, on either Windows or Linux, IMO.

I remember installing RH5.0 in May of 1998. Blue console screens asking me technical questions I never saw or heard of before. I took the default answers the first time around. After the partition of the HD and the installation of the OS one then had to configure the sound card, network card and the video chip. The sound card on my 1997 Sony VAIO desktop wasn't recognized by RH so I purchased an OSS binary from 4-Front Technologies for $20. It worked well. I downloaded the tulip bonanza source from some NASA guy whose name I've forgotten and compiled an eth0 driver that worked for my network card. I used the FX86config app to configure my video chip. It wasn't listed so I had to select the proper Horz & Vert frequencies, etc.. to generate an X11 config file. Most printers at the time plugged into the LPT1: port and just worked when plugged in. Joe or Sally Sixpack could NOT have installed an early version of Linux. But, by September of 1998 SuSE 5.3 with YAST made a huge leap forward. The rate at which Linux improved on all platforms across the board scared MS execs to their bones, according the emails released in the combs vs MS trial.

[lcorken]

About 2 years ago I installed Arch linux on an extra partition. After a lot of reading and many hours of fiddling with it I got it working nicely. I felt like a real Geek at that point! GO KEN! A couple weeks later an update broke the darn thing, along with my geek hat. Rats. Lost interest in Arch. I really apreciate Kubuntu.

As far as labels go. I keep a pen in my shirt pocket but not a pocket protector. Does that make me a half assed geek?

Arch installation was a great learning experience BTW.

Ken

[Flip the Switch]

As far as labels go. I keep a pen in my shirt pocket but not a pocket protector. Does that make me a half assed geek?

It is also compulsory to have with you at all times a Swiss Army Knife, the bigger and more complex the better.
You never when you will need to remove a boy scout from a horses hoof.

[SteveRiley]

As far as labels go. I keep a pen in my shirt pocket but not a pocket protector. Does that make me a half assed geek?

Yes. Half-assed and possessed of unsightly ink-stained left nipples.

[GreyGeek]

.......It is also compulsory to have with you at all times a Swiss Army Knife, ......

Check!

..... I keep a pen in my shirt pocket but not a pocket protector.

Check!

But, on the negative side, it took me several hours to figure out why I could not log onto my wifi router to configure it to be 11g only. I had configured my wifi to respond ONLY to my old laptop, which I hadn't used in three months, specifically its MAC address. On my new Acer I tried Chromium, Koqueror, Reqonk, FireFox, ftp ..... None would let me log onto 192.168.1.1. It was only out of frustration and thinking perhaps that Precise has some secret setting that blocked all browsers that I tried my old Sony. The instant it logged in I remembered that I had used the MAC to prevent other users of my Wifi from doing admin work on my wifi. So, I am de-geeking rapidly.

[Flip the Switch]

Check!

Check!

But, on the negative side, it took me several hours to figure out why I could not log onto my wifi router to configure it to be 11g only. I had configured my wifi to respond ONLY to my old laptop, which I hadn't used in three months, specifically its MAC address. On my new Acer I tried Chromium, Koqueror, Reqonk, FireFox, ftp ..... None would let me log onto 192.168.1.1. It was only out of frustration and thinking perhaps that Precise has some secret setting that blocked all browsers that I tried my old Sony. The instant it logged in I remembered that I had used the MAC to prevent other users of my Wifi from doing admin work on my wifi. So, I am de-geeking rapidly.

There comes a time in everyones life when they really need a good notebook to write all these configuration changes into, cos the memory is not so good anymore.
Now what the hell did I do with that damn notebook? :eek:

[Ole Juul]

Yes. Half-assed and possessed of unsightly ink-stained left nipples.

LOL Steve!

[Detonate]

Does the fact that others consider you a geek, make you a geek? All of the people I provide computer support to think I am a geek, but the truth is I know that I am not as knowledgeable as they think I am. There are many on this forum that are much smarter than I am and know a lot more than I do about the geekiness stuff. I can troubleshoot and repair just about any problem on a computer and when I run into a problem I don't know how to fix I can usually find the answer on the net somewhere.

In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus

[Qqmike]

"In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king."

I think you hit it there, Detonate, with that quote. or, " ... Big Fish, small pond ..."

When comparing oneself, speaking for myself ... I'm RDG (Real Damn Glad) that I am not at the "top" of any field of knowledge or skill--or even near the top, or even several "notches" below the top--whether it be computing, woodworking, writing, mathematics, lapidary, or whatever ... BECAUSE I really hope that we--mankind--know a hellava lot more about the subject than I do!

If you think you're hot s* in something, just immerse yourself in a group of [inter]national experts for awhile to see that you have a very long ways to go. The competitive environment of a decent graduate school is good for doing that to you--building some major humility. Attending lectures and shows is another way. If you are a woodworker, hang out at a hot-shot woodworking show, try Santa Fe NM or Marin County CA, for example. For lapidary, attend national shows, like GLW's. And so on. It'll cool your jets to do so. Good news is that it gives you something to shoot for, new goals, and inspiration--and some serious and realistic self perspective! (And if you think you are some hot shot computing guy or Linux guy, hang out with a 17-year-old hobbyist for a day!)