Play around in a virtual machine so you don't have to worry about messing anything up. Start with the basics such as navigating through directories and creating, editing, and moving files. If you break something, just restore a snapshot.
this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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The way I usually start teaching using the console to my (very much non-tech) students is set up a safe container and then let them type whatever, invariably generating a lot of error messages. Then I challenge them to generate different error messages, "gotta catch em all" style. Then we talk about the error messages and what they might mean. After this exercise they usually get the basic idea of command -- response, what to look out for and how to compose valid commands.
That's clever
Or just use Time Shift or a similar tool. I broke my first linux install like a dozen times, and I learned so much about how my computer operates in the process.
I’m trying to make it a regular thing but my problem is I like to get my hands dirty by working on projects. The snag is that I get stuck a lot due to not knowing basics. My personality gets in the way = get dirty and learn fast(not necessarily shortcuts). Maybe I haven’t found that right source to learn that not too beginner and not too intermediate. Maybe a cool cluster of small projects to setup your computer then environment to setting up projects to do your everyday life takes to what you really want to learn.
Virtual environment? Taking notes of what they did?
Anyway, tell them it's okay you experiment and mess things up. Show them how to backup their important work. Then walk them through inevitably having to reinstall their distro.
They'll learn that you can just keep moving forward, fixing and learning as you go.
Clear instructions on how to do a clearly defined, specific task, in a failsoft manner, faster and easier, which helps them in a project they are doing now.
Step 1: Use a youtube tutorial for the basic commands. Don't worry, you'll forget about them soon enough. But doing them once, helps with muscle memory.
Step 2: When in need to do something, copy/paste from Q&A/forums various commands that they suggest for your problem. Your basic knowledge from step1 will come back as you do that.
After a few days, you'll be understanding what's going on and how the whole thing works in an abstract level.
I would recommand to never copy paste but retype so you have the commands on your finger memory.
Also don't be afraid to --help everything. It give more option for commands you know quicker than the man.
Practice.
The need to do it plus the realization that you can script anything based on it.
Drivers. Using recovery mode. Administration. Wanting to describe what to do rather then manually do it. Wild cards are really powerful and so is find and xargs. The text processing commands are useful too.
The other thing is having started computing in the 1970s. Everything was command line back then. GUI systems only become universal in about 1995.
- making it ✨pretty✨
- using it a bunch
- man pages
- arch wiki