I just installed Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS (Cinnamon) on an empty laptop a couple days ago and have been experimenting a lot. I’m coming from being a Windows user since I was just a little kid playing old DOS games on my grandpa’s Win-98 PC back in around 2000. My daily driver is currently running Windows 10 but I am pretty adamant on not going with Win-11. I’ve been wanting to experiment with Linux for a while and Cinnamon so far seems like a lot of fun to navigate. Terminal is amazing. The fact that you can custom-write keyboard commands that can be hand-tailored to individual programs on your computer via the OS… that’s powerful.
I have not tried running WINE yet but I plan on doing so soon. I also have not done much of anything, honestly, except for learning how to search for programs with gnome-software --search=. I have also used sudo a couple times to download software here and there, but I know I am not tackling this in as systematic of a way as I ought to be to really figure this machine out.
What are some really important basic commands I can use to start branching out into Terminal command structures and learning more about how I can edit and customize my computer? And if Cinnamon has shortfalls or weaknesses that I may run into eventually, what are some good alternative distros that I could leapfrog to eventually? I do not have any coding experience (currently), but I do consider myself a semi-power-user on Windows, having messed with CMD many times and digging through all the damn menus to access drivers and alter ports.
Personally, I think Arch Linux is the best way to learn the command line. It throws you off the deep end and you have to learn things like how to navigate the file system, how to edit files with the command line, and useful tools like partition editors and package managers. If you’re serious about learning command line, just go install Arch Linux from the command line.
Otherwise, I think you can learn a lot about the Gui on Ubuntu by just using it. You can run some windows-only apps with WINE or you can start learning how to use Linux-native apps like GIMP, Libre Office, and other various Flatpaks.
OP, do not use Arch as a beginner unless you’re already a very techy person.
I know people may disagree with this, but y’all, we forget sometimes how confusing even following something like the Arch Wiki can be when you aren’t familiar enough with tech.
I am happy others try to work against those awful recommendations for new users too!
If I was not a very techy person, then I wouldn’t be trying to learn the command line.