Is there a discord, IRC, or jabber channel where I can find someone experienced in Qubes to mentor me? I'm dying right now guys

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setem...@posteo.net

unread,
Nov 28, 2020, 3:39:27 PM11/28/20
to Qubes users
If you chart my posts in the usergroup, it pretty much follows the
pattern of "ask for help", go dark for a while, "ask for help again." go
dark again.

The part in between that goes unseen is the part where I'm intimidated
by my OS and have to ask someone more knowledgeable about every little
thing that comes up just so I can do basic things. Whether it is the
kaliVM setup (still haven't done that), VPN setup, or even just getting
my terminals to actually reach github, I feel quite powerless and stupid
everytime I try to do something on this laptop. So I put things off. I
put things off I need to learn to secure my own system or to do the
things I want to do with it. As a novice CS student, starting with Qubes
was probably a mistake but I believe now, as then, that learning this OS
would give me an edge when I get to my career field. That said its rough
at times, and its been a lonely experience thus far.

Here's my ask: I would really appreciate one person, any person really,
who I can at least talk to about Qubes in general. I don't expect you to
hold my hand or to be my one stop shop for tech-support or something.
It's just tiresome being the only one I know who runs this OS and there
is no sense of community for me when my only interaction is asking for
help on a random google group. If you are up for guiding a noob through
this hard ass learning curve or at least being someone I can chat up,
email me at setem...@posteo.net.

All I can offer to the community in exchange is my help rewriting
documentation based on my experiences. Since I'm having such a hard
beginning as a novice user, I'll definitely remember what tripped me up
getting started and can share that with the community.

As far as taking action to handle the hard things first, expect to see
me posting on here a lot more. No sense in being intimidated by a piece
of tech I can learn if I stay on it. Thank you and be well.

Andrew David Wong

unread,
Nov 28, 2020, 3:58:18 PM11/28/20
to setem...@posteo.net, Qubes users
On 11/28/20 12:39 PM, setem...@posteo.net wrote:
> If you chart my posts in the usergroup, it pretty much follows the
> pattern of "ask for help", go dark for a while, "ask for help again." go
> dark again.
>
> The part in between that goes unseen is the part where I'm intimidated
> by my OS and have to ask someone more knowledgeable about every little
> thing that comes up just so I can do basic things.

Many questions can be answered by reading the documentation, especially
basic ones. I strongly recommend starting there if you're finding it
difficult to do even basic things.

https://www.qubes-os.org/doc/

> Whether it is the
> kaliVM setup (still haven't done that), VPN setup,

These are not really basic and not required to get the major benefits of
using Qubes. I'd caution you against trying to sprint before learning to
walk, as it were.

> or even just getting
> my terminals to actually reach github,

This sounds like a non-Qubes-specific Linux thing, so it's also worth
noting that many questions about Qubes are actually questions about Linux.

> I feel quite powerless and stupid
> everytime I try to do something on this laptop. So I put things off. I
> put things off I need to learn to secure my own system or to do the
> things I want to do with it. As a novice CS student, starting with Qubes
> was probably a mistake but I believe now, as then, that learning this OS
> would give me an edge when I get to my career field. That said its rough
> at times, and its been a lonely experience thus far.
>

Sorry to hear that. :(

> Here's my ask: I would really appreciate one person, any person really,
> who I can at least talk to about Qubes in general. I don't expect you to
> hold my hand or to be my one stop shop for tech-support or something.
> It's just tiresome being the only one I know who runs this OS and there
> is no sense of community for me when my only interaction is asking for
> help on a random google group.
If it helps, we also have a forum:

https://www.qubes-os.org/support/#forum

Unofficial chat channels:

https://www.qubes-os.org/support/#unofficial-chat-channels

And a subreddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Qubes/

> If you are up for guiding a noob through
> this hard ass learning curve or at least being someone I can chat up,
> email me at setem...@posteo.net.
>

I hope you find the person you're looking for, but it's also worth
pointing out that there are many other new users here like yourself, and
everyone benefits when questions are asked in the open so that others
can participate, provide answers and experience, and learn from the
results. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Our discussion list guidelines have same advice about how to do that in
a productive way:

https://www.qubes-os.org/support/#discussion-guidelines

> All I can offer to the community in exchange is my help rewriting
> documentation based on my experiences. Since I'm having such a hard
> beginning as a novice user, I'll definitely remember what tripped me up
> getting started and can share that with the community.
>
> As far as taking action to handle the hard things first, expect to see
> me posting on here a lot more. No sense in being intimidated by a piece
> of tech I can learn if I stay on it. Thank you and be well.
>

Good, and welcome to the community. :)

--
Andrew David Wong (Axon)
Community Manager, Qubes OS
https://www.qubes-os.org

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