but they just assume that I am an idiot who just doesn't know how to use a computer.
And this is why Linux will never be more than just an "alternative" desktop OS. Because its user base is always assumed to just KNOW how everything works, and if you pose a question that some neckbeard thinks is "stupid", he'll let you know it, and you'll be the focal point of mockery and derision. Linux needs to stop being that exclusive club for the cool kids and know-it-alls and start being a more user-oriented (rather than developer-oriented) community.
The Linux community needs a drastic culture-change before it's ready to compete on any meaningful level with Windows and OS X.
Oh, and I WILL be modded down for this, and it WILL validate my point even more.
Really!?
Anybody can USE a computer... for something. Even a doorstop.
People who are willing to research and learn before they ask for help usually find the solution before they have to ask because you are usually Not the first person to experience the problem you are facing.
Thus the attitude you have been getting is probably due to you Not doing your Due Diligence and getting to know the community that you say doesn't exist.
It's not an exclusive club. There are a huge amount of people new to Linux and UNIX that are getting along just fine.
RTFM (renaming the F word in a polite way) means to Read The Frickin' Manual and research the issues at hand.
Neckbeards and the rest of us, including noobs who don't expect the hand that feeds them to wipe their butts too,
are people that are not mocked because they know how to find solutions to their problems on their own and ask for help correctly when they run into a wall.
RTFM is what you may see every so often when looking for help that has already been covered by so many other contributors so many countless times.
You will often see this when a person has not done any research and just dumps all over the forums.
I mean really! Can you crack open the hood and fix this kind of stuff on a windows box? No!
You have to wait for Microsoft or some other vendor to fix the problem.
But at least with Open Source software you can LEARN how to CONTRIBUTE and HELP solve issues, instead of crying about how your FREE software has issues and the only contributions you offer are to Flame the whole operating system and community, no matter that there are UPSTREAM issues that also include ATI,AMD and other software that breaks inside Linux at no fault of Linux itself.
Usually at least when software misbehaves in Linux you can jump out of the desktop and grab a text only terminal window and kill the zombie, then return to your now functioning graphical desktop, instead of getting a blue or black screen of death - break my machine - reboot Windows over and over illness.
AND, Every Tool is available to you for Free in Linux, no matter what programming language or system you would like to learn about.
Now show me all that free stuff in Windows.
Here's a test run for those who are Linux Haters...
Grab any old proprietary machine, motherboard, graphics card, and other harware.
Assemble it all if you didn't find a complete system such as an old DELL, Gateway, HP, Compaq (Yes they were separate at one time), MPC* or whatever you can find in someone's closet without the original software.
Preferably put new hard & optical drives in, take ANY flavor of Windows off the shelf and TRY to get it ALL to work for you.
Then when you find out that there is no sound, network, and the video sucks... Come back here and tell me how GREAT the Proprietary Gods are again.
NOW...
Take ANY Linux distro Old or NEW and see how much Just works Out Of The Box, And when something doesn't work how easy you can generally find a solution to fix.
Compared to how many forums and websites you'd have to scour trying to find windows Drivers for a defunct company like MPC* that used modified Intel boards (as do most of the other guys still in business.)
Oh, and there are plenty of sites that will offer you virus riddled drivers for your pet Windows project.
I forgot... If you want to run anything newer than XP, you'd better make sure you DON'T have an old machine that any Linux distro can run on with just a $24 1GB memory upgrade.
No, You'd better find a money tree to buy super powered hardware JUST to run the Bloated Micro$oft OS' that came after XP.
So ladies and germs, Yeah, Linux and every other OS or piece of software has issues; They're called people.
People write software. People make mistakes. People expect their stuff to be perfect.
Psst... Nothing Is Perfect.
*MPC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPC_Corporation