Hpw to git gud?

Every day on Sup Forums, /w/, and Sup Forums I see people showing off their desktops and discussing in depth things that I don't understand at all. They all understand how to use Linux just as well, if not better, as I understand Windows, but how? How did you all get to the point where it's fully functional and not just a daunting scramble of terminals? Is it a reward for people who spent the time learning programming in high school and college, or can any schmuck spend a day googling bash commands and be able to use it?
How did you all get from where us plebs are to where you are now?

Install gentoo

install gentoo

install Gentoo

Gentoo. Install it.

unironically
I installed gentoo back in 2012

>can any schmuck spend a day googling bash commands and be able to use it?
yes. It's really that easy. Just kewgle it.

Install gentoo. And that's not a joke. You just go and do it. Learning is inevitable.

Gentoo, install it
Do you think you'll fucking wake up one day and just fully understand all the shit you've been meaning to try out? Just do it senpai

>everyone says install gentoo
>I'm just gonna dualboot
Nothin personnel...kid

meme's aside I'll give you some advice

1. stop distrohopping, settle on a basic desktop environment like xfce, don't try another one, don't rice it, start living in a terminal.
2. start using major releases of mainline kernels, follow new features on kernelnewbies and start reading lwn. Play around with new features whenever you can.
3. learn to read and search man pages and online documentation efficiently. Know how to find answers to questions. Start hanging out in IRC channels.
4. setup linux environments where ever you can. Your wireless access point. A raspberry pi. A headless old laptop. Don't dual boot back into windows, use a VM. Be using linux all the time; you won't remember things if you aren't.
5. stop playing video games.
6. most importantly, develop a deep desire to have things properly configured, secure, and understood. When you face a problem, care more about fully understanding the background of the issue than finding the quickest route to a solution.

Literally just start using it, google everything till it's understandable enough for daily use. If you wanna rice do it, use cli applications for easy color matching and recolor a gtk theme, get some minimal wm that's easy to configure fully and done. Basic understanding of programming helps but definitely not needed for just editing configs

tl;dr: use it, google shit you don't know, terms, how2x etc.

Ps:not all Linux communities are aids most are fine with helping new people, if that's more your thing

dont listen to this shill, just install gentoo

7. grow a a big disgusting beard and get dorito crumbs in it

...

Sup Forums can't do shit except maybe rice their desktops and argue about CPU/GPU vendors, aiming for Sup Forums level of competency is already a failure

Installing Linux is a matter of following the manual, even if we're talking gentoo or arch here, any monkey can do that

started with arch, stayed with arch
the pic is a meme

Autism.

You only learn things by study and throwing yourself in the deep end. So, do that. Force yourself to problem solve, buy a setup you don't know how to assemble, use an OS you have no idea about and read a shitload of documentation on both.

>Sup Forums
You have to go back. Immediately!

install gentoo
anime website

I borrowed the book "Linux command line and shell scripting Bible" at my locally. will this be a good start?

The holiest of Sup Forums mantras. We tell people every day, and they think its just a meme. It is the source of our power level.

Install gentoo.

It's easy to get into linux

1. get ubuntu, the trashy unity version. You can install it in a VM before your try it for realz if you want
2. it's shit but it' easy to understand, you have a web browser, libreoffice installed and the updates are easy to do
3. you'll realize it' trash after some time and try another distro. For my it was xubuntu because it's lightweight and fast and just works.
4. I installed i3wm on top of ubuntu like a retard because I wanted to test it out. When my i3 config was fucked I'd just use xfce
5. I then used the ubuntu mini iso, so you get nothing but the core system and that's it. Your system is booting to a tty and you have to install Xorg and all your shit by hand.
6. I switched to debian + i3wm for some time but didn't like it so I installed Arch Linux (it's easy to do) and then installed i3wm and everything just fucking works. If I've got a problem I look up the wiki/forums and I can go to #archlinux too to ask some shit.

I' like to switch to a systemd free distro so I might try out gentoo but I don't know if I want to deal with the compile times.

>me
>zero interest in technology
>was given a shitty old laptop
>google what to do with shitty old laptop
>told to install linux
>do so
>find it quite enjoyable
>eventually go back to school for CS
>fail all my non-programming classes once I learn to program
>realize I never use windows anymore
>delete windows
>drop out after taking four(4) programming classes
>instead of job hunting, spend my days ricing my linux and programming
>eventually get noticed for my riced linux environment
>hired as an intern
>was basically paid to dick around with linux all day
>two years later
>software engineer making 6 figures

tl;dr install gentoo

>eventually get noticed for my riced linux environment
It was plausible until this line

>me
>marketing executive for major company
>literally payed to shit on poor people
>leave my post to get a coffee
>walk into Starbucks, out of the corner of my eye I see a large hairy figure
>it's a college student who looks like he hasn't bathed in weeks
>smell is literally clearing out the place, shorter line so I appreciate it
>glance over at his craptop and see some stupid fucking anime girl and a huge terminal taking up half the screen
>"this is who I've been looking for"

Ubuntu has insane defaults and I don't like apt. I've been using Arch since 2015 and it's not that hard to set up.

>eventually get noticed for my riced linux environment

>I approach his table
>he notices me and quickly closes his laptop lid, stands up, getting ready to leave
>"Hey buddy, wait!"
>I grab his arm
>It's greasy and he slips out
>Still trips over, dropping his duct-taped thinkpad
>The laptop cracks apart, headphone jack gets torn out
>Screams of underage japanese girls fill the cafeteria
>Nervously he tries to gather pieces of his thinpad, mumbling "I can still fix this, I hope this ebay deal is not over yet"

I haven't seen anyone fall for this meme in quite a while.

>showing off their desktops
This is not "programming", or even technology. It's more like "circlejerking". Having an autistically undesigned desktop with an anime girl on it does not mean you are some sort of linux expert.

>I haven't seen anyone fall for this meme in quite a while.
>>showing off their desktops
That's because their thread got banned from Sup Forums because it was just an r9k chatroom

>5. stop playing video games.
This should be number 1.