Udemy Class Review: Ubuntu for Beginners

The operating system market today is dominated by Microsoft and various versions of Windows to such an extent that some people still don’t even know there are alternatives. One of the most popular is Ubuntu, a free OS based on Linux. If you’ve never used Ubuntu, you will likely encounter difficulties performing relatively simple tasks such as installing programs. Not to fear though: The Ubuntu For Beginners course from Udemy aims to teach you exactly what you need to know to get up and running on Ubuntu.

Course Overview

Starting up this lecture series you’ll want to skip straight to section 2. The first section is aptly titled “Course Overview” and will list off the topics that will be covered in the course, but there aren’t any real lessons here. Section 2 explains what Ubuntu is and some of the pros and cons of using it as opposed to other operating systems. An important distinction of Ubuntu is there are versions with long-term support with regular software updates, which is uncommon in the Linux world.

Next, the lecturer will instruct you on how to obtain a copy of Ubuntu and install it. This really isn’t all that different from installing Windows from a flash drive, but for true beginners, this could prove useful. This is followed with some information about using a virtual machine, which will be helpful for students unfamiliar with that software.

About a quarter of the way through the course you will start to be taught how to use the OS itself. First up is installing applications using the terminal, followed by the commands to uninstall applications. The lecturer then teaches you how to do these tasks using the graphical interface, and then he dives into additional lessons involving the terminal interface such as managing accounts.

Large portions of the next few sections are spent working closely with the terminal, so get used to this above image. The lecturer will teach you how to perform numerous tasks inside of the terminal and focuses on its use for the remainder of the course. Although this is beneficial and likely where new Ubuntu users could use the most instruction, there is a notable lack of information on how to use the graphical user interface.

Conclusion

Evaluating the course as a course is somewhat difficult. The course is well organized and the individual lessons feel well-paced and informative. The high volume of tasks you will learn to perform from inside Ubuntu would undoubtedly prove useful if you plan to use the operating system on a regular basis. But the course as a whole feels like a lot to absorb in just one sitting and far more than you need to just use the OS on a basic level.

I can’t really fault the course for providing too much information, though, and if you want to learn how to use Ubuntu I would recommend it, but I’d also suggest taking the course slowly over an extended period. Students will likely benefit the most from taking just the first half of the course and then taking time to use the operating system and familiarize yourself with the software. The remaining lessons could then be taken as needed, which I feel will ultimately make the course easier and more effective for most students. If you are interested in trying this course, you can get it now from Udemy for $18.99.

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