Linux is complicated, there's no doubt. Many times I find myself baffled for lack of context.

You know, when the first Macintosh computers came out in the 80s I just sat down and played with them all day. Enough context markers were embedded in the operating system and the programs to lead me on, and frustration and unknowable factors were resolved within a reasonable timeframe by simple curious intent.

It is NOT that experience with Linux!!!

Instead, I sit down and surf the web through endless reams of gibberish and geek-garbled double-dutch on the unbased and unsupported conviction that Linux is of some benefit to something, I'm not sure what, and if I'm feeling at all confident in my curiousity, download a program perhaps which I can't comprehend the instant I try to operate it.

I need context, not intruction.

I need Linux to make sense. I need it to actually be meaningful gibberish and double-dutch.

SO....

WHY is Linux useful, sensible, relevant, meaningful?
WHY does it seem so unclear and difficult?

Where on the web can I find a set of context markers for Linux usage. I have read the wikipedia article on it, and followed some of the links on it, and downloaded Firefox and GNU on the exhortation of friends. I understand the political and social aspect of open source everything, and it makes sense to me.

BUT...Where are the context markers?

I am looking for the equivalent of an About article, or a truly useful Askjeeves response, or a decent DMOZ category, that, rather than dose the mind with foggy jargon, actually explains the matter.

Any takers?

Paul Bard.