Less than I should and hope to. I never made my own build, and mainly work from a laptop. I've dabbled in Linux a bit, but I haven't studied to the point where I can do everything from the keyboard. I'd like to, though.

Literally everything there is to know.

i study computer science.

I can build a computer but for some reason I prefer to hook up a laptop to a dock and use an external monitor. Who here uses Linux/BSD?

i know this much:
I I

>>5
I use OpenBSD and FreeBSD often, and GNU/Linux sometimes. I don't know much about computers though. I can only program in the userland, not the kernel, drivers firmware, or hardware description languages.

>>2
Doing things from the keyboard doesnt necesarially mean anything. MUD-looking text interfaces have all the same diasdvantages as GUI, and then some.
The best part of linux is the UNIXey stuff, combining programs together through the shell. Worry more about that than about configuring complicated weird shit or learning every single flag GNU programs with too many features take.
Its easier than it seems, all that shit you have to pour through archwiki to figure out just clouds the water. I hear BSDs have less of it, but they also have less support from the "outside world"(gaming, stuff like discord?).
As to OP, I guess I'm technically a power user but by the standards that word is used by I was a "power user" as a 13 year old windows gamer because I used youtube-dl from CMD.EXE and sometimes clicked on the 'advanced' and 'more' buttons in windows gui when it was failing at something.

>>8
>>1
>>2
The difference is, I guess, the same as the difference between a consumer and a producer.

I was lucky just to find this website, much less how to use any of the things described on it.

I'm at grandma-levels of techno-literacy. :(

I'd say I'm more tech savy than people I know IRL but I still feel too illiterate to give my input on anything online.

>>1
I'm a novice programmer. I've made the switch to GNU/Linux over the past year and have been learning pretty quickly. I'm aiming to build up a decent github over the next couple years and I'm taking an undergrad in computer science.
>>2
I'd like to emphasize that you don't need to be a programmer to use GNU/Linux, but also that by using GNU/Linux you can learn some valuable things about programming and computers in general. If you use a decently-supported distro, you'll run into the occaisional problem, and you'll also be able to solve them without too much trouble by looking up error messages. By learning to solve the inevitable problems, you'll learn how to use the OS, naturally and easily.
Also, definitely check out old PCs that are being thrown out by family, companies, etc. The PC can be older than yourself and you'll still learn something valuable by taking it apart, cleaning it, maxing out the ram, and then installing some Linux distro on the old shitbox. That's how I got used to GNU/Linux, I installed Slitaz on an old PC, and used it as a secondary PC until I was comfortable with it.

https://medium.com/@enkiv2/an-engineers-guide-to-the-docuverse-d080cdbb73a6