why not use shades of green for all parties at this point? /s

What? Where did I say that? Everyone knows that the equator region will become inhospitable in a few years because of the combination of high temperature and high humidity. Certainly not “the place to be”.

Give it a few more years…

Delta Chat is awesome encrypted/secure messaging via imap and thus compatible with anyone who has an email address.

Conversations is an excellent XMPP client.

people with thick glasses

you are not totally wrong

and think they are geniuses

FTFY :-P

That said, play and don’t be afraid to break things. Try stuff. Use an old laptop or PC and install some distro. Then another. There’s a plethora of options on multiple levels and it’s hard to find what suits best for you.

Read How to ask questions the smart way completely. (Not only useful for tech but for any kind of expertise).

Finding a community is easy in the opensource world. It’s mentioned in the documentation most of the time. And there’s tons of websites, forums, mailinglists, meatspace usergroups etc.

Google for error messages. Chances are pretty good, someone solved your problem before you encountered it.

Be patient. Be polite. Be persistive. There’s always a solution and most of the times, you can do it.

Don’t like something or miss something? Ask… People will tell you why things are the way they are or might even add/change it for you.

Learn to program: Great, now you can modify software to fit your needs for yourself. And if you merge your work, others will profit, too.

Most importantly: Have a lot of fun!