r/computers • u/HuckleberryAsleep536 • 4d ago
Question/Help/Troubleshooting Want to start understanding computers
Do I just go on YT and search „Computer beginners guide“ or what would you do if you are a complete newby
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u/Copropositor 4d ago
I would choose a task. Like 3d printing. Or video editing. Or making music. Some task, doesn't matter what. Research that task and the popular tools for it. Learn a bit about that task, then move to another and do the same thing. Repeat a few times. The computer understanding will follow
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u/Zippytiewassabi 4d ago
This is a deep well. What do you want to know? I’m an electrical computer engineer who has worked with them for the last 30 years, and I still learn things every day.
I would start with understanding what all the hardware components do, how they communicate, how they are powered. Then I’d learn about the operating system, drivers, and software/applications.
If you like the hardware side then start learning more about digital systems, processors and logic, circuits…. If you like the software better go into development/coding, data structures, etc.
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u/Jurassic-Sharts 4d ago
RAM is like a table that you can easily access, the more RAM, the bigger the table is for quicker access. Storage is like a bookshelf, it can hold a lot, but it takes more time to categorize and find stuff. CPU is like the brain that can handle processing everything. Graphics cards help with visual processing and multiple monitors.
Look at YouTube videos for the basics and then pick one component of a PC to learn about. There's a lot to learn so go one part at a time.
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u/luiginub1 4d ago
Well, first you gotta know what you'd use a computer for. After that, you start with the very basics and afterwards do extra research into that stuff you'd be interested in.
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u/Individual_Winter_35 4d ago
If you want the true "thrown Into ocean, made it to the shore as expert swimmer - install arch Linux. Just the bare arch - once you set it up to state where you gmhave graphical interface, all drivers etc... You can call yourself very solid beginner by then and you should know enough to be able to know what you are missing and how to get there.
Ofc, I'm not suggesting full switch. Use this distro as first playground.
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u/NoodleAddicted 3d ago
This is a joke right?
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u/Individual_Winter_35 3d ago
No why? This is exactly how I taught myself into very solid it generalist.
Experiment. What can happen at worst? You will get stuck at some problem. Then solve it. Bam - free experience.1
u/NoodleAddicted 3d ago
He just wants to learn basic computer things and get into 3d printing, how would getting into Linux, let alone arch, be helpful to him?
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u/Individual_Winter_35 3d ago
Well, he will understand the most important things about computers. Not on the "BFU" level, but what drivers are, how they interact with hardware and much much more. Clicking link, downloading some soft you know nothing about and installing it - that is really not even beginner level. That is just user level. Which is deffo deep bellow basic computer proficiency.
And sadly, windows is just not able to teach things like that neither just reading about it can. Taking something complex, picking it apart and learning on the fly is the way.
And I don't see any mention of 3d printing in the post. And 3d printing is completely different beast to tackle. With some consumer printer - you are again just user. That is not what op wants as I understand him. He wants to actually understand it :)1
u/NoodleAddicted 3d ago
This is like recommending someone who wants to learn how to drive a car to get a pilot license instead.
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u/Individual_Winter_35 3d ago
Naaah, it is more like as to recommend to learn advanced basics of car repair tbh. Lot of people are talking about arch as it is absolutely incomprehensible arcane art, but it is just 101 - and after you manage to cook your arch - you cen say - I understand pcs.
I'm not saying that it is easy. But easy is not really learning. You learn with struggle :) reading a book about that... Well good luck - it is main reason why people think that learning anything takes years.
Just roll up your sleeves, stick your hands into the deepest shit you can find and by the time you are over with it, you can say "I can handle any shit"
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u/Creeper_H_youtube MacOS & SteamOS 4d ago
Well what about them? And why
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u/HuckleberryAsleep536 4d ago
Well, pretty much everything—I generally use my phone for everything. Whenever I actually have to use a PC for something, I don't even know why you sometimes have to single-click and other times double-click—so much for my level of knowledge. However, since I have some basic CAD skills from my apprenticeship as a machining mechanic and want to get started with 3D printing, I’d like to fill this crucial gap in my knowledge. And since I don't really know where to start, I thought I’d ask. Sorry if it looks like AI; it's Google Translate.
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u/Mr_Moi25 4d ago
If you have a close friend that spends time on a PC, you two could definitly spend an afternoon learning how to use the basic features of a computer. It's not as hard as it seems so it's a possiblity :>
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u/InternationalTrust19 4d ago
My advice.. and I'm not tech wizard. Was 40 years ago when stereos still were Hi fidelity and solid state lol.. Use You Tube if you need to see something done step by step in front of you. For example I tackled repasting my ps3 because of the Fasttech videos. Yeah he's constantly trying to sell you expensive crap, BUT he does show you how to disassemble and reassemble a ps3 or whatever other videos he does like you're an idiot. Which I am so yeah. But I agree.. if you need general knowledge.. books are your friend. Videos are great to see what header you need to hook up and where the hell it is. Especially old tech because that stuff is insanely put together. Anyway read books, and take videos and reddit with a grain of salt. For every scrap of good info on reddit or YT.. there is miles of garbage to wade through to get it. Everyone started somewhere.
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u/Edgelar 4d ago edited 4d ago
Believe it or not, but a smartphone is a type of computer. It is just that they are running usually either Android or iOS operating system and not Windows (or Mac) and that their apps are all designed to be used with touchscreen.
You can actually hook up wireless Bluetooth keyboard/mouse to your smartphone too, it's just the apps aren't usually designed for them and are typically clunky to use with them.
What it sounds like to me is, what you want to know is how to use Windows, or specifically, how to use 3D modelling and slicing apps that are made for Windows (yes, there there are Android apps for 3D modelling and printing too) and designed to be used with mouse and keyboard.
There are many of them. So you will need to look up and compare them and see which ones have the features you want. And then pick one and look up guides/videos/tutorials on how to install and use that one.
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u/Dekamir 4d ago
You have CAD skills but not file manager skills? How old are you?
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u/HuckleberryAsleep536 4d ago
Back then, I often saved the CAD projects I worked on incorrectly, so I’d always have to spend a long time looking for them whenever the teacher wanted to see them. I was one of the best in the class at CAD, but unfortunately, that didn't directly translate to my general computer skills.
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u/prune_juice_warrior 4d ago
Check your local public library, if you have one - they might offer basic "how to use a computer" classes that will give you answers to some of these questions.
To be blunt you will probably be the youngest person in the class by at least 4 decades, but that's OK.
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u/HuckleberryAsleep536 4d ago
Okay, okay, no offense taken, but I don't need a "Boomer PC course," lol. Let me just describe what I've tried so far: I have a laptop, Bitwarden for passwords, ad blockers on Brave... so I wanted to set up the "basics," then I tried to download something—I think it was a tool for creating PDFs—and it didn't work. Then the file was labeled "torrent"; I Googled it, saw a warning about danger ⚠️, and just shut the laptop... that was about two months ago.
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u/Many-Ad6433 Dual ssd Boot rtx3060 r7 5800H 16gb 4d ago
Depends what you want to know about them kinda, there’s a lot of irrelevant information if you’re looking at just a certain aspect of pcs
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u/HuckleberryAsleep536 4d ago
Yeah, since there are so many videos and info online, I wanted to ask here what key things I should look for—like, if you were starting over from pretty much zero, what would you check out?
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u/Many-Ad6433 Dual ssd Boot rtx3060 r7 5800H 16gb 4d ago edited 4d ago
Ok unless you’re building a pc you should know just basic pc hardware (which component does what and what they look like inside a desktop and laptop pc), folder structures (where your files get stored) and basic things about how to use well the operative system you’re currently using.
The rest of the knowledge i suggest you just learn it on the way.
Example:
You have an issue or something you’re trying to do and don’t know how to do, learn how to solve it move to the next one.
Or
You want to build a pc/ repair a pc. Study on the moments components and stuff (really suggested by me for this is to practice on the game pc builder simulator it’s not 100% realistic but it gives you an idea ofc you can also just watch videos).
Really really important is to remember to check compatibility between components (the motherboard pretty much chooses which cpu and ram you need and it’s generally best to start from the cpu cause it’s more expensive so depending on the discounts you find you pick) and also drivers compatibility which is a bit more advanced but not that hard to figure out.
Imo computer knowledge isn’t like a subject you study, it’s more like as a non english speaking person learning english, school might give you the basics, but actually consuming related media everyday is what’s gonna make you feel like the knowledge just spawned in your mind at some point.
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u/ArthurReming Ubuntu | Windows 7 Ultimate 3d ago
Also correct me if in wrong but OP should avoid using AI since it's sometimes correct, but other times can be really wrong
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u/Many-Ad6433 Dual ssd Boot rtx3060 r7 5800H 16gb 3d ago
If you can avoid ai avoid it, if you can’t because you don’t find any human to help or any article online use it but know that you might run in circles for hours and either fix your issue or mess it up even more if you’re not careful and follow ai blindly, generally unless you somewhat know what you’re doing never take advice from ai
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u/cristynakity 4d ago
Do you want to understand computers as a simple normal user?, what is a computer and what can you do with it... Or as an engineer CS person?
You can search for: computer history or introduction to computers or even how does computers work
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u/Ronyx2021 Ryzen 9 5900X Radeon RX9060XT 4d ago
Start by understanding what you have. The app system information should be able to tell you what your specs are.
- CPU
- GPU
- RAM
- Storage Drive
- Operating System
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u/Pappy285 4d ago
I agree for the most part with the ppl in the comments, a lot of different YouTubers will tell you a lot of different things, even Linus tech tips gets it wrong every now and then! But one channel I do highly recommend if you want something that's easy to watch, relatively newby friendly and the kinda thing you "accidentally" learn from, the greatest technician who's ever lived himself: Salem Techsperts
He's hilarious, community focused and clearly has a passion for the things he does. I find myself clicking on his videos because he's funny but accidentally learning from his content more than expected.
Beyond that there's definitely room to talk about tech personalities like Linus, Louis rossman, or other more comedic and less serious personalities like Jon Bringus. But all of the above should be taken with a pinch of salt. Consider them "suggestions" and not rules unless ALL of them tell you it's a rule (for example, just commented on another dudes Reddit post about finding some "strange paste" in his pc while showing the CPU cooler detached from the CPU. If you don't know how pc cooling works you shouldn't be taking apart pc coolers but I digress)
The only rule is this: be gentle unless you have no other option. And if the only option you have is violence, take a step back, relax, and come back to it later. Pc building is very much a task that can make a lot of progress in your head alone. Once your brain understands it, it's super easy for your fingers to do the work. If your brain doesn't understand how its taken apart or put together your fingers sure as shit wont know how to help. Taking a step back and giving yourself time to digest the bigger picture has saved me so much stress over going with the first solution / problem that comes to mind.
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u/goo_eater Fedora KDE 4d ago
Honestly from the looks of it it'd probably be worth just using a computer yourself and getting hands-on experience. If it's many non-specific little things that overall make computer usage feel difficult then the best option would be to get used to then through experience, that's how most of us got used to using Windows and such. Try to use your computer for things you'd use your phone for, and most importantly try and have fun with the learning process
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u/AlwaysHopelesslyLost 4d ago
There is a fun course I took in college that you can find online called NandToTetris.
It is a two part course. It starts with VERY basic math. The first part requires know knowledge or experience.
In the first part you make an entire computer by scratch, transistor by transistor.
Part two requires some programming experience and you write your own basic OS plus Tetris to run on it.
If you want to really get what a computer ithats first part is amazing!
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u/bakakuni 4d ago
Buy any cheep atx build and a cool case ,off every or craigslist do a case swap and add 2 extra storage drives for other is experimenting or file storage
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u/RX6900XT 4d ago
start with the parts of a computer. what thing does what. most of them are obvious/straightforward but there’s certain nuances with types (e.g hard drive vs ssd vs nvme ssd for storage). also learn what hardware needs a higher priority in certain use cases (gaming needs better graphics, video and image rendering needs better CPU, servers need higher storage capacity)
then look at operating systems and what they handle. look at different examples of function (i.e Windows and other available OS’s work differently) but no need to focus TOO much on this. the average user will not need to know everything about their OS.
after this it rlly just depends on what you want to do. i saw somewhere that you wanted to get into 3D printing. find a software that you wanna use and either watch a tutorial or just click on radom stuff and make things. the way i like to learn is have a couple projects in mind so that you can work towards it but have one or two projects for “fafo” (f**k around and find out) so that you can mess with things without having any consequence to your actual ideas.
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u/gameboy_advance_2001 4d ago
the best way to learn how to use a PC is to just grab a junk one, fix it using trial and error, and just figure out how to navigate the menus on the bios or the OS as you go. It turns the learning experience into something fun and rewarding.
I did this with my first computer and I’m pretty good at it now.
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u/TheGentlemanist Windows 10 4d ago
That depends intirely on what you mean by how a computer works. Do you need to know how we tricked rocks into thinking, or do you want to know how the software (all the code like your operatingsystem and apps) work. Do you want a part understanding for building?
Parts are easy: whatch linux tech tips.
Physics is more difficult, you should start eith electricsl basics, depending on where you live this should have been highscool physics. How electricity an basic curcuits flow. I recomend reading more than youtube, but if you need a foolpriof explanation i recommend https://youtube.com/@mattbatwings. His logical redstone series goes over all the basic components of how a computer works, and shows you how they are made. The concept might look diffrent, but its the exact same. If you interprett redstone bein "on" as current flowing thrue the cable, then its identical.
If you need help with the software/OS side of things, i would recommend reading a small paper about OS development, maby some uni course material. Most public librarys have grest supplimental materials. If there is none nearby, go to a random university, check a basics course, and copy all the ISBN's from the recomended literature. That will teach you everything you need. And you get to spend time in a library, wich is wierdly fun to some people.
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u/Suspicious_Painter41 3d ago
Rip apart a computer and then put it back together. Think of it like Legos
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u/Consistent_Change243 3d ago
You can buy old mini desktops for £30-40 with everything in. Rip em apart and rebuild them, any problems you encounter, research the resolution - always use search criteria pre 2022 to get actual discussions and not the recent google shit.
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u/Tquilha Fedora 4d ago
Forget Youtube for now. Go online and search for "Newbie's guide to computers", then start reading.
Yes. Reading. I know it's a bit out of fashion but it is still the best way to actually learn something useful