You can't sit a kid down in front of Linux....

[Eroberer]

...in the command line interface and expect them to learn a thing. So what did the first people who said "hey, cool, Linux..." do to learn their command line?

A search on Google has brought up no in depth description of some of the commands I've read about (and and some I've used), and I really don't want to buy a book. I've managed to forget how I became a master of DOS, pre-1995 if you know what I mean. Maybe just some simple concepts, I dunno. I've already explored the NHF's, and they were not far enough indepth to inspire confidence (in me at least).

Any tips?

[goon12]

Look around on here for some DOS vs Unix commands.. http://www.computerhope.com/unix.htm#03

Also you could buy a book.

[ 29 October 2001: Message edited by: goon12 ]

[Strogian]

Books work well. :)

[The Whizzard]

My suggestion is to get a cheap pentium or 486(maybe you have a spare one already?). Do a basic install(just CLI). Print out something like this. (http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/commands/index.html) And let them screw around with it. If they break something, just reinstall the basic stuff over again.

That's pretty much how I learned DOS, except I only had a 8088 5Mhz machine. When I started out with linux, I installed it on a spare box and started trying out the diferent commands. Figured out what does what by actually doing it.

Let them do whatever. Let them explore. They'll figure it out. Kids these days seem to learn quicker than earlier generations. :D

[Strike]

To your first sentence, Eroberer, I say ... "why not?" That's what I had to do somewhat when I first interacted with computers around age 4 (with an old Apple IIe). Coaching was in the form of observation (watching my brother, age 8, do stuff with it), asking questions, etc. Within a year or so, DOS was no sweat on our old Compaq Deskpro/386.

[DMR]

Hmm...
IIRC, my recipe for learing any OS has gone like this:

1. Read, read, read! (Voraciously)

2. Do, do, do! (Put what you read to use. Try different commands and their options to see what they do. Hose your system a few times; re-installs are a great learning experience.)

3. Ask, ask, ask! (After reading everything and more, of course.)

4. Don't sleep! Don't sleep! Don't sleep! (Did I mention the part about not sleeping?)

5. COFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEE
COFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEECOFFEE!!!


:D

[thedexman]

You can't sit a kid down in front of Linux.......in the command line interface and expect them to learn a thing.

You cant?????

[DMR]

In light of some of the other responses, I guess I should add this thought:

It seems to me that a kid is the most likely candidate for solving, in any OS, the puzzle that is the command line. On the whole, as we get older our capacity for analysing and coping with new/foreign ideas seems to diminish. Not that this is as true for those of us here as it is for the general population, but you get the idea. Check out some of the "how old is everyone here" or "how/when did you start using Linux" posts in the General: Off-Topic archive. I think you'll find that many of the members here started their computer education by sitting down in front of a command line at a very early age. For that matter, some of the most knowledgeable/helpful members at LNO are probably still considered "kids" by some (as opposed to me; I'm an old fart).
;)

[ 29 October 2001: Message edited by: DMR ]

[WillyM]

The thing about linux is you can create an account for the kid and he/she can do any thing they want and they can't mess the system like windows,I was talking to the local school people about teaching a real os
instead of expencive windows and they said
"The kids already know it"so I make my kids "teach me" and they learn fast.
Create an account and they will learn!

[Lorithar]

*umm*

I THINK ... no ..

1) I learned DOS/Windows/VMS/MVS/linux by sitting down and thumping on it... until I got it..
2) RTFM.
it'll save yer but every time...


(Yes ... thats MVS in there.. Were I started on it they had a 'Play' Lpar... *wheeeeeeee* fun... (ever killed a system with hello world output to a spool??? *grin*))

[lilrabbit129]

wait wait....

hello world output to the spool?

explain please....

[X_console]

He just said he didn't want to buy a book. :) My experience is that if the person is determined to learn how to use the OS, then he'll learn it through experimentation and lots of reading (online tutorials, irc, forums, books, etc). I learnt DOS and Linux in the same way. Lots of reading on Google, paying visits to libraries for books I couldn't afford, go to cheap book sales, and just spend HOURS in front of a black screen with white (or green) text.

My first Linux distro was Slackware 2.3, kernel 1.2. It came with a book that I got for a total of $2 Canadian (note that this book was currently being sold at major bookstores for a whopping $50 Canadian). The book helped tremendously. I spent hours and days on it and I'm glad now that I did. :)

[Eroberer]

Thank you all for the help and confidence. I want to say though, that I should've mentioned that I'm only 18, and I was making an reference to an obscure quote on here that I liked, where someone said Windows and Linux can be learned at the same pace by any two kids who knew nothing from the start. :)

I can't afford books, so the internet and the library (something I hadn't thought of) will be my guides! I'll trust you all that I'll be up in knowledge later. ;)

[scanez]

Originally posted by Eroberer:
<STRONG>I was making an reference to an obscure quote on here that I liked, where someone said Windows and Linux can be learned at the same pace by any two kids who knew nothing from the start. </STRONG>
I tend to agree with that idea.

SC

[chikn]

YOU NEED A BOOK- One of the first linux books I bought was a book on nothing but linux commands- cant remember the name of it but it has a horse on the front and is like 300 pages of nothing but commands and descriptions of them. Its a really good book and I only paid $10 from B&N

[thedexman]

There is no need to go out and buy a book. Many libraries will have books on UNIX and Linux. If you have web access of any kind, that's all you should really need. There are so many guides to using Linux and UNIX out there. Plus there are always man pages.

[nathaniel]

:: He just said he didn't want to buy a book. :) My experience is that if the person is determined to learn how to use the OS, then he'll learn it through experimentation and lots of reading (online tutorials, irc, forums, books, etc). I learnt DOS and Linux in the same way.
::
I remeber setting my files to hidden ( u know the pics u would grab off of the BBS at 2100bps for 20 minutes that were only 200kb ) and then forget the name of the file (B4 I found a copy of win3 )

NB

[Vagrant]

if you want to learn the commands in depth .. .. this may seem a little obvious, but i guess they are underestimated ..
MAN PAGES! , i mean really, look at all the documentation on just the 'ls' command, jus pick commands at random and do a 'man' on them and learn all the obscure facts about them you can i guess. jus my thoughts ..
*vagrant

[Eroberer]

I've used several man pages, and all of them have been of absolutely no use to me. The -tar man page is awful, IIRC, although I did finally find a very simple guide to using that command somewhere on the internet.

I do at least try them out. I also must admit that I do not read the entire entry, I mostly just skim through them. Still though, they are very vague about syntax and maybe some other things I forgot.

[messy]

Originally posted by chikn:
<STRONG>YOU NEED A BOOK- One of the first linux books I bought was a book on nothing but linux commands- cant remember the name of it but it has a horse on the front and is like 300 pages of nothing but commands and descriptions of them. Its a really good book and I only paid $10 from B&N</STRONG>

Running LINUX is the name, and a fine book. :-)

[OliverW]

Originally posted by Eroberer:
[QB]...in the command line interface and expect them to learn a thing. [QB]

Huh? Don't under estimate kids dude! When I started with computers there was no thing like a GUI, and guess what? I learned!

I think it's totally rediculous how lazy people are these days. Look around you there are books like: ICQ for Dummies, IE5 for Dummies etc. etc. Why? I've seen program 1500% more complicated than that.

Next to that you now have the internet. Seriously till now I could find everything on every subject I searched for!


When I started with computers and internet there was no such thing, you had to go out and learn and do. People are just so afraid to screw up.

[--C4--]

I hate to suggest this, but if you're too cheap/without means to buy a book, you could always *gasp* try do download one... they're PDF's aplenty on Gnutella networks worldwide...

You sound like a command line god, you could really benefit from Linux_in_a_Nutshell (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxnut3/) from our friends at O'Reilly (http://www.ora.com).

*edit*
doh! Had to fix link

[ 04 November 2001: Message edited by: --C4-- ]

[Denise]

I'm lucky my company pays for any book i want. But here are a few good ones I've found

1. Unix The complete Reference: ISBN 0-07-211892-x published by Osborne

2. Linux Administration A begginers guide: ISBN 0-07-213136-5 also published by Osborne.

Most times you can get books really really cheap from www.half.com (http://www.half.com) some people buys these books, then find out they really aren't into OSes. If you search on the web you can get some really great deals on books. Especially for Unix and Linux.

Good luck!!

[stiles]

UGU has a few into to unix links (under getting started):
http://www.ugu.com/sui/ugu/show?help.beginners