Looking for a mentor

[thor4linux]

Hello, I'm new to linux and would like a guide to help me know the deep inner workings of my system. I started with Mandrake 6.?, 7.0 and 7.1 and now have switched to SuSE 7.1. i would like to start off with simple admin. tasks. after that i am open to whatever. kernel mods and updates. i'm open to sugestions. this won't be a hand holding exercise. i will try to do as much research as i can and read all that i can, but sometimes I would need a little nudge in the right direction. well, lets see who is out there willing to help. :D

thanks, B

[RageAHolic]

Always willing to help...

[thor4linux]

Thank you Rage, Where would you suggest i start? I know simple commands like rm, cp, mv, rcp, mkdir, cd, grep, alittle gawk and sed and some more. i also understand Aliases.
and some bash scripting. What do you think the the number one thing a newbie should know is?

[bdg1983]

Start by reading the NHF's here (as I always suggest) http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/

Basic Commands etc.

If you did a full install, then you most likely have a few hundred megs of documentation installed. man pages, HOW-TO's and much more.

Plenty of free online books available on the web. http://infobase.informit.com/linux/ and others you should be able to find by searching.

[Strike]

mdwatts got you on the right track. Explore the 'net. There is tons of documentation out there for Linux. http://www.google.com/linux is a good place to search for Linux specific stuff, and for problems there's always ... here :)

[Molecule Man]

Once you have gotten beyond the simple stuff, set yourself a goal. It could be setting up an FTP server, arranging an automatic backup with cron, or compiling a new kernel. Random reading can be useful, but it helps to have specific goal so you can put what you learn into practice.

[RageAHolic]

Yep...I found that finding projects for myself was the best way to go.

It's one thing to read about setting up Apache...it's another thing do it. Same as an FTP server, setting up a small LAN with a Linux firewall/router, samba file/print server, etc...

Even if you're not interested in running an FTP server, it's pretty neat to set one up to see why they work the way they work.

Find projects for yourself so that you can practice what you learn.

I was blown away the first time that I compiled a program from source (it just happened to be blackbox) and the first time that I compiled the kernel. A really neat project might be for you to undertake a linux from scratch (LFS) project. www.linuxfromscratch.org...just (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org...just) something to think about :)

[Q-Gdoxl]

FREE online courses!
http://freeskills.efront.com/listcourses/cobrand/freeskills/category/2

I have found lots of these type services. Not too sure how great they are but for a newbie I am sure anyting is better than nothing. At least your not sitting there wondering what direction to go, these if nothing else should give you a path to start on! I am planning to start some of these soon as I get my new box built and set up my network!

If you try em lmk how they are!


A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with large hammer

Q

[thor4linux]

Thanks for all the support guys (and gals if there are any :) ) well my first big problem is with Vmware. it says thati don't have a "vmmon" module installed in /etc. but the ??module?? is listed in /etc. how do i tell if it is indeed loaded? all i have is an evaluation license and i would like to get it working :D. any ideas?? i have SuSE7.1 with the 2.4 kernel. and am running kde2

Brian