Broadening my horizons...

[Warnie Pritchett]

Recently, I have realized that I'm sick of the happy "Start" button. Windows is really starting to get on my final nerve, and while I'm glad to be a MCP for Windows NT Server 4.0, I want to broaden my horizons.
I have been trying to learn Linux, but I must admit, I end up completely mystified. This, of course, discourages me, and doesn't make any sense to me. After all, I can recite DOS line commands, and when I look at a Linux terminal, I see an advanced version of DOS. I know that's probably heresy to those who are strictly Linux users, but that's what terminal reminds me of - an advanced DOS prompt.

Yet, the more I get into it, the more I get lost. Perhaps I'm too infused with Windows GUI's, but I really want to learn Linux to be able to use more than one network OS.

If anyone can recommend any good tutorial sites or any decently priced instructional books, it would be greatly appreciated. I really am trying to understand Linux, but I guess I'm still stuck in my Windoze ways.

[soleblazer]

This is one of the best sites to learn. I used to just sift through all the questions and answers. The NHF's here are really great too.

As far as books, In my opinion the best Linux book is "Linux, Installation, Configuration,USe" ISBN 0-201-59628-8

happy trails, it gets easier

Also, never mention the dreaded MCP word or better yet MCSE, my career is still recovering as a result of being tramatized asan mcse.

[bdg1983]

Read the NHF's here. Basic Commands is a good one to start with.

When you install Linux, you will find hundreds of megs of how-to's, man pages etc.

Get in the habit of reading the posts here.

Just about everything you can think of at www.linuxdoc.org (http://www.linuxdoc.org) (actually much of the how-to's here will be installed on your system).

Free online books available at http://infobase.informit.com/linux/ although registration is required.

Use your search engines. Google is very good for Linux.

[yard21]

In my opinion, if you want to read really good books about Linux and everything related to it, nothing's better than the books from O'Reilly (http://linux.oreilly.com). You should probably start with "Running Linux", but there are also more specific ones, like "Learning Red Hat Linux". You'll like it!

[stingray72]

Linux.org has a good tutorial on UNIX commands. It's under "classes" or something like that, I can't remember. It will take some time to go through, but it will give you a good basic understanding.

Good Luck

-stingray72

[Warnie Pritchett]

Originally posted by soleblazer:
Also, never mention the dreaded MCP word or better yet MCSE, my career is still recovering as a result of being tramatized asan mcse.

I sort of know the feeling, but I look at it from a career angle - and this is why I really want to get into and work with Linux: The more documents you have to prove what you know the better off you are. I'm currently A+, Network+ with 2MCP's, and currently working towards upgrading those two to Windows 2000.

At the same time, I'm studying Cisco Systems and trying to get some practical experience with Linux for the CompTIA Linux+ exam later down the road. At the same time, I'm going back to college to get my BS in Information Science, which, it seems, is far more beneficial than any industry certification.

I figure that a company would rather have someone who has taken the initiative to understand more than just one NOS, so I'm trying to understand them all... however, I'm saving Novell for last. ;)

Thanks all for your comments. The NHF's, which I found after I made my post (duh! - guess I should have looked first), are helping tremendously. I'm very familiar with O'Reilly's work, as I had to read their PERL series for a former job. Unfortunately, we were using PERL for DOS, which really sucked.

Out of consideration for my wife, I have to keep some version of Windoze on the machine, as I'm certain she doesn't want to have anything to do with Linux. In some respects, I don't mind, as it gives me an opportunity to learn WINE.

Edit: FYI: I'm going with Mandrake 7.2 first, and then once I start learning, I'm going to start moving towards other distro's like Red Hat and/or Slackware. I would start with Mandrake 8, but I'm not so sure about the current stability of the beta... I've heard some conflicting reports from friends and co-workers.
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[ 09 March 2001: Message edited by: Warnie Pritchett ]

[willk]

...and,uh, ....lighten up a little...recognize this, not as something you need to do...but want to do.
In a year or so things that seem very difficult now and take weeks to grasp will seem simple...when that time comes...remember where you are at today when you speak to someone new....

[willk]

oh, ...forgot....

:) ...got Slack? :)