Hello All
 

I am totally new to Linux. I have been using Windows "forever," and will continue to use it as it is my job, but I would really like to learn about the phenomenon call *Nix.

I have tried to do this before, but found that I was not persistent and let the project fall by the wayside. I know that a lot of you believe (wholeheartedly) that Linux is all you need, but I need to have a real motivation (outside of curiosity)to help me continue with my *nix-journey.

My question is:

Did any of you have problems staying on-point when you first began, and if so, what did you do to overcome your lack of persistence?

Thanks all.

-hu5k3r

Ah a good question.

Well... an easy way of staying on linux is setting small goals. but do put them out in front.

Step one: Install linux alone on a system
Step two: try that again, but then next to a windows xp/7 installation
Step three: decide what you want for this system, step 1 or 2

Step four: Set a small goal here, like: run a web server or find gui linux applications for your windows ones
Step five: Execute step 4 for lots of different goals

Step six: Try making the programs you installed in step 4 more secure (by for example chrooting it) This is a more difficult challenge

Keep challengeing yourself. 7 Years in, without any classes i now know how to setup a Linux system, with & without GUI. Setup lots of servers, including but not limited to web, ftp, mail, mysql and dns. And recently I configured a full KVM based virtualization enviroment with 6 guests running 24/7 for lots of different needs.

Finding a challenge that keeps you motivated to figure it out is all about using your interrests or needs to do so. Lots of these things i could already do in Windows. but i wanted to do it good. instead of "yeah... it works... sort of". That was my motivation ;)

For me it was out of necesity, I wanted to set up an irc chat server and back then it was pretty much "here's a shell account, get on with it", so I had to learn how to compile software from source. From there it progressed to basic and then "advanced" DNS configurations.

Progressed from shell accounts to a co-located server, so that meant having to learn how to configure and install EVERYTHING.

Kept that going for a few years, websites kept getting more advanced, from static pages to PHP/MySQL sites, then forum sites, then LARGE forum sites with multi-server requirements (web on 1, database on 1) and then took the plunge and applied for a job which was as a Linux/Windows admin, and turned out there was more Lin than Win and progressed from there.

So really the motivation was initially to learn, then to solve my own hobbyist problems, and then to solve company problems.

I believe that windows versus linux versus mac is a good thing for consumers so I never want any of them to fail. You have to decide what is the best tool for your needs in any case.


For windows users, they already have tons of information that can be translated to linux. Every time you use some windows tool or windows command there is almost always a one to one command in linux. So, you don't need to learn new concepts, you simply need to find the linux way to do what you already know how to do.

There are lots of things Windows users know are not possible ... and which are common in the *nix world. The computing is just different once you break out of MS box.

We\* learn as we g;) therefor now a days many distros are so easy. Tried live OSs? (Most can run live to test them or VirtualBox can even run window$ in Linux...)

Hi and welcome to LQ.
Start to study linux here: http://www.tldp.org/.

Hello and welcome to LQ forum!

Apparently everything has its own type of problems associated with it. Even windows has lots of problems associated with it. So the thing that makes the difference is your determination for Linux and learning! Just keep in mind that every problem somewhere has it's solution, and Linux is not an exception.

So keep studying, keep challenging your doubts and... soon you will fall in love with Liunx. :)

Some good guides are here:
Linux on the Road
Introduction to Linux

Thank you all for the replies.
I am really excited about this journey.
Now is time to jump in.