Hey folks,

I'm looking the best way to learn about Linux, I want to be a pro and know my way around linux problems, so I was wondering what do you guys recommend for me to start learning linux?

So far I got OpenSUSE on my laptop (hey I don't have Windows installed anyway) but I went for OpenSUSE because it is "friendly".

Now I went to my public library and looked for book about OpenSUSE, but they don't have it... they only have about RED HAT.

Sorry, I'm typing this really fast, I apologize if it seems like a run-on sentence.

Thank you so much.

You've already got the important part, a system running linux. Now you need some time and a willingness to poke around.

http://www.die.net is a good web site for looking up Linux commands.

General purpose books like O'Reilly's "Linux In A Nutshell" or "Running Linux" are helpful.

If you can, purchase a removable drive so you can back up critical files, documents, and so on.

If you want to learn (REALLY learn), drop SuSE. Great distro for the beginner, but even beginners can start with more "advanced" distros. Pick up something like Slackware or Debian or something similar. Then, just learn. Don't use ANY GUI tools unless you absolutely have to. Must-have GUI tools that come to mind are web browser, e-mail client, image editor, and spreadsheets. Other than those four, pretty much everything can easily be done via command-line.

The most important thing to do in the command-line, though, is to configure your system and install software and set up services and such.

Also, learn BASH.

For general tutorials, have a look at http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz and http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/index.html - they're both useful. For programming stuff, go to http://sourceforge.net/ or similar sites and volunteer.

For administration type tasks, pick an activity (web server, mail server, database, etc.) do some research to see what open source products do the job and set them up yourself. This is a great place to get help on those types of activities.

If you want to learn linux, forget Debian. Debian is a great distro, and Ubuntu has shown that it Debian is also for beginners, and good for Desktop, and Debian's home is at server racks... but if you really want to learn, get Gentoo.

It will take time. You can install Gentoo in a hour these days. Once installed and perfectly running, play with it for some time so that you have idea of what exactly things are done in Gentoo.

Then, try to install it using the long, manual way. Believe me, it is a little slow but the best way to learn some of the most basic things about how Linux and in general a Unix system is structured and how different parts interact with each other.

I'm gonna just wade in with my oar here - mutt is a great terminal email client. Used with fetchmail, procmail, sendmail and spamassassin you get a good bullet proof email client with some nice features for mailing lists as well as the usual mails. If you manage to get those progs running (esp sendmail) then you are well on the way. Almost all linux software has some sort of mailing list these days so sign up for a few and lurk a while.

There are also some good terminal browsers like links, elinks (good), w3m (ok), lynx but websites do tend to look better in guis these days.

If you go with Slackware there are a lot of helpful people on the official slackware forum here. You will configure it mostly using a text editor so have a good look at finding one to learn and keep as a favourite.

Learn some things like switching to root user in a terminal - 'su' and 'sudo' commands for that. Learning some bash coding is also useful. Config files can read like gibberish if you don't have much of a programming background.

Good luck and have fun!

true, the guys on the slackware forum are great (as they are on all the forums here on LQ's) and have helped me get my new wireless mouse up and running today, by helping me install an updated kernel.

ive set the homepage in my browser to the slackware forum, so that when i start a net session i can look to see if theres anything new that interests me, that i can then apply to my own system.

its taken me a good year or 2 to get comfortable linking my slackware system together and getting things the way i like them, but its been really enjoyable.

Great dig for slackware.

I started with debian. Had problems that applications would freeze often. Could not find a solution. Tried ubuntu which crashed at second boot.

Ive since used slackware 12 right after it came out about 9 moths ago.I have not looked back!
I like the kde gui and ive gotten everything setup.

I now do almost everything in slack for my small business.

How I learned was to read lots of forums, googled "linux tutorials", "slackware tutorials", and anything else I wanted to learn.
Read the man pages.

I keep a journal of everything Ive learned this past year including the following subjects.
Bash commands such as sudo, passwd, adduser, nano, cd,cp,ls,ln,tar,chown,chmod....
I learned about
mysql (database)
samba (access lan network)
setup conextant modem tty
efax gui
setup open office for soho (small office home office)
installing flash player
compiling from source (./config make check install)
security: rkhunter....
accessing devices
fuse and ntfs-3g (edit files in windows from linux)
fstab devices included at boot.
compiling a new kernel
To name a few...

journaling is a great way to remember what you learned.

Welcome to the world of Linux..
I have only been kicking around here a few weeks..I have been frustrated as all hell at times,and i have been extremely elated as well.
Linux is some new ground,and you will need to be patient if you are coming from Billy Boys world(XP)..
I am slowly learning patience,and i am not a patient person by nature!so not only am i learning a new Os,Linux is also teaching me a critical life skill
I think a lot of people have missed the mark by not asking exactly what do you plan on using Linux for? Do you plan on programming?Doing work,office,graphics etc etc...For my needs i choose Xbuntu,it is similar to Billy Boys world,yet better,and i will not lie, at times it is worse,as not having a lot of patience(wee bit Scottish,Grant clan here)..However Linux ends up being a lot better when i finally figure things out,thanks to everyone out here.
For myself it is better than XP because it is adaptable to ME,sure some say XP can be and at times i guess it can be,however XP is like having an Albatross around your neck...It is heavy,bloated, just tired,and limited...It isn't as flexible and it is also Billy Boys world!..Man...i do not like that man!,thats why i despise it so much...Anybody have a pie? lol I loved that one,anyone recall that?
I like Xbuntu, its light,great for older PCs etc..Installed effortlessly for me etc.
I have no idea why the person above was steering you to a more difficult OS?! Maybe they are thinking that it will benefit you to learn difficult things first?? That will not work! Doctors do not learn how to perform open heart surgery before studying anatomy...If you are very accustomed to XP it would be VERY wise to stick with something similar and fairly easy to handle at first,or you may be running for that windows XP CD before you know it.I think a lot of wood be converters are frightened away because they try to take on too much at once..Just ease into things,download and burn some test distro CDs,try them out..I have tried many,its a lot of fun a great way to learn, and helps you to realize just how flexible Linux is, compared to that old sleeping dog XP.
Believe me,as a newb you will get frustrated,you will at times be reconsidering Billy Boy,but do not give up!,stick with it,and always keep an open mind...
Remember that there is "nothing worth having in life, that comes without some kind of a fight"
Have fun...And you WILL see me out here bashing my head against the wall i am sure,in my constant effort to learn a new and better way...

linux from scratch is great way of learning.
Learning how to build a linux OS from the ground up kicks ass

http:.//www.linuxfromscratch.org

This is very true. I personally can't get used to command-line e-mail clients or web browsers. I'm sure they work just find, but it's probably the one thing I can't do more efficiently on a command-line.

He said he wants to learn Linux and be a pro. Slackware is not by any means hard. Even a lot of newbies I've heard like Slackware. The key is that it's /different/. Linux in general is /different/; Slackware just happens to be slightly more /different/ (read: old school) than most other Linux distros. Its old school approach and heavy command-line dependency make it one of the best tools for learning Linux. The command line is /not/ hard. It's fairly simple at its core, and it provides incredible functionality. Learning to use it is one of the best things a person who wants to be a Linux pro could ever do. In fact, it may be considered the most important!

I see your point...Slackware is great!...Not hard,i didn't mean to tell him that it is hard..I just meant that it takes a little feeling out is all..
Slackware is very different from the MS world,which can scare off a newb..
Is it not wise to ease into Linux,when coming from MS?...I mean obviously he has zero skill with Linux,and being a newb i know the whole idea of another world than MS is a little scary at first.
I personally don't think it is wise to dive right into the command prompt end of things right away...Well i guess that depends on the individual..Remember that alot of people are coming from the world of point and click,and i do know many people who tried S ware and were scared off all together from Linux!..Actually everyone i work with thinks i am crazy for dumping MS and having Linux as my sole OS...But they all are brainwashed by the MS propaganda.
I personally feel that he will be best suited easing into things trying different Distros etc and then when comfortable,dive into command prompt operating.I am now exploring that and am loving it..However two weeks ago i would have likely ran back to MS if Slackware was all there was.
I plan on heading into S world very soon,however personally if i were this new guy id would wait till the comfort zone is right.
Just my two cents.

I second the motion! With the mouse clicking on links to browse is just easier.

Im a noob and have found that Slackware has worked best for me. It is not difficult at dave666 has stated. It is a little different. You need to install a package manager separately. You have a selection of several different x including kde.
okos

Oh yea and dave666 when you are talking about billy boy you must be talking about clinton :0 and xp must mean his experience.