What should I do to learn?
 

Hi, I'm currently VERY new to linux... I've been reading about it and playing with the idea of installing it on my computer (which I finally did last night) for quite some times.

however, I would like to become a highly competant linux user as I'm hoping to get a degree in computer science. (I want to program software, and maybe even work on linux myself)

My first experience with linux was "Pink tie" (Red Hat) linux 7.3 when I was 14. I wasn't able to play much with it because I didn't comprehend it all. Since then I've been complacent and just used windows without a second thought. I haven't done any basic script writing or anything of the sort since I was about 14 but I'd like to start again.

So basically I want to know where the best places to start are... I need the crash course if you will. I have a spare laptop that I can install distrobutions of linux on without fear or worry of damaging anything... I'm looking at maybe getting my hands on Arch Linux or SlackWare 10.2 as a learning situation.. (I have suse 10.1 on my desktop currently dual booting with windows).

If there are any good books that can help me get back into the groove of things, articles I should read, chat rooms I should visit, etc. Let me know please. I really want to learn So maybe one day I'll be working on a distro myself.

To start with, I would say just commit to using Linux for everything you now use Windows to do. If you find something that you can't duplicate or work-around from Windows, figure it out (No emulators). As far as programming is concerned, I'd start with bash scripting. There are tons of tutorials as close as Google.

You get to Guruville the same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

Sound advice from rickh. Just start "messing about" like you probably did when you first started with windows, and get the feel of the basics.
Most PC users never get past the stage of using the same few basic programs they have installed anyway. If you want to learn more, then have a look at RUTE (there's a link in my signature) which is a great guide to linux and is available for free online, although I finally ought the book because I use it regularly and I find it easier to look things up and make my own personal notes.

i started on redhat 5.2 and the only reason i am where i am now is cos i formatted my vfat/fat partition(whatever it was) and forced myself to use linux (which i am grateful to myself for).

As for programming Bash is great to start with ,but also look at other languages like python and perl which can help nicely with sysadmin as well as make larger projects.

yeah, I tried centering my desktop experience around SUSE but it's been really buggy for me... I need to communicate with my external harddrive as it holds all my documents and ISO and downloads for me. Suse give me something like
"/dev/sdb1 found in /etc/fstab" I'm thinking I may have to use a different distro... like I said I'm looking at using arch linux or Slackware because the put you in an enviroment where you're forced to learn how to do things.

exactly....
you are what your environment makes you.


and that quote is not stolen friends
YEAH

It's probably only 'buggy' because you don't know how to use it yet. There are good reasons to change distros, but, "This one gives me error messages," is not one of them. Arch and Slackware are good distros, but a newbie should get comfortable in the Linux environment before tackling them.

Ok, so I can put myself in an enviroment where I can learn... but I'm having a bit of seperation anxiety with my desktop. I'm not attached to windows, I'm attached to being on the internet, chatting with my friends, and reading things... and listening to mp3s. My computer stores the bulk of my life, and I really can't afford to lose that functionality for even long periods of time.

So what I'm saying is that I need a 'newbie' distro that'll sit well with my desktop and I want to put slackware or arch linux on my laptop and use that as my learning enviroment... using my desktop only when I run into walls that I can't get around with my own wits...

Actually the SUSE YAST2 and Sofware updater are broken... I'm not the first of even part of a minority to experience that.
As for the hard drive thing.. I'm still working on a work around... I tried googling but that did me no good. I recieve that message every time I attempt to read the drive.
I was thinking Fedora Core 5, but I'm not sure... the mass of distros has me confused... Also my hardware doesn't agree with a lot of distros (ATI radeon x600) so I sometimes have problems starting X on live CD's.

If you choose one of the major distros, all of this stuff will most likely be automatically configured, especially internet, chatting, and reading things (mp3s may require a little input on your part). I would recommend taking a look at the reviews for Linux distros here at LQ. It seems that most of the reviews are written by Linux newcommers, so they would probably be helpful for you.

I have used a bunch of different distros in the past and for the newbie Fedora Core seems to offer the best experience, especially installation. It just seems to have the most stuff automatically available (and by automatic, I mean you don't have to manually edit config files).

Whatever you do, just make sure you don't give up too easy. There is a lot of documentation available and pleanty of knoxledgable people ready and willing to help.

Good Luck,
~Justin

I read them lol :) That's what led me to suse. I love suse save for the package manager and updater problem... but I need to be able to read from my external hard drive... I put EVERYTHING on it... I go in between lots of computers (My laptop when I get it working with a linux distro, my windows partition, my suse partition(hopefully) and my fathers computer). I store EVERYTHING on it... school work, downloads, ISO files, e books, music, you name it.

But yes SUSE has worked for me in terms of auto configuring my hardware (except for my graphics card... I'm going to try to fix that though, I want to use XGL)
I just need a work around for this hard drive thing... although I think I know what caused it... I left the hard drive plugged when I installed SUSE and it detected it... I don't know why that would cause a problem but that's the only thing I can think of =\

I am currently doing just about the same thing as you. But with different distro's. What it sounds like is once you get it to where you can read from your external drive, and go on the net you will stick with that. which is great cause then you will want to use the linux instead of windows. and that will in turn make you start to configure it to be your only operating system.

what counld be explained which may help some people here help you is, what kind of drive you are connecting, how are you connecting it (usb?)? are you using the gui or command line?.

"You're already here."

This web-site is one of the best places.

As for learning... I guess it comes gradually and really can't be rushed. At least I don't think it can. The best place to start learning is to recognize that you are learning a craft and that most of the learning is by doing.

Having said that... buy or resuscitate a spare computer. Leave your existing Windows machine(s) completely alone. The machine should have a network card and a CD/DVD ROM drive. Preferably, it should have two hard drives.

Presto... now you have a computer you can trash, and not hurt anything "important." No dual-booting, no risks. And now, that's exactly what you proceed to do.... trash it. :) When you've got it running, tear it all apart and build it again. Wanna try six different distros? Go for it!

Now.... keep a diary. Write down each day what you've done and, each time you have a question, write it down. Once you've done that, you won't forget it, so you can let go of it until you're ready to pursue it. I actually use a loose-leaf notebook and a number-two pencil.

For each change, each thing you propose to do, think about it first. How do you intend to do it? (Make a punch-list.) How will you get out if .. when .. :eek: "it" happens? Then, when you actually do it, how'd it go? And so on.

That's what I'm doing with my laptop :D. I have SUSE 10.1 dual booting on my desktop next to windows though. I'm looking at Arch Linux or Slackware to install on the laptop... the real learning distros where you configure everything yourself...

IM also a noob, I have been using windows all my life. I actually work in a computer shop, i build custom servers for random companys.

Linux is quite different. It definatly helps if you have basic knowledge of the guts of windows. That seemed to help me out some, but again, nothing is the same....some things are just "simular"

They way Im learning, is posting a lot on here and getting answers. I also use Linux for EVERYTHING I do, I wont let myself touch a Windows computer. I just sit around and figure it out

My setup sounds similar.I use Mandriva 2006.When I installed it I had my usb seagate hd plugged in and turned on and its accessible in the devices folder on the desktop.This is where I have my mp3's stored .I Play them all the time using amarok.All of my other hardware was found and configured as well.Phew.
Mandrivas package manager is a breeze.Setting up the urpmi sources is easy as copy and paste but are time consuming(depending on your d/l speed).
I am going to go back to the x86 version and not the 64 bit.
64 doesnt have the bibletime package available and I cant find a flashplayer that works in 64.

I'll second that!

Thats so funny.I wish I could post a pic.You'd see piles of yellow legal pads and dead ink pens.It REALLY does help if you write it down.....If I could just find it again :rolleyes:

Hope this helps

Brilliant.. Practice practice practice.

What I did was started with mandrake (mandriva), switched through some other stuff, and ended up on Arch. Mepis and Ubuntu are both good newbie distros that are based off Debian, which has a massive user base. I love arch because it's simple, and works. I also like configuring things myself. Automagical configs tend to get in my way.

I had millions of sheets of paper everywhere around my desk lined with commands and various programs/things that I found important.

Keep at it, you'll get there. Just remember, the greatest thing about Linux is the community. Never be afraid to look for the answer, and if you can't find it. ask. ask. ask.

One thing I always tell my students is to never be afraid of asking a stupid question, you even learn from them. So, keep at it. You might even find, like me, that after a point, you get sick of everything being done for you, and you want an easy way to config your computer.

Oh ya, forgot to add.....

Debian based Linux distros seem to be the easiest to use. Im running Linux on an older machine (pentium2), so Im kinda limited to what I can use on this computer. Damn Small Linux (www.damnsmalllinux.org) seems to be pretty easy to use and configure. It has detected all of my hardware, w/out a problem.

I have heard some good things about Ubuntu. I used a live CD of it once, and it seemed REALLY easy to use. And it has lots of tools to configure it (like windows control panel)

anyways, find one you like and stick with it.

Adamant1988, have you considered Vector linux? its slackware based and as a relative 'newb' like yourself (ive been using linux for 6 months now) its great. some things are precompiled and work out of the box, and other things require you to think and ask questions. there is mp3 and video support, but say if you want to read .chm files, you will need to compile from source, so you still learn, it seems like the perfect bridge between Fedora core 4 (which was my first distro) and slackware (which will be my next distro, so i can learn more). also Vector comes with a good range of alternative window managers and semi desktops, for instance it comes with Fluxbox, IceWM, and XFCE window managers and optional Rox extensions which allow for icon support on the desktop and and an easy to use point-and-click folder system (which are all pre-configured options for you to try at the login screen). just keep trying different distributions untill you find one that gives you a foothold. also trying different distros allows us to look at different software, so go for something wildly different than FC4 or RH, and you might find a few programs that you like that you can migrate to another distro down the line, if you want to move on.

Actually that vector linux thing sounds pretty nice... I attempted to add support to my SUSE installation (for mp3s) but I was met with a dependancy hell in yast2 unlike any other. Basically I got a dependancy error for every single peice of software installed on the system already...

Frightened I was.

Suse 10.1 seems to be kind of 'hit or miss' with detecting my cd's and I'm getting a lot of errors at pretty random intervals. I'm figuring that I had a bad burn or download and some things got corrupted along the way... I'll look into Vector Linux :)

Jump in the deep end with Slackware/Vector or Debian. Any other distro all you are really learning is how to use that distro, if you want to get your hands dirty and really learn how to harness the power of Linux use Slack or Debian.

The Debian netinstall is very simple. Or you can use a livecd like Kanotix or Ubuntu and install it.
Vector will give you a working Slackware syetm and it is super easy to install plsu it boots super fast.

Another thing you might want to consider is running linux inside Vmware, that way you can play around with several distros as long as you have the space on your HD. I run Fedora Core5, SUSE, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS and PC-BSD this way; as well as windowsXP inside Debian.

The VM ware solution was an option but windows hates me... I attempted to install the VMware program and was met with an installation hang-up...

I could always try again though..

I've never really liked .RPM based distros, something about the .RPM packaging has always irked me the wrong way. In all honesty, if you really want to learn linux, you should use Slackware. It is, after all, the oldest linux distro out there. It's the most basic, and also one of my most solid. Vector is very solid too.

But, as I said before, as to your problem with YaST, I hate programs that try to do everything automatically for you. It takes away the degree of control that Linux gives the end user!

I have been wracking my brain over why people choose to install RPM/Debs over source. Yes source may take longer but it seems like it's worth it in the long run, and if I'm not mistaken, dependancies arent a big problem with source are they?