Ok, here is the deal. I am an IT guy in NC. I have only played with GUI's aside from the days of DOS... I am going to have a number of questions and I hope that at least 73% of them will be answered.

1. FYI: Linux is another world to me (excluding the fun with Knoppix and the Logic games on it). My question is where is the best source/what is the best way to get aquainted with the command-line environment of Red Hat 9.0.

2. Pressuming I become one micron closer to being "savvy" in the realm of typing my instructions again, where would I turn to get a working knowledge of all (and I do mean all) the command line possibilities in Linux. (somewhat a repeat of #1) I am needing to be able to know every command and what it does. The first question is more of where do I get the basics of operating linux and this one is where can I just get a list of every command and what it does.

3. I have installed RedHat on a PC that works well with Mandrake 9.0. I assume the hardware issues are about the same (i had no problems in Mandrake with any of the hardware in that machine), but from the command line I want to be able to verify the network connection to ensure I am "on the network". Is there a linux equiv. to ipconfig in NT?

3a. I cannot ping local machines on the network and they cannot ping the Linux Box, but I can ping the router from the Linux box.
HELP!!!! I didn't enable the firewall for Linux and I did static the IP durring the install

4. Samba - how do I do anything with it and how I even get it running... the mysterious config file that is talked about so much I know NOTHING about.. not even where to start with it.

5. You want to know what I am doing leaving the familiar surrounds of windows and tasting the Power of the Darkside of the Box... well... I want more money at work...

Anyway, I don't know how much of a response I will get... but a simple "give up" response is about all I need to walk away from what could be a wonderful freedom found in Open Source.....


Thanks for all your help and I respect everyones' knowledge and understanding of something that I know nothing about... THanks..


Rev. Doug

Welcome to LQ.

1) I would say "use it" and use the resources of this site if you have questions or problems

2) http://www.onlamp.com/linux/cmd/
Also use man - eg "man bash" to find out about bash

3) Should be pretty much the same. The command is "ifconfig" (f rather than p)

3a) Sounds a bit odd Try verifying with ifconfig and make sure your routing table looks ok "route -n"

4) To start samba "service smb start" - to enable it to run on boot "chkconfig --level 345 smb on"

5) As good a reason as any

x) Don't even think about it! There are too many people who want to help you

y) No problem but after that long post I'm of for a pint!

Hey, thanks for the quick and thorough help. I look forward to such great help for my millions of questions to come...

MicroSoft = Tech response in 6 to 10 hours

Linux = Tech response in 10 minutes

I am also very new, and I have a book which is extremely useful for Red Hat, its "Red Hat 9 for Dummies". It comes with RH9, and tells you everything you need to know to get started, even networking. Might help.
Good luck with learning, it's really a great experience!