Am I in the right place ?
 

Hello All,

I'm new to linux, Red Hat v.4 to be specific. I have lots of questions and so far google has answered most of them. I'm aware I need to learn more. Red Hat has been forced on me so the learning curve has been steep.

Like a lot of folks, I'm a windows user. Experience starts with DOS and runs thru XP and Server 2003, so I'm not computer or cli illiterate.

So........am I in the right place ? or does anyone have some good advice to offer a newbie ?

I welcome any and all constructive advice here or email.

Well, welcome to the forum. The best advice I can give you is the advice that was given to me...search around here when you have questions, and if you can't find an answer just ask, because we have some really really smart people here. I have the same type of experience, back to dos 3.3 and all the way up to the recent versions of windows, but let me warn you that most of what you know can go right out the window because linux is totally different, and in my opinion, better. I know I won't be going back.

Hey there!

Yes, I think you do have chosen the right place :)
I'm new here as well, but it sure has a lot of answers to a lot of questions. And if something isn't already covered, the people here will kindly help you (and they're fast!).

You might want to check out the Red Hat subforum for issues specific to that distro.

Other than that, I can only say: learning by doing. I don't know your situation but if you can, try to run Linux as a Desktop OS on your own machine or set up a small home server. The more you're exposed to the system, the faster you'll learn, obviously.

Also, as soon as you've grasped the basic concepts, it all starts to make sense. From a technical point of view, Linux is far more logical than any version of Windows if you ask me. Or maybe I just don't know anything about Windows :p

I have noticed a huge difference from windows, I've been frustrated to the point of wondering if it's worth it. Since you won't be going back, maybe I'll hang in longer.......

I always try and search for the answers on my first and this looks like where I may be searching first.

Thanks

Thanks for the heads up on the specific forum. I'm gonna need it !

My situation it setting up a HP server with Red Hat and KDE to run a dedicated app. I'm having to learn fast. The kind words and positive attitudes are a huge morale boost and motivator !!!

I had someone here point out how funny it is that my user name is Capt_Teach and I'm supposed to be learning.

Let me clarify, Teach-- not as in teacher but as in Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard)

Sorry for any confusion or apparent arrogance.

I'm hoping that you actually mean something like RHEL 4 rather than Red Hat 4, which is not very this century.

And another warm welcome! :}

Yes, you found a very good place; I've been here a
good while, and have no intention to leave anytime soon. ;}


The paradigm-shift from windows is quite traumatic, I guess.
I've never been a windows pro (I hated its guts since the
black & white version 2), and moving from OS/2 to Linux was
a bit of a culture shock. So many things are so different
(I won't say non-intuitive - because if I think back and
remember how I moved from programmable calculators, wang
terminals and the C64 into the world of DOS, and on to
Windows, there's nothing intuitive about those, either).
It's just a lot of stuff to learn, but it's worth it. When
you hang in there Linux may be able to (re-?)open your eyes
to what computers were initially meant for - taking away
dreary, boring and repetitive tasks.



Cheers,
Tink

After searching here to find out how to check -

I went to /etc/redhat-release and found

Redhat Enterprise Linux ES release 4
(Nahant Update 5)

What "century" am I in ?? and I have to use this version anyway.

You are in the correct century! RHEL is Red Hat's commercial enterprise distribution. Back when Linux distro's were sold in boxes aimed at consumers, the was just plain RedHat. This went up to RH 9 which in itself is obsolete. Now there is a community OS version you can download called Fedora. You might consider installing it at home. The experience using Fedora will help you with RHEL at work.


Good Luck!

P.S. Thanks for educating me about Blackbeard's real name!

If your just jumping into Linux, go here and get
" Running Linux 5th. ed. "

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596007607/


It's probably the Best reference out there
{ it has my vote at-least }

TO: jschiwal - thanks for idea, I'll do just that!!

TO: dschief - I looked at the Table of Contents and it looks that book might be useful.



So far I've done with Linux the same way I do others - when I need to do something, I just go figure out how to do it. Learn by doing - which is a common theme I see in these forums !!

Also have a look at rute if you haven't
come across it yet ... very useful, and free. :}

This has been the most useful so far. In just 15 minutes it answered 3 questions I had.

I'll kick in mine.

http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/toc.html

http://tldp.org/