Learning Resource Needed + a few simple questions
 

What would be a good resource for learning Linux from the CLI and the GUI? I don't need a book that babies me through it, just something that has a good nearly/totally complete command listing and descriptions of those commands.

Thirdly, I have an IDE cd burner. Xcdroast works, but I would like to be able to burn cd's from the console. I have an IDE CD-RW drive that is on /dev/cdrom1 and I would like to know how to make it work. Thanks. If you can teach me how to blank a CD-RW and get it to work, I can probably figure out the rest from there. I skimmed the man pages and I'm still not sure how to make it work with an IDE drive. Thanks for your help.

I also think I messed something up with the $PATH variable. useradd and ifconfig and ip don't work unless I use find to find the binary and include the path. I am using RedHat 9.0, and if anyone knows the default RedHat 9 $PATH info (and can tell me how to set it), that would help me a lot. (I understand path to be the places where bash checks for the file before giving me an error message. If this thinking is wrong, please let me know).


I HAVE searched for answers for these on Google, and have been unable to find anything (that I could understand). Sorry if these have been answered elsewhere and I don't know about it.

If you want to learn the linux command line and you don't
need any babying you probably have what you need right
at your fingertips. They are called man pages. Short for
manual. In a terminal like xterm or konsole enter

man <command name>

You will get a very helpful list of command options
and information

You may also wish to check out
http://www.tldp.org
it holds a wealth of knowledge


For burning CDs from the commandline
mkisofs
cdrecord

Those two commands will do it for you.

As for your $PATH
It is probably not broken
unless you are root.

Those programs are in /sbin
and only root usually has
/sbin in his path

How strange.

I am a qualified linux and windows 98, 2000, and XP administrator and I still refer to: The Linux Installation Guide, The Linux Customization Guide, Linux Administration Made Easy, The Advanced Linux Administration Guide, a few O'Reilly books like "Running Linux", The Linux Documentation Project (http://www.tldp.org), the linux self help website, and different news groups. I even sometimes will re-read some of "Harley Hahn's Student Guide to Unix" for command line and emacs stuff.

The funny thing is, when everything is going smoothly, I don't need a lot of commands. If I don't stay on it, I forget them and have to look everything up--at 4 am. The only way I end up re-reading the books, guides and stuff is when I am on sites like this, trying to answer questions from memory--then looking the stuff up. I lack the discipline to continuously re-read everything on my own. I think there may be a little to much to "know" (for me anyway).

I can't trust my memory, but I know where to look things up. "man" and "info" pages are good for the stuff with which I am already familiar, but when I attempted to use them as a learning device, my brain cells started committing suicide.

You guys must be brilliant.

In one word R.U.T.E. - Linux:Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz

Red Hat Linux Manuals
Getting Started with Linux
LDP's HOWTOs
Directory of Linux Commands
linuxnewbie.org's NHFs
Linux Newbie Administrator Guide
Linux Administration Made Easy
Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition

# CD burning copying ripping info
Is it configured and what is the device? Command this to find out:
cdrecord -scanbus
Adding an IDE CD-Writer to Linux
CD Writing HOWTO
Burning CDs on Linux
# Burn an ISO to disk
cdrecord -v speed=<burning speed> dev=<your device> /path/to/foo.iso
# Burn from disk to disk
cdrecord -v dev=<your device> speed=<burning speed> -isosize /dev/cdrom
# Generate an ISO from a directory.
mkisofs -Jr -o foo.iso /path/to/directory
mkisofs -vrTJUV "Label" -o foo.iso /path/to/directory
# Generate an ISO from a CD
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=foo.iso
# cdparanoia - search for a drive with reporting of autosense:
cdparanoia -vsQ
# Rip a complete audio CD with cdparanoia
cdparanoia -B "1-"
Linux MP3 CD Burning mini-HOWTO
# Convert mp3 to wav with lame
for i in *.mp3; do lame --decode $i `basename $i .mp3`.wav; done
# Burn a CD from wav files
cdrecord -v -audio -pad speed=<burning speed> dev=<your device> /path/to/*.wav

Too poor to pay, but damn you're good.

My linux bookmarks got pretty large and unwieldy. I think the best ones I have are a collection of links for FAQs by subject. I still have to sort out the rest of them.

I'm still double-checking the stuff I "know". I'll start typing out something, and end up looking it up--even if I don't need to go back and edit something.

There are things I do a certain way, and no longer remember why I do it that way. Happened with a post yesterday. The answer sounded like a "stock answer", but it is something I'll do without thinking. Just like doing a pwd once in a while to keep track. (I know how to change the prompt, but I don't always work on my own machines.)

Set me down in front of a hosed win98, ME, W2K, XP, 2kSvr,RS6000, RedHat, or (POSIX) linux--with another box/laptop with network nearby and I just do things. It's actually better if I don't think too much. I go through a process and it usually takes me where I want to go.

If I "think" about using tar or dd I end up having to look it all up. If I want or need to do something, I just do it. Maybe I have Altzheimer's.

But linux has changed dramatically in the last year or so. Those who have stayed "bleeding" edge probably haven't noticed. There are tools, utilities, gui-tools, all sorts of stuff I am completely ignorant of. The laptop stuff has completely passed me by, as has the wireless networking. I've fallen behind--a veritable cave-man. I get excited over "old-news".

I remember things by editing a text file, myself. I have a big text file called...linux.

I just open it, copy and paste, and I'm done.

At least 50% of my answers come from there.

If you really want to learn, start answering questions that make you find the info you need.