Hello everyone I am new here. I am looking to learn more about Linux. Tomorrow I will be accepting a IT position with a company that uses on Linux operating systems. I am looking for some mentors to teach me more about linux somewhere I can download a tutorial that is interactive until I receive my discs in the mail to learn as much as possible to prepare for my first day and long career with this company. I know alot of people are probably thinking what a Dumba@# but I just never had a job that ran linux as there OS so I didnt get much into it as I should. If someone is free and that can teach me as much as possible over these next few months I would be much appreciated. I am on googletalk and yahoo messenger if you use something else I dont mind downloading if thats the best course of communication. Thanks everyone for reading and I look forward to working with you all.

Download and read rute, http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.gz

Then goto http://linuxcommand.org/ , download the tutorial.

The Linux System Administrator's Guide - http://tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/index.html

That should get you going. If you need more go to a book store and get some good hardcopy books.

Learn this -by heart-
http://cb.vu/unixtoolbox.xhtml
It is my favorite cheatsheet as a sysadmin myself.

If they use it on the desktop, download both mandriva (KDE) and Ubuntu Live-cd and explore them a bit. They use the two main Linux interface, KDE and Gnome. You have to have a little idea how they work because you will see both often.

They replace your windows with the distribution you use at work (if it is RehHat entreprise, take CentOS, if it is SUSE enterprise, take OpenSUSE).

There are quite a few...

This is a standard collection of linux documentation. The Systems Administrators Guide mentioned previously is part of the collection

http://tldp.org/

This is a tutorial starting at the basics.

http://www.linux.org/lessons/

You might tell us if you have any experience in running linux on an individual system and what kind of expertise you are expected to have.

If you do not have a to use or abuse/we'll practice on this one system, you might build or get a hold of an old PC, anything beginning at an Intel P4/AMD Athlon with 512MB or more of RAM, an Nvidia graphics card, and a CD-ROM drive.

Here is the standard linux live-cd list as a sampler. It has various versions of linux, including several useful aid and rescue tools

http://www.livecdlist.com/ Remember to burn a live-cd as an image file.

By the way, around here ignorance is not considered stupid.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/linux/...Ask_a_Question

As a supplement to the advice given already, I would seek out distribution-specific documentation if that's at all possible (ie, Do you know exactly what "type" of Linux is run at your firm?).

See also http://www.linuxtopia.org/ for a long list of free online HOWTOs and Admin guides. As above, knowing which distribution this job uses will make a big difference, especially at the Sys Admin level.

Are you trying to be a poster child for the old mantra: "Fake it till you make it."....?

Seriously, I hope you can appreciate how this comes across....How did you get this job? I sincerely hope that the interview included you stating that you did not know Linux but were willing to learn.

As long as you did not misrepresent yourself, the various references offered here will get you going in a lot less than "a few months".