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how do i start?
hi. i am a new to linux. i've installed slackware linux. i've heard that slackware is probably one of the best distro's for learning in and out of linux. i know some of the basic commands.i've installed some packages from source.also general usage of kde...
my question is how do i actualy start learning things? how do i make best use of the fact that linux is open source? what are the steps required in order to modifying the code or analysing the code? |
Welcome!
At first, you will be doing a lot of reading. The man pages take a little while to get used to, but I encourage you to study them often. One thing that I found useful when I was young to the world of *NIX was to read the man pages mentioned in the "see also" sections. There is also a _lot_ of documentation in the /usr/share directory; I encourage you to install and browse the HOWTOs on your system or online at tldp.org (The Linux Documentation Project). As to distributions, I think that you are making a good choice with Slack, but I encourage you to try lots of them at first. This has several advantages. One is that by going through the installation process a jillion times, you really learn what you're doing. At first, don't be afraid to try out crazy/risky things. Learn by doing! But make sure that you keep your important files on a separate partition or drive. Seriously- I have found it to be an _excellent_ idea to put /home on its own partition. Then you can screw with the system to no end and if you make a mistake, just tell the next installer you try NOT to format /dev/hda3 (or whatever), but to mount it at /home. Then you keep all of your (distro independent) files and just have to install your favorite programs and do the configuration details... When I was beginning, I made a point of asking all my friends to keep an ear out for anybody throwing away a computer. My first systems were on very old machines (ie: 286s) and I learned a lot in the process of getting the damn things to run properly! This taught me much about hardware, too, and I'm more inclined to experiment with a computer that didn't cost a cent... Eventually, you will get so comfortable / bored with installing on all types of hardware and constantly reinstalling that you will yearn for stability- _that_'s when it's time to buy/build a fast machine and settle down with your favorite distribution. What else? Hmmm. How much programming in what languages do you know? What is the longest (mostly-working) program you have written and in what language? Depending on your answer, I will recommend some books to read... Oh. And get a copy of the jargon file (jargon.txt aka The New Hacker's Dictionary). Not really _deep_, pe se, but fun to read when you're waiting on an installer. Install the text mode 'bsd games' (adventure, trek, snake, rogue) and learn to love the command line. As a bonus, it will give you practice using hjkl keys, etc for vi... Speaking of which, learn _both_ editors (emacs AND vi) until you are reasonably proficient and then make your decision. I'm an emacs user, but I sure am glad I know vi because when the system goes down and I'm booting from a rescue disk or whatnot, emacs is rarely available! And just for bragging rights, learn ed... That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but please take my email address (my username + @gmail.com) and use this site + usenet as often as you can. Finally, please accept my congratulations. :-) Best regards, Ross |
Well if you're like me, then break things. Break things and then fix them. This isn't necessarily the best idea if you don't have another box that is your "main" box. I had a testing box to play with so I was constantly breaking linux installs my first year of using it. Fixing it taught me a lot and/or not getting it fixed.
Programming is a useful tool with linux, playing with writing programs to tell you things about the system etc. Its really a matter of being interested in how it actually works at a code level or a system administration level. Reading books is a good source of information. If you're interested in the kernel itself, look at O'Reilly's Linux Kernel, otherwise look at Linux System Administration by O'Reilly. |
hi,
i am really glad that u gave your precious time for posting me an reply! thanks a lot!!and i expect a few more suggestions!! |
The only real advice I can give is to install Linux and use it----again and again and again. In the last 5 years, I have probably at least started 100 installations--learning something new every time..
You might be interested in Arch Linux. It is very simple an basic and teaches you a lot about system configuration. |
welcome
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- perry |
The first thing I would look into if I were you, is kernel compilation. The default kernels that Slackware comes with are great, if you want a wide range of hardware compatibility. As for me, I shaved probably 30 seconds off my boot time by recompiling my kernel specifically for my machine. For example, I don't have a parallel port, so everything related to that went bye-bye. No floppy, so that went away. I have a laptop, so RAID is just not an option. No infrared port... you get the picture.
Also, while recompiling, you can do some optimization. I've got a Core 2 Duo processor, so I set some things up related to that. I use ext3 filesystems almost exclusively, so I made sure to compile that in to my kernel rather than as a module. I wanted to be able to use suspend to disk (Hibernation), so I also compiled that in. While I was at it, the only kernel I know of that by default supports my hardware configuration for sound is 2.6.23rc5, so I based my new kernel off that. With a new kernel comes new options, so you get to play around with that some. I ended up having to patch the kernel slightly, which I generally frown on, but it was necessary. See, without the patch, the tcp stack hard-froze the system every so often... not a good thing. In any case, you can always experiment, as long as you KEEP YOUR WORKING KERNEL as a boot option. Don't remove it from the LILO configuration. That way, you can play around, and if something doesn't sync (you turned off support for a crucial piece of hardware, or you run into a problem like I had), you can always return to what you know works. I fully intend to journal my experiences and recommendations for building a new kernel soon, but for now, I highly recommend Alien Bob's kernel compilation advice found here. There are a few things down near the bottom that are out of sync with the way Pat is doing things in Slackware 12, but it remains the most straight-forward compilation "walk-through" I know of. That said, depending on your familiarity with different programming languages, you may want to get involved with any number of open-source projects to be found on SourceForge or Freshmeat.net. If you are more advanced, you may look into the WINE project, which is an attempt to build a Windows compatibility layer for Linux (read: make Windows-only software work seamlessly under Linux). I myself am not at the point where I can run through and help out, because most of the "bugs" they are having problems with are not really bugs per-se, but lack of features. If you are less advanced, find a project that's not very far along, and that you have some small amount of familiarity with, download the sources, and go to work hacking around on it. You may breathe life into a project that takes off and becomes a Linux household name a year or two down the road. |
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Welcome to Slackware and LQ! Your journey has just begun. You will need to read a lot of material to assist you in learning about the wonders during this journey. You can reference 'Slackware-Links' which was compiled from 'Slackware LQ Suggestions Links!' for some good online reference. Just bite off what you can chew! The task will seem monumental at first but as you go you will slowly learn the ins & outs. |
When you get comfortable with linux, have your Hardware well configured and your Kernel all spiced up... maybe your next step should be to learn more about bash. Learn how to make simple scripts for tasks you normally do or maybe start by customizing your bashrc! Bash is simple to understand and it is very helpfull and powerfull.
If when you boot your PC, the first thing you have to do is type a bunch of commands... probably it would be better to create a bash script for it :) |
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http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/ is a good place to start. Also check out commands by using 'man commandname' e.g. 'man ls' will tell you the different switches you can use with 'ls' |
Slackbook First
In my opinion, www.slackbook.org is the first adress to get there. The original slackware book is good to understand and covers all the basics, from installation up to creating your own software packages.
With this knowledge, you can go further and study special HOWTO'S (/usr/doc/LINUX-HOWTOWS). A Tip: Learn access-rights at first, until you really understand them. To me they are the key to UNIX. Otherwise you always will crash against walls, because something does not work an you don't know why. So chmod, chown and umask are the first things to know... Have fun ! |
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