On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 11:56 PM, Ed <
plug@0x1b.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 5:27 AM, JD Austin <
jd@twingeckos.com> wrote:
>> Back in the 90's I was in your same position. What I did was to
>> load Linux on my main computer and use it exclusively. Depending on what
>> you want to learn will determine which distribution you would load.
>> For example - if you're looking to get up to speed on what is used in
>> business Load your machine with Centos (Free Redhat Enterprise Linux Clone),
>> Suse, or Fedora (Fedora is close enough to Centos to be meaningful and works
>> on more hardware).
>
> Welcome -
> you might want to get some experience before playing with Fedora,
> bleeding edge is not the best place to learn, but then Fedora won't
> put you sideways right off the line. So maybe it's ok. Slackware is a
> good place to start, simple stable and safe makes for a good learning
> environment (esp. for command line stuff). It has good man pages too,
> which you will be working with as you learn. You should expect to play
> with at least 5 different GNU/Linux distributions in the coming year -
> and learn why some say GNU/Linux and others just Linux, and some say
> Yum and some say Apt and some say configure/make/make install.
>
> what is your computer background? comfortable with the command line?
> remember DOS? Ever take a class in Anthropology...
> drop by
gnu.org and
freedesktop.org
> go see xkcd
>
>> Debian is the totally open Linux and well worth a try.
>> For more casual use you might try Ubuntu.
>> Gentoo is another you might try.
>> Linux is WAY more put together than it was in the 90s so you'll be amazed
>> how often it just works without having to search for things like drivers, it
>> has a ton software included you'd normally have to pay for that you can
>> install for free, and runs better on the same hardware. For a less drastic
>> move you could install Openbox or VMWare and install it in a virtual
>> machine.
>> In forcing yourself to use it as your main computer will get you up the
>> learning curve faster because you'll run into hurdles and find how to move
>> around them. It won't take very long before you're very adept with the
>> distribution you've installed. At that point try a different one :) The
>> main differences between Linux distributions is how their boot up processes
>> are laid out, their package manager, and whether the distribution includes
>> closed source binary blob programs or not.
>> Anyway welcome to a new and exciting world :)
>> JD
>> On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 00:41, Brandon Hoffman <
brandonmhoffman@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello everyone, I recently just joined this group (like an hour ago)
>>> because I was posting on a forum about wanting to learn Unix/Linux and a
>>> passerby who decided to be nosy recommended me to sign up.
>>>
>>> I would like to learn as much as I can and eventually get some
>>> certificates for Linux and Unix (Windows-administration is way too easy.)
>>> What would be the top three-five books recommended for reading?
>>>
>>> I did look on the website and learned about Maricopa's college and will
>>> probably go there for a degree eventually, but I perfer my own pace and
>>> practice.
>>>
>>> Thanks ahead of time, I look forward to reading more on all the Linux
>>> discussions. I live in the east valley and will probably start attending the
>>> meetings as well!
>
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