[ale] Hello...

[Daniel Woodard]

At 04:34 PM 12/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Recently I bought the book "Running LINUX" third edition.
>Is it the right one, for an intro to LINUX?
>
>I am starting at ground zero, and would appreciate
>any advise that any of you might have.

It's often highly reccommended, though I don't have a copy.

My advice is limited. If you can't spare a whole computer to Linux, I'd at
least get a dedicated hard drive and hand swap IDE cables from your Windows
or whatever drive- even a obsolete 4GB 5400rpm will do (cheap). Learning
and destroying already exisiting Windows or whatever partition/data goes
hand in hand.

Now that you're free from worry, experiment like mad. I basically installed
a configuration, configured it beyond my understanding, and then I'd
reinstall everything again. This way I at least had a common and known
starting point. You also get good at installing as well as configuring.
I've got my SuSE installation and initial configuration down to where I'm
very comfortable with it- packages, network cards, etc. It was just less
confusing to me this way to start from a fresh install and then mess it up.
After a while of this, install a copy you intend to keep. 

Many may dislike my process as wasteful, but I'm a graphics guy and OS
hobbyist. Experimenting freely is how I pick stuff up.

Build a nice collection of Internet resources. SO much is available over
the internet, that books pale in comparision, though you should definitely
have a few. One of my favorites has been Linux Undercover, which I've never
seen another copy of. It's basically the printed How-To Docs, but it's
handy to have while your watching TV.

Get decent at vi and learn a little about bash or whatever shell you use.
Stay in line command mode for a while before digging into X windows. Treat
X windows as a little reward for learning the under pinnings. Besides, X
windows just pokes stuff underneath it like Win 3.1 did with DOS. It's not
an integrated windows OS like Mac or WinNT.

One of the very best websites is www.deja.com, despite the commercial
changes which have reduced the forums search to a small box in the upper
right corner.

Good luck!
_____________________________________________________

Daniel Woodard

daniel.woodard at extricate.com
design at mindspring.com
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