[ale] What would you like to see in an "Intro to Linux" Course.

[Jerald Sheets]

Well, as a died-in-the-wool Mac guy, I humbly disagree.

I joined ALE a long time before I moved to ATL (while still in BRLUG, actually), and did it to have people of like-minded Linuxyness to talk to, learn from, etc. However, I work in Linux Constantly from my desktop, which just isn’t Linux.  If I need Mac help, I know where to go.  :)  But if I need Linux desktop help, I’d come here.

I think the local LUG serves a hugely important role.  Our issues with abusing newbies notwithstanding, the best place to go and learn a ton about everyday Linuxy goodness is right here on ALE.  We could definitely take part in helping out local programs by talking to aspiring tech-nerds during their programs, doing a mini-install-fest with students… on VMs if necessary, maybe even offer a module of coursework to a local school.  All in all we can help…  

I think Linux students could use:

History (like from the beginning of “The Art of UNIX Programming”.  There’s some gems there)
Operating System theory & comparison
Bootup
Filesystems
daemons
storage
processes, IPC, and job control
Windowing systems
Package management


That’s just off the top of my head… I think anyone approaching a new OS would need to know these things.  Whether “Disks” on a Mac, “Filesystems” on Linux, or “Drives” on Windows, the theory is the same, just the naming is different.  Sort of a “comparative religions” of OSes so they have some reference to their current world to make sense of it all.

—jms


On Nov 6, 2013, at 2:47 PM, leam hall <leamhall at gmail.com> wrote:

> How to afford a Mac?