newbie

[Merv Curley]

On Thursday 06 October 2005 04:52, Derek Shields wrote:
> Gawd, Tony - if only! I've been looking for a Janet and John set of
> instructions since I started using Linux about three months ago.
> However, I haven't found any instructions that are even halfway
> comprehensible yet. It's a bit like Microsoft - the folk who write> 

I have been using Linux for about 10 years now and we all go through 
your present stage.  Distributions like Suse used to have quite good 
booklets included but you paid for them with the CD.  I suspect that 
if your send SuSE  $100 you will still get some good introductory 
info.  Instead spend that on building your own library.  You don't 
say just where you need help, is it with administration,  certain 
apps or just the building blocks of Unix - Linux?  Don't buy a Red 
Hat or Suse book if you are using Debian,  config files etc are quite 
different between them.  My Linux bookshelf is about 6 feet long and 
that includes books that I haven't looked at in years.  Most used now

              Practical Guide to Linux by Mark Sobell,  Addison Wesley
              Linux System Admin by Marcel Gagne        "            "
              Running Linux    O'Reilly Publishing

As well Sams has some useful books.                  

> I'm getting to know what I'm doing gradually by reading articles in
> TUX and the odd note in this conference that makes sense. I bought
> a for Dummies book to see if that helps

Everything helps believe it or not.  Even those incomprehensible 'Man' 
pages.  Join several 'lists' or join forums and read, read, read.  
Then ask.  If you live in a larger city there will probably be a User 
Group with a 'list', like this.  Ours has about 50 messages a day 
posted, of that 2 or 3 will be something I can use.   

> When I can do Linux properly, I promise 
> to write a series of step-by step guides, but I reckon it'll take
> me another year before I feel half way confident. Is there anyone
> out there who knows Linux and can 'teach' it? Best wishes, Derek
>

We have one provincial College here than now has Linux courses but the 
useful ones deal with specific subjects.  You will find that the 
information  is out there, use your browser, Google and Yahoo will 
find info from years back and now, learning keywords to use is the 
hardest part for me.  Good luck and don't be afraid to ask,  you 
might not get an answer here, but you might on a busier list.  I 
joined a Suse list years ago and was quickly overwhelmed by some 500 
messages a day and most were the same things over and over.

Have fun with the learning experience.

  
-- 
Merv Curley
Toronto, Ont.Can

Linux    Kubuntu 5.0.4
KDE    v. 3.4.2
Kontact  v. 1.1.2