[SWLUG] Brain is not dead but needs help!

[Telsa Gwynne]

On Mon, Mar 14, 2005 at 10:18:15PM -0000 or thereabouts, Plod wrote:
> I have to say that my knowledge of Linux is about zero.  Give me credit for
> at least knowing what it is and does and being able to get mandrake loaded
> and sort of configured.

Definitely.
 
> Are there any amongst your number who feel like taking pity on me and
> showing me how to do it on my PC?  As a life long USER of computers my
> knowledge is flaky at best, and downright wrong most of the time.  I have
> read and reread several learn Linux books, but have never been able to
> repeat the tutorials on my machine.  It just does not look anything like the
> books!

Yeah. New versions of distributions and the software on them come out
several times a year. Books and their screenshots don't. It is rarely
a good idea to invest in a book that purports to show you how to use 
the GUI for a Linux distribution, because it will date very fast. 

You'll see a lot of us swear by particular publishers for technical 
publishing, but almost invariably, those publishers concentrate on
the programs underneath the GUI. (And when they don't, often the results
are as bad as any others.) 

One book that I would recommend is "Think UNIX" by Jon Lasser.
That tells you about the mindset behind UNIX (and Linux), and by 
concentrating on general principles rather than specific examples
it manages to avoid dating quite so badly. And you can use the 
general principles in most situations then. It's opinionated,
but since he's mostly right, that's okay.

As for showing you how to do it, what is the "it", exactly? What
do you want to learn how to do? Is it a direct "I use these programs
on Microsoft, what are the Linux equivalent?" sort of question? 
Or do you want a general introduction to Linux? 

What is on your computer already? Does it have a working net
connection? Can you burn CDs? Or do you need those to get put on
your machine before you can do much more? 

And whereabouts are you and is it reachable on public transport? :)

Telsa