[Gllug] Newbie asks: how to learn?

[Dermot Moynihan]

At 01:08 20/12/02, you wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Two (related) questions and a general query:
>
>1: Can anyone recommend decent books on linux for a newbie? Nothing too 
>high-falutin' (obviously) but also nothing too simple (I'm not stupid). I 
>know there's lots of info available on the net, but I do prefer reading 
>and referring to dead tree.


I've asked this question on the list a couple of weeks ago and was advised 
to go for the following:
Linux in a Nutshell. (O'Reilly)
Running Linux - don't get it yet - edition 4 should be on the shelves in a 
matter of days, it's already mentioned on the Web (ibid).
Second hand stuff - nothing specific recommended by the list, but I found 
the SAMS Teach Yourself in 24 Hours pretty good.  See what the enclosed CD 
is - that will decide what distro the book will concentrate on. Best, 
obviously, to get one specific to your distro but you can learn stuff from 
any copy. The Mandrake one, 3rd edition, is by Craig and Coletta 
Witherspoon and is dated 2000.  It's Mandrake 7.1, a tad old but there 
should be lots of similarities with whatever Mandrake you'll be installing.
Then there's a Que book I just took a chance on that I like: Special 
Edition Using Linux, 6th ed. 2001. A bit expensive.
And you'll need to learn a good editor - I went for vi, I've heard it's 
most common and can be accessed even when your system isn't working too 
well i.e. it's not GUI. But there are probably many people who will 
disagree with this. I don't know enough to argue. The book for that seems 
to be "Learning the vi editor" (6th ed. O'reilly, 1998).  It goes further 
than I needed to go so maybe I could have done with less.
Also, most, if not all, Unix books will benefit you - the one I like a lot 
is "Sams Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours". It's very good for teaching 
command line stuff. At the moment you can get it for £3 less i.e. £14.99. I 
got it in Books Etc - maybe that's the only place with the discount.
I also got "Linux Complete" (Sybex), which, with hindsight, I should not 
have got.

Looking back over this, if money is tight, you probably don't need a vi 
book as there's lots of stuff on the Web - certainly enough to get you to a 
fairly efficient level.  Also, there's a bit in Nutshell (above). Just to 
get by with vi you don't have to learn much (though it's far from easy -the 
first thing to learn before learning how to start the thing is how to stop 
it.  You'll never guess.  I had to shut the whole thing down the first time 
just to get away from it. :)

>The problem I'm running into, is how to make sense of all the (vast 
>quantities of) information out there? I've a list of linux related 
>bookmarks a mile long. It's difficult to know where to start and what to 
>trust (a lot of the info, even for some newbie sites, is technically 
>beyond me).

You can learn a lot from just perusing this list and I've found some people 
pretty helpful at answering questions.  Most people seem to cut newbies a 
bit of slack.  A liberal sprinkling of AFAIKs and IMHOs should see you 
okay. I'm sure there are many newbies who keep an eye on the list and are 
afraid to post so they can learn from your questions and answers - if you 
get some :).


>This is a bit vague - hope you know what I mean.
>
>By the way, got a Tixi modem from Morgans, on this lists recommendation

alright, so you've been here before.
And lived to tell the tale
:)

Let us know how the Tixi goes.
Dermot

>- many thanks to you all. Will be installing Mandrake over the Xmas break.
>
>John
>
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