[md01]

I'm not sure if you''ve already installed/picked your distro, but if you want something easy to use look at Suse. This distro can be found at all major comp retailers, if you don't feel like downloading and burning iso images. I think this distro is more streamlined for ease of use, out of the box operation (especially for portables). That said, I prefer Redhat based distros for personal reasons.

 

[Welly Wu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn You can usually find it at half price used book stores for $5. I suggest an admin book like: http://www.bityard.com/article.php?sid=258#Adds I also like this "series" of books: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books one of the 'learn linux in 24 hours' books should suffice. You mean you didn't go to the public library yet? Or browsed the Barnes & Nobles in your area?

Wallijonn:

Thanks for the links. I'll save them for later but I think I'll go with my original book choice (it's cheaper; thanks for the tip) for now.

By the way, I've decided to pick up a book I had lying around in the house: the Sybex A+ Complete Study Guide: Second Edition. Yeah, I know it's three years old. I know the stuff they teach in that book is obsolete. But gues what? It's free. I'm definitely going to finish that book. I'm doing it not only to get A+ certified some day but because I am interested in it. Why not learn skills to make myself more marketable in the near future, huh?

 

[k.ODOMA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu Wallijonn: Thanks for the links. I'll save them for later but I think I'll go with my original book choice (it's cheaper; thanks for the tip) for now. By the way, I've decided to pick up a book I had lying around in the house: the Sybex A+ Complete Study Guide: Second Edition. Yeah, I know it's three years old. I know the stuff they teach in that book is obsolete. But gues what? It's free. I'm definitely going to finish that book. I'm doing it not only to get A+ certified some day but because I am interested in it. Why not learn skills to make myself more marketable in the near future, huh?

If it's only 3 years old then it shouldn't be that obsolete. They won't cover some of the latest technology, but at least it'll give a good base of knowledge about computer hardware.

 

[Welly Wu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by k.ODOMA If it's only 3 years old then it shouldn't be that obsolete. They won't cover some of the latest technology, but at least it'll give a good base of knowledge about computer hardware.

Precisely. For years, I have tried my hardest to avoid that computer geek status being associated with me (Asian stereotypes included). Now, I've decided that this too is my talent and I am responsible for developing it. My geek is growing...

 

[ADS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu How is this book? Is the information recent enough to be of any use? I will provide you with the link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books . Linuxquestions.Org has given this particular book five out of five stars and Amazon customers have given it four and a half out of five stars. What do Head-Fi Linux users think of this book as an introduction for beginners? If the replies are good, then I will go to my local bookstore to pick it up ASAP. No more wasting time with this Linux. No more procrastinating. Besides, I can head over to the Barnes & Noble and Borders Book & Music stores that I already submitted both my application and resume to check up on the status of my job search! Kill two birds with one stone.

I actually use that book as one of my desk references. It's cheap, but quite good.

 

[wallijonn]

Welly,

The SUSE ISO can be downloaded from here: http://www.suse.com/us/private/downl...l_iso_int.html

Yeah, Novell decided to make an ISO for free. You can also try your hand at FTP'n.

Sometimes it can be a bear to set up - suggest only if you have a cable modem. I had much better results FTP'n Debian than SUSE a year ago. They may have fixed it by now.

If you are into certification books, I suggest:

Prep Kit General Linux I, QUE publishers. very old but easy to read.
Linux+, Coriolis. old. about $10 at used book stores
LPI Linux Certification In a Nutshell, O'Reilly Publishers.

No one book will cover everything - like problems with LILO or GRUB.

On a personal note, I wiped SUSE 9.0 off my PC. I think I'm going back to Red Hat.

Remember, with Linux everything is on the internet. Don't be conned by the folks at EBay - some of them sell you the MAN pages. What a rip off. You can download the MAN pages if you want. As for new technology - again, most of it is on the 'net. Since people are having problems installing WXP on SATA drives, you'd probably have the same problems trying to install Linux on a SATA.

I've been hanging out at www.abxzone.com. nice bunch of techs.

Linux Forums:

http://www.linuxforum.com/
http://www.linuxforums.org/ (check out tutorials)
http://www.computing.net/linux/wwwboard/wwwboard.html (my fave)
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/index.php (check out the 'How I did it' section).

...

 

[pedxing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn On a personal note, I wiped SUSE 9.0 off my PC. I think I'm going back to Red Hat.

I am personally trying to get myself motivated to wipeout Fedora Core 2 off my drive and install SuSE 9.1. Maybe the grass is always greener elsewhere.

 

[md01]

I never quite felt at home with KDE oriented Suse. Too windows-like (don't hate me

). Seriously though, I like Gnome ui much better. Plus, Redhat is truely home grown.

 

[wallijonn]

pedxing,

just send me the CDs. I have SUSE 9.0 on DVD if you're interested. DVD2 has the 2.6 kernel. I never bothered with it, though. I can also send you Slackware 9.0, 9.1, SUSE 9.0 Live Eval... if you want. I know that I have some gentoos, debian 3, BSDs, Koppix.. laying around for you to play with if you want.

yeah, I ought to just put in my $8 order for Fedora Core 2.

most of the distros will probably go in the trash today.

My "problem" with SUSE is the way that the system apps are arranged. I find that RH is better intergrated. With SUSE I have to go to 3 or 4 different places to do one thing whereas with RH everything is in one place. Take for example setting up a DSL modem, or changing the monitor resolution. Yes, I have to manually mount and umount with RH but I find that the GUI is just friendlier. The Konqueror file manager is just slightly more cumbersome than the Red Hat counterpart. Or maybe it's just that I somehow prefer KDE3.1 to 3.2.

 

[Welly Wu]

I got my very first Linux reference book! Here is the information:

Siever, Ellen, Stephen Figgins, and Aaron Weber. Linux In a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference. Fourth Edition. California: O'Reilly Media, Inc. 2003.

ISBN: 0-596-00482-6

$39.95 USD LIST (30% B&N employee discount) + (6% NJ Sales Tax) = $29.63 USD

Do you think that this specific book is current enough for me to use? I was impressed by the enormous amount of information contained in such a compact desk reference book. There is literally more than 100 pages on UNIX/Linux command line instructions alone. I think I got the right book but I would appreciate feedback. If you do not mind checking out the book I got and offering your opinion, then I will be most grateful to you.

So, my general goal is to learn and install some form of Linux on my notebook PC before the end of 2004. I'm going to take my time to read this book and learn as much as I can before I even contemplate installing some distribution of Linux on my computer.

A part of me thinks that this book is recent enough to be of use to me. Another part of me thinks that installing a mainstream and popular distribution of Linux is really not all that hard to do these days.

 

[md01]

You can't really go wrong with O'Reilly publications. I have several on different subjects. They get the job done. One word of caution, this book isn't like a textbook with step by step instructions. Rather like the title suggests, a reference book and should be used as such. It will most likely lack specifics in regards to whatever distro of linux you'll end up installing. It might be useful, in the feature, to get a copy of a reference manual/book specific to your distro. You can of course find specifics about your distro online. Good luck.

 

[Stephonovich]

I've been away from this thread for awhile, it seems...

I'd just like to encourage anyone who's getting into Linux. It can be done, no matter how daunting it seems. And yes, changing distros frequently is a normal thing to do for newbies. I jumped from Mandrake to Red Hat to SuSE back to Mandrake to SuSE again to Vector, and finally, to Gentoo. I have a feeling if you check out Gentoo, you'll end up staying there as well. It's really that easy to use, and as others mentioned, the forums are second to none.

Wodgy, I swear, I'm going to kill you... just when I thought I had satisifed my old RPG addiction with Nethack, here you come along with this Zangband... this thing looks awesome. I'm never going to get anything accomplished. Now, to find a PPC port...

(-:Stephonovich

 

[Welly Wu]

I know that I keep talking instead of doing but I'll get to the action part sooner rather than later. I'll let you know when I've downloaded, installed, and am up and running on my future operating system of choice - Linux...for today's technological climate.

September 2004 is a busy month for me. October - December 2004 will be my time to switch over to Linux. But, I might fire off questions and comments this weekend as I evaluate the book, read it, immerse myself in the LInux culture, and download the distributions.

 

[Welly Wu]

I just read the first chapter and preface. I think that this is an excellent reference book to which to refer but it is not suited as an introduction to Linux. I must buy another book. I'm off to work at B&N tomorrow morning and I will find the book that I need to begin my education into the basics of Linux. I'm excited!

 

[wallijonn]

Can you change your computer to use caddies? Then you can use any old 10 - 20G HD you have laying around and play around with Linux to your heart's content. Or play around with Live EVAL CDs.

I would install Novell's SUSE, XIMIAN suite (GNOME Office Suite) and Gimp. That'll give you a solid base and will constitute about 95% of the WIN OS. It'll cover business and Internet needs.