Good guide to learning Linux?

[Talcite]

Hey everybody.

I'm looking into learning the basics of linux because it's out there and every time I run into it, I have no idea what to do. I'm also in possession of multiple ultra-old PCs, and windows XP isn't being nice to them.

Can anyone recommend a good guide to learning linux? I know there's several compilations out there, and I guess it's hard to get a one shot miracle guide, but I guess anything is better than nothing.

I'm also building a digital picture frame that runs linux from a guide, but I have no idea what all the commands mean, so it would really help If I could learn.

Thanks.

 

[xtknight]

This belongs in Operating Systems but just start off by trying an Ubuntu LiveCD. I don't think you'll find it that hard (unless you run into problems in which case it can be difficult). Starting the LiveCD and signing on Gaim or Firefox should be extremely easy otherwise. Then just read some stuff over at www.ubuntuforums.org. It's fun. Really. I wish I was still a n00b to Linux. Lots to learn.

Tutorials generally tell you what they're doing and then give you the command. Try to learn the commands that way.

For example:

cp is copy.
mv is move.
ls lists files in a directory.

 

[Chaotic42]

This book is good once you're familiar with the very basics of Unix. This looks like a good, basic tutorial.

 

[cleverhandle]

In the old days, before Linux distros started doing most everything for you, many people learned the basics from O'Reilly's Running Linux. It's still a really good book if you want to get acquainted with how the system works underneath the GUI wrappers that most distros provide. Just keep in mind that it's distro-agnostic, so some sections may be superseded by what your chosen distro implements. But combine that book with your distro's "intro to administration" and you should be in good shape.

Also, I strongly recommend against using "ultra-old" hardware to learn Linux. It's no fun reinstalling when your ancient hard drive is slow as molasses or you're constantly waiting for RAM to swap in when you switch programs. Then the hardware makes using the system unpleasant, and that's a deterrent to learning. I would strongly recommend using a machine that has at least 128M of RAM if it's your first go at Linux, and 256M+ is better.

 

[Cooler]

If you are doing and X window GUI coding I highly recommend GTKmm toolkit in C++ or GTK+ in C.

 

[Talcite]

yay. Thanks for responding so soon guys. I shall take a look into all of those promptly. Hopefully I can learn it before summer ends.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: Talcite
yay. Thanks for responding so soon guys. I shall take a look into all of those promptly. Hopefully I can learn it before summer ends.

The only way to learn it is to do it. Get in there and compile the kernel. Configure XF86Config (The X-Windows hardware config file) by hand. Setup sendmail. Edit 'fstab' yourself.

 

[cleverhandle]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42
The only way to learn it is to do it. Get in there and compile the kernel. Configure XF86Config (The X-Windows hardware config file) by hand. Setup sendmail. Edit 'fstab' yourself.

I think that one is in a different league than the others. I would strongly discourage anyone from setting up an Internet-facing sendmail installation until they damn well know what they're doing.

The general sentiment I agree with, though...

 

[spingmis]

Is there any application which can help us learn Linux commands on a windows machine ? Like for practicing commands and setups. I have used live cd's before but I want to practive the commands and file systems of Linux while Im parallely running windows OS.

Please let me know thanks