Re: Looking for info/Crash Course

Yard Dog wrote:

"ac" <"aec$news"@candt.waitrose.com> wrote in message news:43klilF1oat4gU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yard Dog wrote:

Was wondering if anyone here could point me to a "Linux in a nutshell" type
link? I am starting an IT position soon that does not "require" Linux
knowledge but would definitely give me a leg up right off the bat if I knew
at least a little about it. Also what is the most popular flavor? 

Wow. Congratulations for your objectives.

Oreilly books are very good and there is one
Linux in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition (O'Reilly Nutshell) (Paperback) by Ellen Siever, The staff of O'Reilly Media
(Which I have not used, but will be a good reference I am sure).

I have used one called Running Linux, Fifth Edition By Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, Matt Welsh
(mine is an earlier edition) It is an excellent background and again a good handbook and for me, reference.

The many linux 'live' Cds are very useful indeed to get the feel of things in a mostly very safe way.
Knoppix is a front runner classic for tools and utilties. Most other distributinons have a live CD.

Lean and mean distros are also worth being aware of such as DSL (live)

As mentioned elsewhere, dual boot is easy. (backup, scandisk (xpee) well and I also defrag twice before I do that, it has always worked ok).

multi boot with say xp and many linux distros is not difficult but complex for a newcomer with not spare time. Consider a low spec PC and put lots of memory in it - quite useful for experiments.

In UK I have one of these, but not for experiments(!)
www.dabs.co.uk  quicklinx:  3XT8WS   (no display)
(150 uk pounds includes tax)
http://www.dabs.com/ProductList.aspx?&CategorySelectedId=11011&NavigationKey=50010&NavigationKey=11011&SearchType=1&SearchTerms=linux&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=All

good luck
--
ac


Can't tell you guys how much I appreciate this. Have a great day!



Hey Yard Dog :-) I am also pretty much a beginner in Linux-land myself, tho I have a decent amount of experience on Windoze and Sun Solaris. I played around with a number of the LiveCD distros and found them very helpful in figuring things out. When it came time to try and create a dual boot system using an old work laptop, I tried several and finally settled on Mandrake Linux 10.1 (the 3-CD Full Install set, **NOT** the 1-CD "mini" install!). That was the first distro that walked me thru the installation and setup process nicely enough to end up with a functional system. Previous attempts with other distros had ended up "badly"... Though I do have a brand-spanking new Win2K installation on there courtesy of an earlier try with the 10.1 "mini" install...

Anyways, the Mandrake might be a nice choice for setting up a decent dual-boot system you can learn more on (which was my goal as well).

Jim C
.

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