[lug] new to Linux

[David Morris]

You know, that is a very good point...you cannot RTFM if you
don't know where the 'FM' is! ;)

While the below are good suggestions, the bible of Linux is
the collection of HOWTO documents written over the years.
Anything and everything you need to know can be found in a
HOWTO document somwhere (at least until you start playing
with obscure stuff).

Look first on your system in /usr/doc/HOWTO, and see if
there are any documents there...that gives you a local copy
to look at.  For a far larget list, and a more complete one,
visit http://www.linuxdoc.org.

Just something to beware of, though:  RedHat (and its
'children' distros Suse and Mandrake) do things a little bit
strangely compared to the general Linux/Unix world, just as
Solaris does things a bit strangely.  For this reason, check
each HOWTO carefully to determine if it is for
RedHat/Suse/Mandrake, or some other distro if the described
files are not where the doc says they are...if you start
reding HOWTOs, you'll quickly spot which are which, and
where to find the files in the strange places they have been
placed.

At least for Debian, there are also some excellant items of
documentation on their web site for a distro-specific
slanted set of documentation (http://www.debian.org).

--David

On Tue, Oct 01, 2002 at 11:14:47AM -0600, John Dollison wrote:
> Aaron -
> I'm pretty much a newbie myself.  I'm guessing that you probably don't know 
> much about using the vi text-editor, or where all your configuration files 
> are, or anything else yet.  A lot of people will tell you to RTFM (Read The 
> F***ing Manual), but at this point you probably don't know where to find 
> most of the manuals, and won't understand what you read there, anyway.  And 
> Linux books are often just big reference books for advanced users, and 
> they're out-of-date as soon as they are printed.  I'd suggest three things 
> to help you get the ball rolling:
> 
> 1.  Take a Unix / Linux course at a local college, or at the very least get 
> a step-by-step Linux workbook.  There are some good online tutorials, too; 
> just do a Google search for "linux tutorial" or something similar.  Do all 
> the activities they tell you to; this will lay a good groundwork for 
> understanding Linux.
> 
> 2.  Get RedHat 8.0 or Mandrake 9.0 (I like Mandrake), either one will do a 
> better job than RH 7.3 of detecting and configuring your hardware 
> automatically.  During the install, it will ask you if you want KDE or 
> Gnome; I'd suggest installing both.  This way you should end up with a 
> fully functional system with a GUI to learn on, and then you can start 
> playing with it and modifying it as you learn more.
> 
> 3.  Attend all the BLUG and Hackers Society meetings, they're great for 
> meeting people and asking questions.
> 
> Anyway, that's my 3 cents.
> 
> John D.
> 
> 
> 
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Aaron Vogel" <aaron at vogel.nu>
> Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 00:38:52 -0600
> 
> I have installed RH7.3 and can boot to Windows and Linux seemingly alright.
> When I get to Linux I type in my name and password and then type in 'startx'
> to attempt to get to GNOME because I am helpless in the text version.
> However, after i enter that in, I get a stream of text and finally an error
> message that go something on the order of:
> 
> 
> .
> 
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