[TriLUG] Learing linux....good projects on my test box?

[jonc]

Yes "Welcome". 
I hope you made it to last nights excellent meeting.

I think the first newbie project should always be: Replace my Windows
Workstation. Basically bring up a box with something like Ubuntu and try
to use it as your workstation for everything. You'll end up learning a
lot about Linux and the way your applications work.  You'll also find
that it's fairly easy to "just say No" to Microsoft these days.
  http://www.ubuntu.com/

As a scripting language I definitely recommend bash first:
  http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/sha-bang.html

Bash (with the help of all those gnu tools written by Stallman and
friends) will give you some amazing power over your new environment.

Next up, you should tackle either Perl or Python. My personal preference
(having learned both) is Python! Python is a great tool that allows you
to rapidly design and write applications that work in Linux and Windows.
  http://www.pythonchallenge.com/faq.htm

(there's no reason you can't have a little fun while you learn!)

Welcome to the world of Open Source. May you find what you seek, and
create what you need,

Jon Carnes

On Fri, 2006-01-13 at 08:22, Greg Brown wrote:
> Cool man, welcome to the Linux pack.  There are tools in newer distributions
> past RH 9 that make life so, so much easier.  That said, there is something
> to be said about building packages "the old way" where when you attempt to
> install something from RPM but can't and you have to dig, dig, and dig somre
> more to figure out in what package "wtf.h" is located and how to install it.
> 
> First thing I'd suggest with the home machine is upgraded to the latest
> Fedora core, if you want to stay with RedHatish Linux, or go with CentOS, or
> Debian sarge.  It might not even hurt to give FreeBSD or OpenBSD a slice of
> the HD to see how that side of the world lives.
> 
> For projects start with the sql/php stuff, that is always fun, and maybe try
> to create a samaba shared drive.  After that try a domain controller maybe.
> There are so many cool things you can do with Linux it is hard to pick a
> good starting point.  Just make sure you download a "live" CD at some point
> too, Knoppix is my weapon of choice though a lot of people swear by Ubuntu
> Live.  Once you get the hang of Knoppix you won't know how you lived without
> it as a sysadmin.  Have a trashed system that you need to recover files
> from?  With Knoppix you just boot the CD, mount the harddrive by
> double-clicking on it then start the Samaba server.  From there you mount
> the drive that wouldn't boot across the network via the Samba box and
> volia!  You can back up the critical files from the machine and proceed to
> rebuilding all within 30 minutes.  It's sweet.
> 
> Anyway, welcome.
> 
> Greg
> 
> On 1/13/06, Chad Thomsen <chad.thomsen at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I am a windows/as400/cisco/motorola  system admin who finally decided to
> > pick up linux and REALLY try and learn it.  By the way the power and
> > flexibilgy of Linux rocks, and I REALLY like the fact that I can teach my
> > self all kinds of stuff with out having to purchase some super expensive
> > developer pacakage (Microsoft Visual Studio).  Anyways back to the
> > topic.  I
> > am trying to find out a few good projects I can do to my home machine to
> > learn linux form a system adminstrator point of view.  So far I have a
> > Centos box here at work with Apachee/Snort/MySQL/Base loaded up, and a Red
> > Hat 9 box at home. My home machine is a true lab box as in I can crash it
> > and I won't loose sleep.   As far as reading materials I have the
> > "Introduction to Linux" PDF found all over the internet, and Red Hat 9
> > unleashed.  I have also put Cygwin on my win box at work so I could get
> > mor
> > comfy with the shell.
> >
> > As far as future projects, I figured I would start by setting up
> > Apachee/Coppermine/MySQL (or use Gallery) to set up an internet site with
> > a
> > buch of photos since I like to tinker with photography when not riding
> > mountian bikes or doing system admin type work.  I also figured I would
> > teach myself PERL so I can do some administrative type scripting on my
> > Linux
> > boxes.  Is PERL the way to go?  I ask this because Windows, which I am
> > most
> > familiar with, allows you to script in a few languages (java, vbscript,
> > and
> > others if you install add ons).
> >
> > Sorry if this post sounds really "newbieish" but I don't really have many
> > folks to talk to about Linux as I am an army of one at work when it comes
> > to
> > operating systems and networks.  Any opinions would be appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > Chad
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