[TriLUG] first post: looking for basic Linux course

[David Both]

<self-serving answer>
I teach a hands-on course, "Theory and Practice of Linux System Administration," 
that can take you from zero to CLI and a whole lot more in 5 days. It is NOT a 
certificate course, but covers the things you need to know in order to do the 
day to day administration of Linux hosts. I charge $2495 for this class with a 
$500 discount for TriLUG members. For details on this course see my web site: 
http://www.millennium-technology.com/?page_id=1046

I am also currently doing course development on an advanced course which will 
cover advanced Linux administration and creating a complete, integrated server 
environment, including DHCP, DNS, Apache, SendMail, SpamAssassin, MimeDefang, 
NFS, SAMBA, and much more.

</self-serving answer>

There have been a number of recent discussions here about training. As a former 
Red Hat trainer I can tell you the Red Hat courses are very good. But they are 
expensive and you need more than one to cover the material you need to pass the 
cert exams, if that is what you want.

I also teach the Linux+ classes, which I also think are good, but they do not 
have the depth of content that either the Red Hat or my courses have.

New Horizons, in Cary, has Linux courses. You should check those out, but look 
at the archives for this list as there was quite a discussion about them recently.

I think all of these courses cover some things that are quite obscure and seldom 
used while skipping some things that might be more helpful in day to day usage. 
Each has it's own objectives.

I have no idea about any of the on-line courses.

I do like Carl Crider's suggestion. Get something like Fedora, Centos or Debian 
and install it, play with it, install the servers and configure them, break it 
and fix it. Reinstall it as many times as you need to get comfortable with it. 
If you have a host with enough memory and CPU, get VirtualBox and do all of this 
in a VM without giving up your primary computer while you experiment.

For getting started with CLI, my favorite book is:  Mark G. Sobell: A Practical 
Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming; Prentice Hall, 2005, 
ISBN 0-13-147823-0

Regardless of how you go about it I wish you well and hope you enjoy it. If you 
have fun with it the rest will follow.



On 08/21/2012 09:53 AM, Jeffrey Crews wrote:
> Hello all-
>
> I'm Jeff C. I'm a Splatspace member from Durham who's been interested in OS
> hardware for a few years, building a couple of 3D printers and a CNC mill.
>
> I've been using Ubuntu for a couple of years but have been dodging the
> necessity of becoming familiar with what's under the hood. So, now I'm
> looking for a good basic intro to Linux.
>
> A quick look online finds a huge amount of material: free courses, paid
> courses, dead tree versions, etc etc. I need to winnow that down. Justis P.
> suggested that I sign up and ask here.
>
>   I'd appreciate any recommendations for a basic, progressive Linux course
> to get comfortable with using the command line and so I have a better
> chance of understanding some of the error messages.
>
> I don't necessarily need a cert, but material analogous to a basic cert
> would probably be about what I need to start. TIA for any suggestions.
>
> JSC
>
> -- 
>
>
> *********************************************************
> David P. Both, RHCE
> Millennium Technology Consulting LLC
> 919-389-8678
>
> dboth at millennium-technology.com
>
> www.millennium-technology.com
> www.databook.bz - Home of the DataBook for Linux
> DataBook is a Registered Trademark of David Both
>