[TriLUG] first post: looking for basic Linux course

[Sean Korb]

I think taking a course is a great idea, and I even think building a
system from scratch can teach a great deal, but I think they could
both be a little disconnected.

Find something you want Linux to *do* for you.  If you want a home
security system, build that.  If you want a PVR, build that.  If you
want a VOIP system, build that.  If you want a media server, build
that.  Start small.  Build a http server and then build a LAMP stack
and then work out how to automate backups of your MySQL server.  Try
playing with SSL keys.  Build a MAME console.  Then build a distro
from scratch. All of these can be challenging but once you get through
a few of them, you'll look back at yourself and think... I'm an
expert!  Then please find a way to reverse engineer Flash and support
it for linux until the end of our days.

sean

On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 10:40 AM, David Both
<dboth at millennium-technology.com> wrote:
> <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.
>
>


-- 
Sean Korb spkorb at spkorb.org http://www.spkorb.org
'65,'68 Mustangs,'68 Cougar,'78 R100/7,'60 Metro,'59 A35,'71 Pantera #1382
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you get" --Miller
"Computers are useless.  They can only give you answers." -P. Picasso