Further learning?

[Elric of Grans]

G'Day,

I would consider myself an intermediate Linux user: I am familiar with all the basic commands, do most things by the CLI, occationally use shell scripts, and only get stumped every now and again. I would like to be a Unix Wizard though (don't we all?), but I am not sure where to go next. I studied the book `A Practical Guide to Unix System V' a while ago, and that helped me get to this stage, but progress beyond that has been pretty slow, as I do not have any direction on what I should be doing next - after all, it's hard to learn something new when you don't know what else there is to know (I hope that doesn't come off the wrong way).

Would someone be able to direct me to somewhere (preferably a web site - I cannot afford any exensive books at the moment) that could help me move up another level in using Linux/Unicies? Thanks!

[chatins]

Why would you want to be something you are not? Sounds like you need to study maslow's hierarchy of needs. Seriously, be a linux guru, not a unix head. They are completely different.

[Elric of Grans]

G'Day chatins,

I fail to see your point. Firstly, what is it I want to be that I am not? The answer is become better at what I am doing...would that not be self-actualisation? Perhaps you should go back to Maslow yourself, or perhaps try another psychology: ask even a second year Psychology student, and they understand that they need to study several different schools of thought. Jung and Freud both come highly recommended.

As for Linux and Unix...Linux is *a* Unix, so really they are quite the same. Sure, Linux is not the same as, say, BSD or some other form of Unix, in the end they have more similarities than Windows, or other completely different OSes (though, I seem to recall reading that Gates was once thinking of making Windows a Unix-based OS...imagine what could have happened there!).

The fact still remains that I wish to become better on Unix-based systems, and I happen to run Linux (Linus' Unix): perhaps someone else could help me out, while you chew on the old asbestos cork.

[Sepero]

Hey, I'm not here to bash anyone(except MS :)) So have you read all of the books that Red Hat puts out? They have them for free in "pdf" on their website. Also here is some more documentation:
http://www.linux.org/docs/index.html

Hope that helps.
___________________________________
When you lose your passion for advocating Unix, that's when you move from Linux to *bsd. I never plan on losing that passion. Linux, I will be faithful 'till the end.

[DMR]

Originally posted by chatins
They are completely different.
Moderator's note:

At JustLinux, we try to encourage members not to be adamently wrong in their responses when posting in the forums, especially when posting an inflamatory comment which has absolutely no content pertinent to the original question.

Thank you.

:rolleyes:

(*cough* POSIX *cough*)

[chatins]

Elric,

You posed a question that deserves an answer.

First I might start with understanding what is and is not the intellectual property of sco.

http://www.sco.com/scosource/

Next, check out the free docs at Sun. You will need to aquire a rather expensive solaris setup to make sense out of them.

http://www.sun.com/documentation/

[stiles]

Originally posted by Elric of Grans
(preferably a web site - I cannot afford any exensive books at the moment)

Sorry about this, but IMO you should check out the TOC (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/upt3/toc.html) of Unix Power Tools (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/upt3/), I believe this book is the type of thing you are looking for. It's a clasic and the third edition has been updated to include more GNU tools. I'm in the same boat, I'm saving for this gem myself ATM.

[DMR]

Originally posted by stiles
Sorry about this, but IMO you should check out the TOC (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/upt3/toc.html) of Unix Power Tools (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/upt3/) UNIX Power Tools is definitely a great book. Unfortunately it's about $60 USD; maybe you can get someone to gift it to you for your birthday.

;)

[bosox79]

Originally posted by Elric of Grans
G'Day,

I would consider myself an intermediate Linux user: I am familiar with all the basic commands, do most things by the CLI, occationally use shell scripts, and only get stumped every now and again. I would like to be a Unix Wizard though (don't we all?), but I am not sure where to go next. I studied the book `A Practical Guide to Unix System V' a while ago, and that helped me get to this stage, but progress beyond that has been pretty slow, as I do not have any direction on what I should be doing next - after all, it's hard to learn something new when you don't know what else there is to know (I hope that doesn't come off the wrong way).

Would someone be able to direct me to somewhere (preferably a web site - I cannot afford any exensive books at the moment) that could help me move up another level in using Linux/Unicies? Thanks!


you may want to take a look at the Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition. this looks like a very comprehinsive guide:cool: I just started reading it myself

check out http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz

[ShieldWolf]

I find that the best way to learn, is to do. Pick a goal, and then work towards it.

Do you have a working web server? With all the bells and whistles?

How about file storage and sharing? With automated backups?

An MP3 server that allows remote users to que their selections might be a challenge.

Of course, these things can be accomplished on almost any OS. If you're looking for Linux/Unix/Posix specific items, have you compiled your own kernel? added another hard-drive/moved to a new hard-drive? written a driver? managed multiple users/groups? hacked an existing program?

You can also try working through the "How-To's" at The Linux Documentation Project (http://tldp.org/), and the ones that may have been included with your distribution, as well as reading up on a few good books, such as "Rute Users Tutorial and Exposition" (http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.gz).

A forum search, and/or a Google search for Linux Books should turn up many more leads.

[chatins]

Thanks for the Rute. The quote by the late Douglas Adams on page 3 is a must read!

I apologize to Elric for mistaking him for a unix wanabe.

[stiles]

Originally posted by DMR
Unfortunately it's about $60 USD...

For thoes in the US bookpool (http://www.bookpool.com/.x/psby7ykb2r/ss/1?qs=unix+power) has a much better price ;)

[DMR]

Originally posted by stiles
For thoes in the US bookpool (http://www.bookpool.com/.x/psby7ykb2r/ss/1?qs=unix+power) has a much better price ;) Ooh, the "Nice Price"- I like that. Thanks for the link, stiles!
:)

[Elric of Grans]

Thanks everyone!

That is a lot of resources for me to look over: a far greater response than I even hoped for! It'll take me a while to even look at all of them, let alone go through them all properly, but I am sure each of them shall be a great help. Thanks again :)

[bosox79]

Originally posted by Elric of Grans
Thanks everyone!

That is a lot of resources for me to look over: a far greater response than I even hoped for! It'll take me a while to even look at all of them, let alone go through them all properly, but I am sure each of them shall be a great help. Thanks again :)

I am always glad to help a fellow newbie

happy reading:D

[Elric of Grans]

G'Day,

I read over the contents of each of these documents, so I could see what topics would be covered in them... perhaps I should have provided a little more of my background.

I started using computers in the mid-80s, and invested in an XT shortly after that. I continued with that PC, running GEM (horrid, horrid OS) for about a decade. I got my hands on a second hand Pentium 120(?) in 96, which had Windows 95 on it. About this time I learned about hardware, and started messing with that; I also started learning a third programming language at the same time. I heard about GNU/Linux in about 97, and have been using it ever since. I now run a completely customised box, program (to varying degrees of skill) in more languages than I'm likely to ever use, and use GNU/Linux for just about everything I do: I've just never spent too much time actually getting to know the entrails of the OS itself.

The content covered on most of those links are topics I learned a few years back (and I use many of them daily), however a couple of things there are topics new to me. Namely writing device drivers (mine have all worked in the past, so I've not looked into it) and compiling the kernel (I always though rewriting parts of it was something only experts should consider). Thanks for taking the time to post those suggestions though, as I do appreciate it!