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nsr1200

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Hi

Over the past few years I have dipped into Linux distos on occasions and enjoyed the experience, but always gone back to Mac and before that Microsoft.
I am 33 and looking for something new to learn, and the Linux command line has always been something that has intrigued me. I am a competent computer and understand more than the average person, I am completely comfortable with many operations that other may not be.
The Linux command line is an area that I have never really taken the time to learn. I look around me and see all the younger generation making apps and coding and just think have I come to the Linux party too late? Am I destined to be a GUI computer user for the rest of my life!

The other issue is where do I start? There are no courses near me at the local college, so I have enrolled in a EdX course to get me started. I thought that would be most appropriate for now, and I figured self teaching would be the best way to go, but I could be wrong.

Fundamentally after a lot of thinking I would like to try this all out and attempt to start a new career path, is this an area that needs lots of new bods....Obviously I want to take this one step at a time.

Any advice would be greatly received.

Thanks
 


The way that I got started was to install Oracle VirtualBox on my PC and then create an few VMs. I chose Oracle Linux 6.5 (it's basically RedHat) and Ubuntu server. I have several Ubuntu versions running; 10.04, 14.04. I created a couple of host-only networks in VirtualBox and then used a Linux server as a router to route traffic between the host-only networks and the real world. I used RedHat 6.5 for that. I set up iptables to do routing with NAT.

Next I worked on learning how to do updates via command line. Since RedHat and Debian use different mechanisms for updates, I spent time learning both. I worked on learning how to do updates in RedHat via yum and Ubuntu via apt-get.

The next thing I did was set up DNS using BIND. I made 1 DNS server for a parent domain and a second for a child domain. (example, and test example). I set up DNS forwarders and also a stubzone.

Having set up DNS, I decided to figure out how to display stats in a meaningful way. I learned how to dump via rndc to a stats file and then I had to figure out how to parse the file. I needed to learn a bit of sed, awk, and then finally perl in order to get the stats file to dump to a csv with the correct bit of structure so that I can use Excel to perform data modeling on it.

Try something similar. You obviously don't need to follow this path. This is just how I did it. I would say that the easiest way to learn is to pick a topic and start doing stuff in it. For me, that was DNS, updating, and output manipulation.
 
Basically, what the others said..... :) Also, open up the Terminal of your choice (I.E., Xterm, ROXTerm, Sakura), and keep typing this, again and again:

echo "Hello World!!"

echo "Knowledge is Power."

:)

I don't know how long you've been here, but welcome!!..... :D
 
Also, there's nothing wrong with using BOTH a GUI and a LUI..... :)
 
Also, there's nothing wrong with using BOTH a GUI and a LUI..... :)
I ass/u/me that by "LUI", you are referring to the "Command Line Interface", or "CLI". I have never heard the term "LUI" used before.
 
I ass/u/me that by "LUI", you are referring to the "Command Line Interface", or "CLI". I have never heard the term "LUI" used before.
ass/u/me.....?? XD Oh GAWD....... XD But yeah, I must've made that Acronym up after watching one of Elithecomputerguy's Videos..... :D Well, at least it SOUNDED appropriate....... :3
 
ass/u/me.....?? XD Oh GAWD....... XD But yeah, I must've made that Acronym up after watching one of Elithecomputerguy's Videos..... :D Well, at least it SOUNDED appropriate....... :3
"ass/u/me" was a classic line from a US TV show from the 60's called "The Odd Couple". You can see the scene here.
 
Setting up a VirtualBox VM is a good idea. Make a snapshot of it once you have it set the way you want, so that you can mess it up real good, and when you find you're lost in the weeds, you can just roll it back.

If you really want to learn command line usage, start using command line tools. For example, I use mutt for my mail reader (I won't recommend lynx for a browser, however).

Also - I have found this book to be helpful: <http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Bash-Prog...5225540&sr=1-1&keywords=pro+bash+programming>

Although at my last job we mostly used NetBeans for programming, I did lots of kernel and Xorg work, as well as scripts and configs, etc. and just used vi, nano and/or gedit and make files for much of that. (I use kate now when doing stuff at home - especially preferring that for editing over the Arduino development IDE).
 
"ass/u/me" was a classic line from a US TV show from the 60's called "The Odd Couple". You can see the scene here.

The Jack Lemmon/Walter Matthau movie was even better...
My office mate and I were like that at the last job. I never left any notes signed F. U., however...
 
"ass/u/me" was a classic line from a US TV show from the 60's called "The Odd Couple". You can see the scene here.
Thanks..... :D My Dad always says it, and I didn't know it came from that show....... :D
 
It was a great program. I remember it when it was new. (Hence the screen name.)
 
Or, like the guy on People's Court said when I was only 10 years old, " I neva asume nuffin. When you assume, you make a ass out yourself and then otha guy."

Yes, yes you do....
 
These are great resources - After much procrastinating I will be starting my Linux journey this weekend.

Many thanks for the information!
 
These are great resources - After much procrastinating I will be starting my Linux journey this weekend.

Many thanks for the information!
Good Luck, good sir!..... ^^ Let us know how it's going for you!..... :D
 

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