Slashdot Mirror
Where Should One Go for Unix/Linux Training?
jwitko asks: "I work for an international telecommunications company. They're pretty enormous when it comes to size/budget so their willingness to send employees to get training and to better themselves is pretty strong. I am simply a student who got lucky to become a part-time contractor with this company and I've loved every minute of it. My job primarily relies on working on Unix platforms and installing/configuring our product on laptops for sales people to go out and sell to telecommunications company's (ex: T-Mobile, Verizon, and so forth). However, before I came to this company I had barely ever even touched a Unix-based OS. This summer, I would like to travel to as many different seminars, lectures, and classes to really get experience with *nix based operating systems and learn a lot more about how to use them. Where are some good places to find ongoing seminars, lectures, etc. in Unix and Linux that you think would really help a somewhat-new guy learn a lot and become more experienced?"
Maybe this is too simple of an answer, but INSTALL A VERSION of unix/linux and get a BOOK!
(What a waste of a article.)
j^2
If you just want to practice/learn on a unix command line, get a free shell account on a public access unix server. Google for "free shells" or try one of these:
sdf.lonestar.org
bsd.miki.eu.org
freeshells.ch
rootshell.be
If you do something with your own hands, the lessons tend to stick. I'd grab copies of a few Linux distros, FreeBSD, and maybe Solaris or something and try to install them at home. You can pick up a decent PC on eBay for less than $100 to use as an experimental box.
I got my initial UNIX experience (1) installing and playing with Linux and (2) taking a UNIX admin course at a local college, both in the early 1990's. The two different types of learning complimented each other well, at least in my case.
Mainframe/UNIX Bit Twiddler and long time Windows/Linux Hobbyist.
The Theorem Theorem: If If, Then Then.
If you're asking such a question, you first have to learn to learn. Seriously, I'm sure of all *nix users here on /. (and elsewhere), 90% never asked "How to [...]". They just Googled it and learned by themselves, because it's simply interesting. I don't understand why people "Ask Slashdot" while they won't even read the previous ones; because, this has been asked 1000 times, may it be "learning UNIX" or "learning to program". That's the same, you can't *know* UNIX/*nix if you don't know how to program -- and the answer's always the same: learn to learn, do it, and RTFM.
;)] or could have learned by myself (or it was just not interesting to me, like some lower level/electronics stuff).
RTFM isn't an insult, it's something that we all do; saying RTFM isn't rude, it's a service given to you; RTFM is our way to say: look by yourself, because once it becomes a reflex, you'll do whatever you want, a lot faster.
So now, what fine manual should you read to have some *nix skills? Well, TCPL seems to be a requisite, installing a GNU/Linux distro and using it (it means, ditching Windows completely, no dual boot), then some book on UNIX programming (because the POSIX/*nix system calls API shows you how UNIX is designed, and what IS actually UNIX), and then, if you're only interested in doing some techie stuff, just install and configure the most popular daemons (postfix, apache2, etc). If you start by this last step, you won't actually understand how it *works*, and it will be done in no time (since it's really easy), but you won't have learned much.
Once again, learn to learn by yourself. Don't rely on courses. The only CS interesting courses I have ever been to are software design or theorical CS (I'm a CS master student). The rest ("UNIX", programming, networking, etc) I already knew [because I had learned to learn