No kidding. Fvwm2 is far from ugly. I ran it on a P133 w/ 32MB, loaded with tons of pixmaps back in '97-98, and I had it looking better and faster than AfterStep 1.0 with malda's cooltitlebars3 patch.
A look at some of the themes for FVWM at www.plig.org/xwinman will show how non-ugly it is.
I'm going for a high-tech degree starting May 17. I had the choice of the easy route getting an associates of applied science w/ a ton of great info tech courses (programming/networking/basic theory) or going for the associates of science in compsci and transfering out after to get the BS.
I'm going for the AS in CS, and God(!) there's alot of math/physics requirements, which is great. There's so many it seems almost like I'm going to be a math major rather than a compsci major. I think going this route will pay off in the end but if I got the associates applied science degree I could be working alot sooner. For that degree though there's only 1 or 2 _algebra_ classes required, no major stuff.
I think maybe that's the reason people are settling for the less high-tech degrees. The way things are now, going for a 2-year deal will get you alot of info tech skills without all of the academia. You'll be able to get a good paying job with a little hunting but won't really have alot of credentials.
Right now not having those credentials isn't hurting anybody but in the future it's going to, and I don't want to be left holding the bag with a non-transferable degree. I'm not all that great at math/physics, and I'm scared as hell at how hard going for this is going to be, but I'm going for it. I mean, how hard _can_ Calculus II be;)
>> Just a few things for the linux zealots who laugh openly at Ms drones. Yes, if that comment sparked a reaction from you, you ARE a zealot.
I'm a zealot, and a proud one:)
Concerning your argument that what we have today is owed in part to MS I don't agree with. IBM would still have gotten their OS from somewhere else, probably something better than DOS, and would have still pounded Apple into the ground, keeping PC prices down. Our Microsoft of today would just be a bigger, badder IBM.
>> Now will someone _please_ explain to me just WHY I should use Linux/Debian/Slackware?
It's all personal preference. Use what works best for you, whether it's windows or linux or something else. The one who should convince you is yourself.
>> I have my hand built, many times upgraded system at home and it runs 98.
I have 3 boxes, all hand-built by me as well. a celeron linux workstation, a 486 linux server, and a p200 win box. Got a celeron winbox and a p133 winbox in the house too but those aren't mine.
>> I play games on it
I play games on the p200 and the playstation
>> I use the web, I fiddle with dtp and do a little lpc coding for some muds.
I use the web w/ linux but cant code myself outta a paper bag
>> My system crashes every now and then, usually to me running something silly on it. Say like.. Unreal.. which leaks memory faster than windows 2.0 on a bad hair day.
my windows box crashes, my linux ones dont. the celeron did when I compiled stuff till i took it overclocking from 450mhz down to 337.
>> Its fast, does what I want, when I want, the way I want it. If I want to wp, Ill use notepad or wordpad, or Ill fire up AMIAB and run TeX on Workbench.
my systems are fast too... but I can only say the linux boxes do what I want when i want. windows isn't the most reliable stuff on earth ya know. at least when something screws up in linux you know it's cause of a misconfiguration rather than unexplained phenomenon. For word processing I'll use Write in windows or vim in linux.
>> I installed Redhat (2.01?)
probably 5.x
>> First up, disk druid totalled my primary drive, despite being pointed very clearly at a secondary drive.
I haven't heard of any issues with that. Personally, I use fdisk to setup partitions.
>> The Xconfig couldnt recognise my video card or monitor (tnt and Lg 1725s).
I use xf86config and enter the stuff in myself
>> The warning about damaging monitors prompted me to plug an old compaq v35 I had lying around. I went for 'average' settings as recommended by the docs. Well, that monitor doesnt work anymore, glad it wasnt my real one. Managed to do some more digging (under 98 online) and turn up settings that should work for my card.
i always find out what the settings are for my hardware before inputting anything unless there are some/really/ conservative settings available. seeing how that's an old monitor that's probably what it needed instead of 'average'.
>>Tried again, xconfig still cant see my card but at least should set a mode my monitor will run.
I don't use any auto-detect stuff, works about as well as plug and pray.
>> Reboot with a lilo disk. Hmmm it stalls on sendmail, um I didnt check that to be installed..
i think redhat's profiles might include that by default. it stalls because the machine doesn't have an authorative domain name i believe. setting up the/etc/hosts file properly during install or after fixes that, or just use smail instead if your IP is dynamic.
>> wha? how do I cancel that, ctrlc nope. Reboot, reinstall.
it gives up after a few minutes if you wait
>> Run startx after logging in, sorry the video mode is unavailable, you dont have enough memory. Hmm 8bit 640x480 on a 16mb card, balls to that.
You have a TNT 16MB. same here. you need the latest version of xfree86 for it to work right. i don't think rh 5.x ships w/ the latest version. Stampede does.
>> Oh look, it wont see my dvd drive
dvd isn't supported yet since the manufacturers dont want to release specs
>> or my a3d card
the a3d is the aureal 3d audio right? if you want support in linux tell aureal to give you the specs
>> or that brand of nic.
unless it's pnp all you probly need is a binary module or to recompile the kernel w/ support for it
>> Linux needs PnP
linux needs hardware specs from vendors. to use pnp 2.x kernels support it, or you can use isapnptools, i use it pnptools for my awe32 and awe64 cards in linux
>> Ms/Intel/Vendors moved people away from having to fight over irq and dma settings a year or 3 back
I prefer to "fight" with irq's and dma's and set things how I want. AFAIK NT doesn't do pnp either.
>> . Maybe the Linux community LIKES messing with those, I dont, its a waste of effort.
I like to, and it's as easy as setting up anything else in my opionon.
>> It also needs driver/vendor support,
that's the vendors fault, not linux volunteers'.
>> cmon how hard is it to support a tnt?
xfree86 already supports it.
>> If I could play my games on Linux I might have a greater incentive.
linux and unix is first and foremost for servers and high-performance work. Games are an afterthough. The number of games supported in linux is very small. Besides, you could always dual-boot.
>> Oh and since when did free == good ?
Every body likes free speech, free beer, free lunches... 'specially when what you get is top-notch
>> IF Linux is as _easy_ to install, setup and use as Win98
installing linux onto a blank disk is as easy if not moreso than doing it w/ windows. it's the same exact process. well, except that linux's installer formats the disks for you. I've installed both, about a zillion times. to install and have linux going w/ a new kernel and xf86 config and network connectivity takes me less time than installing windows and fooling w/ all those cdroms for my hardware and setting up its network.
>> then Ill take a look at it again. Til then, Linux will remain marginalised in the home and common user market.
Personally I like it like that. It's like an exclusive club of PC enthusiasts and unix people.
>> MS Win does what I want
then use it instead
>> , Linux might, I mean, jeez, do I really need/want to recompile kernels all the damn time?
you don't have to. i only do it to test out new features. My hardware would work fine w/ the the first kernel I ever booted -- 2.0.30.
>> Ask a common user what a kernel is and theyll go wha?
Linux really isn't for common people. It's for users who know their way in and out of a computer and who want to be in charge instead of the OS.
>> Unix/Linux is horribly arcane, powerful yes, but arcane and downright baffling. Maybe Im just not/.ish enough.
I grew up on DOS at age 14 -- at age 19 linux took me less than 2 months to get the basics down. It's more complicated until you understand it, then you just see unix/linux as beautifully ingenious. Once you understand it, its arcane ways become almost religious rites:).
>> Before you flame away, Im NOT a microsoft drone, I just look after a 300 pc network (nt/95) and would be happy for my life to be easier.
flaming is pointless. i've got better things to do. like trying to be a good zealot and getting users to switch to linux:) hehe.
>> Thing is the apps we _need_, as in system critical, are Win based. ZAK and LckDN make my life somewhat easier, but on average Id say we suffer around 5 crashes across the whole system a day. 2 of which are on macs. Id say thats pretty good and says something about how well things are set up *ironic wink*
you're kinda screwed then until you find apps to replace those or they get ported. 5 out of 300 isn't bad usually but if the work is mission-critical it is.
>> if anyone would care to help me get Linux up and running, or give me valid reasons why I should even bother, Id be happy to hear from you.
Well I told ya how to get your vidcard working... get the newest xfree86 or get a Stampede linux cd, maybe even Debian or slackware. I'm stampede-biased though;). as far as the autodetect stuff goes, leave that stuff alone. run xf86config instead to setup X. As far as reasons to use linux, it's up to you to decide on that. it sounds like you already have a decent windows/mac setup. maybe do like I did, dual-boot w/ linux till you become proficient and realize if it's for you or not. I learned on slackware 3.3. I suggest you try slack too. when you start out/usr/doc and "man" is your friend!!
if you want to talk more or need more help or something email me or find me on dalnet in #stampede between 5pm and 11pm EST, my nick is "cojones". Same goes for all the other people out there that would like some linux help etc... I charge to support windows, but my linux help is always free;)
is what are the other dists that sell for more than $2 going to do to get a jump on the obvious load of cash Caldera is going to be making from this. I think most new users, who would probably be Red Hat users, might opt for the Caldera package instead. Especially with the install working from within Windows.
The inclusion of PQMagic will make it easier for users for sure. I've heard about a program called FIPS though that is free and does partition resizing in dos. I guess Caldera's idea is to hide the cmd line totally though so in that respect PQMagic would be the best bet. All in all it's a good investment too. Once the users make their purchase and get PQMagic the rest of their software will be GNU and free;).
Good for Caldera. I'm glad it's them doing it. In my opinion Caldera's always represented the business side of Linux better than the other distributions. Plus they've showed some balls taking MS's ass to court. That's the kind of company that should be representing the business angle. Funny but I thought it'd be Corel doing this before anyone else.
Personally I don't think Linux is hard to setup. It's no harder than installing dos on a blank disk and setting up your gui of choice.
When I was first getting into Linux I was blown away by Caldera's desktop that came w/ the retail OpenLinux. I never bought it since I didn't have the cash but it looked impressive. I wound up downloading slack 3.3 via a 14.4 dialup and using wmaker.
I don't see anything wrong w/ OpenLinux for Linux workstations. It's not like anyone's being forced to use it so nobody has a right to complain about it. I know alot of people are going to piss and moan about this but think about how great it'll be having developers jump on the bandwagon with the users. Plus the need for linux techs will be more in demand. The world needs a clueless-friendly, stable OS for a change.
Bundling PQMagic might not have been the best choice though. I think Wabi might have been a better one. Anyway if Linux starts to get lame, there's always BSD.
I'll be going to college this Fall. I've pretty much decided on going to the local community college and getting an Associates in compsci. I don't think anyone needs _four_ years of classes to start off with but I think 2 is an appropriate amount to learn theory and basic skills. After that I think it's pretty much up to the student to continue learning anyhow. While there I can take their networking courses too which are designed to make it easy for you to get your certs. It's structured so that after each course segment you'll be ready to pick up another cert. The best part is it's well rounded - Unix/Novell/NT.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not planning on ending my education there. It's just that I'm 21 now and don't want to be 25+ before I start working in the field. Once I get out of school and find a decent job I can go back part time and pick up some more certs and get a Bachelors/Masters.
It's only recently that I realized what my real calling in life was. If I would have went to school when I was 18 it would have been a waste. I would have wound up majoring in languages or something like that, which I would not care for anymore. Then again that wouldn't be any worse than where I am now; stuck in a cube gettin $9/hr putting my English skills to use writing reports for guys who get $100k/yr to play Solitaire.
My coding skills are null and my networking accomplishments consist of setting up a home LAN w/ Linux and ipmasq. The only thing I've got going for me now is A+ certification. $50+/hr to fix people's windoze boxes and setup Linux for newbies isn't bad, I'll probably do that to pay the bills while in school.
It's not all set in stone yet though. Any of you think my goals so far are good/bad ideas? Any tips will be appreciated.
There's probably more steps but it's easy enough to do. Armed with the ip-masq howto you can't go wrong. A script would be cool but I think anyone that's going to setup ipmasq to begin with can probably figure it out from the documentation. I had my kernel compiled and masquerade setup within minutes. Did it all the same day I setup my home LAN, my first-ever attempt at networking. Setting up the Linux box was easier than configuring the networking configs on a windows machine, and took less time as well, counting the time it took to compile 2.0.36.
I learned alot about networking thanks to Linux and ipmasq in particular. Now if I could only get diald to compile... hehe. Guess it doesn't matter tho since i never drop carrier.
You can install over your redhat rpm binaries, it won't hurt anything but might make the system bitch if you try to uninstall the rpm package later.
Redhat's not scary, alot of Slackware die-hard's seem to be using it nowaday's cause the novelty of maintaining the system isn't as rewarding as it once was for them. I think since Debian 2.x hit the streets that most of the Slack die-hards that were using Redhat have switched to Debian though. I started with Slackware and I always preferred it. But when I bought the Debian 2.0 CD it blew my mind, dpkg and dselect are just awesome for maintaining the system. dpkg packages tend to prompt you for all config information during the install, saving time for rooting around for.conf's. I like Debian, it's great on my firewall/gateway 486 box.
But for my Pentium boxes I use Stampede. If you want pentium-optimized code, as you said above, you should check it out, since that's what it is built for. After running Stampede one tends to shy from 386/486 bins since they are so slow in comparison. Stampede's gzip is like 50% faster than standard gzip. It has its own package management format too, but you can setup pgcc and compile stuff yourself if ya want. Stampede comes w/ alot of kickass packages the other dists don't so it's worth a look. Cheapbytes has CD's for $2, or go to www.stampede.org. It was the first dist w/ 2.2, and is probably the most actively maintained except for Rawhide.
ANd yeah I agree w/ you about FVWM(2). It's the best WM ever, fast as hell even when loaded w/ pixmaps. And who needs themes when the best one is the one you do up yourself. And as far as GTK/GNOME themes go, I haven't got that stuff to work but it looks great. Cvs stuff never compiles for me so I've given up till the stuff is out of devel. Stampede is beta as all hell but they got a kickass bugtrack that answers most problems.
Good luck on getting your system up and running. I recommend you do some security checking tho cause RH5 has some exploitable configs/apps w/ the default setup.
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No kidding. Fvwm2 is far from ugly. I ran it on a P133 w/ 32MB, loaded with tons of pixmaps back in '97-98, and I had it looking better and faster than AfterStep 1.0 with malda's cooltitlebars3 patch.
A look at some of the themes for FVWM at www.plig.org/xwinman will show how non-ugly it is.
blow away the vdolive module, which uses port 7000, and use:
modprobe ip_masq_irc ports=6666,6667,6668,6669,7000
Works fine for me on Linux 2.2.5 and 2.2.10. Not sure about BSD though.
I'm going for a high-tech degree starting May 17. I had the choice of the easy route getting an associates of applied science w/ a ton of great info tech courses (programming/networking/basic theory) or going for the associates of science in compsci and transfering out after to get the BS.
;)
I'm going for the AS in CS, and God(!) there's alot of math/physics requirements, which is great. There's so many it seems almost like I'm going to be a math major rather than a compsci major. I think going this route will pay off in the end but if I got the associates applied science degree I could be working alot sooner. For that degree though there's only 1 or 2 _algebra_ classes required, no major stuff.
I think maybe that's the reason people are settling for the less high-tech degrees. The way things are now, going for a 2-year deal will get you alot of info tech skills without all of the academia. You'll be able to get a good paying job with a little hunting but won't really have alot of credentials.
Right now not having those credentials isn't hurting anybody but in the future it's going to, and I don't want to be left holding the bag with a non-transferable degree. I'm not all that great at math/physics, and I'm scared as hell at how hard going for this is going to be, but I'm going for it. I mean, how hard _can_ Calculus II be
I had mine running at 450 for a while but it'd
reboot if I ran gcc. I'm an even slower node now at 337mhz so don't feel bad.
>> Just a few things for the linux zealots who laugh openly at Ms drones. Yes, if that comment sparked a reaction from you, you ARE a zealot.
:)
.. Unreal .. which leaks memory faster than windows 2.0 on a bad hair day.
/really/ conservative settings available. seeing how that's an old monitor that's probably what it needed instead of 'average'.
..
/etc/hosts file properly during install or after fixes that, or just use smail instead if your IP is dynamic.
/.ish enough.
:).
:) hehe.
;). as far as the autodetect stuff goes, leave that stuff alone. run xf86config instead to setup X. As far as reasons to use linux, it's up to you to decide on that. it sounds like you already have a decent windows/mac setup. maybe do like I did, dual-boot w/ linux till you become proficient and realize if it's for you or not. I learned on slackware 3.3. I suggest you try slack too. when you start out /usr/doc and "man" is your friend!!
;)
I'm a zealot, and a proud one
Concerning your argument that what we have today is owed in part to MS I don't agree with. IBM would still have gotten their OS from somewhere else, probably something better than DOS, and would have still pounded Apple into the ground, keeping PC prices down. Our Microsoft of today would just be a bigger, badder IBM.
>> Now will someone _please_ explain to me just WHY I should use Linux/Debian/Slackware?
It's all personal preference. Use what works best for you, whether it's windows or linux or something else. The one who should convince you is yourself.
>> I have my hand built, many times upgraded system at home and it runs 98.
I have 3 boxes, all hand-built by me as well. a celeron linux workstation, a 486 linux server, and a p200 win box. Got a celeron winbox and a p133 winbox in the house too but those aren't mine.
>> I play games on it
I play games on the p200 and the playstation
>> I use the web, I fiddle with dtp and do a little lpc coding for some muds.
I use the web w/ linux but cant code myself outta a paper bag
>> My system crashes every now and then, usually to me running something silly on it. Say like
my windows box crashes, my linux ones dont. the celeron did when I compiled stuff till i took it overclocking from 450mhz down to 337.
>> Its fast, does what I want, when I want, the way I want it. If I want to wp, Ill use notepad or wordpad, or Ill fire up AMIAB and run TeX on Workbench.
my systems are fast too... but I can only say the linux boxes do what I want when i want. windows isn't the most reliable stuff on earth ya know. at least when something screws up in linux you know it's cause of a misconfiguration rather than unexplained phenomenon. For word processing I'll use Write in windows or vim in linux.
>> I installed Redhat (2.01?)
probably 5.x
>> First up, disk druid totalled my primary drive, despite being pointed very clearly at a secondary drive.
I haven't heard of any issues with that. Personally, I use fdisk to setup partitions.
>> The Xconfig couldnt recognise my video card or monitor (tnt and Lg 1725s).
I use xf86config and enter the stuff in myself
>> The warning about damaging monitors prompted me to plug an old compaq v35 I had lying around. I went for 'average' settings as recommended by the docs. Well, that monitor doesnt work anymore, glad it wasnt my real one. Managed to do some more digging (under 98 online) and turn up settings that should work for my card.
i always find out what the settings are for my hardware before inputting anything unless there are some
>>Tried again, xconfig still cant see my card but at least should set a mode my monitor will run.
I don't use any auto-detect stuff, works about as well as plug and pray.
>> Reboot with a lilo disk. Hmmm it stalls on sendmail, um I didnt check that to be installed
i think redhat's profiles might include that by default. it stalls because the machine doesn't have an authorative domain name i believe. setting up the
>> wha? how do I cancel that, ctrlc nope. Reboot, reinstall.
it gives up after a few minutes if you wait
>> Run startx after logging in, sorry the video mode is unavailable, you dont have enough memory. Hmm 8bit 640x480 on a 16mb card, balls to that.
You have a TNT 16MB. same here. you need the latest version of xfree86 for it to work right. i don't think rh 5.x ships w/ the latest version. Stampede does.
>> Oh look, it wont see my dvd drive
dvd isn't supported yet since the manufacturers dont want to release specs
>> or my a3d card
the a3d is the aureal 3d audio right? if you want support in linux tell aureal to give you the specs
>> or that brand of nic.
unless it's pnp all you probly need is a binary module or to recompile the kernel w/ support for it
>> Linux needs PnP
linux needs hardware specs from vendors. to use pnp 2.x kernels support it, or you can use isapnptools, i use it pnptools for my awe32 and awe64 cards in linux
>> Ms/Intel/Vendors moved people away from having to fight over irq and dma settings a year or 3 back
I prefer to "fight" with irq's and dma's and set things how I want. AFAIK NT doesn't do pnp either.
>> . Maybe the Linux community LIKES messing with those, I dont, its a waste of effort.
I like to, and it's as easy as setting up anything else in my opionon.
>> It also needs driver/vendor support,
that's the vendors fault, not linux volunteers'.
>> cmon how hard is it to support a tnt?
xfree86 already supports it.
>> If I could play my games on Linux I might have a greater incentive.
linux and unix is first and foremost for servers and high-performance work. Games are an afterthough. The number of games supported in linux is very small. Besides, you could always dual-boot.
>> Oh and since when did free == good ?
Every body likes free speech, free beer, free lunches... 'specially when what you get is top-notch
>> IF Linux is as _easy_ to install, setup and use as Win98
installing linux onto a blank disk is as easy if not moreso than doing it w/ windows. it's the same exact process. well, except that linux's installer formats the disks for you. I've installed both, about a zillion times. to install and have linux going w/ a new kernel and xf86 config and network connectivity takes me less time than installing windows and fooling w/ all those cdroms for my hardware and setting up its network.
>> then Ill take a look at it again. Til then, Linux will remain marginalised in the home and common user market.
Personally I like it like that. It's like an exclusive club of PC enthusiasts and unix people.
>> MS Win does what I want
then use it instead
>> , Linux might, I mean, jeez, do I really need/want to recompile kernels all the damn time?
you don't have to. i only do it to test out new features. My hardware would work fine w/ the the first kernel I ever booted -- 2.0.30.
>> Ask a common user what a kernel is and theyll go wha?
Linux really isn't for common people. It's for users who know their way in and out of a computer and who want to be in charge instead of the OS.
>> Unix/Linux is horribly arcane, powerful yes, but arcane and downright baffling. Maybe Im just not
I grew up on DOS at age 14 -- at age 19 linux took me less than 2 months to get the basics down. It's more complicated until you understand it, then you just see unix/linux as beautifully ingenious. Once you understand it, its arcane ways become almost religious rites
>> Before you flame away, Im NOT a microsoft drone, I just look after a 300 pc network (nt/95) and would be happy for my life to be easier.
flaming is pointless. i've got better things to do. like trying to be a good zealot and getting users to switch to linux
>> Thing is the apps we _need_, as in system critical, are Win based. ZAK and LckDN make my life somewhat easier, but on average Id say we suffer around 5 crashes across the whole system a day. 2 of which are on macs. Id say thats pretty good and says something about how well things are set up *ironic wink*
you're kinda screwed then until you find apps to replace those or they get ported. 5 out of 300 isn't bad usually but if the work is mission-critical it is.
>> if anyone would care to help me get Linux up and running, or give me valid reasons why I should even bother, Id be happy to hear from you.
Well I told ya how to get your vidcard working... get the newest xfree86 or get a Stampede linux cd, maybe even Debian or slackware. I'm stampede-biased though
if you want to talk more or need more help or something email me or find me on dalnet in #stampede between 5pm and 11pm EST, my nick is "cojones". Same goes for all the other people out there that would like some linux help etc... I charge to support windows, but my linux help is always free
is what are the other dists that sell for more than $2 going to do to get a jump on the obvious load of cash Caldera is going to be making from this. I think most new users, who would probably be Red Hat users, might opt for the Caldera package instead. Especially with the install working from within Windows.
The inclusion of PQMagic will make it easier for users for sure. I've heard about a program called FIPS though that is free and does partition resizing in dos. I guess Caldera's idea is to hide the cmd line totally though so in that respect PQMagic would be the best bet. All in all it's a good investment too. Once the users make their purchase and get PQMagic the rest of their software will be GNU and free ;).
Good for Caldera. I'm glad it's them doing it. In my opinion Caldera's always represented the business side of Linux better than the other distributions. Plus they've showed some balls taking MS's ass to court. That's the kind of company that should be representing the business angle. Funny but I thought it'd be Corel doing this before anyone else.
Personally I don't think Linux is hard to setup. It's no harder than installing dos on a blank disk and setting up your gui of choice.
When I was first getting into Linux I was blown away by Caldera's desktop that came w/ the retail OpenLinux. I never bought it since I didn't have the cash but it looked impressive. I wound up downloading slack 3.3 via a 14.4 dialup and using wmaker.
I don't see anything wrong w/ OpenLinux for Linux workstations. It's not like anyone's being forced to use it so nobody has a right to complain about it. I know alot of people are going to piss and moan about this but think about how great it'll be having developers jump on the bandwagon with the users. Plus the need for linux techs will be more in demand. The world needs a clueless-friendly, stable OS for a change.
Bundling PQMagic might not have been the best choice though. I think Wabi might have been a better one. Anyway if Linux starts to get lame, there's always BSD.
I'll be going to college this Fall. I've pretty much decided on going to the local community college and getting an Associates in compsci. I don't think anyone needs _four_ years of classes to start off with but I think 2 is an appropriate amount to learn theory and basic skills. After that I think it's pretty much up to the student to continue learning anyhow. While there I can take their networking courses too which are designed to make it easy for you to get your certs. It's structured so that after each course segment you'll be ready to pick up another cert. The best part is it's well rounded - Unix/Novell/NT.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not planning on ending my education there. It's just that I'm 21 now and don't want to be 25+ before I start working in the field. Once I get out of school and find a decent job I can go back part time and pick up some more certs and get a Bachelors/Masters.
It's only recently that I realized what my real calling in life was. If I would have went to school when I was 18 it would have been a waste. I would have wound up majoring in languages or something like that, which I would not care for anymore. Then again that wouldn't be any worse than where I am now; stuck in a cube gettin $9/hr putting my English skills to use writing reports for guys who get $100k/yr to play Solitaire.
My coding skills are null and my networking accomplishments consist of setting up a home LAN w/ Linux and ipmasq. The only thing I've got going for me now is A+ certification. $50+/hr to fix people's windoze boxes and setup Linux for newbies isn't bad, I'll probably do that to pay the bills while in school.
It's not all set in stone yet though. Any of you think my goals so far are good/bad ideas? Any tips will be appreciated.
I'm going to try for it too. I've had enough of this weather.
There's probably more steps but it's easy enough to do. Armed with the ip-masq howto you can't go wrong. A script would be cool but I think anyone that's going to setup ipmasq to begin with can probably figure it out from the documentation. I had my kernel compiled and masquerade setup within minutes. Did it all the same day I setup my home LAN, my first-ever attempt at networking. Setting up the Linux box was easier than configuring the networking configs on a windows machine, and took less time as well, counting the time it took to compile 2.0.36.
I learned alot about networking thanks to Linux and ipmasq in particular. Now if I could only get diald to compile... hehe. Guess it doesn't matter tho since i never drop carrier.
/usr/doc/HOWTO is your friend!
You can install over your redhat rpm binaries, it won't hurt anything but might make the system bitch if you try to uninstall the rpm package later.
.conf's. I like Debian, it's great on my firewall/gateway 486 box.
Redhat's not scary, alot of Slackware die-hard's seem to be using it nowaday's cause the novelty of maintaining the system isn't as rewarding as it once was for them. I think since Debian 2.x hit the streets that most of the Slack die-hards that were using Redhat have switched to Debian though. I started with Slackware and I always preferred it. But when I bought the Debian 2.0 CD it blew my mind, dpkg and dselect are just awesome for maintaining the system. dpkg packages tend to prompt you for all config information during the install, saving time for rooting around for
But for my Pentium boxes I use Stampede. If you want pentium-optimized code, as you said above, you should check it out, since that's what it is built for. After running Stampede one tends to shy from 386/486 bins since they are so slow in comparison. Stampede's gzip is like 50% faster than standard gzip. It has its own package management format too, but you can setup pgcc and compile stuff yourself if ya want. Stampede comes w/ alot of kickass packages the other dists don't so it's worth a look. Cheapbytes has CD's for $2, or go to www.stampede.org.
It was the first dist w/ 2.2, and is probably the most actively maintained except for Rawhide.
ANd yeah I agree w/ you about FVWM(2). It's the best WM ever, fast as hell even when loaded w/ pixmaps. And who needs themes when the best one is the one you do up yourself. And as far as GTK/GNOME themes go, I haven't got that stuff to work but it looks great. Cvs stuff never compiles for me so I've given up till the stuff is out of devel. Stampede is beta as all hell but they got a kickass bugtrack that answers most problems.
Good luck on getting your system up and running. I recommend you do some security checking tho cause RH5 has some exploitable configs/apps w/ the default setup.
go to user account, enter your login in the box and click the mail passwd button.