Just wanted to let everybody know that the "Root 101" article has been updated on the Iodynamics site. Most of the revisions are based on the comments above.
I appreciate all of the great feedback, both here and via e-mail. This article has truly been a community effort.
Hear hear! Get a Mac, run OS X, do as much as you can in the terminal, and then drop into the GUI when you really get into a bind.
From my experience, the only way to learn this stuff is to do it. Make mistakes. Buy a book or two, search the web for the stuff you don't understand, and make some really good hacker friends. Buy them caffeine.
There was another comment on this piece about an admin who had his root password on a PostIt taped to his monitor. (Of course, why the PostIt was taped when it should have been self-sticking is another topic for discussion. Maybe it had been there for a while and the sticky stuff had all worn of. Anyway...)
I like the way the analogy still holds up. The building superintendent taping the master key to his door. (Or leaving it on top of the mat.)
Hmmm. Didn't find that one in any of the research for this article. I actually wrote it because I couldn't find a really good online source that explained root for newbies.
I also like the metaphor another person here used to explain things. Anything that could be done from a driver's seat can be done under a user's login. If he wanted to change a battery or top off fluids, he would use sudo. If he needed to do major engine work, he'd log in as root.
I put this in the piece because I forgot my own password once, when I was first learning to use Linux. A buddy set up the machine for me, configured it, and I basically just played around on the command line. When I actually began to want to do things, I found I had forgotten my root password. Luckily, my buddy knew it, since he had set up the machine
My belief is that if we want to make Linux a viable alternative to Windows for garden variety users, we have to demystify it. This means giving them the tools to save themselves if they make mistakes.
We can't have it both ways. If we want people to use Linux, we can't keep them in the dark about the ins and outs. This means those of us who have boxes sitting around need to make sure they're physically secure. Both grub and lilo have password options...
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Just wanted to let everybody know that the "Root 101" article has been updated on the Iodynamics site. Most of the revisions are based on the comments above.
I appreciate all of the great feedback, both here and via e-mail. This article has truly been a community effort.
--DaveHear hear! Get a Mac, run OS X, do as much as you can in the terminal, and then drop into the GUI when you really get into a bind.
From my experience, the only way to learn this stuff is to do it. Make mistakes. Buy a book or two, search the web for the stuff you don't understand, and make some really good hacker friends. Buy them caffeine.
There was another comment on this piece about an admin who had his root password on a PostIt taped to his monitor. (Of course, why the PostIt was taped when it should have been self-sticking is another topic for discussion. Maybe it had been there for a while and the sticky stuff had all worn of. Anyway...)
I like the way the analogy still holds up. The building superintendent taping the master key to his door. (Or leaving it on top of the mat.)
Hmmm. Didn't find that one in any of the research for this article. I actually wrote it because I couldn't find a really good online source that explained root for newbies.
I also like the metaphor another person here used to explain things. Anything that could be done from a driver's seat can be done under a user's login. If he wanted to change a battery or top off fluids, he would use sudo. If he needed to do major engine work, he'd log in as root.
Aw, c'mon. This stuff is out there already, all over the Net. Not hard to find, if you know both how to Google and how to type.
I put this in the piece because I forgot my own password once, when I was first learning to use Linux. A buddy set up the machine for me, configured it, and I basically just played around on the command line. When I actually began to want to do things, I found I had forgotten my root password. Luckily, my buddy knew it, since he had set up the machine
My belief is that if we want to make Linux a viable alternative to Windows for garden variety users, we have to demystify it. This means giving them the tools to save themselves if they make mistakes.
We can't have it both ways. If we want people to use Linux, we can't keep them in the dark about the ins and outs. This means those of us who have boxes sitting around need to make sure they're physically secure. Both grub and lilo have password options...
Yep, that's what I meant. All of this feedback has been great. I'll probably do a revision of the article tonight and repost in on Iodynamics.