[KLUG Members] Linux tutor.

[Wesley Leonard]

> 1.  How can I either get this to work for me like Windows, or get away 
> from Windows theology all together.

I think the question is WHAT do you want to work like windows?  Apache
is not IIS (thankfully), Mozilla is not internet explorer, etc.

There will be a few differences but the concepts are still the same. 
For GUI environments, Gnome or KDE are the big players.  They are
installed and work very well by default on most Linux distros.

When you run a program, it opens in a window, has a file menu, an edit
menu, etc.  The filesystem is similar (it starts with a "/" instead of a
"c:") and so are the windowing conventions.  

Something that will help is not having pre-conceived notions of how
things should work.  Instead of thinking "in Windows, I do this..." try
to think about "In an operating system, in order to accomplish a certain
task, one should...."   For example, in Windows, to install a piece of
software, you double click the .exe file (or you insert the CD, etc). 
In a more general way, when software is to be installed, there is an
installer program (on Windows there is Install Shield or the Windows MSI
thing).  Under RedHat Linux there is an install program called RPM which
can be run from the command line (rpm -i program-file.rpm) or from
several different GUIs ( redhat-config-packages, red-carpet, gnorpm...
).


> 2.  Advantages to taking a hit in the software department with the 
> market being stolen by MS and what common software replaces that equivalent.

I don't quite understand this question...  but I'll try to point out
some eqivalent software packages:

MS Office -> StarOffice, Openoffice, GNUCalc (excel), Abiword
photoshop -> The Gimp
IE        -> Mozilla, Konqueror, Netscape

To play media files, use mplayer or xine

Some packages have been ported to Linux.  These include Realplayer and
Adobe Acrobat. 

Most of the non-commercial packages come with your linux distro and are
installed by default.


> 3.  (This is one I discovered on my own being an IT guy) How much you 
> really need to learn basics in command line.

Learn the command line.  Learn ls, cd, cat, and vim or emacs.  You will
need this for remote administration, editing config files, and when you
just don't have time to deal with the GUI.


> 4.  I still don't understand scripts at all. 

Have you ever written a .bat file in DOS/Windows?  Same thing.  You need
to have some understanding of the command line first because a script is
just a series of commands put into a file that you would ordinarily just
type at the command line.

Example, I have a cron job (cron is the Unix task scheduler) that runs
once a day to sync my system time:


#!/bin/sh
rdate -s clock.nist.gov
#----------------------


That's an example of a very simple script.

Here's another script I used to use (to wake me up in the morning):

#!/bin/sh
/usr/local/bin/br A2 on  # Turn my light on through the X10
/usr/bin/aumix -v 90     # crank up the volume
/usr/bin/mpg123 /mp3/Metalica-Whiskey_in_the_jar.mp3
#-----------------------------------------------------------

> I just need to learn the little "tricks as Bruce put it.

Tricks are nice but you need to learn the basics first.  If you really
want to know linux, learn the filesystem, the command line, and pick an
advanced text editor (vim or emacs) and learn it well.

It's not really all that much work but you really have to immerse
yourself.  You need to stop expecting things to be a certain way and
start to imagine different ways of doing things.
--
Wesley Leonard