[KLUG Members] Linux tutor.

[Adam Williams]

> I have been in corporate IT for 3 years.  When my contract was up I 
> worked here as a favor to myself and a family member (there wasn't a lot 
> out there anyway).  When the current IT guy retires I am going to be 
> moving into his spot.  Some things I don't think are well explained are:
> 1.  How can I either get this to work for me like Windows, or get away 
> from Windows theology all together.

What do you mean "work for me"?  Do you want a more integrated desktop? 
If thats what you mean check out http://www.ximian.com

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

Open Office replaces M$-Office (nicely, possibly even better, at least
for what I use it for - opinions vary).

GNUCash replaces Quicken/M$-Money.

As far as desktop stuff goes...

Most of the Linux server packages are really well known (Apache,
sendmail, CyrusIMAP, OpenLDAP) [which replace IIS, Exchange, Exchange,
and AD; respectively]

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

Most basic tasks can be accomplished via the GUI.  You need to command
like for when things don't work (diagnosis) and for corner
configurations.

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

Just think of a marriage between Quick Basic and Batch files with a
little Pascal thrown in for spice.  Or like OS level macros.  Your shell
actually even has a macro-recorder of sorts.