[wplug] Linux newbie

[Vance Kochenderfer]

Sino Kaya <Sino.Kaya at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I've been developing factory automation software for many years --
 > VMS on Vax/Alpha, Windows, COTS, PLC, Fortran, C, C++, C# -- but
 > have no experience with Unix; some experience using Open Source

If you have experience with the VMS command line, it will
probably be mostly a matter of learning the UNIX way of doing
things.  Conceptually, Linux is really just a special case of
UNIX.

> 1. There are overwhelming amount of information available from the
> many web sites.  Perhaps, I could take some short cut by asking tips
> from you guys/gals.

You should come out to the installfest on November 13.
<http://www.wplug.org/meetings/one-meeting?wp_meeting_id=3144>
Everyone has their own favorite Linux distribution; I run
Mandrake.  You may find it useful because it is easy to get up
and running.  At the same time, if you want to delve more
deeply into the command-line toolset, it won't stop you.  This
may be more to your liking than a distribution like Linspire,
which is aimed solely at the point-and-click user.

Live CD distributions like Knoppix are really great for getting
your feet wet, while making it impossible (well, nearly so) to
break anything on your existing system.  But to get into Linux
seriously you'll want to install a distribution.

> I can pretty much learn new stuff with minimal hands-on help.  Just a
> little lead on what to read, where.

It's difficult to go wrong with the O'Reilly books.  "Running
Linux" <http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/runux4/index.html> seems
to be the standard recommendation.  The books that I learned
with are now pretty out-of-date, so I won't recommend them.
Others can probably chime in with their favorite choices.

As you noted, there is a huge amount of material on-line, but it
can be really difficult to navigate for someone who is just
starting out.  I think that having one or two good books would
be a great help to you.  And of course the WPLUGers will help.

Vance Kochenderfer        |  "Get me out of these ropes and into a
vance at happylemur.com      |   good belt of Scotch"    -Nick Danger