Baslinux mailing list

["Greg Mayman" <gmone AT tpg.com.au>]

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:11:48 +0000, Lee Forrest wrote:

> Reading is important, and the linux runner will be doing a lot
> of it. From now until forever.

Agreed!

> But practicing (applying/experimenting-with) what one has read
> is critical to the learning process.

Agreed!

> Books are good, but on-line docs are much more convenient.

Maybe I'm just too oldfashioned, but I find ink-on-paper next to the
computer to be the most convenient.

And I can take the book with me at bedtime and read or reread sections
of it in preparation for the next day's practice.

> If you
> are going to use books, get a book stand or a sturdy music stand.

I have a cleared space in front of the processor box that is ideal for
placing printed texts.

> (So that you can have the book open at the level of your screen
> and right beside it.)

Having it higher or lower allows you to use your eye muscles and/or neck
muscles. I learned years ago that adjusting things for minimimum
movement while working is the best way to get stiffness or RSI.

> When you read about something, explore it on your computer. If
> the book/net-doc is talking about the proc virtual filesystem, cd
> to /proc and check it out. Use the manpage to explain what the
> book doesn't. If the book is covering commands to run, run them.
> Check out the manpage and experiment with the various options and
> args.

Exactly!

> And so on.

> (There are also the info pages, if you have them installed with the
> info program, and the docs in /usr/doc.)

> For BasicLinux, which is slackware based, there are many relevant
> docs on the various slackware sites, most of which are linked to
> slackware.com.

> There are the HOWTOs (and other docs and links) at tldp.org

> There are many manpage repositories, like http://www.linuxmanpages.com/

> Here's an interesting link:  http://www.linuxforums.org/

> There are lessons galore on the web. Here's one course (can't vouch for
> its quality or lack thereof)  http://www.linux.org/lessons/

> The mailing list archives of gnu.org are a treasure:

> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/

> You know about the BasicLinux list archives.

> This is a seemingly-dated linux course that is excellent:

> http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.tar.bz2

Noted. I'm saving this message, may even make a hardcopy of it, so I can
check out all those links, and read and reread your suggestions.

Thanks a million, Lee.

Although I have already started doing some of the things you suggest,
advice like yours is a BIG help.




.   ,-./\
.  /     \     from Greg Mayman, in Adelaide, South Australia
.  \_,-*_/     "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E
.       v