topic Re: Linux Mentor Wanted in Operating System - Linux

Linux Mentor Wanted

Robert Atkinson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 09:47:41 GMT

For my sins, I manage a simple Debian Linux VM server, but my numerous years of VMS experience is failing me. I'm looking for someone that's willing to help me through the basics over email.

For instance, I'm currently struggling to create an account where I can manage config files over FTP.

Is there anyone out there with some Christmas spirit that would help me out?

Cheers, Rob.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Steven Schweda — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:52:59 GMT

> [...] Debian Linux VM server [...]

What's a "VM server"?

There is a whole Linux forum, you know:

http://forums.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/familyhome.do?familyId=118

> [...] to create an account where I can
> manage config files over FTP.

I don't know what that means. Some coherent
explanation of your actual goal(s)/problem(s)
may be needed before you can get much help
from anywhere.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Robert Atkinson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:09:30 GMT

Steven, if you can manage it without having your nappy changed, take a look at this link :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_machine

As for the rest of your response, if you insist in constantly flaming me, at least make it relevant. These stupid replies are best left to COV, not here where some of us are trying to get some _real_ work done.

Rob.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Steven Schweda — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:18:57 GMT

Sorry to bother you. (I suppose that it
would be pointless to mention that "I'm
currently struggling" doesn't say much about
what you did, or what happened when you did
it.)

Irregardful, if anyone else can explain what
the actual goal(s)/problem(s) here were, I'd
still be interested.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Hoff — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:59:20 GMT

Well, there's the obligatory:

http://mattgemmell.com/2008/12/08/what-have-you-tried

As for your more general question, forget what you know of VMS when you're learning Unix. That way lies pain and frustration. Unix is a very different beast from VMS, and your knowledge of VMS will largely detract from your efforts to learn and use Unix.

http://www.debian.org/doc/

Debian has various support resources, including IRC:

http://www.debian.org/support

Learn bash or another shell. Here's a bash scripting guide:

http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/abs-guide.pdf

Yes, I use both VMS and Unix. More Unix these days, but that's another discussion. And no, not Debian Linux.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Robert Atkinson — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 15:18:57 GMT

Thanks for the reply Hoff.

That fact of the matter is that I'm not really looking for individual answers to specific problems. I'm looking for someone to hand-hold me through the whole learning process.

At this point I'm sure lots of people will be screaming Books, Courses, Online Tutorials, etc, etc.

Agreed - and it's what I've been doing for a few years now. However, I'd really like to bring my capabilities up to a decent standard, and the only way I'm going to be able to do that with $0 finances is to find a virtual Mentor.

Rob.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Hoff — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:40:09 GMT

I'll leave this to the folks more knowledgeable in what Linux reading and training and coursework suggestions might be available, and for what Linux user groups might be available in your area. And for any Debian mentor that you might encounter, should you be incredibly lucky with your quest.

I know how I'd approach this (and am working through the roughly 32 gigabytes of training materials - reading podcasts and Stanford and other courses - that's resident on the reader, and the rest of the materials resident on the server), but that's very clearly not the path you're seeking here, and clearly not how you approach your questions.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Steven E. Protter — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 21:24:57 GMT

Shalom Rob,

ITRC can be your mentor.

Post specific questions here and tap into the hundreds of minds who contribute here daily.

SEP

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Robert Atkinson — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:25:49 GMT

Disappointing, but a way of the world now I guess. Very few people want to do anything for what they perceive as nothing.

I'm glad I don't fall into that bracket. I've spent the last 5 years teaching someone in South America how to go from a HTML GUI Editor to Notepad to JavaScript to Google/Facebook API's, and beyond. I've never once spoken to or met the person, probably never will, and expect nothing in return. All that I asked is that they were happy and willing to learn something new.

I know it's only been a day, but it's such a pitty there's nobody here that seems to fit that profile.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Robert Atkinson — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 09:30:08 GMT

Apologies to this Linux group. HP kindly moved my post from the VMS forums without telling me, so my latest comments are not aimed at you.

Hopefully someone here can help?

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Lucifer Megacruel — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:29:44 GMT

Hi Robert,

I can help you? what specifically is your problem. To create an account you need to used the useradd command or some distro's provide an interactive adduser script.

I can help you with basics. One of the best free linux resources out there is TLPD project. See :http://tldp.org/ . There are lots of documents out there that might help you :) rather than me writing things out in email.

Linux/unix design is different from VMS , The famous unix abstraction is everything is either a file or hack :P.

When I was a student I used to create small linux distros for fun I can help you if you need help in that direction as well.
Truly Evil
Lucifer Megacruel.

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

FLQ — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:05:14 GMT

Hi Robert,

I'll gladly help :-)

use the email in my profile.

Cheers

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Steven Schweda — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:33:37 GMT

> use the email in my profile.

Have you tried to find an e-mail address in
anyone else's forum profile?

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Lucifer Megacruel — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:36:19 GMT

Hi Robert,

Since I did not get time to reply in length the first time replied, I will reply at length this time.

First thing you need to do is pick your own linux distribution. According to the package manager ( ie the program used to install binaries )used we can roughly classify them into
(a) RPM based distros (b) Debian based distros ( c) Slackware based ( .tgz ) ( d) Gentoo based or Custom Linux distros.

There are lot of distro's out there each with its own merits and demerits. I prefer Slackware because it is the most technically challenging and customizable distro out there. The problem with Slackware is that its package management is not that great. But that's okay since you use Slackware, you are expected to be nerdy and you know how to figure things out your own way :) .

How do I get help in a Linux system ?

First you to do is to read the man pages for any command. Make sure that you do a quick man before you post anything in any community site or newsgroup. A good number of people want to prove they are â eliteâ , so if you ask questions when info is directly there in manual, you are likely to get flamed .

At shell type
$man
to access the man page of a particular command. To get help on adduser type
$man adduser
Many commands/utilities come with a brief help as well. Generally â help will give you sufficient info
eg
$gcc â help
to get help on gcc. Alternatively you can try info and appropos commands as well. Also read HOWTOs and guides when possible.

What are the commonly used commands?
ls â list files { similar to vms dir }
cp-- copy { similar to vms copy }
chdir â change directory { similar to vms set default }
mkdir â create directory { similar to vms create/directory}
cat â see contents of a file { similar to type in vms }
mount â mount a filesystem similar to mount in vms
eg mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy should mount the floppy.
You should note that your root directory is denoted by / . Other file systems are mounted as a part of a root file system . If you do a
$ls /
you should see /dev /etc /bin /usr
/dev â directory containing special files that represent devices . Remember Linux provides the abstraction that everything is a file. Eg filling a floopy device with zeros
$dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/fd0
fd0 is a file representing the floppy device.
/etc - basically contains config files
/bin â contains system binaries
/usr â contains usr binaries and libraries . Play around a bit and to get the feel of things

How do I install software in Linux ?

This is distro specific and varies differently in different linux distros. I prefer compiling from sources.

For debain based systems its basically
dpk -i
if you have aptitude installed you can do
apt get install . The advantage of this method is that it will download the dependencies for you automatically and you do not have download each dependency separately.

How to master shell scripting ?

VMS has DCL , but Linux supports many shells bash, c shell , korn shell and lot of other shells eg :fish for instance . But BASH ( bourne again shell is the most popular). You can even roll your own shell , it a'int that hard :) . There are documents in TLDP that might help.See tldp.org

I hope that I am of some use to you :)

Truly Evil
Lucifer Megacruel

Re: Linux Mentor Wanted

Robert Atkinson — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:55:07 GMT

Lucifer, please can you email me on :-

ratkinson at tbs-ltd dot co dot uk

I can then detail some of the problems I'm experiencing.

Cheers, Rob.