Re: [RLUG] Opinions - The best How To guide for RH 8?

[Gary L. Allen]

Tim Hammerquist wrote:

There is no single book that will tell you everything you need to
do.  And with Linux becoming more and more popular, I fear the
quality of printed material will decline.

I have a horrible problem reading stuff on computer screens for more than a couple of minutes without getting a massive headache. I probably need glasses...

That said, I recommend the following general sequence for any
given problem:

1) consult the printed manuals that might have come with your distro

2) man pages; to search for a man page that might be related, try:
        $ man -k keyword
        $ apropos keyword
    They are equivalent, but the apropos alias may not be provided
    on your system.
    (GNU info docs would also come under this heading, if you are
    so masochistically inclined)  ;)

3) search the HOWTOs; they are probably present on your system
    already; location is distro-specific.  most of these you can
    also find on tldp.org

4) search *both* google.com *and* groups.google.com;

5) if your question remains unanswered at this point, go ahead
    and ask on any relevant mailing lists or newsgroups. even
    elitist newsgroups can be very helpful if you demonstrate
    that you've made a reasonable attempt to solve the problem by
    RTFM.

Great stuff! Thanks! I know about the snobbery of the "upper class" newsgroups. I deal with one on Borland InterBase all the time. It takes a certain thick skin and a lot of humility. :-)

This can usually be found in manpages.  A decent linux system
will install all manpages by default on a typical or automatic
install.  ...  Not all distros are "decent." :)

Good point. I'm using RH 8.0. The docs are all available.

Mostly just fumbling around with it until I figure out the
directory structure or where config files are.
    

File locations and directory structure can vary widely among the
distros; and in my experience, the more mainstream a distro, the
more freedom they'll take.  If you spend too much time with any
one distro you may find yourself, like several in RLUG,
institutionalized; much like a felon who's spent the better part
of his life in a prison and can no longer function outside his
accustomed cell.  ;)

Different directory structure... I've noticed, which sucks. However, I learn fairly quickly when it comes to things like this. As for being instutionalized, I am already a prisoner of NT. I am doing this in an attempt to de-incarcerate myself. :-D

I do this stuff all day long in Windows, and get paid for it,
but I'm an idiot in this environment. :-P
    

Nothing you've shown so far indicates idiocy to me.  You're
asking questions; you want to know how it works, not just what it
takes to get in and out; you're willing to do some footwork to
get where you want to be.  These are all very valuable traits to
have, especially in this community.

Just don't start asking why vi can't be more like emacs and we'll
all get along just fine. :-D

I will never ask that question. I like vi just fine the way it is. I don't like emacs, and I hate lisp with a passion. vi is present on every system, in one iteration or another. emacs is not. If I intend to be able to jump from one system to another and still be able to function, vi is my preferred editor. No offense to the emacs types, but I don't like it.

Cheers,
Timmy Hammerquist
  

Thanks, Tim!
-Gary
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