[thelist] Getting Started With Linux

[Hendrik Mans]

Chris,

> My immediate goal is to get my feet wet with the Linux OS then eventually
> move some of my ColdFusion projects to run under Linux. Any
> pointers to get
> me moving in the right direction would be much appreciated.

I'm not sure if Linux is really a great platform for ColdFusion projects,
but it's still a fun (and useful) thing to learn. Here's one little tip:
there's *loads* of Linux documentation on the net, including dozens of
"Linux Newbie" sites. However, do yourself a favour and buy a book first
(one that is as new as possible); the Linux books are usually better written
and more understandable that most of the stuff that's floating around the
net.

You'll have to decide what Linux distribution you want to use. My favourite
distribution is Debian (www.debian.org), but it's not exactly newbie
friendly. A lot of people will tell you to go with RedHat, and it's in fact
a pretty good choice. There's a German distribution called SuSe
(www.suse.de, www.suse.com) which is VERY newbie friendly, but I don't know
how good their English distribution is.

Also, you'll need either a free partition *or* an extra computer. I
recommend the latter -- it's a lot more fun if you get the best of both
worlds (Windows, Linux) at the same time. And a smallish computer will do.
(I'm developing all my projects on an old K6/2-350 with 64 MB RAM, which
also acts as a file server and DSL router. It used to be a K6-200 until my
mainboard died a couple of months ago, but the machine was still way
powerful enough for what I was/am using it for.)

Also, whatever you do, don't ask for help on Usenet or, even worse, IRC.
These days most people there only seem to be interested in making sure
you're intimidated by their mad skillz, don't expect any real help from
them.

Unfortunately, I don't know of many alternatives. Luckily enough, Linux is a
very straight-forward operating system, so if you know (at least to some
extent) how a computer works and if you have some basic programming
experience, you most likely won't be having any problems learning it.

Take care,
Hendrik