Personal Knoppix Training Request

[benn4433]

First of all, please accept my apology if this is the wrong place to post this type of question. I'm new to forums along with how and where to place the appropriate post.

I've become very interested in Knoppix and all Linux distributions. Being told that knoppix is the easiest distribution (live CD) to learn and best place for a beginner to start, I began learning how to download the cd and dvd iso file and burn it. I've created several of my own knoppix cd's/dvd's that pass the cdtest cheatcode and seem to boot correctly. However, that's about as far as I've progressed other than booting the cd/dvd, creating a persistent desktop(I doubt I even configured it correctly) and playing a few mp3 files.

I've bought several books on the subject and looked through a lot of online documentation. Nevertheless I've been unable to progress further, learning what seems to be a brilliant OS tool. In fact, I become more confused the more I seek out books and online documentation for beginners.

So the main reason for this post is to inquire if there is anybody in the Northern Virginia area willing to provide one on one knoppix(or any Linux) training to a beginner. I'm even willing to pay for the time spent showing me "the ropes". All the Knoppix books and online documentation have only confused me more. Perhaps I'm out of my league here. But if I could just see someone go through the basics of Knoppix, I could then "pull myself up by the bootstraps"(sorry for that awful cliche) and move forward with confidence that I'm doing the right things. Sometimes you need to watch someone build an engine before you can build one yourself.

In short, I really don't know where to begin with Knoppix, Ubunto, SuSE, etc. So much for my ingrained Windows XP mindset!!! What I really need is someone with the patience to teach me, in person, how to use what most everyone considers an easy distribution. I so much want to through XP out the window forever.

With that said, I will keep this posting short in the event it should not even be on this site. I'm a Sr Systems Analyst for a telecom company. However, my expertise is specifically with Oracle Applications. I would love to expand my knowledge into the Linux area, but I just don't know how or where to start. I'm in an endless loop of frustration. If I can burn my own knoppix disk, you'd think I could teach myself the easiest parts of the OS.

If you've read this far without disgust and are interested in my request, please reply or provide links for the confused.

Sincerely

mb

[JohnnyH]

Not a direct answer to your question (I'm in 'old' England - too far from Northern Virginia ); until/unless you get some one-to-one tuition you might want to look at the latest Sidux as well. This has, like Knoppix, the 'clarity' of being based on 'pure' Debian which IMHO has the best packaging system, and I find it needs fewer configuration 'tweaks' than the more recent Knoppix releases. On the other hand, once you get used to working 'under the hood' , problem solving is a way of being forced to learn about the system, albeit in an unstructured way. Good luck anyway .

[benn4433]

Thanks you for the tip. Being new to Linux, I have to admit I've never heard of Sidux. I'll take a look at.

I honestly didn't expect a reply to my post. I've read that you need to help/teach yourself the basics before even trying to ask for assistance. But I thought, what the heck, I'll give it try anyway.

I know I have a long way to go. And that I'm not very skilled with Operating Systems(even Windows). But I try to work on it every day. Hopefully, the clarity will one day come. In the meantime, it would be nice, though, to know someone who could point me in the right direction in person. At this point, I'm unable to get the formal training I need. So I thought I would reach out to the linux community.

As a side, I've always wanted to visit England. Perhaps one day I'll make it over there and meet someone like yourself.

Thanks again.

[Capt. Cautious]

Good Day benn4433,
While I am not by any means an expert, my skills are intermediate, I also went through the process of trying to find book references. Now I KNOW it will sound strange, but I highly recommend the Linux for Dummies and the Unix for Dummies books. In terms of good overall ( and specific ) info I have found the O'Reilly books the best. It may seem simplistic but use the enclosed disk and do the exercises and it should provide you with a basic understanding of the GNU-Linux/Knoppix OS. I also agree with the other poster that actually playing with it as a good means of learning what's 'under the hood'. As an Oracle programmer, the basic Linux commands in the Dummies book should give you a good start. Once you have that figured out try the O'Reilly Linux handbook it's a pocket sized reference on the commands for Linux and several other related OS's. Good Luck and have fun with Knoppix.

In Service & In Health-
Captain Cautious

[nnigam]

I am not an expert, but I use knoppix 90% of the time now. What do you want to do. For mail, use icedove. For web browsing use iceweasal both under the intenet menu. For wordprocessing/spreadsheet use openoffice writer/calc under the office menu. For wireless use kwifimanager (only on the dvd it seems). I can send scripts that I use if you want. A wired connection with DHCP should be automatically configured.

To save your configurations between reboots, create persistent disk image on a fat32 partition. I would create a 1 gig partition since my 512 mb partition is now 85% full in just 3 months. Also, I store my mail and documents in a fat32 folder not the persistent disk image which is used only for configurations.

My configuration
A31p laptop with xpsp2. 40 gig ntfs partition for xp and knoppix iso files. 20 gig fat32 partition for data files shared between xp and knoppix, 512 mb persistent disk image on the fat32 partition for configuration only. Wireless network connection for internet access.

I am trying to use vmware for xp so that I do not have to reboot to xp when I need the rare app that I do not have in knoppix.

I live in sterling, and wont mind helping but it would be better for you to post here.

[benn4433]

To nnigam

I haven't looked at my posting for awhile. Mainly because I didn't expect any responses.

So I want to thank you for your suggestions. Especially the email and wireless tips.

I've spent hundreds of dollars on different linux distro books(Ubuntu, Suse, and Knoppix and general linux concepts). I even bought the knoppix and linux for dummies books that was suggested in an earlier response. It really humbles a person when he cannot grasp certain concepts from the dummies series.

Anyway, I do believe in learning by trial and error through ones own efforts. However, I find that beginners have a better chance of learning when they can actually see and personally interact with teacher. At least that the way it's always been for me. I'm not a big fan of internet postings. Mainly because most of the sites I've been to is nothing more than a competition of egos. I've found very few linux sites that caters specifically to the beginner. That's nothing more than an opinion.

If you know of any additional sites, please let me know of them. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at Knoppix. I love learning new things. That's what brought me into the linux camp. I just wanted to learn.

[nnigam]

Benn4433

Not a problem. I just saw the message today and replied. It is just that people get tired of giving answers when it has already been answered 100's of times and I can't blame them. If you do have a question, ask away. 90% of my work is now in knoppix. I boot from the iso image on my hard drive. This frees up the cd drive for other work and is faster. Use kb3 for cd/dvd burning. I admit that I do not do too much with audio and video, my collections are pitiful, but I did convert tape to mp3 in knoppix and burned to cd. Wordprocessing, email, internet, im, audio and video I am sure make up the bulk of the average users computer tasks, and they are all perfect in knopppix.

If you want to do anything else, let me know, and if I have done it I will let you know how.

Neeraj