Best Linux crash course website/book?

[Mexicorn]

I've just started working at a summer internship where i'll be doing work solely on a linux cluster. Problem is, I know close to nothing about linux. So my boss told me to learn Linux...fast. I know there's a whole bunch of stuff online and off that I can access to find anything i need pretty much, but what's the most concise and quick site or book I can get that will quickly bring me up to speed on everything linux? On the "computer knowledge" side of things, i'm pretty comfortable with windows, and have done a bunch of C and C++ in terms of programming, so I can pick up on similar stuff quickly. Thanks for any info you guys may have.

[jpmkm]

Linuxdocs (http://www.linuxdocs.org/) has a ton of information about linux. Justlinux (http://www.justlinux.com/) is a great resource also.

[BillLeeLee]

http://wwwacs.gantep.edu.tr/guides/linux/
http://www.tldp.org
http://www.linux.org
http://www.linux.com

[deuce868]

Book is called Linux Administration. It is a green book, I can't remember the publisher off the top of my head. It is the best Linux book I have gotten.

Of course later on I have had to get specific books for things like running postfix, apache, courier and such. For those I tend to get the O'reilly books on the specific subject.

HTH

[Mexicorn]

thanks for all hte quick replies. Also, what would be a good "beginner" version of linux that could let me tinker around while not at work? I like the idea of knoppix, since it can run straight from CD and not need any installations, but I guess compiling the source is a big lesson too. At work i'm using Red Hat if it makes any difference.

[BillLeeLee]

For a beginner and without too much of a time dedication, I'd say SuSE, Fedora/Red Hat, and Knoppix can be good to learn with. If you were serious and had a lot of time on your hands, I'd recommend Gentoo. It's the first major distribution I installed and used (by way of Mandrake, yech) and it taught me alot about the workings of Linux.

[deuce868]

if you are working RH stay RH. There are little diffs between distos that you should avoid. For instance knoppiz is based on Debian and debian package management is much different from RH. I would suggest getting an old server and setting stuff up on it sans gui. If you are going to admin servers don't even install it.

[Anarchonixx]

I like the idea of knoppix, since it can run straight from CD and not need any installations, but I guess compiling the source is a big lesson too. At work i'm using Red Hat if it makes any difference.

Would the work you do there require you to mess with the kernel? The only 2 distros I've used at home are Slackware and Gentoo, and I learned lots with both of them, but the Gentoo installation is by itself a little crash course on the inner workings of Linux. You get to deal with editing config files (the more important ones, such as fstab, the boot loaders), you can learn to compile the kernel, mount partitions, etc. Only thing I think it lacks is familiarizing you with manual compilation of programs, but that's pretty simple if your experience with programming includes the use of makefiles.

[deuce868]

I found my book

Linux Administration Handbook
Nemeth/Snyder/Hein

Best admin book I have found hands down. (and I own 5)

[Mexicorn]

Would the work you do there require you to mess with the kernel?

Not really. I'm mainly gonna be compiling some graphics programs and then looking at efficiencies through TCP and myrinet to a display wall. I just need to learn how to "get around" as quickly as possible. Coming from a windows kid with little DOS experience, the whole console thing is still a bit foreign to me. And duece868, i'll look into that book, thanks.

[Az2]

For me there's nothing like the Red Hat Linux 9 Bible by Christopher Negus.

[Silent1]

i haven't found a box that really help'd me with linux like i use for programming. google.com/linux has always helped me when i needed help or some info. Guess just pick a distro and just use it as a desktop for awhile, you'll pick things up in no time.

[ameoba]

Shell scripting.

At least learn a bit of it.


http://www.tldp.org/ is the #1 source for online docs