Learning More About Linux? 184
teh moges asks: "From an administrator point of view, I know a lot about Microsoft Windows: where files are stored, where settings are, which registry keys to edit, how to change drivers, and so on. I made the initial switch to Linux a year ago. I now feel capable enough with using Linux, from an end user's point of view, so that when things go wrong, I can fix them. I now want to become even more familiar with Linux. Are there any great resources, such as websites, wikis or books for someone that wants to find out exactly how Linux works and how to fix and modify it?"
Three letters (Score:3, Interesting)
heres a few (Score:3, Interesting)
this is the linux doc proj the one place i found indispensable while learning slackware back in the day
lately http://www.debuntu.com/ [debuntu.com] is a god send as well
and of course , unlike windows software, most linux software readme files are actually filled with useful information
othjer than that either a quick google on a specific question or jump onto irc will usually get you some help
Re:Roll your own distro? (Score:3, Interesting)
My own advice to the submitter is to go between Gentoo and LFS with respect to automation and below both with respect to complexity and use Slackware. I've used it exclusively for my own machines for the several years I've used Linux, and in the process of taking a stable core system and trying to add onto it, compiling from source as necessary, I've broken and fixed things enough. The build scripts are available too, so you can customize as in LFS, but with the advantage of simple packaging.
Re:Only thing to understand... (Score:3, Interesting)
the
And you know what? Everything in it shows up as (wait for it..) files - which was kind of the point of the message you replied to.
Just read this (Score:3, Interesting)
There are probably some good books out there, and I hope you get some recommendations for them, but there is one key thing that you should learn about Linux that will get you 99% of everything you'll ever need to know about how your system works: How it boots.
If you understand how everything gets started you'll understand how it all fits together, and, even better, you'll have the starting point you need for tracking down anything else you need to figure out. And the great thing is that it's simple enough to described reasonably completely in one brief slashdot post.
The boot process consists of the following steps:
That's it. All you have to do is go read that shell script and you'll find out how absolutely everything running on your system gets started, from the file systems that are mounted to the network devices that are configured to the graphical user interface. Of course, along the way, you'll run across dozens of commands and hundreds of configuration files that you'll have to look up, but with 'man' and a little persistence you will gain an understanding of each major component, where it lives, what it does, how it gets started, restarted, killed and modified.
Even better, you don't have to worry about understanding it all at once. Once you find the /etc/init.d/rc script, and see how it executes all of the other scripts in /etc/init.d, you'll be well equipped to track down the answer to any question you have about how your system works. Sometimes getting an answer will mean traipsing through a few levels of indirection, but all the information is there. No magic, nothing hidden, all there for your perusal and/or modification.
Another great website: Librenix.com (Score:3, Interesting)
Recommended.
Re:Roll your own distro? (Score:2, Interesting)
Indispensible.