Re: Motivation

[Bradley Hook <bhook@kssb.net>]

Josh wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I am a 16 year old enthusiast and since right now is summer break for me
> I have been trying to hit the books.  I am working on "Linux power
> tools" as well as some books on Debian/GNU.  I have 7 distros (Knoppix,
> Slackware, Red Hat, Debian, Suse, Slack, Telemetry box) and have
> successfully installed every one and played with the desktop
> environments, setting up SAMBA, trying to compile .tar.gz files and just
> messing around with stuff like the MOTD, Emacs, and vim.  However, I am
> still a teenager so I have been slacking off and not getting near as
> much done as I have planned. My question is: Since you are admins and
> deal with reading not only the man pages but tons of other texts every
> day, how do you motivate yourself to sit down and just read it all, even
> when reading for hours and sometimes going through dozens of code
> examples ??  Thanks for answering some of the previous questions I have
> posted on this board and I also must thank the whole open source
> community for being there, this whole world has been so enlightening for
> me.  To break out of the Windows/MAC world and experience the breath of
> fresh air and interoperability the linux/open source world brings is
> such an enlightening experience.
> 
> Thanks,
> Josh
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Josh,

It's really quite impossible to master everything there is in 
opensource, so don't bother trying. Pick a distribution (or a couple of 
similar ones) and learn it, learn it well. I personally suggest that you 
don't use package management tools unless you have to. If you install 
things from source you'll end up being forced to learn how they work. If 
you really want to get to know your system, you could always try doing a 
LFS install, as every single item in your installation will be built 
from source. Also, if you really want to learn the inner workings of 
your system, you'll have to get used to the idea of not using the GUIs 
for everything. Try setting up a box without gnome or KDE on it (I 
recommend leaving X, since some source packages need the libraries), and 
then making it do something useful (web server, file server, router, 
etc.). I've realize that linux books are rarely the way to go (though 
I'll admit there are several good ones), mainly because linux is 
changing so fast. Google and grep are your most essential tools, master 
those and you can do just about anything.

And no, I'm not saying that if you use RPMs or a GUI that you aren't a 
"real" admin, but if you don't know how to function without them you 
aren't a very good admin. I use slackware packages all the time :)

~Brad