Where to start?

I have:
- Slackware (7.0, I think. I havn't looked at it for a year or two.)
One of the CDs contains several versions of the Kernal.
- A growing level of frustration with Windows (not unusual, I suppose)
- NO knowledge of Linux or Unix
- a Pentium 233MMX, or maybe a P II 350, to run it on, using a SMALL hard
drive in a removable caddy. Both computers have a rack for the caddies.
Most of the time they will have W98SE hard drives plugged in.
- Each computer has a D: drive (FAT file system) for data and graphics
files storage.

Eventually I will need USB as well as parallel port and PS2 capability,
also each computer has a NIC connected to a crossover cable and the P I
has a second NIC talking to an ADSL modem.

I would like to start out slowly - command line operation (as in DOS) and
learn the basics of Linux before getting into the GUI operation and
graphics file editing, etc. (My Nikon LS40 slide and film scanner has
software for Linux but that would be used only after I learn the basics.)

For a start - what can I do with ONLY a Kernal installed? Anything?
- why are there several on the CD? To accommodate increasingly complex
distro's and programs?

Enough questions to start out with.

BTW, about two years ago I picked up a "Sam's Teach Yourself Linux in 24
hours" (or something like that).
It was useless to me - sort of a "paint by numbers" approach with no
information at all about things fit together and interacted with each
other.

For those who read this far - thanks. I hope to hear from some of you.

Ben F.

Retired but not retarded.

In <bpmpic$q22$2@News.Dal.Ca>, on 11/22/2003
at 04:43 AM, benfnospam@chebucto.ns.ca (Ben Fullerton) said:

>I would like to start out slowly - command line operation (as in DOS)
>and learn the basics of Linux before getting into the GUI operation
>and graphics file editing, etc.

It might be easier the other way.

>For a start - what can I do with ONLY a Kernal installed?

Very little; you will need at least a shell and some basic utilities.
With current disk prices, why would you consider anything that
crippled?

> - why are there several on the CD?

Different hardware configurations. It has nothing to do with the
complexity of the distributions or programs.

>I hope to hear from some of you.

OK, assuming that you have adequate disk space:

1. Keep Linux on separate logical drives. There are utilities to
contract and move existing partitions/logical drives.

2. You can install multiple distributions on the same system and
play around with all of them.

3. All of the GUI desktops have command windows

4. Since you have ADSL, you might want to consider downloading
ISO images or doing FTP installs.

5. O'Reilly is your friend. Also, there is a large collection of
Linux howto documents available from the Linux Documentation
project (LDP).

6. SUSE and others allow giving away copies of the install disks.

--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT

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