I'm not sure if this thread isn't dead (I've had a very long week and not
really been checking my personal email address) - but I thought I'd give my two
pennies worth.
Shen,
I first got involved with FLOSS on a voluntary "do nothing but read" basis by
joining a few lists and just learning how the community worked by submerging
myself in it. I've not got a "computing background" whatsoever, I just spend a
lot of my teenage years troubleshooting MS problems and doing the odd bit of
hardware maintenance. I never took IT past age 14 as it was just too simple -
I got my best grade at school in IT though (100% in the course, with a letter
home to my parents about my lack of effort). It was an easy course, rather
than me being some child prodigy though, unfortunately.
Ubuntustudio is a great distribution - I use it on my main PC at home and it's
great fun to have such powerful tools at your fingertips for free. I
thoroughly recommend it. However, if you're wanting to learn more about the
computer and how to fix things, I'd recommend sticking with what you've got and
trying to solve the problem. Jumping around distributions to solve kernel
panics is a bit like hitting a sledgehammer with a nut.
You seem to have a good skillset on your C.V. If you want to build a linux
system from the ground up, I thoroughly recommend gentoo (providing you're
using a fairly modern machine otherwise you'll spend half the time waiting for
things to compile). It taught me a fair bit about the basics underlying a
GNU/Linux system. I've also recently had a play with PCBSD (though I'm not a
KDE fan so had to give that one a miss).
If you do have access to multiple machines - use one as a test bed and just
play and play and play with whatever you can find. There's so much to learn
(and so little time to do it). My flatmate through University used to call my
Linux geekery "faffing" - but breaking and fixing things is all part of the
game.
The one OS that I've yet to use (and it's shocking that I've not got round to
doing it yet) is Debian. I'm sure other people on this list could advise
whether that would be a good system to play with (as it's what ubuntu is based
on) yet it's a bit more.. industrial (I think that's the right word).
Lastly - support. I don't want to assume anything (so forgive me if I'm
oversimplifying things for you) - but mailing lists, and IRC are fantastic
resources. The other thing I've learnt is that RTFM is a very _very_ useful
thing to do. If you are tasked with using a package - rather than just install
it and go for it, read the man pages. It may take a little bit more of your
time at the offset, but even the faintest memory can help solving a problem
become so much easier. Don't worry about taking it all in at once, but make
sure you've at least scan read it before you do anything "flying-solo."
Anyhow, sorry for the long email - but I like seeing new people working in
FLOSS.
On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:38:10 -0800 (PST), tryo tas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> hi daniel,
> about abilities i think i learned to be patient while trying to make
> something out of the scratch pc's i found on the street.
> i've been studying at ELATT (east london advanced technology training) in
> hackney computer system maintenance (desktops building and repair) based on
> the Cisco course.we were logged into the netacademy website and finished
> that with Comptia A+ certification.at the moment i build my own audio pc
> and try to run it with Musix and Gentoo which gives me a proper 2.19 kernel
> panic.i'm installing now ubuntu studio with 2.20 kernel because feisty does
> the job well.
> i should know a bit more about scssi.i tried to get an old server (pentium
> 75 Mhz)
> running with freebsd and connect 5 boxes with a hub.will pick that up soon
> again.
> at school we learned quite theoretically the stuff you need for the CCNA
> exam like configuring routers and switches via windows 2000 machines.via a
> good friend who helped me to install my first linux system on my pc
> (x-evian) i made the lucky jump into open source software which brings up
> the magic word of command line.i know a bit of vi,not much about developing
> and programming
> (just the structure of languages in generell).at the moment i'm studying
> music technology at lambeth college including digital electronics and
> mathematics.i'm reading the linux bible and try to get into the real stuff
> and get my linux machine from scratch.i want to learn open source
> developement as well to spread the very basics of free access to
> communication technology because i think that it is totally unacceptable to
> leave that over to people who make their own business out of it like the
> microsoft clan.
> you see i could do with some focussing from too generell blabla to some
> real world skills that's why i want to get involved.
> hope that helped a bit
> cheers
> shen
>
> Daniel Lamb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: v\:*
> {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:*
> {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
> st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Ok, what afre your skills
> and abilities?
>
> Regards,
> Daniel
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of tryo tas
> Sent: 14 November 2007 21:37
> To: British Ubuntu Talk
> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] workplacement
>
>
> hi matt,
> i'm living in stepney green,london but would consider some travelling.
> cheers
> shen
>
> Matthew Macdonald-Wallace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Quoting tryo tas :
>
> > hi,
> > i'm looking for a kind of workplacement in an open source project.i
> > did the a+ exam last year which is WINDOWS TOTAL and after that a
> > cisco based course in networking.that's how i got in the
> > computerworld but i want to work with open source only now and am
> > therefor looking for some hands on experience.
> > anybody out there who needs a helping hand?
> > cheers
> > shen
>
> Shen,
>
> where abouts in the UK are you based?
>
> Regards,
>
> Matt.
> --
> Matthew Macdonald-Wallace
> Group Co-Ordinator
> Thanet Linux User Group
> http://www.thanet.lug.org.uk/
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> GPG KEY: http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xFEA1BC16
>
>
> --
> ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UKTeam/
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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>
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