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Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

tldp.org

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Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#61

Post by throwaway823882 »

InfiniteRand wrote: post #43
runjake wrote: post #26

For those not paying close attention, TLDP hasn't been updated in about 6 years, but much of it hasn't been updated in 15-20 years. Just keep using the Internet (ServerFault/Digital Ocean/ArchWiki/Ubuntu Wiki/etc) and man pages.

Do you know why it was abandoned?

I did some digging. There are still people working on it, but the updates aren't going to the front page. All the work seems to be buried in random e-mails on multiple mailing lists, and this GitHub repo https://github.com/tldp

I think the one or two people who are still working on it have been abandoned and need our support. I think if we can find who has access to the web servers, we could convince them to let volunteers put a fresh coat of paint on it and start publishing some new articles with a lower barrier to entry.

Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#62

Post by quink »

znpy wrote: post #28

I remember back in 2005-2005 when LinuxPro magazine gave a full dvd containing ALL of the tldp howtos and stuff, and that was kind of a sweet deal. I never bought a magazine so fast in my life.

Don't know about the "stuff", but Linux distros frequently shipped with packages for the TLDP. Or rather whatever it was know as at the time, some derivative of Linux HOWTOs or linuxdoc.org.

Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#65

Post by airstrike »

marmot777 wrote: post #46

Here’s a few how to style sites that I’ve found useful for everything from small things to big projects: These are general things that might seem too basic but there are some gems in there. Everyone, even really experienced users, can have gaps in their knowledge of basics: https://github.com/you-dont-need/You-Dont-Need-GUI Julie Evans doesn’t right just about Linux but when she writes a how-to she really puts the ti…

One of my all time favorites was the OG Django Book

http://web.archive.org/web/20080304015113/http://www.djangob...

I believe the idea to let readers annotate any paragraph with questions / additional comments has not been replicated to date, but it was immensely helpful. Sadly the Wayback version doesn't let you load those comments, but you get the idea

Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#66

Post by rckoepke »

bakatubas wrote: post #25
walton_simons wrote: post #10

This brings back some great memories. I learned so much from the HOWTOs, and I think they played a big part in getting me my first proper tech job. I just had to sit and figure it out, and the process of persevering through the mistakes and dead ends ultimately gave me a level of confidence around computers and technology in general which has been incredibly useful in work and in life.

I second that—memories installing gentoo on iBook G4 and getting the wireless to work felt like a nice accomplishment :) Granted, the gentoo docs are really good so that’s where I went mostly.

I had a similar feeling installing Gentoo on my graphite iMac in 2004. Except in my case I received so, so much help from the IRC channel, particularly Joseph Jezak (JoseJX) who helped me with some very deep problems I had involving patching X to start on the iMac because it hadn't been used on my model before.

I saw just now that JoseJX went on to do Google Summer of Code with Gentoo in 2006 to work on the X.org Configuration Tool.

I believe it took me most of the high school summer to get X working. In the meantime I got to use links CLI web browser, IRC, and instant messenger clients (AIM etc) for 2-3 months until GUI was functional.

I became completely comfortable in command line as a result. It's sad to me that I can't help students replicate a simklar experience today because the internet seems largely unusable in a text-only browser now.

Those communities are incredibly for new users. For me it's been critical to have others around who can get me past roadblocks while I work hard to genuinely learn on my own.

And yes, the Gentoo docs were superb. The forum and IRC had incredibly patient people who genuinely loved helping people of all skill levels.

Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#67

Post by herewulf »

riskneutral wrote: post #48
walton_simons wrote: post #10

This brings back some great memories. I learned so much from the HOWTOs, and I think they played a big part in getting me my first proper tech job. I just had to sit and figure it out, and the process of persevering through the mistakes and dead ends ultimately gave me a level of confidence around computers and technology in general which has been incredibly useful in work and in life.

This brings back memories for me, but I don't know if they are "great." I have memories of being in high school and downloading Linux binaries and HOWTOs over a dial-up modem, messing around with Debian on the family computer. So much of my youth spent (wasted?) on this. I wish I had spent more time making friends and playing sports, or learning something more fundamental like math or programming. I don't even work i…

Not squandered at all because it's not too late to learn something like programming, for example, and knowledge of Debian will help you get started. Linux is a great platform for programming. Languages, libraries, IDEs/editors are only an `apt-get` (or what have you) away. It's so powerful, even Microsoft had to come up with WSL to try to remain relevant to developers.

Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#68

Post by herewulf »

jedimastert wrote: post #41
runjake wrote: post #26

For those not paying close attention, TLDP hasn't been updated in about 6 years, but much of it hasn't been updated in 15-20 years. Just keep using the Internet (ServerFault/Digital Ocean/ArchWiki/Ubuntu Wiki/etc) and man pages.

I've found Digital Ocean and Archwiki especially to be incredible resources

The Gentoo wiki is good too (for any distro, just adapt to your needs).

Re: Learn Linux without internet and stack overflow: Linux HOWTOs

#69

Post by herewulf »

johnwheeler wrote: post #54
runjake wrote: post #26

For those not paying close attention, TLDP hasn't been updated in about 6 years, but much of it hasn't been updated in 15-20 years. Just keep using the Internet (ServerFault/Digital Ocean/ArchWiki/Ubuntu Wiki/etc) and man pages.

I was going to say... some of these are so dated. I haven’t thought about LILO for 15 years or so.

I had the same thought. The first HOWTO I looked at was encrypted root FS and contains sections for configuration of Linux 2.4 and 2.6 kernels. Just slightly old.

I was pleasantly reminded of the advances that 2.6 brought, however.

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