A Web-Based Linux Training Course
Some time ago, I heard that success in mathematics means being able to formulate a good question and answer it. When I decided to write a book for Linux, the question I proposed was, “What is the best way to teach Linux to novice Linux users?” My answer was to write a course in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). HTML is cross-platform, so the course can be read on any PC: Windows, Macintosh, OS/2, BeOS, UNIX and Linux. HTML is the most-used language on the Web, where Linux users generally go to download software, browse and consult resources.
I also include the man2html program, so customers can:
learn Linux in a nice environment, such as a web site
browse Linux files on the Linux file system
consult Linux man pages
move quickly through the course
go directly to the Web or FTP site to browse for information or download software
My intention for this course was to support as many languages as possible. I regularly speak Spanish, Italian and English, so it was natural for me to write the course in these languages. Demand for German Linux technology is high from a commercial and a technical point of view, and France moved to Linux some months after the rest of Europe, so I also include these languages. Our contract with ADC Japan (http://www.adc.co.jp/) allows us also to include Japanese. Future languages will probably be Portuguese, Turkish, Hebrew and Chinese, but this will depend on the market.
I drew on my twenty years in computer science and my various technical jobs with UNIX to write this course. I organized the project into the following sections:
BASE: dedicated to new Linux users
WebMaster: for HTML programmers, webmasters and web-server installers
X Window: dedicated to X Window System users and programmers; also Tcl/Tk and Java X techniques
System Integrator: how to integrate MS Windows, Macintosh and other operating systems in Linux networks
System Administrator: the specific role of the system administrator in companies, includes in-depth shell programming
Programming: for C/C++ programmers, also network programming techniques
The BASE course was originally written for Caldera OpenLinux in Italian. I started to write it for OpenLinux 1.0 in 1997, slowly. The course has been updated to 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.2 and now 2.3. The first edition, FTLinuxCourse 1.0 for OpenLinux 1.3, was released in Italy for the Italian market in December 1998. In February 1999, we released the version for the U.S. market.
The Red Hat course was written directly in English, then translated into Italian. The latest version, 2.3, covers the latest Red Hat, SuSE and LinuxPPC distributions.
I have developed some useful shells and samples that are included in the FTContribs directory. I also contacted O'Reilly & Associates to include all the examples from the O'Reilly book series in the BASE CD-ROM. My friends at Xi Graphics gave me authorization to include the latest AX and LX demo.
In addition to the 40MB of coursework (excluding the course material in PostScript and Adobe PDF formats), there are 10MB of shells, TeX, LaTeX and PiCTeX examples available, our contributions in the FTContrib, plus more than 250MB of ExternalContribs, including examples from books (such as the O'Reilly series and others), articles from the Web, Netscape checkers, RFC and other software.
The product is continuously updated and includes Linux news, free software and more. The latest decision was to include the Linux OS itself.
The WebMaster course is new and important. It includes HTML programming and Internet web-server installation.
The X Window System was created in 1984. After several years of use on expensive UNIX workstations, Linux helped move X to the desktop. Today, for less than $80 US, it is possible to design and write X programs. Understanding and learning how to program X can be hard work. The X Window course covers many topics including C/C++, Tcl/Tk and Java programming, from the command line or by using builders such as dtbuild or KDevelop.
Linux is free. People can download it off the Internet or install it from a CD-ROM. Each distribution includes a manual that explains Linux installation duplication. Users will then need a way to enter the Linux universe and learn the commands, how to search files, how to change the resource on an X application, how to create users, how to run a program in the background, etc. To supply tutorials for this method was the main reason I wrote the course.
Realizing the promise of Apache® Hadoop® requires the effective deployment of compute, memory, storage and networking to achieve optimal results. With its flexibility and multitude of options, it is easy to over or under provision the server infrastructure, resulting in poor performance and high TCO. Join us for an in depth, technical discussion with industry experts from leading Hadoop and server companies who will provide insights into the key considerations for designing and deploying an optimal Hadoop cluster.
Sponsored by AMD
Built-in forensics, incident response, and security with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Every security policy provides guidance and requirements for ensuring adequate protection of information and data, as well as high-level technical and administrative security requirements for a system in a given environment. Traditionally, providing security for a system focuses on the confidentiality of the information on it. However, protecting the data integrity and system and data availability is just as important. For example, when processing United States intelligence information, there are three attributes that require protection: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Learn more about catching the bad guy in this free white paper.
Sponsored by DLT Solutions
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Enter to Win an Adafruit Pi Cobbler Breakout Kit for Raspberry Pi

It's Raspberry Pi month at Linux Journal. Each week in May, Adafruit will be giving away a Pi-related prize to a lucky, randomly drawn LJ reader. Winners will be announced weekly.
Fill out the fields below to enter to win this week's prize-- a Pi Cobbler Breakout Kit for Raspberry Pi.
Congratulations to our winners so far:
- 5-8-13, Pi Starter Pack: Jack Davis
- 5-15-13, Pi Model B 512MB RAM: Patrick Dunn
- 5-21-13, Prototyping Pi Plate Kit: Philip Kirby
- Next winner announced on 5-27-13!
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Free Webinar: Hadoop
How to Build an Optimal Hadoop Cluster to Store and Maintain Unlimited Amounts of Data Using Microservers
Realizing the promise of Apache® Hadoop® requires the effective deployment of compute, memory, storage and networking to achieve optimal results. With its flexibility and multitude of options, it is easy to over or under provision the server infrastructure, resulting in poor performance and high TCO. Join us for an in depth, technical discussion with industry experts from leading Hadoop and server companies who will provide insights into the key considerations for designing and deploying an optimal Hadoop cluster.
Some of key questions to be discussed are:
- What is the “typical” Hadoop cluster and what should be installed on the different machine types?
- Why should you consider the typical workload patterns when making your hardware decisions?
- Are all microservers created equal for Hadoop deployments?
- How do I plan for expansion if I require more compute, memory, storage or networking?




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