what is a good place to start learning linux from beginning. I'm a newbie & need to learn it from the very basics about configuring installing & working in the linux envirnments (ubuntu, suse, mandrake..) . (any good web sites, forums.. ?)

1. Linspire is a great Linux for newbies! It as well has an awesome desktop.

   Check out the screenshots here> http://www.linspire.com/lindows_news_gal…

   Flash Tutorial here> http://media.linspire.com/howto/…

2. I use ubuntu and learn from their website and forums although it's simple to use and superior to windows. Get the iso at http://www.distrowatch.com or whatever edition your looking for.
3. First, here's an article about one guy's experiences when switching from Windows to Linux (Ubuntu). It may give you an idea of what's involved: http://consumer.hardocp.com/article.html…

   As for learning Linux in general, here are some sites that might be helpful:

   http://www.linuxnewbieguide.org/…
   http://www.tuxfiles.org/
   http://www.geocities.com/linuxnewbiesite…
   http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/…
   http://www.linuxhelp.net/newbies/…
   http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/…

   Good luck - Linux can be lots of fun! I personally recommend either Fedora Core (since I like KDE) or Ubuntu.

4. There are tons of Forums out there. But they all push the distro that they are using. I have been told, and also read that Umbuntu is the best distro to learn on. However, I used Suse and as soon as my feet were wet I jumped to Zenwalk. with linux, the thing to think about is that there are hundreds of distros out there. Download a few ISOs or buy them on eBay(thats what I did) <– Alot easier and around $2.00 each. If you do this, get "live cd's" Saves the time of installation. The two distros that I really like are Kanotix & Zenwalk. I have Zenwalk dualbooting with Windoze and run Kanotix "Live". Anyway hope this helps. And welcome to linux.

   Also, if you're the bookworm type head to your local bookstore. They have … For Dummies books for Suse and Red Hat.

Tags: mandrake linux, linux firewall