Most computer users are like the "regular drivers". They just want to sit in front of the computer, tell it what to do, and have it do that. Sadly, no computers are that easy to use yet. So don't worry too much if it seems a little confusing at first. I'm here to be your guide and help it make sense. Ask questions whenever you have them, in class, by email, during lab and office hours, I'm here to help.

       In this course, we'll be a bit closer to the "gear heads". We will actually learn a lot of what goes on "under the hood" of the Operating System. Some of this stuff would normally be configured once, then never touched again. So while it is a lot of work in this course, in practical use you'd be doing most of these routines rarely at home, more frequently at work depending on your job.

       UNIX/Linux, at first, seems like many little parts that don't seem to go together at first. Kind of like a car engine that's been taken apart. You learn what the pieces do, then you learn what they can do when you put them together. In this class, we'll also learn about the pieces (filesystems, permissions, shells, adding users) and hopefully you'll see how it goes together to make a wonderful multi-user server operating system.

       Now, I'll admit, there are folks out there that primarily use Linux as a desktop OS, and that's fine. I hope to offer just "how to use Linux at home" type courses in the future, but this one will do a lot more. Of course, you can decide to forget the "under the hood" stuff, and just use what you need at home, and that's fine, after the class is over.

****To Do Well in This Course****

You need to do the following:

• First, relax and try to have fun. If you are a beginner, don't worry about those who seem to be "experts". You'll do fine in the course, and heck, the "experts" are great for lab partners. :)
• Attend Class, take notes, ask questions
• Try out the commands as often and in as many different ways as possible (Don't be afraid to experiment. You shouldn't be able to even dent your shell account as a beginner, and the worst thing you could do to your own installation is have to reinstall. So no biggy!)
• Read the topic web pages linked off your syllabus
• Try out the commands from the topic web pages as often and in as many different ways as possible
• Learn How to Find Answers yourself, as this is a constant job no matter what you do with computers
• Try out the commands from where you found answers as often and in as many different ways as possible
• Go to lab, practice
• Go to lab during my lab hours, ask me questions
• EMAIL ME WITH QUESTIONS!!!
• Do NOT wait until the 8th week to tell me "I don't understand any of it" ask me questions as soon as you get them
• Make a small notebook of "Questions to ask Phil" if you can't remember to ask them in class
• Practice, practice, practice
• ask questions, questions, questions (worse thing I'll ever say is for you to wait until after class or until lab to ask them, and then only rarely ;)