I started my computer education with DOS, then moved to Win 3.1 -> Windows 95 -> Windows 98. I loved DOS and the degree of control it allowed me to have over my computer. When I switched to Windows 95 (Kicking and screaming about it as my sister loves to remind me) I lost a lot of the control. I could no longer control the interrupts to let one of my programs take over when I pressed a particular keystroke. It got worse with Win 98. Thus I was a pretty unhappy person. Oh sure the computer worked fine and I could work on it (When it wasn't crashing on me) but I wasn't really enjoying myself, it was like I was missing something.

Then I learned about Linux and decided to try it out in Dec 2001 during my winter vacation. I downloaded and installed Red Hat Linux 7.2 on my computer on an extra 6 GB HDD 'donated' by a friend for this purpose. It installed perfectly and then I found what I had been missing since I switched to Windows from DOS: "An OS which let me have absolute and total control of my computer" and I loved it.

I won't say that the learning process was easy but it sure was a lot of fun. I have learnt more about computers since installing Linux than I had with any other OS. I needed a lot of help and a lot of people were more than happy to help me with it. I would like to take this opportunity to credit the good folks at Just Linux Forums for sharing their expertise with the rest of us. I also like to thank and credit the following people from NJIT who have helped me a lot with figuring out Linux and getting my stuff to work on Linux. Their help is one of the major factors which enabled me to switch completely to linux as my primary operating system. Tey are: Kevin Walsh, Mark Miller and Matt Hoskins.

I am creating this section as a way of saying thanks to all the people in the linux community.

If you are going to install Linux for the first time I would suggest reading the following article by Linux World which answers several frequently asked questions about Linux. Then you can goto The Linux Installation HowTo by The Linux Documentation Project for step by step instructions on how to install and configure Linux.

If you are looking for help with a linux problem then unfortunately you are in the wrong place. I don't have the required expertise to create a website for solving problems (Yet :D). You will be better off searching the The Linux Documentation Project, Linux Help or Just Linux for help.

Finally a warning. I am not responsible if you manage to mess-up your system when using any of the stuff on this page. I have tested everything in this section on my system (RedHat Linux 7.3) but they might work slightly differently on your system. Meaning? Make a good backup before you try any of the following, and don't complain to me if it doesn't work, but if you have some tips you like to share with the rest of us let me know and I will put it in.

With that said I hope that you find this section useful.

- Suramya
  12th May 2003

A list of all the sub-sections in this section with a brief discription of each section.