Free Linux Training Materials On Web


[Tuesday, June 15, 1999] GBDirect, a company already well established on the Linux training manuals and books scene, has started offering free training materials on its Web site.

According to the firm, the lecture notes for the first four modules of its "Linux Systems" training course are now available on the Web at http://www.gbdirect.co.uk/linuxtraining .

Plans call for the materials to also be mirrored at a special Web site at http://www.linuxtraining.co.uk .

The modules include an overview of a Linux system; the Linux file system; the Linux command line interface; and basic Linux tools.

Each module consists of 20 to 25 pages of bullet-pointed lecture notes followed by graduated exercises. According to the firm, experienced commercial instructors should be able to deliver the lecture notes in about an hour, leaving between one and two hours for practical work based on the exercises.

GBDirect says that the users of the materials are expected to have sound knowledge of the Linux and Unix operating systems.

Dave Fisher, a spokesperson for the firm, says the primary motivation for releasing these notes as open source free software is to ensure their widest possible dissemination.

A secondary motivation is the company's desire to "give something back" to the community which provides them with virtually all of their office software.

Fisher said that the company hopes that others will contribute to the Linux Training Materials Project, either by authoring their own lecture notes or by modifying those which GBDirect have contributed.

To encourage this type of participation, GBDirect is releasing its materials under an open source licence derived from the Linux Documentation Project.

This, the company says, allows end-users to copy and distribute the lecture notes as they please, but protects the copyrights of the original authors.

.

March 15, 2010