LJ, Fount of All Knowledge, I Ask Thee

[neadods]

Three questions:

1) I need to learn LINUX in a hurry. Any good books/online classes/websites to recommend?

2) I also need to learn LaTeX in a hurry. Any good books/online classes/websites/freeware downloads for PC you can recommend?

and, now for something completely different:

3) With my parents and I both scaling back on the amount of stuff in our houses, Christmas is going to be more than just "Unwrap presents. Eat." Any suggestions for other things to do on the day?

Comments

[moonpupy.livejournal.com]

3. Unwrap presents. Eat. Get the hell out of my house?

Or maybe that's just my family.

[twistedchick]

The new Sherlock Holmes movie opens Christmas Day.

[ct]

1. No, but if you have specific questions, feel free to ask. My skills about 15 months rusty, but I should be good for the basics.

2. First Steps in LATEX, by George Gratzer. Amazon.com should have it; tech-oriented bookstores might, if you've got one near you. It's aimed at people writing math papers, but it's general enough that between the book and some Googling I picked it up fine.

[j00j.livejournal.com]

I don't really use Linux, so am pretty useless for answering all but the most basic questions, but have a couple of tutorial links.

http://www.linux-tutorial.info/index.php
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/index (specific to Ubuntu)
http://www.freeos.com/articles/3102/ explains the Linux filesystem in a way designed to be friendly to Windows users.

[evil_plotbunny]

I'm mostly self taught, but when I've needed a book, I usually go for anything published by O'Reilly. I haven't done much with LaTeX, but there should be good tutorials out there.

If you need someone to bounce questions off of, I've been using Linux for over 12 years.

[taffimai.livejournal.com]

Us Jew-types do Chinese food and movies. Passes the day.

[pyrae.livejournal.com]

Re LaTeX: a tutorial from MIT (http://snipurl.com/mit-latex) and a reference guide from Cambridge (http://snipurl.com/cam-latex). Links lifted directly from my prof's site.

What I have found to be a godsend: a LaTeX symbol finder (http://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html). You draw the sign you want to make and it suggests the appropriate code.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

cant help you with the "where to learn" but if you dont get what you need, poke me and i will ask my Linux guru friends.

as to item 3.
volunteer at a charity or soup kitchen
clean
carol singing
church
jigsaw puzzle (big one with my dad)
mass baking
go to a Jewish event, there always is one somewhere.

About Christmas Day

[tchwrtr.livejournal.com]

The night before: Get in the car and go hunting the most garish lights possible. The Search for Tackianna is turning into a real tradition for us. *grin*

The day of: Sleep in. Wake up, have breakfast. Open presents. Be thankful to each other. Call other relatives/friends/prank calls. Go visit other people. Eat. Play with new toys. Clean up paper after ensuring cats aren't in said paper. Play with cats. Watch PBS/old Christmas movies. Play board games, put a puzzle together...together. Start a new, different tradition.

What do you want to do with your parents? Then do that. It's what the day is for. *grin*

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

Put together a photo album for your parents electronics - pix of the family.

[raqs.livejournal.com]

String popcorn!

Make a quilt block or more out of clothes you wore at special events in your past that you're throwing out!

Scrabble!

we're party animals over here.