My interest in Linux was sparked by a very attractive female colleague named Eleanor sometime in 1997, when she casually mentioned that her friend was into it. We had Internet access at the workplace because it was essential to our work, so I lost no time searching AltaVista and Lycos for information about the operating system.I downloaded a bunch of HOW-TOs, printed them out, and proceeded to read at a leisurely pace. I'd read a few pages each time, usually as a replacement for Reader's Digest, while performing my daily excretory routine (in the bathroom, of course). Needless to say, ASCII file printouts done with a dot matrix Epson aren't exactly the prettiest sight to behold, but my interest convinced me that I was looking at a work of art.
Now, about decade and a year later, Linux has become so user friendly that installation is peanuts compared to the way it was done back then. I remember installing my first Slackware distro on a native ext2 partition while clutching continuous form printouts of the installation guide.
Playing with Linux has been an on-and-off thing for me because most of my applications were Microsoft based, and most of the apps I had for Linux were meant for scanning, cracking, and security in general. Well, that's the way it was, so it seemed like a natural progression for a Linux enthusiast to learn networking and the like. I really don't want to use the word "hacking" because it doesn't sound nice to certain ears; and besides, I've somehow matured to the point that using that word makes me feel like I've entered my second childhood stage.
So, Linux introduced me to the world of scripting. Well, I do know a bit, but I do check out resources once in a while to bring me closer to proficiency. Fortunately and much to my delight, a forum mainstay posted some links to help members with scripting.
Without further ado, here are three guides that I'd like to share with you:
It's really handy to know something about scripting. Who knows? Maybe someone will ask you to run a script that was meant to screw up your system. It pays to know what you are doing.
