UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I have a couple questions about mainly Linux, probobly Unix in general. I'd really appreciate it if you could answer as many as you can.

1) TAR files, Tar.bz files... What are they? Come kind of compression? How can I use them via command lind? Why should I use them?
2) What is a book or tutorial or reference I can find for manually editting configuration files. Many distrobutions do not have a "Control Panel", so I would like to know how to mess around with that kind of stuff without a utility. And also, which files should I learn how to mess around with (I know that they're found in the etc folder... why is it called etc?)
3) How do I install drivers (modules) into the kernel, after I have installed my system?
4) How do I recompile the kernel and replace my old one
5) What is a makefile, and how do I use/create them?
6) Where are things installed to when I use a RPM or something? They're is bin, usr/bin, and a couple other bins. If I extract a zipped application, where should I install it to (ie mozilla firebird).
7) What is a book that will teach me things like what I've mentioned? I've seen two kinds of books really. 1) Teaches you how to use office applications, ect. Like.. Push file..new..wordfile to start a new wordfile 2) Network administration and very advanced linux topics.
How can I find a route between those two? I'm not intrested in network administration or hosting a web server or anything, I just want to learn how linux works and how I can get it to work for me

Thanks for reading!! I'd really appreciate any answers!

Here is a link to an IBM tutorial on linux. There is a whole series of them relating to the LPI Linux certification exam. I would think working through these would be a good start.

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...MW67&S_CMP=ils

I tried them last summer and they were free. I assume they still are, but don't know that for sure.

Unless you are a programmer, or most of the time you don't need to write a makefile.

When you install a RPM/DEB package you don't really decide where it is installed. It's all set in the RPM/DEB. All you need to do is to install it. That's all.

IF you dont already have a version of Linux... I suggest you go get on and install it and learn it that way... It will stick in your head better and you get to play around with it...

Go to your local bookstore and get either Redhat or Mandrake Linux distro and load them on your PC... You will learn a lot! just by performing the install...

Yes, you will make many mistakes, but you will LEARN!!

For questions on Tar and RPM they are very similar... both compact/combine multiple files for easy transport over the net...

Goto a Unix site like http://www.itrc.hp.com and query your question about tar and you will get alot of answers...

I'm in much the same boat as you here, but by many, many attemps at working with TAR0s and .TGZs, i've found a process that works for me.

1. if it's a .tar, skip this one. If not, then run 'gunzip filename', minus quotes, where filename is the name of the .tgz. this turns it into a .TAR file.

2. From a .TAR, you then type 'tar xvf filename.tar', minus quotes, and where filename is the name of the file. you have to include the file extension on these, or otherwise it spits errors at you. i have found, however, that when you have a fair few tars to get through, then you only have to enter in enough characters to make it unique, and then use *.*, eg
gnome11220.tar
gnome4.tar
i-am-not-very-good-at-this.tar

then you can untar them by typing gnome1*.*, gnome4.* and i-*.* etc.

I hope this helps.