Back in the 90's I was in your same position.  What I did was to
load Linux on my main computer and use it exclusively.  Depending on what
you want to learn will determine which distribution you would load.

For example - if you're looking to get up to speed on what is used in
business Load your machine with Centos (Free Redhat Enterprise Linux Clone),
Suse, or Fedora (Fedora is close enough to Centos to be meaningful and works
on more hardware).
Debian is the totally open Linux and well worth a try.
For more casual use you might try Ubuntu.
Gentoo is another you might try.

Linux is WAY more put together than it was in the 90s so you'll be amazed
how often it just works without having to search for things like drivers, it
has a ton software included you'd normally have to pay for that you can
install for free, and runs better on the same hardware.  For a less drastic
move you could install Openbox or VMWare and install it in a virtual
machine.

In forcing yourself to use it as your main computer will get you up the
learning curve faster because you'll run into hurdles and find how to move
around them.  It won't take very long before you're very adept with the
distribution you've installed.  At that point try a different one :)  The
main differences between Linux distributions is how their boot up processes
are laid out, their package manager, and whether the distribution includes
closed source binary blob programs or not.

Anyway welcome to a new and exciting world :)

JD
On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 00:41, Brandon Hoffman <brandonmhoffman@gmail.com>wrote:

> Hello everyone, I recently just joined this group (like an hour ago)
> because I was posting on a forum about wanting to learn Unix/Linux and a
> passerby who decided to be nosy recommended me to sign up.
>
> I would like to learn as much as I can and eventually get some certificates
> for Linux and Unix (Windows-administration is *way* too easy.) What would
> be the top three-five books recommended for reading?
>
> I did look on the website and learned about Maricopa's college and will
> probably go there for a degree eventually, but I perfer my own pace and
> practice.
>
> Thanks ahead of time, I look forward to reading more on all the Linux
> discussions. I live in the east valley and will probably start attending the
> meetings as well!
>
>
>
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