<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 TRANSITIONAL//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=UTF-8"> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="GtkHTML/3.0.9"> </HEAD> <BODY> Don't laugh!! ; ) I'm a CS major at my local university and have been using Linux, specifically RedHat, for the past four years or so. I have benefited greatly from using it, tweaking it, breaking it, fixing it, etc. I greatly enjoy the friendly and helpful Linux and open source communities. I want to give back and at the same time "beef up" my skills in programming, administration, or whatever. Can any of you share how you get started in this big wide world of Linux hacking? I mean, I've read many things about it such as "Find a bug and fix it.", "Help with documentation.", etc. But, I still am not sure what I can do, or where to start. I have some programming experience with several languages, but unless you use them really in depth, you just don't learn them very well. You know? I can take all the requirements for my BS, but unless I can actually find ways to use the things I'm learning, I'll forget them. Just like any kind of talent. So, how do you get started? I enjoy Python a TON, and have built a few personal utilities with it for my job, including a pyGTK based thingamajig that helps me with an administration task I face frequently. Mostly just fun self tutorials and stuff. I would love to just do *something* that would be useful for others and fun for me to do. Anyway, I would appreciate any advice or guidance anyone has. Thanks for contributing *your* time and talents that has made this such a great ride!!! -- Brian Dee </BODY> </HTML>