just how much can you do with?

[Karen Lewellen]

<wearing her very best damsel in distress outfit!>
I deeply hate to sound gender specific, but this is getting frustrating.
Let me ask this simply.  I hope I can go back and locate the last knight 
here, who was providing amazing wisdom on media options with Linux, but for 
now let me see what can be learned.
I have a debian box here, using squeeze.  I have no intention of upgrading 
to wheezy any time soon...this one is bad enough lol.
While I remain deeply thankful to the person who basically put squeeze on 
a hard drive and sent it to me, the disadvantage is this.
I have no idea  what I have, and I have no simply way of learning what I 
have.

My frustration is that there is no, or not that I can find simple single 
basic Linux source book.
something like the old windows for dummies books.  I do not mean 
documentation built into the os itself.  That assumes you already now the 
basics of the os.
If there is such a source, please direct me to that source.
Nor do I mean a tutorial program.  That mode of learning forgets some human 
fundamentals.  All people learn individually.  To generalize what a person 
needs to know, usually written from the abilities of the person doing the 
tutorial is not a firm way either in my view.
  somewhere I have a magazine 
article that explains why Linux will always lag behind in  desktop sales.
For all its magnificence, it is just too much clay.
Many people need some basics for molding before they start to sculpt like 
an artist.
This is what makes hands on training so special.  Those in class get the 
uniform basis, but a teacher can speak to the individual needs of the 
student before them.

Personally? I learn best with someone sitting physically with me doing 
the teaching.  Linux can have rather the learning curve for some...if not 
individualized.
i would pay for that sort of training gladly.
and if I can find someone brave enough with a local Linux users group, if 
I can find that at all, I may see how well they do at  learning how to use 
the screen reader plus Linux together to train me.

The speakup manual i have references keys I cannot even find on the 
keyboard due to the names given them.
and there is simply too little basic guide information on Linux in general 
that I can find.
Yes there is a question, lol!
How much can one accomplish using the equivalent of .bat file work in 
Linux?
I have already decided that what I will be able to do with this machine 
may be confined to one or two functions only, media that I cannot access 
others, and extra word processing, assuming the Linux edition of 
wordperfect I have can be incorporated into debian.
Oh and that my printer will work lol.
Using something like Ice Wiesel, the debian equal of firefox, can I manage 
things with scripts prepared in advance for the effort?
I am going to ask about browsers in a different thread.
Still the bottom line for me is this.
My computer is not a toy, it is a tool.  I require my tools to function 
efficiently without having to rebuild them once a day.  part of why I never 
went to windows.  the risks was just too great for me professionally.
If I cannot learn Linux as I learned dos, by which I mean sit in the same 
room with a person, learn how to do some basic tasks and where to go 
for help, then I must work around what I do not now.
that might? mean using scripting for those basic tasks, if those can be 
created then edited to plug in the ever changing locations.
Thoughts?
Karen