On Feb 11, 2008 12:54 PM, Ken Moffat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, Feb 11, 2008 at 08:00:45PM +0100, Steven Locher wrote: > > I am an IT instructor with allround experience in Unixes, like Solaris, > > FreeBSD, Slackware and Debain - but never had time for LFS. I used to teach > > C and Java at the junior level in a university. > > > > My next subject is going to be Operating Systems where Linux is going to be > > the area of application. I got this great idea of starting from scratch: > > - students install LFS on VMware-Server on Windows host > > - we get a C development environment up > > - do the exercises in C on this environment. > > > > Time frame one semester, starting in Spring! > > > > I know, I should go through the documents and try it myself. But due to the > > limited time available, I would like to ask you whether this is feasible or > > advisable. If yes, please post relevant pointers here. > > > > regards > > Steve > This is just my personal opinion: > > If you have defined your objectives, use those to determine how > well LFS measures up to them. If your aim is really "coding linux > applications in C", I would suggest LFS on its own will prove a very > sparse environment for your students, but is perhaps usable. If you > had said this was going to be a course for sysadmins, or about using > one of the scripting languages, LFS would probably fit a bit better > (although admins would rightly ask why you aren't using something > which is easier to deploy). You also need to work out how much time > is actually available for your course (do you expect your students > to devote all their time to the course, or two hours a week, or > what ?), and then work out how much of that will be taken up with > building the basic system.
I'd agree with that assessment. If you're goal is learning the intertwinings of a modern operating system, then LFS is outstanding for that goal. In fact, I'd say that is the one place where LFS is unparalleled. When you install all the low level components yourself, you learn quite a bit about "what does what". But if your goal is a C development environment, a bare LFS will be pretty sparse. That said, if you're just doing an introductory C course, you've got a compiler and an editor, and the manpages are quite helpful for learning how to use the C and POSIX/Linux interfaces. -- Dan -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-support FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
