[CLUE-Cert] I passed

[Ben Roe]

Well, friends and neighbors, I passed.  90%.
Interestingly, about the same percentage as I got on the
sample test at the back of the SAIR Install/Config book
and the sample test at the back of the ExamCram book.

Be sure to actually read what we have to assent to in
order to take the test.  It says that we won't pass on
the test questions, among a bunch of other things.  So
having said that, I won't pass along any questions.

I think that our process has been very helpful.  The
combination of reading the SAIR book, hashing over its
questions and answers and mistakes, and the discussions
which have been far-reaching at times :-) has all been
good for me.

I have to say that the ExamCram book was also very
helpful.  The cram sheet in the front was quite 
helpful; so were the explanations of the sample
questions and sample exam.  

Both books together and the conversations with Sean 
and David, were what made me confident that I could 
actually pass.  

Now, below are some things I needed to know (which, 
interestingly, are mostly things we will need to know in
one way or another to be successful at installing and
configuring Linux/GNU).

Just about all of these things we talked about at one
time or another.  And with one or two exceptions, I 
thought all the questions were good, and the test overall
was a good one.  There were a couple of minor typos, but
the context made it clear what they meant.

And yes, you really do want to read all the words on the
questions.  In thinking about why the test is constructed
this way (i.e., carefully) Linux/Unix is unforgiving of
sloppiness in some cases, like that issue of 
rm -rf / home/ben !  So I think it is an advantage to go
through this exercise.

I think that all of these areas are in the sample tests
and/or the exam cram summary.

The "ln" command and what it does, including its default
behavior.

What an Interrupt Service Request is and what it does.

The capabilities of Netscape.

What the definition of "free" is.

How to get help on commands.

How the mount and umount commands work.

How to restore a root password.

What to do when you get a read error on an install

How to deal with tar and/or gzip errors on an install

What the useable IP addresses are on any given network

What a DNS is

How hard disks are numbered (lettered), both the
partition numbering and the lettering of the physical
drives.

Where you edit systemwide defaults for logins

The PC architecture

The meaning of multitasking, multiuser, etc.

The advantages of Open Source

How to put a program in the background 

How to change the keyboard repeat rate

How to start X

What the X server does

What the function of a driver is

How to assign a shell variable

How to "escape" a character

How to remove all files and the directory they're in.

Hope this is helpful.  Go take the test!

Peace,
ben

-- 
Ben Roe
Denver, Colorado USA
http://members.tde.com/ben