GBdirect: Leaders in Linux Training and Deployment

We believe that GBdirect is the leading Linux training company in Britain and Europe. We were, for example, amongst the world's first commercial Linux trainers (well before some of the best-known Linux distribution vendors) and we are thoroughly steeped in its practical application.

Courses offered in this topic are as indicated ( Open Public Course Closed In-House Course)

Customised Linux Training

Expertise and Experience in Linux and Unix

Our Linux trainers have been using the OS since its first stable kernel release (1.0) in 1994. That's hardly surprising given that they include people like Mike Banahan (a pioneer in the technical development and commercial deployment of Unix from the 1970s onward).

In 1997, after a long period of testing and evaluation, we knew and trusted the OS well enough to commit our entire head office infrastructure to Linux. Now there is barely a non-Linux machine in the building and some of our staff have never worked on anything else.

Enterprise Class Experience

When companies hire our Linux trainers they are not merely buying years of Linux experience, they are also buying decades of experience in Unix teaching and consultancy with some of the world's largest and most valuable corporations.

Philosophy: Teach the Fundamentals

Our consulting experience has taught us that advanced Linux use is almost invariably about applying the fundamentals well, rather than about merely acquiring globs of "advanced" (i.e. esoteric) knowledge.

That's why all of our Linux courses are built around the common principles which apply to all Linux distributions and which apply to almost all the tools or applications they contain.

We do teach application specific or distribution specific topics, and we have developed many highly specialised bespoke Linux courses for our customers. What distinguishes us, however, is the effort we devote to explaining those specifics in terms of the generic Unix principles they implement.

In short, we aim to ensure that our students acquire transferable skills along with expert knowledge.

Philosophy: Linux Implements Unix/POSIX Standards

In all of the past years’ Linux hype, countless journalists failed to notice that Linux is Unix in all but legal title and that differences between most flavours of Unix and Linux are trivial (at least in comparison with the fundamental differences between versions of MS Windows).

All modern Unixes operate in fundamentally the same way, because they all implement the same set of international standards (‘Single Unix’ and POSIX) governing the interaction of applications and hardware. Everything Unices do is built on these standards and Linux implements them more consistently than many. That's one of the reasons why Linux could be so easily ported to virtually every hardware platform available.

A fundamental understanding of Linux not only provides a good grounding in Unix it also encourages platform independent skills in general computing, e.g. in system administration, programming, network management, security, etc. Because it is open and standards based, Linux bares the system's internals to its administrator and can only be managed well by those who understand underlying computing principles. We aim to develop that kind of understanding.

Linux - General public courses schedule

Linux Introduction, three days (course outline)

London — £995 (+VAT)

15–17 Mar 2010
12–14 Apr 2010
10–12 May 2010
7–9 Jun 2010
28–30 Jun 2010
26–28 Jul 2010
16–18 Aug 2010
13–15 Sep 2010
4–6 Oct 2010
25–27 Oct 2010
15–17 Nov 2010
6–8 Dec 2010

Bristol — £995 (+VAT)

10–12 May 2010
12–14 Jul 2010
27–29 Sep 2010
1–3 Nov 2010

Birmingham — £995 (+VAT)

10–12 May 2010
5–7 Jul 2010
13–15 Sep 2010
8–10 Nov 2010

Manchester — £995 (+VAT)

12–14 Apr 2010
28–30 Jun 2010
23–25 Aug 2010
25–27 Oct 2010

Leeds — £995 (+VAT)

22–24 Mar 2010
7–9 Jun 2010
16–18 Aug 2010
18–20 Oct 2010
6–8 Dec 2010

Edinburgh — £995 (+VAT)

26–28 Apr 2010
28–30 Jun 2010
20–22 Sep 2010
15–17 Nov 2010

Linux Shell Programming, two days (course outline)

London — £695 (+VAT)

18–19 Mar 2010
15–16 Apr 2010
19–20 Apr 2010
13–14 May 2010
10–11 Jun 2010
21–22 Jun 2010
1–2 Jul 2010
29–30 Jul 2010
19–20 Aug 2010
23–24 Aug 2010
16–17 Sep 2010
7–8 Oct 2010
18–19 Oct 2010
28–29 Oct 2010
18–19 Nov 2010
29–30 Nov 2010
9–10 Dec 2010

Bristol — £695 (+VAT)

13–14 May 2010
15–16 Jul 2010
30 Sep–1 Oct 2010
4–5 Nov 2010

Birmingham — £695 (+VAT)

13–14 May 2010
8–9 Jul 2010
16–17 Sep 2010
11–12 Nov 2010

Manchester — £695 (+VAT)

15–16 Apr 2010
1–2 Jul 2010
26–27 Aug 2010
28–29 Oct 2010

Leeds — £695 (+VAT)

25–26 Mar 2010
10–11 Jun 2010
19–20 Aug 2010
21–22 Oct 2010
9–10 Dec 2010

Edinburgh — £695 (+VAT)

29–30 Apr 2010
1–2 Jul 2010
23–24 Sep 2010
18–19 Nov 2010

Advanced Shell Programming Tools, three days (course outline)

London — £1095 (+VAT)

21–23 Apr 2010
23–25 Jun 2010
25–27 Aug 2010
20–22 Oct 2010
1–3 Dec 2010

Linux Technical Overview, one day (course outline)

London — £350 (+VAT)

21 Jun 2010
19 Jul 2010
11 Oct 2010
15 Nov 2010

Linux Essentials (LPI), four days (course outline)

London — £1095 (+VAT)

6–9 Apr 2010
1–4 Jun 2010
22–25 Jun 2010
20–23 Jul 2010
31 Aug–3 Sep 2010
12–15 Oct 2010
16–19 Nov 2010
20–23 Dec 2010

Birmingham — £1095 (+VAT)

29 Mar–1 Apr 2010
4–7 May 2010
20–23 Jul 2010
12–15 Oct 2010
20–23 Dec 2010

Leeds — £1095 (+VAT)

20–23 Jul 2010
21–24 Sep 2010
2–5 Nov 2010

Linux System Administration (LPI), five days (course outline)

London — £1395 (+VAT)

10–14 May 2010
5–9 Jul 2010
23–27 Aug 2010
18–22 Oct 2010
13–17 Dec 2010

Linux Advanced System Administration (LPI), five days (course outline)

London — £1395 (+VAT)

22–26 Mar 2010
24–28 May 2010
12–16 Jul 2010
6–10 Sep 2010
1–5 Nov 2010

Linux for Embedded and Real Time System Developers, five days (course outline)

Carshalton — £1750 (+VAT)

19–23 Apr 2010

Getting Started with Embedded Linux, five days (course outline)