Slashdot Mirror
Getting Started In Linux
In previous posts, I've asked for the Slashdot community to help me identify good books and websites for developers and I thought the response was really useful. This time, I'd like to ask you all for your recommendations for great Linux beginner books and also what you think is the best way of showing off Linux on TV. Read on for more info ...
I do this thing twice on month on TechTV's "The Screen Savers" where I try to show off something neat about Linux and Open Source software. At the end of each segment, I give out my email address for people to send questions. The question I get most is "What book should I get to help me learn Linux?" I have a couple of books that I do recommend, but I want to hear what you guys think so I can link to this conversation and have it be available for everyone to refer to.
Additionally, any tips on what you guys would think would make good open-source oriented TV and make people really want to try out Linux would be appreciated.
I found Slackware unleashed an excellent Slack book for beginners.
O'Reilly of course! :)
Linux in a Nutshell, concise, to the point, reference manual for just getting stuff done.
Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!
Let's just all get our RTFM's out of system now.
Learn to use the command line and not a pretty gui, it will teach you alot about how Unix and Linux works, Plus it makes you look cool to your friends when ur flying though the command line:)
Gotta love the tab key!
keanmarine.com
Very visual, easily understood, and it'll appeal to everyone who's ever had that happen to them before.
Carousel is a lie!
The fourth edition of Running Linux came out this month. Great for beginners.
Great Expectations ... then follow it up with ...
The Great Failure
And dont forget The Communist Manifesto
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Killer Linux app to show off:
VMWare
Try THAT under Windows!
slashdot!=valid HTML
"player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"
The best way to start using linux is to just jump head first into it. Thats how I did it, I made a spare partition on my disk, installed slackware (I was terrified at first, since I knew its not the easiest distro around) on it, and just started using it. You learn a LOT just by trial and error.
Along the way I bought O'Reilly's Running Linux, but I only occasionally use it as a refference.
My point here is that no book can teach you what hands on experience can teach you!
Have fun!
Learning Red Hat Linux
by Bill McCarty
Publisher: (who else?) ORielly
Cover: Guy wearing a hat. No animal.
Suited for RH 7.2, but can probably be easily applied to other distros.
The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
Mark Sobell's A Practical Guide to Linux is the best beginner's book on Linux I've ever found. After reading this book, all the man pages and HowTos finally started making sense.
** The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employers - past, present, or future**
With that song from Sesame Street:
"Cooperation... Makes it happen."
"Cooperation... Working together."
(Dig it)
Maybe change Dig It to Linux. But maybe not.
alt.binaries.warez.linux
There's no place better
Here are some sites you will find useful which are going beyond newbie level.
/ rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/unix-faqm /autobook/ (automake autoconf book)n elnewbies.org (kernel info)a t/booksIndex.html
www.linuxdoc.org (Linux documentation project)
www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book (linux device drivers 2nd edition)
www.advancedlinuxprogramming.com
ftp:/
sources.redhat.co
www.scyld.com/network (network device drivers)
linuxassembly.org
linuxsocket.org
ker
freebooks.boom.ru
www.maththinking.com/bo
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
Linux falls somewhere between win95 and windows 3.1
I think a late night infomercial with that Ronco guy would be extremely effective [It slices, it dices, and makes juliened fries].
Four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still. -C. Coolidge
Face it, a book just doesn't cut it. Nobody should be required to pick up a manual and read through hundreds of pages before they're able to use something. That's the main difference between products that fail and products that succeed. It all hinges on the usability and intuitiveness of what you're dealing with. What is needed is a really good "teaching Linux" distro. It installs automatically and flawlessly, and it first boots up into a tutorial that the user can go through while exploring the system and learning the ins and outs. Obviously you'd want to keep root access away from the newbie user until they get more adjusted. You can't expect someone to read a whole book and just "get it". You need to acclimatize people in gradually. This is one of the reasons Windows is successful and Linux isn't, for the most part: ease of use. Windows just works. To get a Linux install to my satisfaction took over 100 hours. Most people simply don't have that kind of patience.
Cyde Weys Musings - Scrutinizing the inscrutable
This was the book I read before even touching a Linux terminal. It was an invaluable lesson in the ways of Linux and provides a nice gentle intro for new users (and by new, I mean new to Linux, not computing. A good deal of technical understanding is required to appreciate this book. Not for Grandma is what I'm trying to say...). The 4th Edition just came out so it's all up to date again, and I would reccomened it to anyone interested in, well, Running Linux. This book is much more useful to a new user than Linux in a Nutshell since it is a narrative guide to learning Linux, and not a reference book like Nutshell.
Getting started in Linux is easy. First, read this . Then, follow all the steps in it Backwards. Backwards is key. After that, you should be all setup.
Karma: Not Particularly Funny.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q =beginning+linux+book&btnG=Google+Search
Rumour has it that google also works on the GNU/Linux platform.
http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2326
---
Information wants...you to shut your pie hole.
... Linux has become such a great Complete Solution for everyone. I'm not sure what the TV show's target audience is, but here are some suggestions:
For The DeveloperShow how easy it is to setup Apache/PHP and start rolling out web apps...
For The Office TypeShow off OpenOffice, it's MS import capabilities, equations marksup (For The Artsy Type [gnome plug] Show 'em art.gnome.org to point out the thriving arts community, 100% free gimp
I'm not sure why everyone is set on reading "dead trees" for Linux info, it's all out on the web! I, myself, learned from the great Red Hat online docs...
That's my 2 cents worth.
Just a thought...
Since the submitter (chrisd) asked for opinions and got feedback, wouldn't it be nice if someone filtered the responses and provided a digest? The original queries were for books for developers and books for web development. Furthermore, if someone already has done some filtering, it would be great to see the results.
S
There are many books that teach the general unix utilities..more/less, cat, grep, etc, but one of the better intermediate in my opinions is Mastering Regular Expressions, by Friedl. While there are many ways to learn the basics, it's just a matter of learning what each do, and then you'll be thirsty for more, or looking for a way to improve what you know. Regular expressions are integrated in many unix tools, and are one of the more powerful things about UNIX; this book helped me understand how they work, and made me comfortable using them.
For me, it was a great beginners book because I am a developer, and I like quick information lookup. Ciphening through text to descover an answer is frustrating. Not to say that other books that are not like this are poor, but quality reference books are usually my number one choice.
Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription.. is more cowbell!
Those black and yellow books are good. :p
Those orange and white ones will also do.
While what I have in mind is nothing special or cool, it is something that I think many people really need to see. My parents, for example, use the computer to play games, mostly card games, browse the web, send email, and other every day things. The thing that bothers them is that they have no control whatsoever. Something crashes and they have no clue what they can do as a user.
It would be beneficial to many average users to see that Linux can do all of the every day tasks they perform. Show them the simple things. They can use email, web browsers, play games that come with kde or gnome, and still play web-based games like Yahoo! Pool. Getting them started on something they feel comfortable with will be an easy step they can make. Then they can move onto controlling and customizing the OS one piece at a time.
It would probably be best to show off the applications. Have the Linux box connect to a Windows box via Samba, perhaps? Use WINE to run some killer Windows application (Half-Life, Warcraft 3...)? Copy something onto a CDRW via UDF (just in the console, that'll get 'em)? Who is your audience? Obviously, it's geeks, but which group?
As for the book, a book is a great thing to have as a reference, but it's still gonna be tough if you can't figure something out and the book doesn't cover your program. You might want to say something about finding a LUG, too.
I Support Fair Use
I must agree. running linux is a very good reference.
Here's my first two books I bought, and why I like them. First of all, for any distro: Running Linux, latest edition you can get. Why? It is a book you can read cover to cover. It has some scary stories of the old days of installation in the beginning. You realize how easy it has gotten. Then you will learn the many different ways to do the same thing. You don't have to be on a computer to learn from this book. If you are using Red Hat, then grab Red Hat Linux Unleashed. Why? This has MUCH more specific information. It's not something you can read cover to cover, you read the different sections as you need to learn them. In general though, I've never found a bad O'Reilly book...
Some of the books I have on my shelf are:
-O'Reilly:Linux in a Nutshell (good reference, somewhat bad as you need to know command)
-Sam's: Slackware Unleashed
-Coriolis open Press: Linux System Administration Black Book
-Sam's: Linux Complete Command Reference
Finally:
- Sam's: Maximum Linux Security
It was only later that I found out you could wordprocess, play games, and do many other things. I would suggest showing how to do everyday stuff, as a comparison to Windows and/or OS X. I don't mean a "see Linux is better 'cause it doesn't crash and it does this and doesn't crash and..." kind of stuff. I mean showing that you can play MP3s and they work just as well as under windows. And that they sound just as good as under windows. Show a wordprocessor or two. Show some web browsers. Show it can play shockwave flash, java, and other things. Show Quake III and UT2k3. And make sure to point out that the performance is always like in windows, if not better. I don't mean braging, but more of "see we're just as good." Show how Linux can be used for many things. Play a DVD, burn a CD, etc.
Other than the above "practical" things, show some neat stuff. Show a few windowmanagers. Sure there is GNOME and KDE, but what about showing Enlighenment, WindowMaker (my fav), and other cool ones. Show Quake III in one window, UT2K3 in another (or maybe just two Quake III connected to eachother) and have something else up doing something; to show that Linux is good at juggleing things.
I know you've shown at least one of these things in the past (MP3s) but I don't get to watch much TV lately. And of course, these are just my ideas. I'm sure the other posters have come up with some cool ideas by now.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
Probably the most important thing for a Linux beginner is a book on how to withstand infantile criticism by hordes of 17-yr-old nerds with a superiority complex. You'll see a lot of that if you try to learn linux. For not already possessing all the esoteric knowledge, you will be berated and demeaned in the foulest terms. Hopefully you'll encounter enough of the good free-software people to keep you involved. Furthermore I'd suggest reading In the Beginning Was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson. Good layman overview of the history/philosophy.
We've all seen the IBM ads with the basketball team, and specifically the one featuring Linux ("Because He Loves The Game" So TRUE!). Now, here for all of /. to see, is my Linux Commercial pitch.
The commercial opens with the side of a large house shown. This house has many, many windows, some ornate, some plain. After a few seconds, a baseball smashes through one of them, shattering it. After a few more seconds, another baseball smashes another window. Several quick cuts of different windows being smashed by more and more baseballs. Cut to a pile of baseballs laying on the ground. After a moment, a black CG flipper reaches down and picks one up. The camera follows the ball to reveal Tux, wearing a ball cap bearing the "official" Tux logo, and he's got an EVIL grin. The final cut to the product screen, which says "Linux: Smashing Convention. http://www.linux.org" and a final sound of a ball shattering glass.
Let the Love Fest Begin...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
Go to http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/ and get the Linux Newbie Administrator's Guide.
:)
I've bought different linux books in the past to try and get me started, and none were as good as the LNAG. Best of all - it's free! Read it online, or download it and print it off at work to piss off your co-workers.
- Dave
There are two seasons in my world - Hockey and Construction
he seemed pretty serious and confident. The funny thing is, if that was that guy's only reason for using linux, is he going to switch to windows now?
Show how people spend more time getting linux to work than they do using it for anything useful?
Or show how long it takes a person to read the documents so they can understand what is going on?
Or so how every time something breaks the first thing linux users do is go ask their friends, family, a priest or a psychologist why they are having problems?
Personally I used linux for a long time and theres a lot of really neat things you can do, namely the one I like is the ability to sort through massive numbers of mp3s and rip out annoying characters like )"(#'$ from the filenames but as a practical os, well, just do this. Get a clock, every time you stop using the OS to either learn how to get something to work or fix something, start the timer, then when you return to using the os, stop it. This includes everything from configuring window managers to recompiling the kernel.
In fact, Id say linux is a great os because the side effects is that you get people who learn how to solve incredibly complex problems using any means possible, but then once the problems are solved they instantly find new ones to tackle rather than enjoying the sunny weather
just my thoughts, and yes I use windows but only because Ive no use for linux on my p200 laptop while in japan drinking tea and LIVING deus ex...
if you see an italian in a trenchcoat wearing dark sunglasses thats me
-Italian wearing sunglasses and trenchcoat
Considering there are perfectly good (if not better) builds of Mozilla and Phoenix for Windows that would not only be unimpressive, it would be misleading and irresponsible.
Linux learns you!
Google.com
but I am starting out in Linux right now and I'm finding LFS (Linux From Scratch) to be a very good tutorial to the ins and outs of a linux system.
For people who don't want to look it up, it basically has you compile a custom version of linux on a separate partition. Since you have to install everything from scratch, you are forced to learn what everything does.
Cogito ergo sum in Slashdot.
Graham Glass is a skilled writer who is capable of introducing complex topics and commands easily to the reader, regardless of their skill level. His book benefited me greatly, and even allowed my father to gain a good footing in unix commands and philosophy.
I have recommended this book to numerous people over the years, to people who just wanted some familiarity with unix commands, to people who were interested in learning Linux, to students looking for interesting things to delve into, and to many others. The book has benefited them all. Although it is not directly a Linux book, it is exceptional at providing the tools necessary to use any unix-like system. This makes this book a wonderful reference or a great starting out point if you're just beginning.
In other words, I highly recommend it.
---
"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong." --Dennis Miller
the Screen Savers watch you!
I like mine better.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Start with Rute.
There is no need to use a SlashDot sig for SEO...
By Kernigham & Pike, covers using *nix from the command line, shell scripts, using a little bit of Lex & Yacc, and some source code management. IT IS dated, but it will give you a whole tour through the operating system from a "power user" perspective...forget all the wimpy GUI stuff. Highly Recommended, but too lazy to paste the Amazon link.
Minix en español! http://www.es-minix.org
/. pointed me to the excellent Knoppix version; I splurged a whole five dollars for the CD. What does it do for you? Let's you see if your hardware is compatible with Linux and does not write anything to your hard drive while doing so. If you wish to introduce new folks to Linux, this is a good way to do it. It totally removes any fear-factor about having to dump your current system and try something that just might not work for you. No, it's not a book but for me, it was better than a book. I'd rather buy a book than take a class but I'd also rather buy a tool rather than read about it in a book. Hands on, know what I mean?
The best way to illustrate the power of Linux on TV, is to demonstrate a Linux box doing something that is considered unusual and desireable. Something that will make people say "Wow... I can't do that with this other OS I'm using. I should try Linux." It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a bunch of gee-whiz cool tasks that Linux can do, and that other OS cannot.
Either that, or have Linux performing some intensive server oriented task, alongside a computer running one of those other, more common OS's. Show how Linux does more and does it faster.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
The only downside that I see is that it doesn't have a lot of administrator type stuff, like how to install a distro or install programs. However, as someone who believes that all Linux users should learn the shell, I would recommend this book to any Linux beginner.
Dan
Aside from whatever Linux-specific books get recommended here, one of the best investments you can make in the transition out of rank UNIX-beginner status is "UNIX Power Tools" published by O'Reilly. Its title is really a misnomer as it's actually an excellent book that teaches you all the finer points (which are not really all that "fine" if you really want to make UNIX work for you) about using UNIX. You don't at all have to be an "advanced"/"power" user and in fact, I'd argue that the greatest benefit from reading can be derived by those less experienced with UNIX. If you want to *understand* what you're doing in a UNIX system, with information that most certainly applies to Linux, get/read a copy of this book.
Get some of the basic shell instructions that are provided for new users. Normally it's just a few sheets long, and describes how to login to the system, how to move files, how to check e-mail, yadda yadda yadda.
This kind of basic stuff, I think, is more important than any book one could read. After someone is somewhat proficient just navigating around, then the books become interesting and relevant.
Teach the new user how to use vi.
Although nano/pico are more user-friendly, and you may like emacs (although I think that's nuts), any system the new user logs into will have some variant of vi. The use doesn't have to go much beyond describing the two modes, and how to insert and delete text.
That is one thing that really impressed me when converting, i install a program and it worked.. no reboot! *gasp* As for showing things on tv, play some dvd's and mp3's, chat a little on gaim, stuff that people do on a regular basis. I've been talking to people about linux lately, and there are a lot of misconceptions... try to debunk some big ones. I have a friend who swears that whenever you add any new hardware, you HAVE to re-compile the kernel. Another thing i hear a lot is that even if a game has linux binaries, it runs like crap. play some unreal or wolfenstien (the new ones ;)) to show it's quite fine.
Another good idea would be to show them some of the free software out there. if they need to edit some pix, they can just d/l the gimp... no need to pirate/look for cracks.
One last thought about helping people that are new to linux: it's a completely different perspective of an operating system. It's taken from a muilti-user perspective, whereas windows is pretty much one person on one computer. Once you understand this, things make more sense..especially the file system layout. when i first started i always wondered why everything went on / instead of breaking it up into drives. and why do i have a home directory? if you tihnk in terms of only one person on a computer, it's hard to get the concept.
When I was a newbie, I just printed out the HOWTO's that I needed. Now, when I try to remember something cool I learned three or four years ago reading the howto's, I just look them back up. But the problem is I just don't know what I did with that damned notebook that has them printed in ...
You mean I've been making them by hand all this time, when I could have just done it on the computer?
Hm. Now, that would be an example. "Look, you can even insert a potato into this cooling fan..."
Now, I already knew that mine functioned as a hot plate. Love those Athlons.
What my Windows friends keep asking me for: Linux alternatives to Word, Excel and Outlook Express. And what they really want is not some verbage like, "Open Office, don't worry, be happy". What they want is a side-by-side demo showing how compatible the Linux alternatives are, both in user interface and file formats.
It seems linux games don't get the respect they deserve, and I think someone should really show them off. Give 'em tux racer, nethack, and some cool GL stuff in x. And, for that matter, show off the cool fully themeable x, with stuff like enlightenment and kde and gnome etc. And wine, and all the other (not an) emulators availible. Really show off that Linux is fun, too. And some of the cool rendering with stuff like blender or some blender games (now that blender is open sourced).
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
Coming from a NT background, I found learning Linux rather frustrating. I was continually trying to find out "what is the Linux/Unix equivalent of task/command X in Windows?", but what is needed is a shift in thinking. I found Think Unix by Jon Lasser to be a great book for assisting in making the paradigm shift to the *nix way of thinking. It's written in a rather entertaining way too.
# man man
If you're beginning with Linux as a Sysadmin - especially if you're coming from the Windows NT world - be sure to check out the server projects at http://www.rhsd.net. They're designing the project so that even the newest admin should be able to handle it!
YOu can find rich source of articles, tutorials and tips here.
:)
If you are so obsessive with paper book, print them out. Most of the articles there are in pdf format.
http://www.linuxnewbie.org
Don't think anyone posted that yet.
SecondPageMedia - Wha
They are good suggestions, but the links are part of Amazon's affiliate program. If someone clicks them and then buys the books, the poster is going to get a cut of it.
live(free) || die;
Running Linux, 4th Edition
By MattWelsh,Matthias KalleDalheimer,TerryDawson,LarKaufman
4th EditionDecember 2002
0-596-00272-6, Order Number: 2726
692 pages, $44.95 US, $69.95 CA, £31.95 UK
Essential System Administration, 3rd Edition
By ÆleenFrisch
3rd EditionAugust 2002
0-596-00343-9, Order Number: 3439
1176 pages, $54.95 US, $85.95 CA, £38.95 UK
O'Reilly, of course. And get a less than $5 distribution set on CDs. A good solid base.
You need to start out with slackware 1.0 and learn REAL linux like the rest of us did. If you can't cut it with out a "for dummies book" then you needn't bother with linux. Try MacOSX instead.
The best beginners guide is definitely a trusted tutor. If you have a knowledgeable friend to help you get started, thats usually better than any book. Just make sure they don't have you run an obfuscated rm -rf /...
amazon gets a cut of YOU!
Linux Format magazine a British mag it is expensive, but is a great magazine for beginers, it has great tutorials, a great question and answer section. The mag even comes with a CD or DVD full of apps to try out, the DVD version even has a few iso's each month with full distros, its about $15 for DVD edition and I think $12 or $13 for CD version. I use to just read it at the book store, and buy it if there was really something I wanted like a disto, but the last few months they have been putting it in a clear sealed type (porno) bag. I am not sure if both version are sealed like this. It probably to keep people from snaking the CD's, but I figure if you can't look throgh the mag to decide if you want to buy it, that makes it kinda hard to justify spending $15 on a magazine.
Linux journal is a good magazine but not quite for beginers. Linux magazine definetly not for beginers.
"Linux Network Servers 24 Seven" by Craig Hunt was thorough in it's treatment of Linux and remarkably easy to understand -- though as the title notes, it's geared towards servers, not desktops.
The best books I have seen for some one new to Linux are the manuals that come with the SuSE distribution. Of couse it being SuSE you have to pay to get the DVD to install it but the manuals are worth the price. I haven't seen Mandrakes or Red Hat's manuals for a couple of years but they were crap back when I was starting out.
Sow them where online to go to get information, tutorials, how-to's etc... Show how to search the net for info on learning how to do something. Show them IRC...
;->
Books are fine, but with linux tend to get outdated rather quickly. The best places to get the knowledge from are other users, and online is (almost always) more up to date. And much cheaper
One of the things I personally would find really interesting is to show some of the cool stuff holywood studios are doing with CG animation on Linux workstations.
Ok, so this is obviously way out of reach of the most of us, but I think it would pretty much drive home the point the Linux is much more than just a geek or hobbyests tool - in a very visible way (and it would be just intersting to see a dmo anyways).
I don't know what the best way to show off Linux on TV is. But, one of the best ways to show off Linux on a TV is to read the /. article on
building your own PVR with Linux.
i think you should show a stock ticker of all the linux companies - now *thats* entertainment. or perhaps the statistics showing how many people actually use linux so they can realize what they are learning is pretty useless for an average computer user - just so they know ahead of time they are wasting their time.
For a TV demonstration, try CD Burning.
I installed knoppix on my IBM thinkpad, default install (which may be the only way with knoppix) and plugged in my USB CD/RW drive, it was automatically detected as a SCSI device. Launch CDBakeOven as root (also already installed), drag and drop, and done.
It's as simple as using Roxio/Nero under windows, which means it's come a long way from writing bash scripts for mkisofs and cdrecord.
As it's something that people do regularly, it would be nice to show off that linux can be user friendly for day to day tasks.
Also, OpenOffice.org is quite impressive, intuitive, and visual.
In my (humble) opinion, the programmes included with the knoppix distro are a good general selection for showing off. (:
www.knoppix.com, go ahead and check out http://www.knoppix.com/ and get a cdrom iso image .
This was you can try before you buy and see how 'cool' it is. No need to format your hard disk, no need to know linux.
Knoppix lets you put in the cd, and reboot and SEE AND TOUCH AND FEEL linux before you ever make a change to your system. Although you may need to enter your BIOS and make your CD-ROM a bootable device prior to your harddisk...
While this is not what he wanted, a book, it is better, because you can run linux without having to commit to it, which is what I bet many people stumble on.
I run Knoppix off the cd and off of my harddisk on an older system (p-300) and it is worth trying if you are a newbee.
-mod me up, i need the karma, please!
Silly Rabbit: tricks are for kids.
While newbies shouldn't be forced to use the command line, it might be nice for them to see why it's a great thing. Show them something really neat that they can do with the command line, which is awkward to do with a GUI. Make it something useful, which even if they're not doing now, they might want to later.
Chris, I've seen you on The Screen Savers several times, and I think you do a very good job talking about Linux. The one thing that sticks out in my memory about your appearances is that the fonts you are using on that laptop are just terrible! They're blocky, aliased, and just plain ugly.
Now, I am well aware that the fonts have no bearing on the quality of the operating system, but newbies will be put off by the less than attractive fonts. It's so easy to set this stuff up that you should never show Linux in anything less than a first-rate configuration.
If you can't upgrade your installation to use AA fonts, then either reinstall with RH 8.0, or get someone to loan you another laptop you can keep in TV-ready condition.
Download some 'choice' mpeg4s off irc, and play them first time using mplayer - like to see you do that under windows media player :)
Show how you can use Linux to decode cable tv and demonstrate how easy it is to copy DVDs using dvd:rip. While your at it hit up some Kazza using wine, windows using vmware and some MP3/OGG ripping using Ripperx.
Show the people out there that piracy works a treat not only on the windows machines.
Here's what I did and it worked great. You'll get running in no time and learning step by step ever after.
...)
Buy a linux distribution of your choice. Not for the CDs, but for the BOOK. Read the ENTIRE book before starting. This gives you a good idea of how Linux works (installation procedure, useful tools, networking, [add other useful things here]
It's the perfect book for a beginner: it explains the specifics of your distribution, is perfectly up to date and not very expensive when bought in a bundle package. Plus it's nice having the CDs for reinstalling if things screw up.
Sure, it may be a little heavy to read an entire book, but it does pay off. It's easier knowing in advance what may happen, than looking for how to repair mistakes afterwards.
Once you've got the system running nicely using the distributions tools, you can concentrate on other things or start digging deeper into your installation. From this point, online documentation is all you need.
The manual of my distribution is the only Linux book I have ever bought and I've been using full-time for 5-6 years now.
I've used a bunch and this and O'Reilly are the best. Sobell has more examples and, while it's an older book, it covers quite a bit of the important stuff. He's also coming out with a new version for RedHat 8.0 too...look for it about _now_ on the shelves. I floundered through the Sam's book and 2 of the various "bible" versions before finding Sobell. This is a great book and I'm sure the new one will be just as good. The only down side to the old one is that it's mainly command line, rather than GUI. The difference is that I was using it when I was still a newbie---and it made sense. If users can't do _some_ things at the command line why are they using Linux anyway? ;-)
Linuxnewbie.org--No other place on the web makes a new Linux user feel more comfortable. Being comfortable means coming back; back to Linux. Don't know why this site gets overlooked so much.
1. To Start: Mandrake, Redhat or Suse. On the assumption that anyone interested in trying Linux has some computer experience (otherwise they wouldn't have heard of Linux), start with a 'does-everything' distro. Gnome and KDE are windowish enough to be manageable by anyone who knows that retractable tray thing isn't a cup holder and supermount will prevent the pain I went through trying to mount make my CDROM work in Redhat 5.2.
2. Neatest Thing: NFS. Show them how remote servers appear as as completely transparent subdirectories of Home and not as drive letters or mappings outside of the C: drive. Simple, but amazingly natural compared to the default Win method. (Yes, XP and 2K do mounts but not as default.)
3. Best Book: None. Google Groups all the way. Anything a newbie could ask has been answered ad nauseum and there's no chance of alienation from RTFM if you don't ask in the first place. Distro forums are also a valuable source of information.
Knoppix is the easiest, coolest way for people to get their feet wet with Linux. Nothing is as simple or user friendly, plus it requires no committment at all -- no drive partitioning, installation, etc. All you do is pop the CD in and run it, and you're booted to a fully featured Linux machine in minutes. When you're done, just shutdown and remove the CD, and it's as if Linux never happened on your machine -- perfectly safe for kids messing with the family computer!
I particularly like Mandrake's demos. I checked them out before switching to Mandrake. They give potential users a nice overview of the power and ease of modern distros. In addition, rather than a book, I would recommend people to buy a damn boxed set which includes useful manuals. Both Mandrake and RedHat have great manuals (Mandrake's are more newbie-friendly IMHO). Show them a nice shiny box with pretty manuals, that's more sexy than home-made burned CD's ... and helps keep distros healthy ;-)
I agree!!!
and I need the KARMA. Come on, I mean well, and i pick friends/fans all the time, just because!
and check out knoppix.com to get a cd-rom ISO image with a runnable copy of LINUX on CD without having to install it...
Silly Rabbit: tricks are for kids.
A lot of people are recommending "Running Linux", but I never found that one I wanted to refer to most of the people who ask me.
Sobell's "Practical Linux" is good, as someone noted. Lasser's "Think Unix" is also excellent, and the only text I know of that does such a good job of explaining why Unix is *different*, not just in command names but in philosophy and structure. It's the grammer to Unix, where most other texts are only the vocabulary.
I also used to recommend the install and reference guides for Mandrake's distro, as I found it one of the better newbie guides around. I haven't read it over in a few major versions, though, so I don't know if this is still true.
Linux Administration Handbook by Evi Nemoth of the Unix System Administration Handbook fame is an excellent book for system administrators and users. I have both books and use them all of the time.
Of course most of the O'Reilly & Associates books are excellent.
I started with an old Convex OS Man Pages book years ago and having a printed copy of the Man pages was pretty helpful.
The old Slackware Linux Unleashed book was one of my favorites a few years ago also.
-mike
I'm generally not a big consumer of computer books because most of them suck, but when looking for a general Linux book I found Linux Cookbook to be pretty neat and useful. It's somewhat Debian-centric, but useful for anyone. Another good book in the same vein is Linux System Administration by Michel Gagne. Both these books are centered on doing typical things that people want to do with their (Linux) computers. I like them both, but I do like the Linux Cookbook better.
me too! Konppix Rocks!
Don't agree?
Well you are WRONG!
I got knoppix, look what it has done for me!?@# Karma free and still out on bail.
Silly Rabbit: tricks are for kids.
. . . who wants to be able to tinker with Linux/Unix and learn how to do some of the cool and fun things that separate Unix from Windows, there is no better introduction than Jon Lasser's "Think Unix". It is a succinct and clear discussion that teaches you how to do things in Unix, makes you comfortable with the command line prompt, and really does help to think the Unix way.
A great compliment to this is "The Unix Philosophy" by Mike Gancarz. This book doesn't really stand on its own as teaching aid. It is more of a high-level, blueprint view. If you are reading one or two other how-to type Linux/Unix books though, reading this one by Gancarz along with the others will really help consolidate your understanding and tie alot of loose ends together.
Especially questions of the type "What is so special about the fact that Unix does 'X' the way it does?" and "What is so special about the fact that Unix does 'X' at all?"
1. Learn Linux.
2. Write book.
3. Pimp book on national show.
4. $$$$!
Linux Administration: A Beginners Guide by Steve Shah is really good. It was reviewed on Slashdot a while back and I even remember it being on the front page of linux.org for a while. When I checked on the Amazon reviews, they were almost all good.
My experience with it is that it is very easy to read and quite complete. The thing I liked most about it was that the author didn't assume I was an idiot and wanted to use GUI tools -- he actually assumes worst case scenarios where all you have access to is the CLI and you need to be able to sysadmin work that way. Something I wish more books would do.
Another thing I really liked was that the author knew that his book was not the end-all-be-all of sysadmin books and gave references to other books as appropriate. I ended up picking up a lot of his recommended texts (TCP/IP Illus. Vol. 1 being my new favorite.)
The coverage of security is good. It isn't a list of "do this and you are secure", but rather a lot of good techniques for keeping your system clean like watching for what ports are being listened to and using lsof and netstat for reporting. He also reminds readers to check for upgrades on software frequently.
Anyway, I recommend it to folks who ask me about Linux books.
"Additionally, any tips on what you guys would think would make good open-source oriented TV and make people really want to try out Linux would be appreciated."
I think that the common belief of "You get what you pay for" is one of the things that bites linux in the arse...First thing I would do is show what programs have come out of OSS. My best example would be GIMP (while Moz, Evolution,XMMS work too). Here is this relativily little known open paint program, that does a lot of what Photoshop does. And its free!
About the books. My fav. intro books are.
-RH Linux Admin Handbook
-*insert any low level unix book*
-linux system admin whitepapers
-linux for dummies (dun laugh, great series)
sorry, the was no definitive linux book for me, unlike php
forget it.
not to mention the last link is not really a linux book...
The thing about Linux TV ads is that your average person does not want to be shown screen shots of Mozilla, etc., and see that they look exactly like what they're already using. That's boring. They probably won't even think it's Linux. So this is not what we want.
Take Microsoft commercials for example. They either involve multicolored flying butterflies or people discussing their crazy business solutions. These are obviously the kinds of ads that are succesful, and the kind that we should duplicate.
IBM has already duplicated the latter type in their Linux-based server ads: remember the one where the servers have gone missing, but they've simply all been replaced with one server running Linux? So we're pretty much all set in that department.
That leaves the first type. Pretty butterfly. Dancing happy people. Hm. For some reason that doesn't seem to fit our image all too well. Okay then, take Apple's ad campaign. Remember the "Think Different" ads? I've found the people who most want to switch to Linux are those who just don't want to be fettered by Microsoft. Rather than showing facts, show the symbolic advantage of Linux over Windows:
Show hordes of distraught people in chains and handcuffs trying to follow a fluttering butterfly climbing up a mountain or through pricker bushes or something, and a few others who have cast off their chains and are skipping along happily after a large penguin running through a field, a pied-piper sort of thing. The fact that we have a fuzzy mascot is actually probably our best weapon in convincing the "average" person to switch.
Parallel Illiad's idea, and show a Star Destroyer or something chasing after a small lonely X-Wing (perhaps piloted by Tux). The Star Destroyer gets a BSOD, GPF, or some other easily recognizable bane of Windows users (but not Windows-specific, to avoid lawsuits). It needs to reboot Windows. The X-Wing comes around, and ten seconds later (emphasize that Windows needs lots of time to reboot, which it does) KABOOM! no more X-Wing.
The main thing to remember is, people don't care about facts. Maybe businesses do, but IBM's got that covered already (if they stop, just follow their example). But people don't. They like colors. They like humor. They like special effects. They like fuzzy. They like Star Wars. Oh, and they really like free internet. A RedHat- or Mandrake-sponsored version of MSN would be wonderful.
But face it. People want entertainment. Facts aren't entertainment. Facts are when you get another sandwich. Entertainment keeps you glued to the screen those extra thirty seconds: thirty seconds of Linux.
In going with the idea that bright and shiny things can catch attention, my advice would be to use Keramik if you're showing KDE, and also install the Geramik gtk theme. I've always considered Keramik to be a very inviting theme for people used to XP. It's similar enough in style that they'll feel unintimidated by it, and different enough that they won't be thinking "ripoff" when it comes up. Linux still has a very bad reputation for being a scary operating system that only the extreame computer geek could comprehend. Having ones first real experience with linux instead of a command line being a nice shiny set of buttons I believe can have a big impact on getting someone into it. Plus having Keramik and Geramik both active will hide the multiple styles and give a unified appearence. In terms of functionality I like having the choice, but in terms of the 'average' end user I think most would rather remain ignorent of what's running at any one time.
I also think another thing you might want to try is showing off apt (via a frontend), or one of the apt like systems. One of the biggest impressions mandrake made on me was when I typed mp3 in the search field of rpmdrake, and it gave me a list of media players which could be installed or downloaded with just a click or two. I think something like that can be a huge help to someone not overly familier with computers, or especially with what software is available for the platform.
Everything will be taken away from you.
Don't forget to fire up the Gimp and show them how easy and user-friendly Linux software can be. And take them through the excellent built-in docs for AbiWord. (clue for AbiWord folks - how are people going to write your docs for you if there's no docs telling them how to use the goddamned thing in the first place?)
When I got started, it was (chagrin) through Stephenson's ITBWTCL, which piqued my interest along with ESR's work.
Beginner courses should probably focus on what Linux does really well conceptually. Like how it's a hot-rodder's dream - that you can really trick out the system the way you like it. Or appeal to the political side and talk about the freedoms you get with the switch.
Geeks need to appeal to things other than reason and logic. Right?
Keep your packets off my GNU/Girlfriend!
He's too right about the elitism attitude on the part of many in-deep Linux users. It's probably one of the biggest barriers-to-entry for well-seasoned Windows veterans.
Likewise, Linux users need to drop the whole "All Windows users are morons" attitude, because the odds are pretty damned good that at least 3/4's of those preaching the message are probably doing so from a Windows box. I'm on one right now. It's not long left in this world, however - I just need some disk space on the network to back up everything before I format the disks.
Hey. We all have to start somewhere. At least respect the fact that some of us are *interested* in Linux.
*Jump* at the chance to add another one to the fold.
Do what you can to help others out. This doesn't mean "go to LUGs and help out people". This means to actively keep an ear out for people who are interested in Linux. You might view it as signing a support contract for life, but the fact of the matter is that if someone's interested in Linux, you probably wouldn't have to support him for that long, and they're probably wanting a minimal amount of handholding anyway (Since they're being adventurous enough to switch OSes).
You want Linux to succeed? Show people why it's better. If Windows works for them, that's fine. Leave 'em the hell alone. If they come to you with a problem one day, though, then think of a way that Linux can solve it. It might be just the ticket.
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
Linux is Satan by Bill Gates. ISBN: 666
It all depends on your audience.
Are you looking at tech savvy newbies (the BOFHs of the future) or Joe User?
For me, a growing tech savvy young man a while back, being introduced to linux was cool. I finally had control of my PC. Several years ago someone introduced me to Slackware and all I did was start playing.
I had at first someone to help me, then I read some books, but my best resource has been the internet.
Slackware does not hide you behind something fancy, but is a little easier to use compared to LFS or Gentoo.
I can now jump in and use any distribution. You have to be careful not to change config files without changing the database, but you learn the hard way.
If you are trying to get Joe User to use it, you need to find a book related to one distro, because all the config things are different.
This is what makes Linux hard from Joes perspective. If he buys a book written for Suse and then buys Redhat, the gui config tools won't be the same. The other problem is everything changes so quickly that books have a hard time keeping up with GUI changes and config tool changes.
Joe doesn't know that "ethernet card config" is the same as "network config". This makes it very hard for them.
Anyway... don't buy a book if you are wanting to be the BOFH of the future, dive in and give it a go. Join a LUG, jump on some mailing lists, find a friend who already has some experience.
Things to show off on TV: All the cool stuff that open source is used for everyday: rendering LOTR for example.
404 Not Found The requested signature was not found on this server.
This book (Linux Rute Users Tutorial and Exposition) is a great newbie book, and also, a great book for mid range linux users to have as a reference. You can buy it in many bricks and mortar stores, also on amazon, but if you don't feel like paying for it, it is(or used to be) available free for download. Here is one download address, I don't know if it is still free..... http://www.intelinfo.com/sign-up/linux_rute_book.h tml
Brilliant!
http://www.sfvlug.org/
http://www.lalugs.org/
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Red Hat is THE de facto best newbie Linux distro now as far as I'm concerned, and you can't go wrong with the Red Hat Linux 8 Bible. This, in combination with O'Reilly's Linux in a Nutshell is all you need to get started with Linux. You've got the RH book for your GUI, distro-specific stuff and you've got Nutshell for all the command line stuff. Any gaps in this combination can be filled in with man pages/websites/IRC/bulletin boards/usenet/etc.
Chris
> I found Slackware unleashed an excellent Slack book for beginners.
That's assuming beginners should be using Slack as their first distro. I guess it depends on your savvy. Like many here, I'd recommend a Debian distro.
Anyway, I've found Linux Administration, A Beginner's Guide to be excellent. Most of the books I saw at the book store on "Beginning Linux" showed you how to use the latest outdated GUI on a specific distribution. Boring. I already know how to use Windows. The aforementioned book shows you how manage Linux from the command prompt in a very easy way. It assumes you know a little bit about computers (like what "users" are and file system basics like file types and permissions) but shows you how to get all the things you know how to do in Windows done at the Linux command line.
It is fairly platform independent too. It describes things like how to install programs via RPM or compiling from source in a very straightforward manner (as well as the difference and why you might need/want to do one or the other).
When you're done with it, it also makes a great reference. Very easy to find stuff you're looking for via the TOC or Index. Truely a great book.
In addition to books on how to get Linux up and running your first time, you might also want to consider letting the viewers know about such great works of art as:
..A great book that describes some of the details behind how open source has come to be, and the processes that go on in the background that make open source software advancement possible in a seemingly chaotic environment...Extremely well written, and very motivational to getting involved in the Open source community!
:)
Eric Raymond's - The Cathedral and The Bazaar (ISBN:1565927249)
Rebel Code: Linux and The Open Source Revolution by Glyn Moody (ISBN: 0738203335) - An amazing history of the Linux and Open source, from the days of RMS building the GNU tools, right up to the now infamous IBM investment into Linux and Open source. This book filled in many of my gaps in knowledge of where some of the projects I use everyday came from...A truly great account of the Linux and Open source history.
Couple other simple things you could show:
- I can't imagine a more meaningful display of the benefit to Opensource software then finding a bug in a piece of open source software, submitting the bug and receiving a response from one of the main coders within 3 minutes to say that the problem has been addressed..Then conversely going into Windows getting IEXPLORE has crashed and you have the option to click OK or Cancel and thats about it...
- Mozilla Pop-up blocker! What a great piece of software that Mozilla is...!
- Mozilla Tabbed browsing! Another amazing, yet simple in concept feature, implemented in a piece of open source software...
- Any time the above two things are shown to non-Linux and non-Mozilla users they never cease to be impressed..it's a simple thing, but a very nice thing.
- Finally, for those users who still need their MS Office applications and/or Quicken...Throw on a copy of Codeweavers Crossover office. A great application built on Wine that helps thousands of people every day keep from having to reboot their computers!
Just a few random thoughts of mine....Good luck with the show, it's always a good show whenever I get a chance to watch it!
Jeff
... and its ability to determine if the lone
gunmen are dead.
"Additionally, any tips on what you guys would think would make good open-source oriented TV and make people really want to try out Linux would be appreciated. "
Your going to get yourself shot, Paul Allen owns TechTv, or as I like to call the M$ 24 hour informercial.
It boots linux off the CD drive, doesn't touch
/
the Windows partitions (by default they are
marked read-only)...
http://www.knoppix.com/
http://www.knoppix.net
I have been a Win32/MFC developer for last 4 yrs.
When I started my development, I know how websites like CodeGuru/Codeproject helped me.We usually get most of the commonly used code there and sometimes very specific ones.
Recently I have started some development on GNU/Linux, I couldnt find any sites similar to Codeguru/Codeproject. That's definitely a problem,that needs to be addressed. What we need code snippets/workarounds for console/gui applications at a centralized location.
Yes I went to college for a C.S. And E.E. degree but I didnt get into linux until I was a Junior, and then it was by Visiting the local LUG, and learning, and then I installed redhat 5. I have been using Linux ever since. So what I would do is, go http://www.linuxiso.org And research the Distro that is best for you, and then I would go and get books about that distro, and ask question at the LUG, Remember there are no stupid Questions. Also if possible check out an install party that way you can click around the Distro, see how it installs, and see how it feels for you, before making the big move to re-partition and install your systems. Because that is a big deal. and a big move.
---
Soon as I saw the story on the front page I knew what awaited inside. Hundreds of posts from zitty geeks trying to be punker-than-thou by coming up with ever-more-obscure namedropping to make up for their lack of real style (or to pretend that they are actually old enough to have been involved). Drop the pretension kiddos. We all know that your Blink 182 CD is older than your copy of Bollocks.
I love how a whole new level of conformity has been created by the average bozo's efforts at individuality. It might almost work if your personal definition of individuality didn't depend so heavily on how you present yourself to others. I mean, what's the sense of being into bullshit like [insert pseudo-non-mainstream hobby here] if you can't talk about it to make yourself superior to your peers?
Kinda sounds like the Linux crowd, huh? "I'm so ALTERNATIVE by patching my kernel every day while you brainwashed Windows sheep meander in unenlightened tedium." Funny to think that if you had back all the time you spent tweaking and patching (for no good reason other than to say you have the latest version), you wouldn't know what to do with the workstation on your desk.
*sigh*
excuse the rant. caffiene has yet to be digested.
Yes, I have to agree with this
1) Get it on their computer.
- show them how Linux can be dual-booted
- show them all the cool open source apps that can replace their windows apps (that they're not only free, but very sophisticated)
- like Gimp, XMMS, OpenOffice, Cdbakeoven, MPlayer, Xine, etc. (you know)
- I've been VERY impressed with KNOPPIX, this is an excellent way to demo Linux.
- I know all the geeks don't care about things like this, but the way a desktop looks can be very influencial (think apple). This means cool stuff like translucency in kde, and professional looking Ximian Gnome.
- I plan on making Knoppix CD's for everyone this christmas and sending it out with directions on what to do to check out Linux.
2) Most people have a registered version of windows 98. A 500mb win98 partition and a decently configured wine can have excellent results for running windows apps under linux instead of having to switch back and forth.
3) People with windows networks will want access to them. I've found that LinNeighborhood can make this a little easier. Any more suggestions on this front?
3) Over time they will become familiar with Linux and realize that it can replace windows. Either they will be supporting Linux just as users, or they will desire to get more involved, learn more, and give back a little more.
4) Stress the enormous amount of money they will be saving.
come to think of it, a good, simple how-to for absolute newbies on like a 1 hour what_to_do_to_check_this_out would be very cool. Just something to get their toes wet, you know. Cool features of Mozilla (multi-tab bookmarks!), playing dvd's/divx/tv with Xine or mplayer, etc.
How much would it cost to do a AOL style campaign? 100 million * what 25cents = $25 mil. What if everyone got together on this, contribute 10, 100, 1000, or company's could give 10,000 100,000, etc. Couldn't this change everything? Alright, now I'm sounding crazy. I'll stop.
Who are they hurting?
I feel guilty every time I boot Windows
Unix Power Tools, Third Edition, Oreilly.
It'll get you there.
I agree, a book doesn't cut it. Who are you going to get to sit down and read a book so they can spend even more hours in front of their computers learning something they know they don't need. Yea, okay. Get their feet wet. I think Knoppix is pretty decent, since they can see everything, be real impressed and not even have to install or "hurt/endanger" windows, and you know they'll ask that. Check my earlier post also.
My favorite way to show off linux on TV is with my TiVo, of course... ;)
:wq
The hard truth (not a flame):
First, you need to learn how to learn.
Go to a book store and browse around.
Surf the net - use Google to find stuff.
Talk to your friends.
What do you think we do?
For the "Screen Savers" crowd (and I watch, so I don't mean that to sound condescending), most of these suggestions aren't gonna cut it. You're talking about people who are (A) primarily Windows users, (B) not sysadmins for a living, and (C) are generally of the "weekend techie" variety. Sure, they have Palm Pilots, they may crank out some HTML for their personal web page, and they may even hack together a little "My Grateful Dead Tapes" database in Access or FileMakerPro. But Mastering Regular Expressions? Linux Admin Black Book? Show them only the CLI? I think Chris is smarter than that.
These aren't all people who are going to compile their own kernel or debate the merits of different file systems over their beer (though some are in that crowd)... taking the usual l33tist attitude of "You don't need no steenkin' GUI, just build from source using the command line" approach is going to turn people off and drive them away -- defeating the purpose of "spreading the word".
In terms of books to recommend, take a look at Linux for Windows Addicts or Add Red Hat Linux to Your Windows Desktop In A Weekend. I've not looked over the latter in person, but the "Addicts" book is one that I read through myself a year or so ago when I wanted to start doing Linux development (after developing Win32 software for several years). It's great for taking general desktop/workstation concepts and tasks you know from the Windows world and explaining how they work or are dealt with in the Linux world. For me, it took me past the initial hurdle after installing Red Hat, firing up Gnome, and thinking "Where to next?".
As for OSS, in general... find some useful apps or utilities, ones that would "show well" on television, and highlight them. Evolution (an Outlook clone) is an easy choice. Churn through SourceForge for others... some that come to mind are the Horde project (web-based PIM, mail client, and more), or dotProject (web-based project management and collaboration tool). There's no shortage of these types of things that could be set up inside of an hour or two, show well visually, and show the useful and usable stuff that's out there in the OSS world.
I agree. There's a great chapter in John Steinbeck's East of Eden where a Model T Ford is delivered to a first-time driver. It comes with a very thick, intimidating manual, explaining all the nuances of keeping the new owner's purchase humming. The Model T is where Linux is now. Today's strap-yerself-in-and-go cars are where it needs to be, and a whole library of HOW-TOs and newbie guides isn't gonna get it there.
It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn great. They just make/buy the cd, throw it in and check it out. No worry/ No changing/partitioning, just a quick demo. Specific directions on what to check out in Knoppix would also be helpful
Google is my vote, but there is a more fundamental issue/question. First ask the person if they have a technical interest in computing, or are they what most of us would term a "user". Why? A "user" is not going to have a good experience with most Linux distros. Why is that? Perception. You'll lose this game before it gets very far because the person perceives Linux to be more difficult to use than Windows. Most distributions are more suitable for people with a desire to learn computing. A desire that goes beyond merely using computers. In short, we are a tinkering and inquisitive bunch. If you ASK the person where their interests lie, you can recommend one distro over an another. For instance. for existing Windows "users", I would recommend looking at Xandros. For the person wanting to learn the technical aspects of computing, any of the distros would be suitable. If you do not steer the person in the right direction, you've set them up to overcome unnecessary bariers that will utlimatley shape their perception of Linux in general. BTW, I do not normally reccommend products unless asked, but I just converted my wife and kids machines to that distro and they love it. Why? They perceive it to be as easy as Windows. Little do they know they've got a powerhouse under the hood! :)
Perception IS reality. Like it or not.
Twitter scanns his bookshelf and sees feet of useless M$ books, and a few inches of very useful Linux books and a foot or two that span both, C, FORTRAN, tcl refernce books. My oldest book on Emacs is still useful. Most stuff between that and my first Linux books refer to stuff that no longer works. That's the beauty of free code, new stuff is added and older tools just get better. Nothing seems to ever go away, despite the wonderful work to make new and very easy to use tools. The older and more powerful interfaces stay the same and are there for those who need or want them. Books are useful when you want to learn from the experiences and mistakes of others and not waste time running down misconceptions.
Best starting books for me were Linux Unleashed by Sams Publishing and Linux in a Nutshell by O`Reilly. Linux Unleashed tries to cover everything and gives good references. Older versions were Red Hat centric and gave more space to things like vi. Newer versions cover different distros and GUI stuff and may appeal to more general users for that reason. It also walks you through the install. Linux in a Nutshell is the reference I use most often. Both have common examples to help you out.
Best screen shot movies: Multi-layered Gimp image manipulation. Simple multitabed Mozilla browsing shot. Mail notification from multiple sources. Any big task started by X forwarding on another computer followed by clicking trough to another virtual machine where another big task move along on another computer, and so on. You don't need a beowulf cluster to get lots of work done with more than one machine, thanks to the beautiful X window system and OpenSSH.
Windows just works. To get a Linux install to my satisfaction took over 100 hours.
No Windows install will ever meet my expectation for what software should be ever again.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Other than that, the Apple Switch Ads have been quite effective on the desktop level, as have the IBM e-Business ads (particular the one with the Universal Business Adapter).
I think it would be great if somehow the Linux community could muster some financial resources and put some TV ads together. That would be cool.
Statistically speaking, there's a 99.998% chance that my IQ is higher than yours. Get over it.
Interested in Linux?
First read these fanboy books about how great it is. If that doesn't convince you, spend a decade in the GNU/Re-education Camp.
Once your indoctrination is complete, it's time to learn vi commands!!
When I was a newbie, the command line was what was most interesting about Linux. Newbies should indeed want to use the CLI. Perhaps they should not need to, but they should want to. Linux is great and all, but it's not the be all, end all for all tasks and all people. The CLI is integral to what makes a Linux system a Linux system. If a user doesn't want to know about the command line, Linux might not be the best fit for them. OSS is a completely separate issue, aside from learning to use Linux.
Make sure you do a trial first. I've tried the service twice and found it slow and sometimes buggy. The selection of books is okay. I have access to a books24x7 corporate account through my employer, and it is a slightly more polished service with about the same selection of tech books. Neither of these services is something I'd pay for yet.
[Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]
Student's Guide to Unix
Harley Hahn in my opinion knows how to write a book. His books are good reads in addition to instructive, making it that much more likely you'll read them.
With a hot topic like Linux, you can't always trust that people writing books aren't just cashing in. Stick to the classics
You could show them a BSA or FBI raid on a Warez house. Warehouses full of confiscated PCs, or "obsolete" boxes. Nah, they get to see that at the local public school anyway.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
If you're interested in Linux, you might just want to try FreeBSD.
/usr/ports/editors/emacs20/; make install clean'
/usr/share/examples/cvsup/ports-supfile -h cvsup3.freebsd.org
/usr/src; make kernel KERNCONF='
I highly recommend FreeBSD for several reasons: ease of maintenance, ports, and stability/reliability/security.
First let me explain the ports tree. The ports tree is a very large collection of makefiles for all the programs which freebsd directly supports.
Say you wanted to install emacs 20. To do this, you would execute 'cd
Ports does all the work for you. It determines and installs the dependencies first, downloads the source, unzips it, patches it for FreeBSD, configures the build, builds it, and installs it. Also, each step can be done manually if you prefer.
Say you wanted a list of every port installed: 'pkg_info'
Say you wanted to update your ports tree so that newer versions would be reflected (assuming you have the sup files correctly configured, and cvsup installed):
cvsupg -g -L 2
Now say you wanted to upgrade every last port installed. 'portupgrade -a' (assuming you have portupgrade installed)
Doing the kernel is just as easy. Edit the kernel config file, then 'cd
That would check the config file, rebuilds the kernel and install it. All you have to do is reboot.
'make world' updates world in one fell swoop. (should be used with mergemaster in order to merge config files which may have changed between releases.)
Also, FreeBSD's idea of stabile is quite different than Linux's. The stuff that is in Linux's stable tree is FreeBSD's development tree. They are way more cautious about adding stuff, which makes for a very stable system.
If you look at the top 50 longest running webservers, all of them are running FreeBSD and apache.
FreeBSD makes it easy to install ports, upgrade ports, update your kernel, install a new world, and its much more reliable/stable than any linux.
Be sure to read the freebsd handbook at www.freebsd.org/handbook
I haven't failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work -Thomas Edison
You just don't get more photogenic, than RMS do you? Toss his mug up there demo'ing things on TV, and things will fly off the shelves, won't they?
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
Unfortunately I wasted a week with maddog's Dummies book. Jon's a great guy, but a computer manual for novices author he ain't.
Then I got Running Linux. I was up and going in no time and years later I still refer to it. At this point I don't recommend *any* other book for the newbie. There's no fluff in this book. It's the straight dope, dense but completely readable, technical but not over the newbie's head (at least if they're the sort who's eyes don't glaze the second you say "compiler," but I don't think of The Screen Savers viewers in that catagory), more in depth where it needs to be than any other newbie manual I've ever seen while at the same time running a broad overview of everything you need to at least hear about ( and refering you to other great O'Reilly books that cover the subject in greater depth).
Throw in Linux in a Nutshell and the Armadillo book ( Essential System Administration) and you've pretty much covered everything you'll ever need to keep a basic Linux system ( or network) up and running in any enviroment from your home desktop to the small corporation data center.
These three books are the grand triumvirate. The first to buy, the first to read and the first you'll turn to when all others have failed you in some way. All others are but shadows on the wall of the cave.
Beyond these three the first book a newbie is going to want is a dedicated manual for his choice of text editor, that would be vi of course. Running Linux gives an overview and In a Nutshell gives a reference but nothing beats a dedicated book for learning. Once you know it pretty well you'll keep it on the shelf but really only need In a Nutshell for a quick reference. O'Reilly wins again here with their Learning the vi Editor.
Ok, ok, some wrong thinking people are going to want to go with emacs instead. For them O'Reilly has Learning GNU emacs.
Congratulations, your viewers have just gone from newbies to system admin gurus in just four short books.
Here's where I step away from the crowd a bit. I'm a firm believer that any serious Linux newbie should do a little programing right off the bat, and do it in C, on the command line. O'Reilly loses here. The two volume C For Dummies books are the ones to grab. They're the best Dummies books I've seen. They're the best newbie intro to programing books I've seen for that matter. Not for the hardcore geek, but complete, understandable and fun. They'll have grandma writting her own prank commands in a couple of hours and LIKE it!
Now we've gone up to a full library of Linux books, all the books most people will ever need, including C programing manuals, and we haven't even used up a foot of bookshelf space yet so I guess throw in the Camel book for good measure.
Done, your viewers are now Linux grandmasters and *still* have a couple inches short of a foot of bookshelf space left they can fill with whatever special interest book catches their fancy from what they learned in Running Linux.
What can you do on the show to impress people with Linux? Damned if I know. The most impressive things about Linux aren't visual. In fact the *most* impressive thing about Linux is *philosophy.* Not in the philosphical sense itself, but what that philosophy *means* to the average user. No one really explains that well.
vim doesn't break. vim doesn't change to an incompatible file format to force you to download the latest version. All files written in vim are readable by all versions of vim and *all other text/word processors.* No lock in, no lock out. Ever. If the current maintainers lose interest, because it is open source, *any* programer with the interest can just pick it up and start maintaining it-without even having to ask permission (although this is good form), let alone spend years with a room full of lawyers to make the arrangements. If you don't like something about vim and are willing to put in the work you can bloody well change it yourself, at will, again without even asking permission. YOUR vim is yours to do with as you please.
And because all of this is possible with a Linux system running GPLed software tens of thousands of programers are working at it around the clock, so even if *you* never touch a line of code you directly benifit from its openness.
This is the true power of Linux, this is the part that's truely impressive. You can't show it. You have to explain it. Explain what being ope *means,* and means to *them.*
And what it means is freedom.
What feature is more important than that? Can MS or Apple match Linux, *feature for feature?*
KFG
Having the beginner understand why the correct name is Gnu/Linux and not Linux is a fundamental beginning to what it is all about. This will lead to gnome/kde, and a multitude of other issues. While someone who just wants to use the system may not care much about it, as a newbie, I find it helpful and informative to know more. Including about Gnu. And Richard Stallman. And everything else that is Gnu/Linux.
Then, when the newbie asks you a question, don't answer him, find the answer on your system, letting him/her watch what you are doing. Every time I had a question on something, this is what my helper did with me. And if the answer is not on the tip of your tongue, enter the question into a google search, in front of your student's eyes, and find the answer. I've had my helper do this on a number of occasions, and I kept kicking myself that I was forgetting to do this.
Also, don't forget to remind him that not just the man pages, but all the manuals to the distro are in most cases available on disk, and installed in the system.
And then congratulate him for leaving the dark side.
actually those are direct links to amazon, I do not even have an account on the site. I suppose posting links to useful linux books is not helpful for some reason?
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
linux and unix shell programming
David Tansley
Bset shell progamming book I've found
nice examples that make it easy to roll your own
Advertising in posts is frowned upon, especially when advertising is posted in such a way that it's true nature is not clear. They could just as easily have posted the book titles or non-affiliate links to them.
live(free) || die;
There are 2 very distinct classes of beginners, the technical power user that is beginning in Linux, and the absolute beginner that still has trouble with windows.
For the power beginner the O'Reilly books will do, as a number of people have mentioned before.
The absolute beginner won't be able to make it through all the geek speak in O'Reilly books. Although I hate to say this probably a "dummies" or "idiots" book would be better. I remember seing also a "visually" series with lots of pretty pictures. Which one of those I don't know, I'm a power user.
I've found the GUI config applets I've uses so far marginally useful at best. In my 3rd day of running Linux, I had to modify fstab and System.map (yes, this is RH 8.0) using vim. On my 4th day, I grabbed a RPM of nano (updated pico for those of you who've used pine) and don't have to remember vi(m) commands anymore.
I've got to get my Winmodem working and my HP Series II printer running as well.
OK, I'm not that new to linux, I've had a linux shell account for years, this is just the first time I've ever installed it.
My system runs two mobile drive racks, one for Windows (and soon, Linux) backup, the other for the unix drive. Took me the longest time to realize the reason why grub just sat there and beeped instead of booting Windoze when I pulled the unix drive was that grub.conf file was on it. I had unplugged the Windows backup drive during the original install, I didn't want to chance my backup data to anything going wrong during the Linux install.
I had to put a MBR on the Linux drive running a grub boot disk.
If I were depending on the GUI only, I'd be completely SOL.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Linux gets started with you
I read this essay a long time ago. I even find myself re-reading it from time totime. It's what made me try linux in the first place. :^)
I wanted a free tank
For myself when I was learning linux (picked it up about two years ago) I found that it is best to just shell out thirty bucks for a boxed distro in which most major ones include thorough documentation. This helps by being specific to the distro; i.e. when reading a general linux books only certain things apply to certain distros(RPMs come to mind). Just my 2 cents.
I'd say sweep would make a great demo. I saw it at the Sydney Linux Users Group a couple of months ago. Excellent fun and very very cool. You can mix songs, scratch (called scrubbing) them and create your own DJ music. You might want to practice a little before hand. You can also name drop as we were told that Pixar and other big organisations us sweep due to its excellent music interface. http://sweep.sourceforge.net
I've been dabbling with RH8 and SuSE 8.1 for a while now and I've found the Linux Bible to be a very useful desktop reference. Just my two cents.
Ceci n'est pas une
Check out the Starter Guide & Everyday Applications Manualonline. You can Download them too.
Excerpt from the index:
Full plate and packing steel! -Minsc
first, say hi to pat and leo from the gang at /. will ya.
people really don't need a book to get going. the distros are so good now, well RH an Mandrake frommy usage (please no flames), and they come with so much documentation that a book is only needed for more detailed stuff. i recommend though two books: RH X.X Bible by IDG, and RH X.X Unleahsed by SAMS. Both come with cd's, and get you going really nicely. The biggest problem is not linux, but the 6,000,000 apps that come with it.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
But when I stopped to think about it, it IS a big deal. The ability to run fully graphical apps locally while keeping the vast majority of the CPU load remotely is very cool. It's how our local LUG was able to set up a computer center for underprivledged kids -- A bunch of older, used equipment that would have otherwise been thrown away and a single beefy server to actually run all of the apps.
Doing it over SSH is even cooler. As long as there is a clear path for SSH between you and the box you are logged into, you needn't worry about what's between (firewalls, etc.)
* No, I didn't write that, believe it or not that little Linux blurb was written by a lawyer. They're not all bad. :) The only law firm I've ever run across that actually Gets It(tm).
Tell them to install it and then mess around. Once they screw everything up, they will have to learn how to fix it. Seriously, it does help (but make sure you have some references around!)
Granted, I still don't know that much about linux. But it has helped a lot
On second thought, maybe messing everything us isn't such a good idea.
Try:
rm -rf this-post
These people are newbies. They don't know what man is. They don't know what bash is. Many of them don't know what a CLI is, and if they do, have no idea of the power of the Linux CLI. They probably don't even know what a distro is. They've probably never even installed Windows, much less any sort of *nix. They need their hand held, people . This is the exact attitude preventing main stream adoption of Linux.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
i'm just waiting for become a billionaire like bill gates for dummies . . . . .
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
because you thought using the bandsaw should just be "intuitive?"
By the way, you're right, Linux isn't intuitive, neither is Windows. People have to learn Windows. They use, ummmmm, books to do it. Go into Borders and look at all the books on Windows explaining how "intuitive" it is.
"Ok, now click this, pull down that, go over to the other thing, don't ask us what it's called, we don't know either, now stick out your left elbow and scratch the cat with your right foot and chant . . . "Please don't crash again.""
Yeah, intuitive. No book reading needed here. The Video Professor must be some sort of philanthropist paying for all those ads, just for something to occupy his time, because "Windows is intuitive."
This is the single biggest load of malarky that anyone ever says about Windows, or Macs for that matter. Windows and Mac OS's are *learned.* They only seem intuitive because you've already learned them. My 70 year old mom learned KDE alongside her Mac OS8. She prefers KDE.
It's "intuitive." Or at least it was *after she had learned it for a while.*
*Linux* just works. Most of the Windows books at Borders, however, are about how to make Windows work despite itself because it's "intuitive."
Linux *at the command line* is arcane, but just works. Always.
English is arcane too but most one year olds manage to pick it up. They even resort to reading books by the time they're five or so. You should read one too. Maybe that install wouldn't have taken so long if you'ld read the bandsaw manual and had both hands to work with. My last install took about half an hour and consisted of putting the CD in the tray and clicking "Ok, whatever" a couple of times.
Wish I could do that with Windows, but the Goddamned wizards puke on drivers all the time and keep asking for second floppies that don't exist because "Windows just works" and is "intuitive." To uninstall a program cleanly I had to hack the "intuitive" registry and to make the "Start" button do something as simple as change its label I had to hack the *binary code* of the GUI shell itself because Windows "just works" and is "intuitive."
But at least people seem to have "that kind of patience" for this stuff.
Well, actually, they don't. A study about stress in the workplace revealed that the majority of stress in the workplace these days came from their computers not working right, computers running Windows, which "just works" and is "intuitive."
Am I anti MS? Damned straight. After more than a decade of being a loyal customer they damned well made me that way and they damned well deserve it.
Am I anti Windows? No. I'm writing this under W98 right now.
But it DON'T "just work." And it AIN'T "intuitive."
Tell you what, use your remaining hand to crack a a book. I'd recommend you start with Vonnegut's "Welcome to the Monkey House." From there go on to reading the bloody manual. It might save your remaining hand. And get your kids bike assembled in time for Christmas-WITHOUT any "spare parts" left over.
KFG
Chris, I've seen you on the TSS and I've learned a lot about linux from you. I think that your should show how easy it is to program in almost any language in Linux, versus all the time you would have to spend downloading stuff on windows to do the same job. For example show how easy it is write a tcl script, show off the python interpreter, or write a c++ program,compile, and test it. Show them some of the editors that come with Linux, such as emacs(my fav.),vi, and pico.f eatures/ linuxgamedev1/
If you really want to get there attention show them how to make a simple game, using sdl or ClanLib, and how they can simply recompile it to run on windows. I was just at gamedev.net and noticed they had an article on learning how to develop programs in Linux, with an emphasis on games.
http://gamedev.net/reference/programming/
Keep up the good work.
TSS Rules!
The only way to learn *nix is by doing *nix. A book whetting one's appetite would be the classic by Neal Stephanson: In the Beginning was the Command Line. TV shows are a waste of time, tech tv is for losers, or for guys who like looking at Morgan's boobs. There are so many flavors of *nix and *BSD that are so easy to load and use, that any one incapable of jumping in and doing it is someone who ought to stay with the morons: AOL, Micro$oft, etc. Or maybe they just ought to die or something. Who needs 'em? I sure don't!
Most useful and informative Linux book I have ever owned... aside from www.deja.com, man pages, and the how-to s
Oh yes, and find a Linux user you can ask for help when you get stuck!
Paul Sheer's Linux Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition, available online at http://wwwacs.gantep.edu.tr/linux/rute/ and a couple of other places.
Linux reads books on how to use YOU!!
You like your new Mac more than you like me, don't you, Dave? Dave? I asked...She said Yes.
Apart of any books you may read, the gurus that may advise you, the tons of information that you may get on Internet, there is two thing that are highly important to take into account.
The first one is what you expect to find on Linux. You can be sure that you don't get the same thing as Windows. So any expectations should be put in the typical rule of economics: "You choose something for the price of loosing the other choices". However, take into attention that this thing is more tricky than it seems. You may loose some present choices, which, in the moment you are now, may be very important for you. However nothing can be said about the potential of your choice. Here you may obtain some important personal victories or get such a slap in the face, that you will always flame Linux for the rest of your life. To avoid such desilusions, you should not only read books and news, but also take care to search for real goals in this world. Linux, and *NIX in general, is a world too vast and too amorphous to show you a direction. Here there are no arrows and signs asking where do you wanna go. You choose your path.
But here enters the second important factor. On choosing your path, you will have to manage this new system. And this is not so simple as it seems. For the last years, a lot was done, that approached the *NIX world of interfaces to the more common Windows GUI. But, still the *NIX never has lost its rawness in the bottom line. Besides, it keeps paths of development that go quite far from what you may expect in Windows or some other systems. The *NIX world is a mix of rational conservatism and risky progressism. Coming here, brings a feeling much like the one that some people may find on changing cars of different countries. Imagine that you go from an confortable american car, for which you are offered service, maintenance, features and choose a rough jeep where even the driver sits in the "wrong" side. Worse, this "jeep" is much like those weird australian cars that made so much fame in certain stories. A mix of an old car and some fresh new technological mess. With exception of a certain skeleton, everything else is what you put into it. You may find a mechanic or some service that may check and maintain some general parts, but which will surely not help in everything you have there. By changing cars in this way, you will get some sort of psychological shock. You will get some feelings about the positive and negative effects of this change, you will be surely forced to change some driving habits, and you will surely need to know, more deeply, the mechanics of the monster you drive with. However, there can be a big danger here. Before you get real acquainted to the positive or negative effects of your move, despair may overcome you, and you quit early in the race. That's what happens to 90% of the people who try Linux. Unfortunately, the majority does it in a very superficial way, much like installing a new game, so, their critics cannot be taken seriously. The *NIX world is rough and wild. It needs time to reach the level of flexibility you may need to feel confortable in it. So think, that no matter the books and howtos, you may need some good months of patience before you can make a wise and weighed judgement.
And remember - negative results are also results. There can be lots of them before reaching a certain level of practice and knowledge.
... The people who contacted you want to know how to get started using GNU/Linux, not Linux.
;)] ) I'm writing to underscore one of the problems that your viewers will come up against: there are too many distros. Well, ok, that's a value judgement on my part, but in reality your viewers are going to be confused when they hear there's more than one GNU/Linux. In terms of picking a good beginner's resource, my only advice would be (this comes from experience):
I'm not writing this to berate you or get into some political issue about giving GNU credit, although I do think that's important. (Actually, I still slip up and write Linux instead of GNU/Linux, or NIC card instead of NIC or network interface card. [hey, it happens
The fastest, most effective way to turn a user off to GNU/Linux and send him back to his Windows or Mac box is to tell him that the easiest way to do any task is through a CLI.
Avoid books that say that if you can.
Yes, I know that's the truth sometimes (one of the great parts about *nix is that everything is scriptable, and scripts are great tools for getting things done), but Joe User wants to do everything graphically. The problem is that Joe User is already very comfortable with a GUI, and so even if there were a task that he wanted to do on a regular basis that would be easier on a command line, the extra work and annoyance of having to get used to a CLI would more than balance out the gain in productivity.
"Linux System Administration: A User's Guide" by Marcel Gagne as a text aimed at a beginning audience.
I've spent hours on IRC in #linux on various networks, and it's usually considered a general discussion channel, and not a help forum. Mostly all we get is people coming in and _demanding_ we help them with some inane problem that we have no real reason to help with, because it _is_ a discussion channel, not a help forum.
Oftentimes, these are questions that could easily be answered by using man, or reading the relevant howto documentation. If you've never read the "Asking Smart Questions HOWTO", maybe you should... it's not meant as a howto guide on asking a question per se, more of a reference on how to not be annoying when asking for free help.
Those of us who do spend our time on IRC answering questions, or moderating forums, we don't do this because we get paid, we do it because we enjoy being around people of similar mindset. The only thing that most of us ask is a bit of common courtesy, don't come into channel, or onto a forum and start telling everyone how stupid they are because they don't want to tell you the proper syntax for some program when they're busy with more complex questions.
That is what RTFM is for... if you want to get help, arm yourself with a little info, and then when someone tells you to RTFM, you can say, "I already did, and I don't understand... how exactly does it work?", and someone's more likely to help, than if you just start talking about how you're not stupid, and all you want is help with this or that.
Don't ever _expect_ something for free... you won't get it.
Knoppix is a great way to get familiar with Linux without the effort of installing a distro.
Myself as a geek i always throw any manual out the window upon purchase. I have learned linux the hard way and even if i now manage linux pretty well i could have learned it in much shorter time. Ofcourse experience cant be read but many of the pitfalls can be avoided by reading a newbie book.
As of showing linux off at the telly it wont have to be anything special. just show that you can surf, play music, movies, write calcs and letters etc. Everything you do on windows you can do in linux.
HTTP/1.1 400
Peter Norton's Complete Guide To Linux was the only book I used when I decided to learn linux. It is a little bit outdated now (the version of Redhat mentioned in it is 6.0), but it took me from "never used linux/unix in my life" to "set up own web, dns, ftp, and mail servers" in a matter of days. It is concise, informative, and sometimes humorous ("comprehensive sendmail books can be used as boat anchors", reads the chapter on sendmail). However, I would not go so far as to recommend it on the show unless a new version comes out.
The best thing is to not get started down the wrong path at all. It's best to run FreeBSD instead. Check out www.freebsd.org.
http://www.linuxisforbitches.com
love the xinetd rant!
I think that instead of actual books you could send them to the linux documentation project where there are some Very good beginner guides Thats how I learned it
The deal is, a lot of people worry about functionality while learning Linux or a BSD, etc. With VMWare, you can still run your old MS-Windows software in a little box, and gradually move to *nix-based tools.
When I was working high-level tech support for a major ISP, a small number of us got approval from our boss (and pissed off the IT department) to reformat our workstations, install Red Hat, and then drop the demo version of VMWare in on a trial basis, installing NT 4.0 (it was a while ago, but a lot of shops STILL use it, you know).
We could use things like Matt's Traceroute and other stuff that we normally had to ssh into production machines for, we didn't have to deal with those stupid NET MSGs from the lower level teams, and we could still use Microsoft Office apps (we had the licenses already) to fill out our expense reports and use IE for whatever internal webservers had been built using ActiveX or other IE-only stuff.
I think if you show this type of thing, you can get people hooked. Especially if you take a windows-crasher test program and show it running under WinXP vs. WinXP-in-VMWare. BSODs become a joke, a chance to say "silly old MS" and restart the virtual PC.
The accountants for small businesses should like the fact that they won't have to burn the money they paid for licenses, like I mentioned in my example. I think IT people will still grumble because for many people IT = MS (MCSE drones, etc.) and they don't want to have to learn new stuff and support it.
Get off my launchpad!
Some books, like this one come with a distribution CD-ROM.
Good luck learning Linux!
Best Buy can have you arrested
When mentioning computer books, I freak at the thought. Just like when I was in college, the prices of college texts, and computer texts are too rich for my blood.
Until I discovered Computer Book Works. Too good to be true. They have new titles at decent discounts. But once a new edition comes out, or if the title is at all old, out comes the price hatchet!
This most awesome bookstore has good Gnu/Linux books, certification books, programming books, any kind of computer books, and most of them are 50% off or more!
The Coriolis Exam Prep General Linux I book is 75% off cover price. The orange book (LPIC Prep Kit, forgot the rest of the title and author, also known as the orange book), another Linux LPI exam book which is used by one of the nearby LUGS for their Gnu/Linux intro course is 75% off.
The Programming Perl 2nd edition is 50% off or more (I think I got my copy at 75% off), and the Perl 1 class I took is still teaching out of the second edition, but you can use the third edition for the class if you like wasting money.
I've purchased Samba books, dns and bind books, other certification books, IBM red books, html, unix, and so many other titles, all 50% to 75% off the cover price, and all still useful.
Last time I checked, they didn't have a web site. Their info is:
Computer Book Works 78 Reade St., NYC NY (near city hall)
call them for zip code
212-385-dont-use-555-the-fives-1616
and their email is: bookmanJV@mindspring.com
tip: take out the two caps (JV)from the above email address, and replace the two capital letters with a single number, 3, and you have the correct you know what.
They don't have a web site, but they do ship UPS. So you can call and order by phone (which is more secure than internet). And they are a good bunch of people there. Not a huge publicly traded company. Email them for what you are looking for, and ask the price. You'll be pleased with the response. It's the cheapest I've found for "used" or older edition books. Cheaper than other online sources.
This is one great store. Very highly recommended.
The way I got started into linux was to buy one of those "for dummies books"... I think it was redhat 7.1... Anyway if you go to Borders or B&N you can pick one up CHEAP... and you get a pressed CD of the distro... yes I know you can burn one for free but I find CD-Rs to scrach too easy so a pressed CD is definately worth the $15... What to do on T.V... how about install Linux... just show people how /fast/easy it is... I read somewhere that Mandrake takes 20 minutes or so to load... Sooooo install the program on the show... put in the CD and then do the rest of the show... come back at the end and show people how /easy/fast it is to get Linix on your system...
Just like on FoodTV ... start the install and do a swapout @ the end... would be cool for people to see that it is not complicated/or require lots of CLI tinkering
_CMK
Bad spellers of the world untie!
My article Why We Should All Test the New Linux Kernel gives some tips on how to get started building new kernels (although it emphasizes testing the development patches).
The #kernelnewbies IRC channel has a website at www.kernelnewbies.org that you will find helpful.
And finally there is of course The Linux Kernel HOWTO.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
..Beowulf cluster.
Seriously. For the pure geek "how cool is that" factor, a beowulf cluster cannot be topped. Heck, even I want one - and I'm a loony FreeBSD fanboy.
My first Linux book was Linux Unleashed, 1st edition, published by Sams Publishing. This book included Slackware with it. I'm afraid to think what verion, as this book is (c) 1995. It was good for a start. It's been read, borrowed, and stolen over the years. Hopefully it has a good home now.
:) Borders and Barnes & Noble frequently have sales on previous edition books. If you flip through both, sometimes you'll see there were only very subtle changes, or chapters which aren't important to you. For a $40 price difference, it's worth getting the older one. :)
:)
I still highly recommend Slackware for a distribution. It's what we use on all our servers, and my workstations (Home, Work, and Laptop)
I bought a co-worker Linux System Administration: A User's Guide by Marcel Gagne. Published by Addison Wesley. Flipping through it, this seems like a very good book. It seems to be working out. He's coming to me with very intelligent questions after reading chapters, rather than "What do I do at the prompt".
After the Unleashed book, I personally got into the O'Reilly books. If you do this, go to the store with the company credit card, it'll be expensive. Oddly enough, most bosses are ok with paying for books, even when they're being tight with equipment. You can't get a new $5 CPU fan, but you can spend $500 on books. Hmmmm.. Well, buy more books.
O'Reilly Essential Systems Administration
Learning
the Unix Operating System (got it for my girlfriend, so she'd understand what I was doing all night)
vi Pocket Reference. It seems none of my coworkers could use vi before I got to this office. Now they're all using it. [esc][esc]:wq!
Programming Perl. If you're going to play with Unix, you should learn Perl.
Then you should read up on what you're working with. If you're networking or on the Internet, TCP/IP is good to know.
TCP/IP Network Administration
DNS and BIND very definately, unless you want to be clueless about what happens between typing in "yahoo.com" and it coming up in your browser. Having a good understanding there definately helps you debug problems.
Sendmail This is the perfect book to spin your head, and leave you with a headache for months. But it's the topic, not the book, that's so complicated. If it didn't do absolutely everything, I'm sure it would be simpler to use.
O'Reilly has a lot of great books.
"Learning" books are for beginners.
"Nutshell" books are usually to help you figure out something if you don't really know it.
The rest of the books have various degrees of learning to them. On my desk at work, for O'Reilly books, I have 3 different PERL books, the JavaScript book, and a few others that I reference on a regular basis.
I recommend going to book stores, and flipping through everything they have (restock it to the proper places). See what your comprehension level is. If you have no clue what they're talking about, you need an easier book. If you almost understand, buy it, read it, and then share it with a friend (especially on the company expense account! hehe).
When you're ready to get out of the books, and into the real world, the most valuable reference you'll ever have is dejanews.com. If you don't know an answer, search it there. Probably someone in the last 20 years has already asked it. It's the quickest way to look smart and impress your friends, even if you're stupid.
Having the stack of O'Reilly books is always good though. I recently changed offices (same company), and while riding in the elevator, I was offered a job because I looked educated and had a big stack of O'Reilly books in my arms.. Little did she know that was only 1/3 of them. The rest were still in my car..
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
This marvel from Paul Sheer is perfect for beginners and not so linux enthusiasts.
RUTE stands for Rute User Tutorial and Exposition.
It has an online version and you can buy the book as well.
It's well written, a bit long but everything is useful.I've been in the IT industry for almost 16 years and I learned a lot reading this book.
You can find it at http://rute.2038bug.com/rute.html.gz
you should try the site:
http://www.sslug.dk
which is a goldmine of nicely arranged information about Linux.
Well, it't in Danish which is very similar to the "Bokmål" of Norway.
-- From Denmark
http://www.admin.com/
/ 146252&mode=thread&tid=130
They also have a Linux version,
i personaly think this book rocks.
I bought it after a review on slashdot,
let me find it: http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/10
Have Fun
Bernard Babani Publishing do *fantastic* books on a wide range of subjects. They tend to be inexpensive beginner-to-intermediate level, and they do a couple of books like "Linux for Windows Users", and "Using Linux the Easy Way". Pretty much all their books are small paperbacks, and cost about ?6-?7. They start at around ?2 for the cheapest, and the dearest I've seen was the Mindstorms book for ?13. They're pretty cheaply printed, but seem to last well - I've got a copy of "Electronic Projects for Beginners" which I got when I was first learning about electronics, around 23 years ago (yep, I was a geek when I was six).
The authors tend to be well-known (at least in the UK) technical writers and journalists, like Robert Penfold and Noel Kantaris, who's "Introduction to C Programming" is still probably one of the best guides to getting started with C I've read.
I've bought some quite expensive books on computing, and electronics, and been utterly disappointed with them. I've always found these guys to be consistently helpful and well-written, with a nice "light" style. I should point out that I'm in no way associated with Babani Publishing. I'm just a very satisfied customer.
I'm a BIG believer in tech books...I'm only 4 years out of school (non-technical), and working as a completely self-taught network engineer, using Unix/Linux regularly, and starting to get into C and Perl...
"The Unix Programming Environment" by Kernighan (of K&R) and Pike, is a great intro to Unix. The book gets very complicated very quickly, but the first 2.5 chapters are VERY basic, and give you a great foundation in how unix, the filesystem, and the shell works...Get it used and cheap on Ebay.
I started with "Learning Red Hat Linux" (O'Reilly) which may be outdated now, and of course "Running Linux" (O'Reilly) which is a great intro and resource.
After you've got the basics down, I highly recommend doing LFS, or Gentoo (or both), as they hold your hand every step of the way, and even if you only understand 10% of what you've just done, it is guaranteed to fill in some conceptual knowledge gaps that don't get filled by reading a book, or even just screwing around on your own...
notepad's Help Topics doesn't cover keyboard usage, how to access the menu, the importance of file extensions...
Does an operating system need to come with a 'use this having just climbed down from the trees'-level help system built in? Is it not reasonable to expect that the user DOES have access to a 'unix for dummies' book before attempting to use it? It's not as if a car's manual tells you how to drive...
- Chris
I picked up Linux in 1996 and after six years of using it constantly instead of windows I can say I feel like just this year I've begun to become proficient with it and with modifying its kernel and modules.
How do you show off Linux on TV? How the heck do you show off any computer on TV? You need to show off end-user benifits. Try showing off how customizable Linux is, show off GUI's since it's TV. Show off CrossOver and other apps that help people to "CrossOver" to Linux.
Things you can talk about but can't show: Linux is free as in speech... saving companies from being tied to a single vendor. One vendor dies and all its customers die with it.
Linux can't be killed. If you are a small company, you can have custom software that you never have to worry about a big company pulling the plug on or wrecking support for. Linux spells security and security for long-term investments. Other OSes are at the mercy of the vendor. You could end up like all the SGI Irix users too... Linux and GNU won't die.
If you have to you could maintain your own distro of Linux. That's appealing if you are a big company. If you are small, you can take solice in all the other small companies out there and the community of Linux users.
However, Linux requires a gigantic investment in people. You need good solid System Admins and you need them to be knowledgeable. Nothing will substitute for an experienced SysA. You can get by with novice programmers but you can't get by with novice System Administrators.
You can't really give somebody new to unix or linux any idea of what it's all about without giving them a real hands-on experience. The best safe way to do that is with a Live CD. Knoppix is one which actually works. Demonstrate it on your show.
I think it got called a troll because the last link, rather than to a linux administrator's tome, is a book about anal sex. It doesn't help that your name has "goat" in it; you know how sensitive slashdotters are to any mention of goats and anal sex in the same post.
http://www.informit.com/isapi/product_id~{D2DC4A4F -FD63-414C-9140-6E8C603017C6}/st~{E4CD8850-0597-41 77-B459-A48B8F5332B9}/session_id~{544BBC32-9B38-42 B1-A9B7-D6D7A65C899A}/content/index.asp
and then type " man bash " at any CLI prompt.
BUT there are more there to read for free(online books ).
And, if that is not enough, the fast readers can read any of these FOURTY Linux booksfor free during a 14 day trial or take the Safari online trip and spend more time(&money).
InformIT rocks.
best way to get started in linux is to try out slackware. explore the the cli. install some programs not needing X then install X and apps.
this will give an idea of un*x and the freedom/power. especially for summun coming from MS windows world this is the best method.
Redhat 8.0 retail box set comes with Excellent Documentation, and is quite specific without being overly technical. As an added bonus, it also comes with a CD full of documentation.
Chris, I watch the ScreenSavers on TechTV quite often, and saw the Quake server demo. Qudos to TechTV to give it a try. For a good topic for a show, most folks want to see what Linux can DO! Show them Ximian Evolution and Mozilla, OpenOffice, and TuxRacer. If you have time, do a demo of the Redhat setup agent, and show off Redhat Network (sorta like Windows Update). The new GUI RPM Package Manager and other GUI config tools are nice looking and will display well.
A dual boot setup would be nice to show off also.{I set up a dual boot Win98/RH8 for a newbie laptop user and they have been very happy to boot into Linux, and don't really bother with Windows anymore.}
Anyhow, love the TechTV, please say Happy Holidays to Patrick and Leo and Megan and Morgan and Yoshi and Martin and Sumi and Adam and Jennifer and Michaela and Chris and Erica and Alex and Becky and . .did I forget anyone?
I may be bad with names, but I'll never forget your IP address
Yes, I have a great idea.
Fly me down to the show and get me on it. I'm entertaining and have, as they say in the biz, an excellent stage presance (speeling eror knot entended). Plus I don't lose my train of thought in uncomfortable situations.
My knowledge of the modern world is vast and plentiful. I am the very image of a modernary general (useless pop trivia full of I am (I can actually do Yoda/Kermit/Marvin the Martian's voice to)).
vague_knowledge(lisp(i_have)))
I am the next Bill Nye, minus the TV of course... JAB War, good god y'all what is it good for? Huugh, absolutly nothin'!
I like this book alot: The Linux Cookbook
It's fully available online. Not a step by step guide for newbies, but it's a good read, if you search for help on everyday-issues.
Last time I checked, both Gnome and KDE Help systems where able to render info pages in an HTMLish way using info2html or something similar.
It makes the reading of info data much less painful.
A documentation standard for *ix would be nice. But consider that the way you present your information has to change according to the target audience.You can't use the same _semantic_ structure for a tutorial and a reference manual.
Ciao
----
FB
0. The manual of your distribution
;-)
...
...
Skip through it, check what you need to get your system up and running. Don't try to get too much out of it. Most CLI tasks are better described in the following books.
1. Learning the UNIX operating system (O'Reilly)
This one is very basic and covers the things you have to know before you can actually do anything.
There are surely free manuals which provide the same information, but this book is IMHO easier to read and contains all necessary information for this level.
2. Learning the vi Editor (O'Reilly)
While some people dislike vi very much, it still has two big advantages compared to other editors.
First, it is available (almost) everywhere everytime. Second, it allows very fast and comfortable editing when you get used to it.
There is no need to read the whole book at once, just grab the basics and practice a lot.
3. UNIX Power Tools (O'Reilly)
This is the book I wish I had have after I had mastered the basics. It gives you some really neat tricks to actually get some work done in a clever way.
There is again no need to read the whole thing at once, just skip through it and pick out the interesting parts.
My tip is chapter 4, Organizing Your Home Directory.
And don't use the CD too much. Almost everything on it is already available on your Linux system.
-
Here you should feel pretty comfortable with your Linux system (at least on the command line).
The next thing is to decide which way(s) to go.
I think there are four big directions:
1. Free software
Learn what free software and open source are about, where they come from and what their goals are. More political are software patents and things like the DMCA and similar laws.
Don't forget to build your own opinion
2. Applications
LaTeX, Emacs, Gnome,
whatever you want or need. Almost everything can be accomplished with Linux but you should not try to do it the way it is done on other systems.
Do it the UNIX way and you will have an easy time.
3. Developing
Shell, sed and awk, Perl, C, Assembler,
This is a huge area in which free software is really strong and gives you a wide variety of possibilities.
4. Administration
First learn to configure your own system.
If like it you can try other UNIX systems which will help you in understanding your own system better (and any other computer system FWIW).
When you are interested in how your browser or your email client works, you can try to set up your own server. This will perhaps lead you to network administration, which is again a huge area for itself.
Take your time and have fun.
-
About my history with Linux
I learned Linux the hard way. I started with SuSE 6.1 and its manual. I didn't know anything about UNIX or the Internet and there was no local guru.
Most people in my region only knew rumours about this whole "strange" UNIX stuff and associated it only with mainframes, i.e. things that are far out of reach for normal people.
So, as I had nobody to ask and just learned to use the Internet (I didn't even know that mailing lists exist), I had to depend on the SuSE manual which was very helpful when configuring something but didn't give much information on how to actually use this "cool" new system productively.
Now, some years later, I can administer several different UNIX systems, applications and whole networks (at least I hope so, as this was my education and is my job).
And now, I am the one whom others ask questions about Linux (actually it feels like they ask me about anything that somehow works digitally).
I think if somebody had told me to use these books, I would have needed half the time and it surely would have been much more fun.
-
PS.
The O'Reilly books mentioned (and some others) are available as the UNIX CD Bookshelf.
I started with some Que or Sybex Linux book, I think it was one of the Unleashed series. But it had insanely simple step by step instructions. Mind you, at the time I had been a windows user since DOS 2 and had never seen a Unix machine before. It was these instructions that got me past the problems of:
After this (about 3 weeks) I got a slackware installation and used that, with the online docs and HOWTO for about 2 years. Then I went Debian and have stayed
I would not recommend Slackware to a newbie. I would recommend it to someone who wanted to learn about Linux. There is a difference.
I have the O'Reilly Running Linux book. I use it rarely. I do not have a RedHat installation and therefore most of it is not applicable to my environment. I've tried RedHat on several occassions and it's not for me.
The How-To's are really excellent. Once you get past the stage of moving files around, I would introduce them to the How-To's. The "Learning in 24 hours" series is too shallow to have any real value other than to make a sale as a quick fix.
Even without all that AI, the command line could be made much more user-friendly. What is more user friendly : use the mouse (a most unintuitive device) to double-click (what?) on an icon (uh?) that try to represent an interconnected globe, or just type "Web Browser" ?
True, the *ix command-line tools are conceived for expert usage and in an epoch when not typing two or three extra characters was seen as a great advantage. However, with alias, scripts and maybe a user-oriented shell integrated in a graphical environnment, the command line could become a real friend for computer newbies.
Ciao
----
FB
Howto's were (and still are) a great way to learn about linux. That's how I did it. But I'm afraid you'll allways have to be interested in comuters to use Linux. If you're not, just write down what you want to do (read mail, surfing), let someone else install linux for you, and let him explain how things work. Otherwise, I'm afraid Linux will look too intimidating.
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
like switching to vim after years of saving docs with alt-d-s in notepad?
You learn something new every day!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
by Paul W. Abrahams, Bruce Larson: Older book meant for literate computers looking (or forced) to get their feet wet with Unix. The tone is nice because it doesn't talk down to you like most "beginner" books do. Highly recommended.
Finally,
by Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Robert Koretsky, Syed Aqeel Sarwar: More along the lines of a college textbook, so it is thorough... but may be a bit dry for some people's taste (also large blocks of text...good and informative, but maybe a bit too long for most beginners). Check into the other books first and use this one to transition to O'Reilly texts meant for the experienced user.
I hope these help...
The biggest problem for a windows user/developer when getting into the Linux world is understanding and changing config files. I found
a solution and that is..
www.webmin.com
I tried two books, one was lame, the other pretty good. The 'learn Linux in Easy Steps' was written in a way that you needed to know how to use Linux before you started. I then tried the SAMS guide, 'Teach yourself Linux in 24 hours', which I found to be excellent for moving from knowing nothing to finding your way around comfortably (the title refers to the way there are 24 chapters, that take one hour to go through). The edition I bought came with Caldera.
I want to put Linux on a 166 32MB. It will be an X terminal running fvwm2 or twm. Not KDE or GNOME.
:-)
Hard drive is relatively small so I want little bloat.
What is the best linux dist for this type. I normally use freebsd but need linux on this box? Opinion.
Mods: I posted with no bonus no need to mod me down
Linux for Windows Administrators by Mark Minasi & Dan York
IT caN'T be any worse than that infactdead payper liesense BugWear(tm) scam that you've been held hostage buy, for so long, can IT?
you could have a gnu/linux/o-s home/office & website up buy nightfall, then learn about all feechurns of the brave gnu wwworld of open/honest communications/commerce, in your spare time. you could do that for little more than the price of a few books (which you might buy later anyway).
you can only imagine our elation, after only 1 year in "business", being listed as one of the "Top 10 Companies of 2002(tm) , on some search motors. that's a different book. mod me up robbIE, everything's almost brand gnu DOWn here.
If you're making a TV advert for Linux you wouldn't bother trying to show all the cool individual software made for Linux. Instead u would just make some fun advertisement with a CG Tux in it and speak more generally about the benefits of a linux machine.
Running Linux 4 ed. and Learning Debian GNU/Linux however the debian book is availible only on-line. i found people new to linux can very easily manage with debian with this book as a refereance.
;-)
let us also not forget Linux docs can be an invaluble reference for the newbie (and experianced alike
-frozen
I'm not always the brightest pixel in the stream
When I was starting out with UNIX, I purchased the bunny book (UNIX for the Impatient by Abrahams and Larson) and, later, when I was setting up my own Linux installation, I picked up Running Linux by Matt Welsh. I'm not even sure what edition Running Linux is up to, now. The first is definitely user-oriented, while the latter gets more into the nuts and bolts.
In retrospect, though, for really being effective with my Linux machine, I got more out of the how-tos archived by the Linux Documentation Project, man pages, and searches on google. A little mentoring from someone already comfortable with the Linux environment doesn't hurt either.
--
bachiatari na torisetsu o yome!
with all the advances in brand gnu gui interfaces/scripting, IT's become relatively easy to set up/administrate workstations/web servers. plus, you NEVER have to worry about the m$.compliance po'lice, coming around to pick your pocket/censor your content, or infect your systems with fuddle's pateNTdead m$SpyWear(tm). mod me up robbIE.
Linux Administration Handbook (Nemeth, Snyder, Hein, PH/PTR 2001). The title might indicate that it's for administrators, but the style is very gnubie friendly, and it's the best overall introduction to Linux, bar none.
The manuals that ship with SuSE Linux Personal are quite excellent, as well.
Frankly, I haven't yet seen a good book, or even a decent online doc or tutorial on Guh-Nome or KDE.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. (Einstein)
It will never appeal to the masses and it is too cryptic and confusing to be really useful. Too subseptical to hacks.
No offense intended, but I couldn't *get it* until I got a book written by a woman, "Linux System Administration Black Book," by Dee-Ann LeBlanc, by Coriolis Open Press (http://www.dee-annleblanc.com/writing.html). She also wrote "Linux for Dummies" 4th Edition. I do know that men and women tend to think differently, neither being superior, but just different, and that difference made it hard for me to follow "Linux in a Nutshell"-style books (though that one sometimes was invaluable). I always found myself thinking, "OK, but exactly how to I do that, when you left out an important explanation of a vital step?" Women use more words, I think, and when you are learning something new and are a female, it helps to have those extra explanatory words.
After I finished up all the mandatory books (Slackware Unleashed, Linux in a nutshell). I found that Think Unix by Jon Lasser helped finally put everything into perspective. I would recommend it to anyone who is past learning the raw basics and is ready to learn things from a more conceptual feel.
Other people have suggested Running Linux already, I had that for a while and ended up giving it away to a newbie who appreciated it.
I had the benefit of a couple of local experts and found that and a working modem to be sufficient to get me up to speed.
To throw in a handy link I found The Linux Cookbook a good site.
It has common activities listed and pointers to more documentation, and software - very interesting:
I am currently working through Red Hat Linux 7.2 Bible Unlimited Edition that I bought at a 50% off deal because Red Hat 8.0 just came out. Tons of information, relatively straight forward, 3 CDs of software and a website of bonus material makes this a pretty good bargain in my opinion. No complaints so far.
At ~900 pages, a "way more than I'll ever need" book, which is exactly why I bought it. Step-by-step yet quite in-depth (of course, RHL 7.1 CD-ROM's were enclosed). Published by Hungry Minds.
When we interviewed one guy, he said he knew Unix well. I asked him what his favorite shell was, and he looked at me with a blank stare. Have you ever done any shell programming? Yes, in C. Needless to say, he didn't get the job.
We had to eventually get someone hired, and hope to teach them basic Unix skills later. When asked if he knew Unix, he said he could learn it if we had a manual. From then on, every time we were at a terminal installing/configuring software, he was there with his notepad and pen, writing down every command. (even ls, pwd, etc) He would constantly be asking questions like "ok, so I type ls -l, and that will...?) It was oh so painful. I am all for teaching people, but this guy (who TAUGHT junior college CS classes) could not pick up the basic commands of Unix.
Then one day the server stopped responding. After investigating, we found out he had typed this command: rm -rf /bin
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Plus it makes you look cool to your friends when ur flying though the command line:)
Unless any of your friends happen to be female. Then it makes you look like a complete dweeb.
http://basiclinux.net/ Wonderful little starter course.
Unix Power Tools is the book for learning, not just what all those oddly-named UNIX utillities do, but how to use them together to accomplish useful tasks. I've never seen a better book on how to think like a longtime UNIX-user.
--
CPAN rules. - Guido van Rossum
Get the guys (Todd et al) from Dash PC on the show. They're doing some cool work with in car PC building and (mostly) linux. The DashPC project is on Sourceforge.
j
-- There is no sig line, only Zuul.
A few months ago I promised myself to do it and run linux no matter what. I d/l'ed redhat and got Linux Complete book (ISBN 0-7821-4036-X). It is cheap since it's a paperback that is a collection of chapter from well knows publications by SAMs etc. Ofcourse on some topics I had to do some digging elsewhere.
The problem with learning Linux is not the command line, GUI(s), or program set, for which there are countless books (the O'Reilly ones are particularly good, and the Unleashed set are also nice, both linked above by others). I find that the problem is when you have a severe difficulty, there's few ways to come across a decent set of information on how to fix it.
Learning linux requires two computers; one that runs whatever distro you've chosen, and another running a commercial, PNP OS that's internet ready so you can scan mailing lists, websites, and other things when your X Server refuses to start or your sound card thinks it's a modem (a problem I had a few years back, if you can believe it). (Dual booting is out because of the time required to reboot, attempt a fix, and then begin the search process anew.) The great bulk of books released aren't about solving problems, or have quick troubleshooting sections that only solve a handful of easily-fixed difficulties. Really learning Linux is about finding the info on your hardware config so that you can go in and edit the config files by hand.
What makes this harder is that no two distros are alike, and most of them now have their own "proprietary" (though OSS) configuration wizards, etc. Debian and Slackware are too intimidating for most newbies, and learning Red Hat config is worlds apart from Mandrake or SuSE.
So in the end, people can recommend whatever general knowledge books they want on console commands and GUI usage, but as anyone who's gone through their linux infancy knows, it comes down to searching the web and reading endless page after man page for your configuration, and that's something few books touch upon in a satisfactory manner.
However, if you really want to get people used to Linux, I've found lately that an easy migration path is Apple's OS X. I'll probably get shot for saying it, but the underpinnings work just as well as most Linux distros, and it's a great place for people to learn the command line (the real workhorse) in an environment with a safety net and no hardware worries before letting them jump into the hardcore life. Just a thought, and after a few software upgrades from GNU mirrors, the OS X console is almost indistinguishable from any other unix variant.
Not to mention, it's only a few short steps from OS X to yellowdog. ^.^
- Cloud
The other day, I had the delight of working on a Win 3.11 system... and about the only reason I say "delight" is because the first thing I was able to do is CLOSE THE HELL OUT OF WINDOWS!
:) Just thought I'd share!
Don't get me wrong... I use XP as my main box, and like what it does for me and what I can do with it. But the freedom, the fun, the old days when a three-button serial mouse and a green monitor were cutting-edge... ahhh... you could write batch files and edit them on the fly and...
*walks down memory lane*
Sorry
I would recommend Multitool Linux. My email to you will explain in detail.
-- Knuckle Blood : Official Lube of Team Rusty Nuts.
Help the UNIX community and please, please, please make the clarification that Linux is JUST THE KERNEL, whereas a Linux Distribution is everything else; everything that gets piled on top.
That one key point is missed by so many.. I've seen dozens of articles in magazines and other rags that are written by people who do not understand the difference and, as a result, only spread further confusion.
To be honest, and I am sure that flames will shoot at me from everywhere, a friendly and GUI oriented distribution would be the best for a true newbie to use, such as RedHat.
Linux In A Nutshell is a good start, along with the very simplified RedHat documentation. UNIX In A Nutshell is also very helpful.
And to echo what others have said, stick to the GUI. Those that are truly interested will dig under the covers of the GUI to find the powerhouse of the command line interface. Neither one should be what people are FORCED to use.
Dear Poster,
/. GROUPTHINK DIRECTIVE #9643 (see below) and must therefore be suppressed.
/. Nazis
Your comment contains memes that are contrary to the great
GROUPTHINK DIRECTIVE #9643:
All OSS is inherently superior to commercial equivalents regardless of features, usability, quality of engineering, level of support, or any other consideration.
Thank you for your time.
We trust you will not post any similarly controvercial comments in future.
Kind regards,
When I started off with linux (maybe a year ago) i actually never needed to buy a linux book. I found that all information I needed was online often hard to find and often contradictive or outdated (especially howtos etc.). But often times you find some serious pearls.
c hapter/inde x.html
o per/lib rary/l-gloss.pdf
i als_and _books/free_linux_training_materials.html
A power application that is typical for linux/unix i think is a linux X terminal server. Nearly impossible to do for a windows environment (unless you have money out the ass). But with a linux desktop of reasonable size and a couple old machines you can have a whole family on a full scale computer. check out www.k12ltsp.org.
and it isn't too difficult to setup either. this is definitely a linux power app.
O'Reilly Learning Debian GNU/Linux
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/debian/
A brief Linux Glossary for Windows Users
ftp://www6.software.ibm.com/software/devel
More free books
http://www.intelinfo.com/it_training_mater
. . .are a pretty good series to get one introduced to the nitty gritty parts of Linux administration that are often glossed over in some of the "beginners" books.
My single biggest complaint about learning Linux was it was extraordinarily difficult to get at the "why" of things rather than the "how". Telling a user to download Apache and type "make install" may get that user a web server, but it doesn't really teach him how it works. Too often, I've found that starter books take the "you just need to do this" approach without offering clear and precise reasons why. Usually, it only after consulting a slew of man pages, alternate books, and mailing list posts that most can finally be able to get a glimpse at the deeper connections and dependencies between the software and the OS.
What I like about this series is that it complements the man pages and the O'Reilly/Unleashed books by providing practical advice on basic system security, while also teaching the reader how to construct a system from the ground up in a manner that shows them how and why the different programs work with one another.
For the curious, here's a link:
http://www.openna.com/products/books/books.php
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
I started out trying to learn Linux and was doing well from the odd book and looking through the man pages. As soon as I found the website http://linuxfromscratch.org I learned more in a month then I had done in a year.
Depends how deep you want to get into linux but its well worth a look.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
need i say more
You can show the /true/ power of linux by going into a chat room and asking "Can anyone help me with setting up KDE?" and watching all of the morons respond with "RTFM IDIOT" "HAHA YOU WINDOZE LAMER" "GO JOIN THE FLOCK YOU LUSER" etc etc until eventually you get kicked with a reason along the lines of "BILL WANTS YOU TO SUCK HIS COCK AGAIN!".
Only Linux can create this kind of respsonse! Such Power!
But seriously. I use Linux and Windows everyday for programming to word processing. I put off using initially linux just because of the attitude problem from what seems to be 99.9% of the Linux community. It appears that if you aren't already a BOFH you are some sort of Microsoft lacky and treated like shit. I tried many times to get started but I couldn't get ANY help from anyone on newsgroups, web forums of chat rooms other than suggestions that I let Bill Gates rape me etc...
Until this attitude problem disappaears Linux is doomed.
"Linux System Administrator's Survival Guide" by Tim Parker, SAMS Publishing, is about the best book I have found. Regarding the previous post about books by-women-for-women: I've never read the book mentioned, but I do agree about the difference in learning styles, and IMHO, the "Man" pages are just that, pages for "MEN"! For at least, I'd say 40% of the time, a man page search only tells me what the flags mean, and doesn't really explain how to best use the command. Just my take on it.
(And by the way, it's pronounced ken-ah-pics (I think))
:P My friend pointed me to this program. I downloaded the ISO CD image, burned it, put it in my CDROM drive and rebooted my computer.
I personally discovered this very recently (yesterday in fact). I've been wanting to move from Windows to Linux, but, as my post name indicates, I'm a coward
With a couple of minor things to type in (like "knoppix" to start and a selection for screen resolution that I guessed correctly), it was up and running. It detected my cable modem, and I had no trouble getting to the Internet. I got to play around with the GUI a bit (it was either Gnome or KDE, I forget which), and generally had fun. The best part, as previously mentioned, is that it does NOTHING to your existing hard drive unless you specifically do something to "make it so".
It also comes with things like Open Office for making office documents, and an x-chat client for accessing IRC (like I do). It detected my floppy drive as well, and if I had a second CDROM drive, I bet it would detect that as well.
Did I mention that it does NOTHING to your hard drive unless you tell it to?
My friend mentioned that running it off a CD has some distinct advantages. With Linux running off a CD, why have a hard drive? You can just get a computer with some nice goodies, plunk the CD in and have some fun. Set it up for your kids! You can teach them an alternative to Windows, and never have to worry about them crashing the OS (unless they physically break the CD, at which time you can just burn another). The computer itself is still vulnerable to salami in the CDROM.
This whole thing sounds like a sales pitch doesn't it? Maybe I should get a job in copywriting... or maybe not. Anyway, I've only played with it a little bit, but from what I've seen, it's a GREAT way to introduce people so at least SOME flavor of Linux. As they say, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
I personally learned about FreeBSD before tackling Linux. In many ways its much simpler since everything you need to know is in their well-written, handy on-line Handbook. One of the the troubles with learning about Linux is that many of the distros do things differently. Hopefully all this talk about a united linux distro will help such issues...
...is The Linux Network Toolkit. Granted, it's not exactly a total newbie's book, but it really got me rolling on the Linux thing and networking Windows and Linux machines. Which, if someone is just starting out with Linux, is a very likely scenario.
Chris, as past president of the Silicon Valley Linux User Group, you know the benefit a user group can provide.
Take the cameras to a local (not regional, too scary?) LUG meeting. Show that even the newest of newbies can get expert help and get their (what they might think is stupid) question answered. Take the cameras to an "InstallFest". Take the cameras to a "Demo Day". Take them to a "Workshop".
Most potential Linux users are simply afraid or don't know how to take that first step to breaking their reliance on a certain OS. They need to know they can get help to partition their drive, recover their MBR or even that some LUG members will come to their home if they're in a real bind!
(Yes, I'm the current president of a LUG. Tri-Cities Linux User Group in Eastern Washington)
Put a machine (server) with no screen on one end of the desk. Put a desktop on the other. Show how easy it is for the desktop to "ssh -X" to the server and run gui programs on the server with the display on the desktop. Explain how useful this would be to have a bunch of very underpowered desktops with a powerful server and still have everyone able to do all their work. And the files are all on the server, making backups easier. etc.
Similarly, get a very low powered desktop (running linux or windows) and run vncviewer on it, and vncserver on the server. Each person has fast CPU of the server, viewed on piddly clients.
Show how you can run Linux within Linux to do fun things like test software without the possibility of crashing your actual machine, run suspicious applications in a sandbox-like environment.
Here's an idea for something that would be interesting to go over for the newbies... Webmin. There seem to be a lot of comments related to the (lack of)virtue of the CLI. I like the CLI, but sometimes don't feel lie screwing with it. With Webmin, I can configure just about anything on the box via this web interface. I can also update Webin from within Webmin in addition to adding functinonality to it from within it. All of the configuration modules are right there at your fingertips. Very cool stuff. You can even configure a box remotely if you've got everything set up correctly. Windows can't touch Webmin.
We all know scripts are a great way to deal w/ command line complexity. But it takes a lot of background knowledge (editor, obscure scripting language, filesystem & permissions, jobs, piping, etc.) to start writing and using scripts. Debugging scripts isn't for the beginner. Running scripts isn't as easy as it could be. Sharing scripts requires yet another set of skills. I've often wondered if and easier scripting system couldn't be created. One of the most profound inventions of this sort was the macro system in Lotus 123. It took some learning, but it was learning that newbies could accomplish because Lotus made it very accessible. The knowledge leap from spreadsheet building to macro writing wasn't very far. I know people who otherwise knew nothing about computers who wrote some truly astounding macros (for their skill level). They weren't fast, elegant or even stable, but they scratched the itch. The shell script concept seem to offer the same possibility for this kind of mass creative expression, if only the environment for doing it was more obvious and available to the inexperienced.
Now, if I could just get my system properly set up for it...
useful information:
.conf file you're looking for. Then, when you learn a few "simple" commands, you finally locate the mouseconf.conf file (this distro of Linux happens to be different, so the file name is different, yay). Cool. Great. Shit, now I found the mouseconf.conf file, but I actually want to *modify* the file. Hmmm. Oh, wait, you need a text editor, that's it! So you go online to the Internet, and you find instructions on how to run vi. The "instructions" are literally 3 pages of shortcut keys like :q, :qw, /l and such. But that shouldn't discourage anyone from using Linux, because it is soooo easy!
I found the following books to be very good:
Linux Complete - Sybex (Compiled by Grant Taylor)...because of the Internet links. Lots of links made this book really informative. Good Cheat sheets, too. And this book actually includes paragraphs and such, something nice to actually read when you're trying to understand a little bit about your system.
Unix System Administration Handbook - Third Edition - PH PTR (Evi Nemeth, Garth Snyder, Scott Seebass, Trent R. Hein, et. al). Pretty hardcore, but if you're using Linux, I'm assuming you're not just some Grandma who wants to see pictures of her pomeranian in her email...
Running Linux - O'Reilly. These books assume a fairly advanced user is going to be installing Linux, but they are really comprehensive. A great resource.
Real World Linux Security - PH PTR (Bob Toxen). Install Linux, harden Linux. Do it today, and actually understand it.
Linux: The Textbook - Addison-Wesley Publishing (Sarwar, Koretsky, Sarwar). Nicely written, introduces Mandrake and takes you through the gambit.
rant:
Learning Linux has been a real chore. There are tons of people out there willing to give you help like this:
In order for your mouse to work, simply modify the mouse.conf file.
Now, that's pretty easy, right? Except that in order to modify the file, you need to actually find the file. So you go to the nice little book you have, and try to locate instructions on how to actually find the
man rtfm
I think the best way to learn Linux is just to use Linux.
/etc and take a look at some of the important files there fstab, mtab, lilo, etc..., take a tour of /proc, /dev, /sbin, /bin and /boot. Learn about the STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR facilities and how to redirect input and output from a running program. Also, learn how to pipe or string commands together with conditionals too. Learn job control.
Learn your way around a shell first. Navigate the directories, learn the commands cd, mkdir, ls, cp, mv, etc..., learn the help commands info, man and "commandname --help", understand the concept of the symbolic link, go thru
Learn the boot process of Linux: bootstrap, loader, kernel, INIT, INIT scripts, shell, X etc...
Once you've got a basic understanding of the system, then venture into X and learn how it ticks (from a user point of view). Learn how to copy and paste, kill a running program, operate your windowmanager, switch virtual terminals.
Learn how to use the various package formats from tar.gz (tgz), rpm, tar.bz2, deb, zip, etc and how to compile and install programs.
Learn how not to run as root.
Most of the help you will ever need with Linux is already right there on the machine.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
I was never really able to find any one book that was really helpful in all newbie areas- When I got started with linux, I just blew away my win partition, installed LFS (very slowly mind you) and learned about linux the hard way. While I recognize that this isn't a good way for many people to learn about linux- it did teach me a good lesson. Running a search on http://www.google.com/linux and including the word "FAQ" or "HOWTO" in the search pretty much gets you anything you need to know. The best resource I've found for linux is the various linux howtos.... 'course, they don't do much good if you can't get your new linmachine online. ;-)
Well you asked for web sites, so here is one of my favorites. They have forums for most of the major distributions as well as forums for software, hardware, networking, security and others. The regulars at this site are helpful, tolerant and --it seems to me-- altruistic.
...HTML? Links! Color! Standard readers! Searchable and hierarchial (directories and grep; a "super-lynx" front-end could automagically invoke these, or do it itself (mm, Perl))!
:)
Go ahead, write the standard.
W A R N I N G - This comment is filled with all kinds of non-related information
So READ Accordingly!:
A] IF YOU are a "talky" person, please read the whole comment; from top to bottom.
B] IF YOU are somewhat like me, then read only the Bolded text, the rest is just "unessential" for us.
= = = =
Not everyone in this world is someone who loves to read books (and I'm one of them;), so pointing to some nice big/fat/large books "that have everything in them" won't make me tick one sec (quite the opposite).
"It's not the quantaty that matters, its the quality" , you've all heard that one.
As in life I'm not much of a talker [Hmm, associate me to vulcans; were not that damn talky are we?
In summary their filled with all kinds of non-related information [every slashdoter knows this *I think*; guess why I love the-slashdot-concept?
What I'm trying to put into context is; First develope your in-Learing capabilities [don't "Learn", but try to learn how you've Learned, learn the method how _you_ learn stuff; Everyone has his/her own in-learning method; Common ground they all have, but differ they do; Meaning not everyone learns by reading books, sitting still in class, paying 100% attention to the teacher etc etc;] before trying to learn anything else first.
Accelerated Learning is the word you should be ogle'ing around for beforehand learning liunx/giving advice[that's my advice to you; you slashdoters my disagree;]
The Book I link to isn't in english, so it will not be much of use for non-swedish-reading-people.
ISBN: 91-630-8899-1 "Gör studierna enklare och förbered dig för livet i kunskapssamhället", by Christer Westlund.
But it derives from the "Accelerated Learning" concept, just written in swedish, so search the web for english once.... [Isn't that a typical advice from a *nix user; saying "RTFM!" in a nice way?
[Some time has past, you've aged (a bit), and you've masterd the skills in-learnig]
Now, you're ready to step inside the *nix world.
A] Sit down, and formulate a bunch of questions [what _you_ want to know about!].
i.e "I wonder how do I run a webserver?", "I wonder, how do I start linux?", "I wonder, how do i INSTALL *nix!?"
B] At random, go to the library, pick out any *nix book, read the contents until you find something that lures you [like you _want_ to know how to do that/how it works].
C] Those were just mere examples, so if non of them suits you, feel free to experiment your way forward to something that does.
:) - but it happens when I do read one, but only If I _RRReally_ like the "non-related information of all kinds" :)
So depending on your lifestile [Free-Sourcer, or Buy-Sourcer], find either a Nice [free] jucy Manual/how-to/book to *nix or buy a book you can read.
And start applying all your in-Learnig skills and start learning yourself.
[That's it! THE END]
!ps - notice how I counted "Manual/how-to/book" in that order? - now that's my way of learning, books come last, first comes the "man" - command, then the web [usual I get all the info I need here]... and usually no books
This is just me, and my style; as I wanted to show you an example; So you go now and do your style and leave me alone! It's time for my daily meditation
[All who know Vulcans, know we need meditation or we agitated & rood...: ) *hehe*]
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
Great hate web-site. Any other groups you'd like to slam in the name of your "god"?
And this represents the major problem facing Windows users.
I say, divide and conquer. Or more to the point, know your user. Different people have different expectations.
Programmers want to know about toolsets and whatnot. Windows reboot monkeys (sorry about the mandatory dig) want to learn about being able to run a server. Office users want to know about applications and usablility.
The first two camps are relatively easy to accomodate. The last is the hardest due to the fact that Linux just-ain't-there-yet-but-we-will-be-real-soon.
Some of the administrative books I recommend are:
Linux Admistration: A Beginners Guide 2nd Ed.by Steve Shaw
I toss this one under every Windows admin's nose who wants to come over to our camp. It's a good starting point.
Linux Administration Handbook by Evi Nemeth et al.
The bible. Old Testament-style. Polemic. God bless them.
Essential System Administration by Aeleen Frisch.
The one that sits on your desk when you need to look things up. The New Testament. Less polemic. Still excellent.
Throw in Linux in a Nutshell for quick reference and those represent my "Linux Admin Starter Kit". Add your own ingredients to make it work.
I won't bother listing each and every other good admin book because many of them are specialized. BUT, a good book on bash, vi, emacs, sendmail, dns/bind, firewalls, etc. are all nice for expanding ones brain. Oddly enough, most of them are known by the fact that they have an animal on the front cover....
\Programmers can just go and have at 'er with all the tools available to them for the amazing price of free.
Office worker types: be prepared for some serious hand holding. They don't want to deal with administrative issues, security, etc. They just want something that's going to work. I'd actually recommend OS X first. Failing that, Running Linux in the latest and greatest eddition.
Oh yeah, parting words: HELP those who want to make the transition. The Linux community needs to change from RTFM, STFW and STFU to, "How can I help you?" THAT will help people to be more willing to make the move.
First of all, Linux on TV won't work, until we get commercial support. But IBM is commercial in a big way, so we've got those IBM ads. Still, why not fight fire with fire and show "ordinary people" using Linux, and show how cool the Penguin is? Or the GNU?
As for getting started on Linux, I'd reccomend websites first, anyway. First, you want to get a distribution like RedHat to learn on -- I'd reccomend RedHat, because it has a cool logo, usually works out of the box, and best of all, is quite easy to install. Still, you'd want to search the web for a way to Dual Boot properly.
With PAUD (Parted And Utilities Disk) and a RedHat install disk, it shouldn't take too much of a guide to get someone started, assuming they don't have a GPT setup, though I don't think anyone uses those except for 64-bit. Resize their hard disk, and let them unleash themselves on Linux!
Once on the system, the documentation is good, though I don't know what book to reccomend. Still, I'd reccomend learning a lot about RedHat, including that intimidating shell, and after that's been mastered, on to Gentoo. RedHat taught me more about Windows than I ever learned on Windows itself, and so has Gentoo taught me more about Linux then I'd ever have learned on RedHat.
But really, start using it as a desktop system, and have the documentation installed. Learn "man" and "info". I think this applies to anyone -- it won't work perfectly out of the box (most likely), but as you try to solve problems, you'll learn things, read documentation, and eventually develop more experience than a book will ever give you.
I heard a rumor theyre going to open-source LCARS in 400 years. I'll just wait for that
Not so. You can do everything with a Linux GUI that you can do with a Windows GUI, and more. You can point and click your way around just as well, and do everything that most users do by pointing and clicking. Web, email, word processing, image editing, printing, etc.
Well, with Mandrake, for example, you can first select the purpose of your machine when installing, by clicking on a button for Desktop, Server, Developer, etc. This will install only the software you need, so you don't have every service in the universe the installed and running. Then you can go to a nice control panel, just like Windows' Start/Settings/etc., and find a nice list of services that you can start/stop by checking/unchecking little boxes. Then, through another icon, you there's a neat wizard that sets up a very effective firewall, with really simple questions a third grader could understand. After all this, you'll have a system more secure than most Windows boxes run by professional admins. Windows offers nothing this simple or effective. And it's all point and click.
There was a fascinating article about TheopenCD a few days ago on Newsforge, this is a neat package for introducing newbies to Free Software. Also the Suse 8.1 LiveEval disk can be fun for showing newbies what they're missing without the hassle of doing a full Linux install
Knoppix is one of the more amazing things that you can show a non-user. First, it's easy to jump into since you don't have to know anything about re-partitioning your drive. Also, watch their faces as an entire operating system along with tons of useful apps boots from just one CD. Plus, it's virtually idiot-proof, as all you have to do to get back to windows if you mess up is just log-out and remove the CD.
the best way to show off Linux on TV I believe, is to show its higher stability than window, it gives the user more control and precision to their PC, and of course, you gotta have Tux
In creating a show to motivate people to try linux it would be particularly effective to point out that the whole reason for using a computer recreationally is to play and create and have fun. This can best be done if you have as much power over the computer as possible. Without open source you can only do what someone else (mostly larg uncreative money centric companies) decide to let you do. This is simply a drag.With open source you have a base to build on your self if you program for fun. As well these are programs oftwn created for the shear pleasure of ither creating them or using them. not just to make a buck.
Secondly it is obvious that any open system is more stable, more egalitarian, and more effective. This could be greatly elaborated on but any idiot can see it
Everyone can recommend various books on linux for newbies, from those which basically take you through the installation process and simple commands to those for the more technical minded which really show you what the operating system is about.
What I am after, however, is a book which doesn't presume any sort of technical ability whatsoever. I'm a physics student at university, and am extremely fortunate in that my parents are getting me a laptop for christmas. We've been doing a bit of python programming this term and will do a lot next term and in the subsequent years, going into a few more languages. We use sun workstations at the labs, but I could do all this in my room. Of course you can get the various languages on windows, but I'd like to get to know how to use the unix operating system happily rather than feeling like I am just following a set of instructions so am looking to install linux on my new laptop. Problem is, well, I look into it, and they all use lots of technical terms straight off! So what is the ultimate best book for total idiots like myself, who want linux for practical purposes, not to hack and fiddle!
You should show them the latest KDE 3.1-rc5 desktop environment with the Keramik style, and your viewers draws will drop...!
"How to Make Friends and Piss Off Gurus"
"I'm Having a Newbie For Lunch with Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti"
"Read THIS F&%king Manual!"
"Emily Post on Newbie and Guru Etiquette"
"Lindows for Dummies" "Lord of the Command Line"
But Officer, I DID read the f**king article!
> This is for newbies, and newbies don't want to know command line stuff.
When I was a Linux/Unix newbie, CLI is all I wanted to know.
I found that the best way (in my case, anyways) to learn Linux was to just set up a spare box (486, here) and always just telnet/ssh to it. This requires the least committment by the user, in that they don't have to stop using Windows to start using Linux - they can have both at an alt+tab away instead of a lengthy reboot (or even, reinstall) away.
When getting friends involved in Linux, I find that they will often be excited about all the "neat features," etc. in GNOME/KDE. This enthusiasm dulls after a week and next time they reboot, they boot back into familiar old Windows, forgetting Linux for months at a time.
As I often say: GUI->down is the easiest way to get interest; Wires->up is the best way to understand everything, in time.
-BW
Books are ok, but the best thing for beginners might be simply to join a LUG (Linux User Group) and make friends with some people who are experts. When I was starting out I learned TONS just from watching other people at their consoles.
I like Linux Magazine for how to articles. There is one from the UK that is pricy but worth it called Linux Format. It has writers that can condesend to a beginners level unlike the writers in Linux Journal.
As for books The Red Hat Linux Bible has always been one of my favorites. Hacking Linux Exposed for security. Linux Administration by Nemeth and Seabass is a well rounded reference. For TV? I get the most comments at work on the Screensavers that come with the Red Hat 8.0 Distro. My personal favorite is a remote session intro using VNC. Fun Stuff.
Telecommuting! What about socialization?
This is the book to give to a n00b if they are really interested in Linux/UNIX "methodology".
try Google :)
mod post down
redundant
My favourite "learning" book is Think Unix by Jon Lasser from Que.
:-).
It's not specifically about Linux, but it covers all the things I routinely have to re-learn when things go wrong on my Linux box. Things like file permissions, groups, shell script basics, hard and soft links, and importantly, the reasons these things exist.
It demystifies the command line and provides a new user with the true understanding rather than just a bunch of tutorials on how to install packages like most of the other Linux books I've read.
It also covers some of the history and development of Unix-type systems (including Linux) so the current state of the art makes more sense than it might otherwise make to someone who only recently crawled out of a micro$oft-centric universe and discovered that there really was life on other operating systems (BIG life
Regards, Simon
Pick up one of the following books: Running Linux from O'Reilly or Linux System Administration: A User's Guide from Addison-Wesley. Browse the books to get a general idea on what to do for basic tasks.
Next, find a friendly distribution that will allow you to get started, such as Mandrake.
Finally, use the OS. Try doing as much as possible in Linux. I'd suggest trying to connect to the internet first, the wealth of information available will help you with any later problems. But with each task you don't know how to do or problem you need to solve, look it up in the book you purchased or online. It may seem fustrating at times, but it really seems to stick in memory better if you actually have to do the task.
--- igiveup ---
Hey kids check out this crazy book i just found. It's magical. You type in what your looking for and it tells you the answer.
I know books are nice and they sit in your lap and you can read them on the bus and stuff, but linux it a perfect example of the fact that software and technology moves a lot faster than a publisher. The time it takes to write, assemble and print a book on linux will make it obselete the day it comes out.
I know books can be really helpful. I have "running linux" sitting on a bookshelf next to me. It's just that when i learned linux 90% of what i learned was from reading the wonderful web pages written by hundreds of people around the world who were kind enough to share their knowledge. A new day is upon us. And i think that's the first thing you should tell a newbie when they ask what book they should buy.
I've been unimpressed with all the Linux books for newbies. The expert books are great but if your new to Linux they are also useless.
I've not looked at Linux for Dumbies and I have over all been impressed with the dumbies books.
The best by far was a booklet made by SCO for Xenix. This is obveously out of print but it was a mini refence.
Probably the best thing is time in the trenches. For exsisting Mac Os X and Linux users thats call up the shell and experement.
For Windows users however that's not so easy. But it can be done...
Msys is a Unix environment targeted at Windows software develupment.
Software dev is easyer from the Unix shell what can I say?
It's very Unix but still running under Windows. Just an app. Not a scary install like Linux as it dosen't threaton to destroy everything in favor of the new os...
(Think of an Os install as the Genisis torpedo from Star Trek II.)
Spock "It would destroy such life in favor of it's new matrix"
In otherwords Installing Linux means never being able to go back to Windows (the old matrix).
All your data is gone.. everything...
Your not just trying Linux your commiting to it.
New users need some asurence that Linux is the way to go.
If they can learn Linux from the safe confines of having never installed it so much the better.
Cygwin is annother Unix environment again for software develupment.
Add a good Linux or Unix newbie book and the trasnsition should be smoth.
I used Danix to move from Dos to Unix.
Unlike the rest Danix is a dos port of Unix commands so as to give Dos that "Unix" feal.
The other files in the linked archive are also good for the job.
Also I was going to frivlously suggest using a "hot geek chick" the way beer ads use super modles to sell beer.
"Drink beer and date a super modle"
"Use Linux and date a hot geek chick"
But being realistic people aren't going to switch to Linux in order to date hot chicks. I honnestly could not think of a dumber reason.
Still ammusing to think of Cat teaching Linux... Yummm.
I don't actually exist.
According to Amazon, there's a new version "Linux and the Unix Philosophy" coming out soon.
Slim book, easy reading and it will help new users figure out what makes *nix different from Windows/MacOS