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Linux for Non-Geeks
The title explains exactly how Grant's book is laid out. It's for Windows users, Mac users, and new or inexperienced Linux users who are non-geeks (or wannabe-geeks) and who are itching to take the plunge into Linux without having to wade through a multitude of books aimed at power users, online HOWTOs, weblogs and IRC channels. This is one volume with enough worthy information to credit the cost of the $34.95 investment.
The content is based on Redhat's Fedora Core and includes CDs for installation. As such, the author has chosen to go with the default Fedora desktop, GNOME. Choices have to be made: Fedora Core vs. Mandrake vs. SUSE vs. Xandros etc., and GNOME vs. KDE vs. Enlightenment, etc. Grant has chosen stability and ease of use, and he has chosen well. Fedora would have been Redhat 10, had Redhat gone that route. They didn't and we can all lament the changes the company has launched toward focusing on corporate gains or we can move on. Moving on, we can see immediately that Fedora Core is excellent and if Red Hat's idea in Fedora's community focus is to go the Debian route and have lots of experienced eyes taking care of this project, then it will continue to be excellent. Once you get into this book and get your fancy tickled by Fedora and GNOME, go wild. 'Nuff said.
The first two chapters of the book cover the 'penguinista' mindset (why you're even looking at a book on Linux), hardware compatibility and the install process. Easy enough, and Grant does a great job of leading the reader through this process. It's the scary part, after all! Once the deed is done, the reader is introduced to Chapter 3, 'A New Place to Call Home'. Gnome is the desktop of choice and the author goes into detail, easing the reader through a wealth of GUI options. Lots of screenshots and photos give the reader a clear sense of what to expect when they are navigating through the choices. Lots of time is spent on customizing and some may find this trivial but there is nothing more frustrating to the beginner than being told to "click click click" when they aren't comfortable finding the correct windows, buttons and choices. After spending some time on this chapter, the reader will be able to progress through the book with confidence.
Connecting to the Internet is the next chapter, with information presented on hardware, connection options, using the browser, email and IM. The Internet is a must-have so this chapter is well placed. Get 'em going and they'll keep plugging along!
Once the reader is up and running, a side road is taken for those who want to get more familiar with the GUI and who like to tweak everything to look as individual (and tacky) and they can.
After getting on the Web, printing is probably next on the list in importance. Grant dedicates Chapter 6 to explaining how the reader can achieve good printing karma with printer support, printing to PDF, changing settings and handling queues.
Part one of external media is covered next, with an introduction in to floppies (whaaaa?), data and music CD reading/playing/burning, and ISOs (an absolutely necessary part of life for Linux users, especially since we all tend to experiment with different distros when they become available!).
With Chapter 8, we get into the core of every OS user's skill set, no matter how newbie the newbie is, one thing everyone wants to know how to do on their platform of choice: how to install applications (did I say "games"?). Grant gives the reader a very well written chapter on package management, walking the reader gently through four examples, including Skoosh and -- woo-hoo!! -- Frozen Bubble (well, we all need Frozen Bubble!). He even gives the reader a taste of "dependency hell" (don't panic! It's a controlled environment!). There will be a few folks who complain that RPM is Redhat-centric thinking and they'd be right. We are working with Fedora Core after all. Remember the "'Nuff said" above'?. Grant later presents chapters on APT and Synaptic and also on compiling a program from source so the reader has ample chance to get geeky.
A (too short) chapter on the terminal and the command line is wedged in between with practice projects on pyWings and pyChing that brings it all home. Part two of data management comes next, covering USB storage devices and the Windows partition, if there is one. Chapters 13 and 14 deal in depth with music (audio formats, mp3 support, apps like Grip, Rhythmbox and XMMS) and 'getting arty with the GIMP' (including how to scan and use your digital camera).
Then, it's back to business, with several chapters dedicated to workplace productivity and what options are available to Linux users in a 'dark side' dominated world. Grant looks at several office suites including OpenOffice.org (the clear winner) as well as KOffice and some stand-alone apps like AbiWord, Dia, Gcalctool and GPdf. There is also quite a bit of excellent coverage on fonts (a must read!) and finally, language support within Linux.
Now, if everything is working well so far and you can connect to the Internet, print, get your work done and play games. So what's left? Doing it all from your living room, bedroom, even bathroom! In short, going wireless. Grant succinctly explains what it means, what you need and how to do it.
The last few chapters of the book deal with bits and pieces of necessary information that are essential to the reader for further Linux exploration: system settings and system updates, KDE, 'odds and ends' and the requisite troubleshooting section for "uh oh, now what do I do now?" moments. Lots of help and resources round out the book.
A few things could have been expanded on or included: a bit more on firewalls and internet security (we are not entirely immune, after all), handling email attachments is missing (the author promises an update to this on his web site), something on yum and device installation; the slim description of installing a CD-RW drive in the book merely refers the reader to his web site where one can download PDF instructions ...hmmm, that seems a bit skimpy. Installing drives and cards (especially sound cards) would have been a nice chapter on its own, especially since this would most likely require re-compiling the kernel. The reference to this on Grant's web site results in a 'broken' pdf link and no obvious way to alert the author to the damaged file.
At this writing, there are only a few errata but it would be wise to take a peek at Grant's site before delving too deeply into the book.
Overall, I like how Grant chose to lay out his chapters; he's anticipated the needs and expectations of the level of reader he's targeting and placed well-constructed topics in a logical series of chapters. Nicely balanced information for a new Linux user, an on again/off again Linux user or for the switcher (is that trademarked?!). Other distros will be a short leap after reading this one volume. So yes, I lied: Linux for Non-Geeks is for your mom -- and for you, too, come to think of it. (And are those references to Vonnegut scattered about? Erudite crowd, Linux folk, yes?)
You can purchase Linux For Non-Geeks, A Hands-On, Project-Based, Take-It-Slow Guidebook from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
I can think of one major reason. Security. Actually, given how bad windows security has been lately, I'd recommend that most users not use windows unless their geeks and know how to keep it clean, and free of Spyware. I already install mozilla whenever I come across a Spyware infected machine. There is some Spyware that infects mozilla on win32. (The user gets a warning about installing XPI, but it's not even as menacing as IE ActiveX warnings. On the other hand, many Spyware programs install themselves via security holes in IE)
Running as non-root on a Linux machine is much safer for the naiveté surfer then running windows.
We'll have to see how XP SP2 fares as far as protecting users from all the people who want to rape them.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Linux community definitely needs more books like that and users like that. Only increase of Linux desktop boxes can push software developers/companies to writing their for-now-Windows-only software for penguin system.
Additionaly, this is the only way to surpass the chicken-egg problem, as software companies aren't willing to (as we can see today) port their software to non-Windows.
So, kudos to author!
Ever hear of the Red Hat Society? It's a society inspired by that "When I am old I shall wear purple..." poem. I think Red Hat is missing a neat tie-in by not giving Red Hat Society members Fedora Core discs, or maybe this book. Hordes of older women using Linux would pretty well put a stake in the heart of the "Linux is too hard to use" BS.
I buy them if I need to learn about something they cover. I am confident enough in my intelligence not to be put off by a silly book name. ;)
I only have very limited experience with non-geeks using linux, but my experience has shown that they don't read, and don't think they should have to read to use linux. My non-geeks don't even pretend to solve or diagnose the problems, they just call for help immediately. I think the non-geeks this book would help most, are those already solving their problems using google.
it would definitely make me take a look at it. At least it doesn't seem to have the condescending tone that too many Linux sites/tutorials have.
Watch the Teaser Trailer for "The Lightning Thief" Her
One can only hope. When I first admitted that I was interested in C programming (remember Power C's $20 compiler and libs?) I was scrounging for books that would definitively explain C programming from the point of view of a novice, NOT a programmer!. In the early 90's, that nearly didn't exist. The technical priesthood still held sway and they did demand their tithe.
The early Linux efforts at documentation carried through with the priesthood mentality - Every person writing the documentation just assumed you already knew what he or she knew and what they wrote offered only what he or she thought you needed to know. Not all mind you, but most.
Which is the worst assumption any writer can ever make, IMHO.
Mod me troll, if you must, I can't help it.
It's only insecure nerds that have a problem with the "Dummy" label -- when you lack any social skills, you have to comfort yourself by telling yourself you are "smarter than everyone else" (even when you don't know jack shit, see most /. posts).
The average intelligent person has no problem saying "I'm a dumb about Auto Repair/Home Buying/Whatever, I don't know anything about it.", and buying a book.
Ah, of course! It would be impossible to have a discussion about Linux for "Moms" without someone bringing up "but distribution X does Y SO MUCH BETTER than the one you chose!"
Yada yada, shut the hell up. There are hundreds of distributions, and a dozen that are actually usable. This book is about Fedora. If you don't like Fedora, that's fine, it's your choice. But don't sit here and tell the author of the book that he *should* have chosen a different distribution. Maybe he's never used Mandrake. Maybe he didn't know the new version was coming out. Maybe he doesn't have a USB key. For whatever reason, he wrote about Fedora, so just cope with it, ok?
I'm sick of all this "my distribution is better than yours" penis-measuring. Get over it, people.
Comment of the year
Cars can be described in three ways: ..."
The dummy's point of view: "Oh look, pretty red color"
The driver's point of view: "Turn the steering wheel to the right to turn right"
The engineer's point of view: "The newton force required to make a 90 degree turn depends on the distance from the center of the steering column that the force is applied
This book will help only if it written for a car driver style point of view. Not dumbed down, not full of technical information that the computer user will never use.
Car manuals and driver's ed books do not show you how your engine works. If you need to know that, you need to get a different book or have someone else fix it for you.
Computer books for users should be the same. Just the info on how to use what you will use, very basic maintenance, and nothing else. If more info is needed to fix something, time for a more indepth book or a call to your local computer geek.
Unfortunately I have yet to find such a book for computer users. They either go too dumb or to full of information useless to the end user (great for the geek and semi-geek though).
At 337 pages, I am thinking this one may be just another failed attempt with too much info for the end user.
That's a short list. I could think of more.
Free software is more than stable and hard to break, it's excellent in every way these days. Fedora is very good too and addressing all of the reasons I moved to Debian based distributions two years ago but doing it with the same Red Hat ease of use I sometimes miss. The new interfaces are beautiful and functional.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
With all due respect: I LOVE reading manuals!! I enjoy the format as some like the cliff-hanger aproach of novels. The first "manual" on Linux I read (and this was so that I could install RedHat 4.0 on an old 486 EISA based swerver) turned out to not be a manual at all. The author had grabbed every HOWTO and Mini-HOWTO he could find, then interspersed that with Usenet posts and spell checked IRC replies. In spite of this eclectic editorship and the fact that Linux of that vintage on a purpose built Netware box just can't be done, I done it. Why? because I read novels the way other folks watch TV..
You start on PC Mag, migrate to (the old) Byte, before you know it you are drooling over the fold-outs in Dr Dobbs... The reading of tech lit is in itself a joyous exercise.
a non-geek book on Linux is exactly what the world needs.
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
The only way to really learn Linux is to get something into your head that you want to do, and then start taking a step by step approach to accomplishing it. For example, set yourself the goal of setting up a mail server, for example, and then start researching what steps need to be taken. Break the task down into sub-sections: Installing the operating system, securing the distribution of your choice, installing the neccessary packages, etc.
I think that learning Linux seems a huge task to you at the moment not because it's beyond you, but because you have no direction in terms of what you want to do with Linux. I believe that almost everyone has the capability of running Linux successfully, but I don't think that it's suitable for all purposes, yet.
I agree that books like this will help bring some people to Linux, but unless they actually have something in mind that they want to use Linux for, they won't get past the "installed Linux and messed around with KDE/Gnome a bit" stage.
Brandon Glass's personal site.
An Anonymous Coward wrote:
I don't think you can make a complex-often-broken-thing fit into the mainstream by writing a book about the complex-often-broken-thing targeted to the mainstream.... I am the most tech savy person that I know.
The word is "savvy." ("Damn that spell-checker! Why didn't it do its job?!")
Out of curiosity, coward, what distros of Linux did you use? All of my dual-boot experiences with Windows (XP, 2K, ME) and Linux (Mandrake, Redhat, Fedora -- core 1 not core 2) have been good thus far.
You seem to imply that Linux is more complex than Windows; I would not say so. Different, more involved, sure. Windows is complex too, only Microsoft made it look simple... flash and ease of use sell, or Windows wouldn't rule the commercial PC market. But sometimes too simple, IMHO. I call it the law of conservation of intelligence: broadly, the more intelligence you build into the tool, the less intelligence the tool user is willing to expend to figure out how to make it work.
Regarding polished turds... I have a bias toward function, myself: I care comparatively little about the design or form if the underlying function is sufficient. Case in point: I maintain a few Linux servers whose interface consists of a command line. I have done little or nothing to make the administrative interface(s) user-friendly, which is of little matter if they work. In a pinch, I can direct a technician simply to reboot a server if it fouls up, but none have, since frankly they're too simple for much to go wrong. Polished, no. But it works.
Then you've got Windows, which looks great, but occasionally -- okay, frequently -- has problems. I tend to focus on security, as that's my field, and Windows is not terribly secure. Polished, yes.
Now which one, of Windows or Linux, would I call a polished turd?
Of course there's a big difference between servers and workstations, although Microsoft successfully blurred that distinction years ago... sure, I run Windows XP, though I've hacked it a bit so not EVERY process runs in the system context, and installed so many third party add-on security products (antivirus, antispyware, antietc.) that it's noticeably slower than the hour of the initial install.
I also run KDE, Gnome and Fluxbox. FWIW I tend to prefer Fluxbox; in fact I downloaded Blackbox for Windows and plan to give it a try.
Anyway, what do you want out of your PC? If you want simple setup and operation, or compatibility with specific third-party apps, go with Windows. (But backup your data often.) If you want something generally more reliable, less demanding on your hardware and easier to control, give Linux or BSD a try. And maybe buy a book like this next time.
(Last minute relevancy to topic -- yes!)
Sometimes I have to say to hell with it and just eat my jellybeans.
If only the book was published under an open licence then I could modify it to suit my Fedora Core 2/GNOME using mum, and others could modify it to suit there Mandrake 10/KDE using moms. The author would get the benefits of others keeping the content up to date, and off the shelf sales (assuming the source was released under a non-commercial licence). The rest of the community would benefit from a book that would better suit our needs.
.. then the vendor should do it as a courtesy before it leaves the store. In fact, they should be updating those machines as they sit around waiting to be sold.
Patches should be treated like a "recall", in fact, IMO, people would take them more seriously if they WERE recalls. People understand a "recall".
Of course, ignore all that, most people won't do quat until after it's hosed... what was I thinking...