Linux For Dummies - Softcover

LeBlanc, Dee-Ann; Hoag, Melanie; Blomquist, Evan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0764516604 ISBN 13: 9780764516603

Publisher: For Dummies, 2002

Synopsis

Covers the essentials that first-time Linux users need to know about installing and using Linux on their desktop. Topics include preparing your PC for Linux, installing, connecting to a network or the Internet, working with the GNOME interface, playing media files, and working with the file system.
Covers specialized uses of Linux including using Linux as a server as well as an embedded or turnkey system, a supercomputer, a real-time controller. Covers the latest tools for browsing the Internet, being productive, and keeping your connection secure.
Series features: Includes the simple and fun reference style that has made the For Dummies series a favorite for over 200,000 first-time Linux users.
ABOUT THE CD-ROM
Two CDs included with this book contain the latest distribution of Red Hat Linux.

About this title

Review

Geared to casual users who want to install Linux on a personal machine--in other words, hobbyists--Linux for Dummies walks the reader through installing, configuring, tuning, and using each version of Linux. While the book includes a useful comparison of various Linux distributions, the companion CD-ROM holds Red Hat Linux 5.0 and the book uses that distribution in its examples.

This clearly written text begins by helping you prepare your system for Linux, going so far as to recommend you get it a special hard disk. The authors then show you how to install the system--including the mechanics of selecting file systems and setting up hardware--and then help you log on for the first time.

Next, Linux for Dummies explains elementary commands, including those used to traverse directories and to copy and move files. The book then explores storage issues, detailing how to install and configure a new hard drive in excellent detail. Shells, such as bash and X Windows, get cursory coverage (but adequate, considering the purpose of the book). Linux for Dummies also includes information on certain applications (including vi and emacs) and a guide to tuning and customization that sadly lacks much about shell programming. Internet services, including WAIS, FTP, and Gopher, get their due, but the Apache Web server gets slighted. Overall, this is the best user-lever Linux guide available.

From the Author

Please note the fact that the reviews associated with this book are from the first edition, on. You'll have to look at the base of each review to see what edition the reviews actually reply to. You'll find that many apply to the first and second edition of this book. For the third edition, the author team was replaced, and the book was rewritten from the bottom up using reader feedback to help guide the new version. From there, we updated for the fourth edition by using the third edition's reader feedback. At the time I (the author, Dee-Ann LeBlanc) wrote this, there were in fact no reviews posted about the fourth edition. Posting reviews or emailing the author is a great way to help us know what you want to see in the next edition, so please let me encourage you to do either! --Dee-Ann LeBlanc

About this edition

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0764516604
• ISBN 13: 9780764516603
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 4
• Number of pages: 408