Linux: Configuration and Installation (3rd Edition)

The new third edition of this book brings you the latest version of Slackware and additional coverage of security, XFree86 and the Internet. LINUX®: Configuration and Installation, Third Edition lets you run LINUX today...all you need is a PC, a CD-ROM drive, and this book. Our 2-CD-ROM pack offers one of the most popular LINUX distributions, Slackware, and comes directly from Patrick Volkerding, the creator of Slackware. Together with Reichard and Foster-Johnson, Volkerding provides you with undocumented tips and techniques for setting up, using, and optimizing your LINUX system.

You'll be guided through a simple LINUX installation step-by-step. You'll learn about the many tools that make LINUX such a powerful operating system, including XFree86, GNU Emacs, and programming tools like C, C++, Perl, and Tcl/Tk. You'll also learn how to explore the Internet with LINUX and how to set LINUX to coexist with other operating systems like DOS, OS/2, and Windows.

This book provides everything you would expect, but little more; however, Linux Configuration & Installation provides it so authoritatively that there's no doubt about completeness or accuracy. Because one of the authors, Patrick Volkerding, created Slackware Linux, this documentation of his own Linux flavor is good.

The authors begin by helping you decide if your machine's hardware will cooperate with Linux. They then show you how to install Slackware Linux 3.2 and get it to recognize your hardware. The authors detail how to install XFree86 (X Windows for Linux) and give more customization advice than most other authors of Linux books do. Other chapter topics include managing files; applications, such as elvis and a vi port for Linux; system administration; and Internet services. While these chapters aren't command references, they do show users how to get into the proper frame of mind for doing things with Slackware Linux and impart some command facts along the way.

The best features of this book are its two CD-ROMs. Not only do they contain Slackware Linux 3.2, ready to install, but also XFree86, lots of hardware drivers, a bunch of compilers, and some games and miscellaneous utilities. You'll play with this stuff for days.