> If you really want to learn Linux, buy a book like "Running Linux". Read
> it while in front of your console, and experiment while you read.
>
> And you can always ask questions. ;-}
>
Actually (Speaking from experience here) "Running Linux" is probably a
book you DON'T want as a beginner. There are alot of books out there on
running GNU/Linux that are alot less complicated than the O'Reilly books
(those books make me feel like I already have to know something about
the subject I'm learning. They serve much better as refferences than
anything else). Not to advocate it, but this is when you wanna be
running Red Hat - there are so many "total newbie" books for Red Hat out
there that it's sickenning. I would actually recomend that you just go
to the local bookstore of your choice (I recomend the Borders in south
Tampa - their computer section is HUGE!) and grab a pile of books on
GNU/Linux and just read a bit of each, to see which one you're most
comfortable with. You might just end up grabbing "Linux For Dummies",
which is a pretty ok book, in my bo... err, opinion. There's also "Sam's
Teach YOurself Linux in 24 Hours" which, while I wouldn't personally
recomend it, might be more to your linking. Truth be told, how good a
book is depends on how much you want to know, how much you like rreading
and how much time you spend "hacking" at it. the answers to these are
"not much", "not much", and "not much", then you might want to get one
of the "Visual Guides" or "Teach yourself Red Hat Linux Visually"
(They're big colorful books with lots of pictures and basic step by
steps). If the ansers are more like "a fair ammount", "I'm willing to do
it" and "I'll try to spend some time at it", then you might even want to
consider the McGrw Hill "Complete Reference: Linux, Fourth Edition", or
the "Norton's Guide to Linux", or pne that I found to be quite good
published by IDG (the "Dummies" people) is "The Linux Bible", which is a
bit dated, but most of the information is still good (save for some of
the GUI stuff whcen it comes to KDE).
Reall, though, if you want to slush arround in your system, trying to
figure it out from a "programmer's point of view without actually having
to be a programmer, then you really might want to try Corel Linux. It
doesn't install much AT ALL, save for the OS, a couple of basic tools (a
al Windows Notepad and Calculator) and is so gernerally deplete of
libraries that you'll find that you have no othere choice but to simply
learn stuff. And besides, you can probably upgrade Corel to Progeny,
whcih is cool in it self. The install is TOTALLY painless, the box set
comes with ins own boot floppy, and the GUI and tools look so much like
Windows you'll be expecting blue screen. If you do wnd up getting that
distro up, you'll probably want to take a look at the "Corel Linux OS
Starter Kit, The Complete Guide" Which is a book put out by Corel, and
it's actually EXTREMELY well written, EXTREMELY comprehensive and
EXTREMELY useful.
Ok, I hope this helped. If not, then just go to your local book store
and look at some books and figure out which you like best. Remember,
most bookstores have a 14 day return policy, provided that you keep the
book in sellable condition, keep the reciept, and don't open any
software included, so you have a chanco to try some of these at home
yourself.
Norb
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