Linux Book Reccomendations

aardwolf · 2008-07-13 09:49:53

Hi,

I've been using ArchLinux for quite a few years now, but a problem is I only learned Linux through using KDE, installing packages, and following step-by-step descriptions from the Internet. Setting up a fully working ArchLinux that works perfectly and remains up to date for 4 years doesn't require that much Linux knowledge, which is of course a Good thing. Editing config files also doesn't. But when I need to install something that's not in pacman, the limitations of my knowledge always become obvious and annoying...

Like, bash, shell scripting, why are there multiple lib and bin folders, what steps does linux follow during boot up, how do I properly search for files in a terminal, what is it that keeps me from liking vim no matter how hard I try, where does linux software need to put what libraries, files and links to be properly integrated in the system, daemons, which linux component is it that parses rc.conf, setting up an ftp server, why are the user accounts so messy with things like an "audio" group displaying in the rights of files that have nothing to do with audio, isn't the 3-octal number system for rights of files quite limiting and are there better alternatives, different kinds of "link" files, properly setting up alsa and what other audio components does audio go through from the flash game / audacious / ... to the speakers, etc.....

Is there a good book for linux from which I can learn all these things and everything else basic as well as advanced about the structure and workings of linux, bash, xorg, ...?

Thanks!

sph · 2008-07-13 10:48:00

This no "printed book" recommendation but definitely a great resource:

http://tldp.org/guides.html

carlocci · 2008-07-13 15:37:03

Eric Raymond wrote a good HOWTO about the fundamentals. I strongly suggest you to read this:
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Unix-and-Internet … index.html

and
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/From-PowerUp-To-B … HOWTO.html

mianka · 2008-07-13 16:07:02

Linux is evolving so rapidly that books are outdated before the ink gets dry.So follow the suggestions made before, have a good Google on the web and if you want something in print have a look at O"reilly books.Also have a look at the German bookshop Lehmanns (www.lob.de),they have great stuff about Linux, BSD and other OSses.If you are near the German border they have a shop next to the campus of the Technische Hochschule Aachen or you can order by mail.
Mayersche Buchhandlung is also rather well assorted in Unix books.
In Belgium Het Computerwinkeltje in Mechelen can order O"reilly stuff;(www.hcw.be)

ornitorrincos · 2008-07-13 18:57:13

and the always useful but forgotten linuxfromscratch.org, although if you do it instead of just reading it it will be very time consuming

Last edited by ornitorrincos (2008-07-13 18:58:00)

anrxc · 2008-07-13 22:21:47

Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition, http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

tigrmesh · 2008-07-13 23:56:38

I have been enjoying reading The Art of Unix Programming by Eric S. Raymond. (http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/) It's more of an overview than a how-to. His operating system comparisons and analysis of Windows NT and Linux are very interesting.

thayer · 2008-07-14 17:34:22

My favourite hard copy (general) references are:

Running Linux (O'Reilly ) (Amazon)
Linux Administrators Handbook (Prentice Hall) (Amazon) (Google Preview)

Both of these offer a very solid foundation to learn Linux, including system initialization, daemon stuff, web servers, email admin, vim/emacs intros, bash scripting, etc.

dav7 · 2008-07-21 03:35:00

This would probably be your most involved method, but I'd actually recommend you get, of all things, a C book, learn the very basics of C - enough to write a 20-40 line app, just come to terms with the basics of programming and C in and of itself - then dive into the Linux kernel and the associated utilities that make Linux tick, and actually get you to a shell prompt.

Read what's interesting, ignore what seems boring, skim what looks like it'd be helpful but you aren't exactly interested in, etc. Explore freely and with no structure - just be spontaneous in poking about different bits and pieces - and you'll discover you've done two things at once: learnt C - the programmer's most valuable resource - and explored Linux from a sourcecode-side view, not something many people do. Of course, since the kernel/apps DO update amazingly quickly, the very code you may read may not be in use in the systems' next release, but you'd get a pretty good idea of what does what, and how.

I've always dreamed of doing that, and one day I will.

In addition to learning C, I also recommend you look around shell scripting and learn how that works as well; shell scripting is very string oriented and will also help automate tasks easily. And try a high-level language such as Ruby, or even PHP.

But whatever you do, if you think that when you encounter something new, your brain will "optimize itself" for whatever you've just discovered, learn C first. High level languages have messed my head up - I learnt BASIC first, JavaScript next, and PHP after that - and it's taken me a LOT of effort to just. comprehend. and. understand. pointers. (pointers are a C-ism that I think that, after months of trying to push my brain to comprehend, am going to like very much...)

If this has made no sense, sorry

But just remember, UNIX is a very versatile system. With comprehensiveness comes a fair degree of complexity, but it does grow on you. And remember, there are 89346598234695872369485723 (:P) other people who have managed to "get" the UNIX concept, and you can too. Even if it takes 900 months.

I also dislike vi/vim, no matter how much I try to like it, and in terms of a console editor, have completely, utterly given up. I also dislike Emacs. I just use Geany for editing within X, and am likely to use my newfound comprehension of C to possibly create a console text editor. Of sorts. Possibly.

-dav7

Last edited by dav7 (2008-07-21 03:41:16)

briest · 2008-07-21 18:39:54

For me, The Book was always 'Essential System Administration" by Æleen Frisch ('Armadillo Book'), years ago. It is not Linux-specific; it covers many other systems, AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, ... -- but the diversity helped me a lot to understand the common ideas and solutions and see the structure of OS behind all the "upper" layers.

When I read it today, there are vast parts I have never used and much of what I did, I find pretty basic now; but it was the book that made me think Unix and like it.

ornitorrincos · 2008-07-21 23:06:38

learn the very basics of C - enough to write a 20-40 line app, just come to terms with the basics of programming and C in and of itself - then dive into the Linux kernel and the associated utilities that make Linux tick, and actually get you to a shell prompt.

I really doubt that after doing a 20-40 lines application in C you will be able of understanding any bit of kernel code(maybe comments )

moljac024 · 2008-07-21 23:28:13

ornitorrincos wrote:

learn the very basics of C - enough to write a 20-40 line app, just come to terms with the basics of programming and C in and of itself - then dive into the Linux kernel and the associated utilities that make Linux tick, and actually get you to a shell prompt.
I really doubt that after doing a 20-40 lines application in C you will be able of understanding any bit of kernel code(maybe comments )

Don't be so sure about the comments

Last edited by moljac024 (2008-07-21 23:29:21)

atriya · 2008-12-01 15:40:49

I find myself in exactly the same situation as the original poster, although I've been using Arch for about six months, and not 4 years as he/she has. I love Arch, but I see that there are no books written on Arch. The documentation, while excellent, doesn't really provide for a whollistic guide - it's more like a reference. I wish there was a book called 'Hacking Arch' as there is 'Hacking Ubuntu'. For this reason alone, I'm considering switching to Ubuntu, since plenty of books have been written for it. I don't want to do this, since somehow I like Arch much better. Before Arch I used Slackware for a while, and had the same problem. Information was scattered across the internet, but the last books written on Slack were back in 1998-1999. I'm a very up-to-date person (which is why I like Arch!) and it would bother me to read books that old. What do you folks suggest?

Last edited by atriya (2008-12-01 15:43:54)

byte · 2008-12-01 17:03:30

Arch needs no books and that's its big plus. "KISS", remember?
If you want to find out what makes Arch (or any Linux) really tick, start with 'man init'. Explore the filesystem with a decent filemanager and 'man hier'. Learn some bash basics in order to understand /etc/rc.sysinit and look at the mkinitcpio files (pacman -Ql mkinitcpio) as that's the very basic, Arch-specific 'glue' making your system boot up.
As for package management, it's all in 'man pacman' (..pacman.conf/makepkg/PKGBUILD).

It's the same with Arch as with Slackware - they're more or less frameworks for building your own Linux system. You just can't expect guides to cover all possibilities you have with the whole free software world.

SamC · 2008-12-01 20:10:59

As well, many books on Ubuntu are compilations of things that should work similarily across systems, apart for things such as apt or other Ubuntu-specific commands. Ubuntu is still Linux, and most things tat work on ubuntu will work on Arch.

SiC · 2008-12-01 20:33:04

This will probably answer a few of your questions.

http://www.pathname.com/fhs/

It's basically the authorative version of what shit goes where.

atriya · 2008-12-02 02:42:18

Thanks for all the information. SiC, the FHS is very well written. I'll definitely look into it closely. byte and SamC, I suppose I'll tick to Arch and look into the sources you've mentioned. The problem is probably with me - I enjoy learning more from a solid cover-to-cover book where there's a sense of acheivement when you finish it (and the author says 'Congrats! You've finished this book') rather than a loosely-knit collection of guides and man-pages. If I become a guru someday, maybe I'll write a book on Arch!

Last edited by atriya (2008-12-02 02:44:00)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-07-13 09:49:53

Linux Book Reccomendations

#2 2008-07-13 10:48:00

Re: Linux Book Reccomendations

#3 2008-07-13 15:37:03

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#4 2008-07-13 16:07:02

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#5 2008-07-13 18:57:13

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#6 2008-07-13 22:21:47

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#7 2008-07-13 23:56:38

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#8 2008-07-14 17:34:22

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