Book recommendations?

Jayem · 2008-09-11 15:43:00

Hi again.

I was wondering if you guys recommend any good books (or even an extensive web based tutorial) to learn about Linux. When I say learn about Linux I mean the history, commands, kernel (modules etc) and all that type of stuff. I want to really learn what Linux is and how to use it properly and efficiently. I will be reading this book before I install Arch Linux (because if I learn about Linux properly the installation procedure will become much more easier and I will be able to set it up properly (and of course configure it properly).

So what are your recommendations for a relatively new user to Linux in general? Only past experience was a mess about with Ubuntu for a while, didn't really learn anything.

I have seen that stickied topic at the top with useful links and I will be checking these out, but I would much prefer a book where information on most of what I want to know is in one central place written in the same style as the rest of the information. But I will of course still check these links out.

Cheers!

meugninez · 2008-09-11 16:24:39

I would strongly advise you to begin by installing Archlinux following the wiki Beginners Guide http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide and then read the recommended articles in the wiki. The most interesting articles to start are listed in the main page. After you have a working installation, it is easyer to follow any book, because you can practise as you read.

If you really want a book that goes deep on linux I recommend that you give a look at http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz. It helped me a lot.

Have a nice journey.

peets · 2008-09-11 16:58:38

There's this one which gives an overview but may be long for nothing. I think I might have read it ~2 years ago and found it somewhat helpful.

Figuring out what to read depends a lot on what you want to know.
Wikipedia has a "how computers work" article which gives an overview of how your hardware works.
Playing around in the shell will get you familiarized with concepts common to all flavours of Unix (filesystems, mount points, directory trees, permissions, users, I/O and redirection, ...).
I don't know about Linux specific stuff too much -it changes fast, and there's work being done to prevent the user from having to know all the details (e.g. the kernel modules you need are automagically loaded by udev I think).

Have fun, remember to answer your phone when it rings though.

thayer · 2008-09-11 17:08:21

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 43#p393343

kclive18 · 2008-09-11 17:53:41

A lot of resources are available online about Linux (probably way more than in any of the books). The Arch Wiki is very complete and I always refer to it (and usually fix my problems) before posting here. But if you want to get good with Linux, the best way to go is hands-on experience rather than reading a book.

Jayem · 2008-09-11 18:09:21

Thanks once again. And thanks Thayer for reffering me to that post/topic, I had no idea there was already a topic created (I should of searched, but I assumed what I was looking for would be under this category... I thought wrong). I will gather together all the recommendations and will hopefully start getting into most of them.

Very helpful information all. I will install Arch Linux using the Beginners Guide from the Arch Linux wiki and once I'm in the Linux environment I will start learning! Perhaps I should use a virtual machine incase I do something crazy and kill my computer, hmm.

Ha ha, thanks again!

Misfit138 · 2008-09-11 19:41:13

Worse is Better.

skottish · 2008-09-11 20:05:57

Misfit138 wrote:

Worse is Better.

[minor_bump]

Misfit, your avatar is Metal!

[/minor_bump]

lmsguerr · 2008-09-11 20:11:43

There is a great tutorial (for beginners, intermediate and advance users) in http://focalinux.cipsga.org.br/, but it is in Portuguese (Brazilian). So i don't no if it helps you. For me is great.

takedown · 2008-09-12 02:15:08

LINUX FROM SCRATCH RULEZZZZZ

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

kensai · 2008-09-12 03:19:27

When I started on Linux, all I read was http://www.linux.org/lessons/ and only the Getting started, since the intermediate was half done and advanced wasn't even available. All the other things I picked up using the system.

Allan · 2008-09-12 03:57:21

takedown wrote:

LINUX FROM SCRATCH RULEZZZZZ
http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

Yeah, it is good. But probably not the best place to start when you are just getting into Linux.

In the same sort of category, there is also the From Power Up To Bash Prompt (http://axiom.anu.edu.au/~okeefe/p2b/pow … 2bash.html) guide which is a bit outdated but lets you know what your computer does during bootup.

thayer · 2008-09-12 15:44:58

Jayem wrote:

Thanks once again. And thanks Thayer for reffering me to that post/topic, I had no idea there was already a topic created...

You're very welcome...and I can't recommend these two book enough. Seriously, Running Linux is an excellent introductory reference which will cover all the basic stuff without being distribution-specific.

Once you've got a handle on the basics like Vi/Emacs, desktop software, etc., the Linux Administration Handbook is an excellent stepping stone into the more advanced topics like system initialization, daemons, security, best practises, mail/web server setup, etc. I've gone through a ton of Linux/Unix related books, but these two references have been faithful companions.

If you are already comfortable with the very basics (desktop apps, etc.) then maybe start with the second book and add on a command reference such as the Linux Pocket Guide, or Learning the Bash Shell (both from O'Reilly)

No matter what happens with respect to your Arch endeavours, I wish you luck in your *NIX discoveries.

Last edited by thayer (2008-09-12 15:54:50)

Misfit138 · 2008-09-12 15:56:00

skottish wrote:

Misfit138 wrote:
Worse is Better.
[minor_bump]
Misfit, your avatar is Metal!
[/minor_bump]

Hehe...
Thanks, Skottish.

Statix · 2008-09-12 18:45:26

If you want a bit of history, check out the movie Revolution OS as well.

Ranguvar · 2009-01-10 06:13:10

Outdated, but very comprehensive: http://www.comptechdoc.org/os/linux/howlinuxworks/

Arch Linux

#1 2008-09-11 15:43:00

Book recommendations?

#2 2008-09-11 16:24:39

Re: Book recommendations?

#3 2008-09-11 16:58:38

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#4 2008-09-11 17:08:21

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#5 2008-09-11 17:53:41

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#6 2008-09-11 18:09:21

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#7 2008-09-11 19:41:13

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#16 2009-01-10 06:13:10

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