[SOLVED] Linux 'bible'?

[leadwt]

Hi All,

What book would you suggest for a permanent 'newbie' like me who only now and then has to delve into the workings of my box to sort out a problem?

The reason I ask is that now and again I resort to asking for help on this forum when I think that, really, I could probabaly sort out the 'problem' myself - with the right book.

I'm in UK so that may make a difference although I hve bought books from the USof A with no problems. (I do not deal with Amazon!! Tax avoiders and poor staff record).

Thanks.

[NickStone]

Take a look here http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...ux%2Caps%2C291 I didn't read the comment you made about Amazon.

Look here http://www.waterstones.com/waterston...eadFormSubmit=

The third book in the list is the Linux Bible if that's what you want.

For a beginner (newbie) I would by buy books that are aimed for the beginner.

[Worzel]

My favourite reference book - and it's free - comes from here http://linux.2038bug.com/rute-home.html

[Feathers McGraw]

What book would you suggest for a permanent 'newbie' like me who only now and then has to delve into the workings of my box to sort out a problem?

I'm going take a different approach and not actually answer your question - forgive me

If you want to learn and enjoy it, push yourself. Set up a personal website and email server or something like that, you'll learn loads as you go along. I've picked up loads of useful commands (and learned enough Perl and BASH to write useful scripts) by searching for solutions to other problems (i.e. not actually searching for new useful commands).

When you need a reference, man pages are great and when you need examples a quick search will turn up info on sites like http://www.cyberciti.biz/

You'll soon find you don't need a reference for the most useful commands.

Also, don't worry about asking for help. Expaining things to other people is often a good way to check you really understand it yourself, so sometimes you're actually doing the other person a favour! Plus, I've learned a lot from reading the answers to other people's problems

[SteveRiley]

If you want to learn and enjoy it, push yourself. Set up a personal website and email server or something like that, you'll learn loads as you go along. I've picked up loads of useful commands (and learned enough Perl and BASH to write useful scripts) by searching for solutions to other problems (i.e. not actually searching for new useful commands).

Our fine Feathered friend has certainly learned quite a lot since he first showed up in our corner of the Internet. I'll agree with Sam's assessment: the best way to learn is to do.

[leadwt]

NickStone,

Thanks for the link but that is the problem (not to sound ungrateful) too many options and too many of these books are 'old'. What do you use?

Worzel,

That looks really comprehensive but I notice that it has had some (very) bad reviews although I pesonally think it looks VG and especially as it is available as a free download. I may well go for this as my new printer is gnashing at the bit.

Feathers Mcgraw, (and SteveRiley)

Yes I like that approach and it is one I have used in my various careers but . . . being retired now I do not always have the time!! I do have my own folder full of notes gleaned from my experiences all directly related to help on this forum. So . . I reckon a back-stop (manual in my lap) is still desired otherwise I will end up digging hole for myself. AND my partner gets 'ratty' when the system is not available. See the pressure I am working under?


Thanks to you all.

Anyone else with a view?

[Feathers McGraw]

many of these books are 'old'.

So are the core utilities! I doubt the books will be out of date.

[NickStone]

NickStone,

Thanks for the link but that is the problem (not to sound ungrateful) too many options and too many of these books are 'old'. What do you use?

I have the Linux Pocket Guide 2nd Edition

[ronw]

From the learning by doing camp, I learned a lot about *nix by installing FreeBSD (a long time ago, circa 4.8) and using the excellent FreeBSD Manual.

The Linux analog would be to install Arch Linux in a virtual machine using the excellent Arch Wiki and other documentation on the site.

[Feathers McGraw]

The arch wiki always surprises me at just how consistently helpful it is! Not that I've ever dabbled in arch, but I've used it for other things.

[SteveRiley]

Try working through a complete Linux From Scratch. That'll fill your head with a lot!

[GreyGeek]

Rute and the other "bibles" were from a time when inittab drove everything, and console utilities ruled the day. Now, however, even the file hierarchy of were files should be placed has changed. /etc has been populated like it never used to be. GUI desktops and their operation are far advanced from the old twm xserver clients.

IMO, the best "Word Of Linus" on utilities is Man. Do man man in a Konsole to learn more. For the Kubuntu desktop the documentation begins here or here.

[GreyGeek]

Try working through a complete Linux From Scratch. That'll fill your head with a lot!

I started to do that several years ago but realized that while the overall picture is the same, the details are so different that much of what I was learning using LFS was specific to LFS and not useful on other distros.

When SystemD takes over the differences between distros that use it and those that don't will widen significantly.

[Qqmike]

I gave up trying to find a book that was both tutorial and a good reference for quick look-ups.

I mostly agree with the learning-by-doing folks, but it is nice to have a "text" of sorts.
I agree with GreyGeek,

IMO, the best "Word Of Linus" on utilities is Man. Do man man in a Konsole to learn more. For the Kubuntu desktop the documentation begins here or here.

IMO, the best way to go is to put your own "text" together using the Internet.

1 Start with GreyGeek's references and tips about using the man pages.

2 Learn to use google search; for example, clipped from one of my how-to's here:

To search the Kubuntu forum using google:
site:kubuntuforums.net "additional drivers" + sound -Windows
site: gives you results from only the site you type; "quotes" gives you exactly what you put in quotes; + will make sure that word is there; - (minus sign) will omit the word.

3 Are you OK using Konsole (command line)? I am no expert at all in any sense of the word ('real' experts would be guys like SteveRiley and kubicle), but did write a beginner how-to covering a few useful topics:
Commands at Konsole: Beginners
https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...sole-Beginners

4 Put together your own articles, either by bookmarking topics on websites or by copy-pasting how-to text into a libre office document(s) -- and figure out a good way to organize it so you can access it or search it ("find') easily.
Lots of special topics to set aside; for example:
Understanding fstab
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131
Using UUID
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UsingUUID
Ubuntu docs
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/
psychocats
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/index.php

and so on.

IOW, put together your own text for your own use.

[leadwt]

Well I am now on-board with making up my own 'manual' as many of you have suggested and making better use of the 'man pages'. The 'man man' output looks worth printing out to me rather than all the Rute stuff - that was way too much in truth.

The idea of installing 'Arch' and working through that looks good too (I have spare discs in the box) so - given time - I think that could be a good resource.

Much obliged to all.