[plug] Can you recommend a book on learning Linux?

[Sol]

Leon Brooks wrote:

>I've had three customers ask for same within the last week, and I 
>generally don't use books.
>
>The machine the most recent querant is using is a Mandrake 9.1 box which 
>is RPM-based and has a fairly modern KDE as the default WM, so I 
>suspect that a book starting there would be fairly apropos.
>
>Generally, expense is not a big problem but a book which is obsolete or 
>lacks relevancy (too computer-sciency and light on practical examples, 
>or too fluffy and up to the eyeballs in cute icons at the expense of 
>real content) is.
>
>What can you recommend?
>
>Cheers; Leon
>
>  
>
Well, when it comes todesktop user level kind of books, the books that 
come with the distros (Mandrake, Suse I have seen) do a fairly good job 
these days when it comes to explaining the basics (ie: the user 
interface basics, mostly - and it explains the kind of things that 
beginners want to know, like how to set up their email). Plus they're 
distro specific which I think is very helpful for newbies. If catering 
to the newbie with Mandrake, I recommend the Mandrake User's Manual.

The "For Dummies" series are basically a waste of time. Apart from that 
I haven't seen much (and I am a book reader/buyer) that does a really 
good job of introducing Linux/Desktop OSS.

For something meatier, I recommend the "Linux Administration Handbook" 
by Nemeth, Snyder& Hein which I got recently (published 2002). Very 
practical and easy to understand intro to the more in depth aspects of 
Linux.

HTH,
sol

-- 
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Sol Hanna
solATautonomonDOTnet