Product Description

Curious about Linux, the amazing alternative operating system? Not sure which of the zillion different variations is right for you, or how to find out? How wise you are to think of Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies!

Because Linux offers so many options, this book helps you narrow them down by giving you five popular Linux distributions on a DVD—Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, openSUSE Linux, Ubuntu, and Xandros. You get everything you need to test-drive all five, including the instructions to install and use any of them. But that’s just the beginning! Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies includes eight individual minibooks, each devoted to a specific aspect of Linux:

• Linux Basics
• Linux Desktops
• Networking
• Internet
• Administration
• Security
• Internet Servers
• Programming

You’ll find out how to:

• Understand the Linux kernel
• Create a network and connect a Linux PC to the Internet
• Use Internet services including Web, Mail, News, FTP, NFS, and DNS.
• Set up a Windows server using Samba
• Use Perl, shell, and C programming with Linux
• Manage system and network security and administration
• Work with the OpenOffice.org productivity tools and other applications that come with Linux

So what are you waiting for? Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies is like having a guided tour of the wonderful world of Linux!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #462697 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 648 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470275351
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Back Cover
8 books in 1 — your key to the world of Linux!

Your one-stop guide to installing, administering, using, and programming Linux

Curious about Linux, the amazing alternative operating system? This bookanswers your questions and shows you how to handle several of the most popular Linux distributions. Compare different versions, install and configure them, connect to the Internet, set up a network, use the OpenOffice.org productivity tools, secure your system, and explore Linux programming.

Discover how to:

• Use Linux without removing Windows

• Connect a Linux PC to the Internet

• Set up a Windows server using Samba

• Manage system and network security

• Use Perl, shell, and C programming with Linux

About the Author
Emmett Dulaney is a technical trainer who has written more than 30 books, including the CompTIA Security+ Study Guide, 3rd Edition.

Naba Barkakati is an internationally acclaimed technology author.

Customer Reviews

Good Overview, Too Many Distributions
I really only have one complaint about this book. Other than that, it's excellect. The book is intended for the almost newbie. That is someone who knows how to turn the machine on, knows that a mouse is a plastic thing with buttons instead of a furry thing in the pantry, and so forth.

The book is divided into eight major subsections, or as the book says, 8 mini books. These are intended to be self standing so that if you want to set up an internet server you really only to read that particular book (but you may want to read a couple of others like the ones on administration and security).

Like a lot of Linux books, this one comes with a DVD disk, filled with lots of software (the DVD can hold a lot more data than a conventional CD). Or for $11 you can order a set of CD's that contain the Fedorea 3 Core distribution.

One point about the book I liked, he tells you how to make a partition to dual boot Windows and Linux. But he also comments that you might want to set up your experimental Linux system on a separate freestanding machine. This is clearly the way to go. I bought a computer at a thrift shop recently - 1 GHZ AMD Athlon - certainly not the hottest iron on the market, but it was only $75, including a 17" monitor. I've seen too many people screw up an installation and wipe out a hard drive to suggest that the newbie do a dual boot.

The problem I have with the book. He includes five flavors of Linux on the disk. In the first part of the book he goes a bit into the various distributions, but he never makes a solid recommendation. (There is a hint that this was the editors recommendation to get one book that would please the fans of any distribution.) If the newbie knows enough to say that he wants Debian or SUSE or Fedora, he probably doesn't need a For Dummies book. And the author does not say the advantages of the particular distributions, merely that they are here and here's how you install them.

By default the DVD loads Fedora, and that's fine. But in the installation section the author has to jump around a lot talking about the way the other distributions do things and it gets confusing. When you read the installation chapter, feel free to ignore what you aren't using.

WARNING: Author is Manipulating Amazon's Customer Reviews.
Naba Barkakati has written a grand total of 3 Amazon CUSTOMER reviews, all three being for books by... Naba Barkakati! Amazingly, he feels that all three books are worthy of the full 5 stars and each review is enthusiastically entitled "Great reference: Best buy!".

As someone who relies on customer reviews and the accompanying star ratings to help me sort the wheat from the chaf when deciding what books to buy, I resent any author who attempts to cheat the system like this - it lacks style and is, plain and simple, Fraud, especially in the case of books that have made so little impact and garnered so few reviews (other than the author's). One of Barkakati's three books received a single customer rating of 2 out of 5 star. The addition of Barkakati's generous 5 out of 5 brought the overall total up to 3 and a half.

I would also advise readers to cast a somewhat wary eye upon the two (allegedly) non-Bakakati reviews of his other two books; these 5 out of 5 raves may be genuine but it seems more than a little odd that such stunning masterpieces have each attracted only a single non-Bakakati review. If you take the time to look at other Linux books, you'll notice that the most highly-rated attract many reviews - a 5 star rating based on just one or two reviews is an anomaly.

Customer reviews are meant to be written by CUSTOMERS i.e. independent evaluators with no personal, professional or financial interest. Even if Bakakati were a great writer, this sort of shilling undermines his credibility sufficiently for me to avoid his books like the plague - I would rather invest my money in time in books that a decent number of independent customers have adjudged as being worthwhile.

PS I don't know Bakakati and have no personal or financial interest in this area, I'm just a reader annoyed at this sort of spammy abuse of a system that I find useful.

First-class starter for Linux newbies
Clear and well-organised dissection of Linux in its various flavours. Although it leans to GUI usage more than many Linux books, it does not shy away from the command-line approach, which it does in an entirely unintimidating way - in fact, it made it quite enjoyabe.

Included is a CD with several Linux 'distros' and tools, which is all you need to get up-and-running with Linux. A true time-saver for the uninitiated wishing to evaluate the remarkable potential of Linux.