Complete Idiot's Guide to Linux, 2e [With Caldera Openlinux 2.2]

by Manuel Alberto Ricart

Book Overview

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to standard Linux tasks, allowing users to utilize the system's capabilities, especially its Internet functions. The CD-ROM includes a complete... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789721961
• ISBN13: 9780789721969
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Alpha Books
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Common sense is required for all things...

Ok, If you are a windoze user and you want to upgrade to Linux, START here. Buy a copy of Red Hat 6.2, this book, and a more advanced book, like Learning Red Hat Visually (Includes a copy of Red Hat 6.2). Read the idiots guide so you can start to4 move around and THEN use the Visual book that will show you screen shots of what you need to do for more advanced use. When you've mastered the visual book, get a book on hard core programming. You will not find one book for newbies and old pro's. Stop looking for one. I started with the Visual book, big mistake. I got stuck and droped it for a few months. Do things in order and be patient. You won't learn how to edit your x11 files overnight, but if you can't seem to get your screen out of 648x480 at 60Hz eventually you will need to look there...Today, however, learn what PDW and LS really do before you start playing.

EXCELLENT book for the beginner!

I have several books on UNIX/Linux, but this is the one that helped me get up to speed! With the other books I got stuck several times, but this book is very easy to understand, and gives you all the necessary information to get started. If you are totally new to UNIX/Linux this book is a good place to start!

This book and the provided software is great for beginners

Any book that is titled "The Complete Idiots Guide" will certainly not be exhaustive in all that can be known on the given topic. However, this book is a great beginner's guide. The author is well aware that his audience may not be experts' in Linux or Unix and caters to them just fine. I certainly do not know Unix, yet I found myself up and running productively in a reasonably short period of time. Caldera's 1.3 version of Linux which comes with the book installed with little trouble and the KDE GUI interface will be no problem to anybody familiar with Windows. This book and Caldera's version of Linux gets two thumbs up!

A great book and a great CD for the Newbie

If you don't know anything about Linux this is the book to buy. Most Linux writers can't resist the urge to dump on the less knowledable computer user, to snub you with snide comments,"read the fine manual." The ulitmate Linux cult put down. But Manuel Ricart doesn't do that! In fact, Manuel leads you through the valley of the shadow of the command line to lay you down in the still waters of the KDE desktop, the best place for Windows 3.x and 9x user to start in Linux. Plus, at under $20 for software and user guides this is the best buy I've found. Don't torture yourself, start with Mr Ricart's able guidance and Caldera's easy to install software.

Great for first time Linux users from Win95/98

This is the best book that I've found for getting started with Linux coming from the Win95/98 world. I bought TurboLinux 3.0.1 at LinuxWorld and never could get it to install. I succeeded in installing Red Hat Linux 5.0 from "Linux for Dummies", but couldn't figure out how to do anything useful with it because of the orientation of the Dummies book towards the characer-based shells. I guess I'm more of an "Idiot" than a "Dummy" because the former approaches Linux from the graphical K Desktop Environment first, then moves to the shell. The reference material is MUCH more usable than that in the Dummies book. I can actually USE linux now rather than playing around with configurations and the such. In net, if you want to use Linux as a Windows alternative, this is a great book to get started.PENGUIN POWER!!!