[TriLUG] Linux intro book recommendation?

al johnson alfjon at mindspring.com
Sat Oct 18 05:20:15 EDT 2003


Well, now that we're on the topic of  "Linux magazine articles for newbies",  
I would highly recommend Linux Format Magazine from Great Britain, which 
although it has a few peculiar British words, has excellent writing for any 
Linux newbie. Moreover, if you get the magazine you will end up with a lot of 
different Linux distributions on disk with each issue.  If you can stomach 
the very "British English", I think it's actually a lot better magazine than 
any of the other Linux magazines because it has lots of attractive colored 
pictures which breaks the monotony of page after page of only text, lots of 
equipment reviews, and it has lots of interesting articles for anyone who's 
new to Linux as well as lots of info for intermediate and advanced users. 
     But just saying that you can give someone Mandrake and think that that's 
all someone needs to learn the Linux desktop, is sadly a bad mistake.  
     
Just today I've been trying to figure out how to backup up a  CD, without 
accessing the Terminal, e.g. how can you do this without  becoming a 
super-user. I can burn disks without becoming a superuser, but that doesn't 
seem to be the case if I just want to copy a CD, because apparently you need 
to be a super-user to merely access the CD you want to copy in the first 
place!!  

    I'm also frustrated with another problem: Is it possible to access the 
Man files without using the terminal?  

   It seems that whenever you click on a program's "Help" command, instead of 
getting the Man file you get all this stuff about KDE, instead of useful 
information about the program you need the "help" with.
    A few of the programs do give you the proper help file, but others just 
throw everything about KDE and the kitchen sink at you and expect you to sort 
it all out. There a lots of other surprises as well with a Linux desktop, one 
of my biggest peeves is that if you're sorting through a large quantity of 
files that you've created, and you might be editing them one by one, once you 
leave the list of files to access another program AND THEN COME BACK TO THE 
LIST THE LAST FILE YOU WERE USING IS NOT INDICATED!!! This forces you to make 
a written note of the file you edited so you can continue with the next one. 
    In case you're wondering, my reason for not wanting to take the 
"superuser" route with MAN files, if I can help it, is that one of the 
reasons I like Linux is that (unlike any Microsoft product) there is a 
protective barrier against my inadvertently screwing up a fully functioning 
operating Linux system. If I'm doing something that could lead to disaster 
I'm warned of that because I have to become a "superuser". I just don't think 
you should have to become a "superuser" to read a program's Man file or to 
look at the files that are on a CD in the CDROM drive. 
     My philosophy is that you shouldn't have to become a superuser unless 
you want to install a program, a new kernel, or something of a more serious 
nature etc., but you definitely should be able to just get a Man file without 
having to become a super-user. There probably is a program that could fetch 
these man files, but it's not self-evident which one could do the job. Maybe 
someone's already written it. -- Al Johnson.
================================================================
 


On Friday 17 October 2003 01:03 pm, you wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-10-17 at 11:33, elfick wrote:
> > On Fri, 2003-10-17 at 10:46, Tanner Lovelace wrote:
> > > Neuronet wrote:
> > > > Having said that, Marcel Gagne's Linux System Administration; A
> > > > User's Guide was a good read.
> > >
> > > I've always found his Linux Journal column rather boring (probably
> > > because I don't like the entire chef thing).  Is the book any different
> > > than his LJ columns?  (Note, however, this is my personal opinion and
> > > other people's opinion may differ.)
> >
> > Definately! His stupid shticht only serves to make the article difficult
> > to read and I am far to impatient to cull through his dribble to pick
> > out the useful bits. It ends up just being wasted space in the magazine
> > IMNSHO. :-)
> >
> > Lee
>
> And here I thought I was the only one who couldn't stand the chef crap.
> I agree, it makes the articles hard to follow and the useful information
> hard to find. I was shocked to see he made their "Reader's Choice" list.
> If I'm remembering correctly. I don't have my issue handy.
>
> Ken




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