I am very much the new kid on the block. I read a post reply from a senior member that lead me to believe that there are stupid questions.
I hope you will take my newbe status into concideration. I have been a windows user from the time of windows 3.0 . I have been using win7 ultimate until Big blue blocked my product key. I just found out it was counterfeit and need to replace my OS. I didn't learn programing after a very short try with basic. I would like to know what the best books are to learn about linux and have an OS that will run my fire fox and other apps. I have a yahoo e-mail account and log into different fourms. I dont care for cmd line controls as well as I do point and click.
What good books best to get up to speed???

Thank you
William

Have a look at the guides on the Linux Documentation Project website, you can read them online or download them:


http://tldp.org/guides.html

2 members found this post helpful.

Have a look at the guides on the Linux Documentation Project website, you can read them online or download them:


http://tldp.org/guides.html

2 members found this post helpful.

This one is good as well:
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

1 members found this post helpful.

If you are going to be a strictly GUI user, then pretty much any distro that installs KDE or Gnome (read: all major distros) should suffice. Having acquaintances with people of similar background, I think your biggest hurdle will be to overcome the sentiment that anything that differs from the familiar Windows behavior is broken. Just try to accept that Linux is a different OS, and not all things are equivalent. Both OS's have strengths and weaknesses, so try to see past the (perceived) weaknesses of Linux, and look for the strengths (of which a very powerful shell environment is one, BTW).
If you aren't inclined to use a commandline, my sense is that you won't absorb a lot from the typical books that are published. Learn by doing, and come back here and elsewhere on the WWW for questions on specific problems.

--- rod.

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First of all, your distro's documentation, then Linux Bible.

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Just download Ubuntu or Lime or one of the other major distros and GO!

I swithced to Linux a month ago after having used Win-D'ohs exclusively for the last 11 years- and believe me, compared to Wind-D'ohs, Linux is a piece of cake. (At least that's the case now...years ago it may not have been so).

I installed Ubuntu...and viola[sic]! I had instant internet connectivity- no configuring or farting around; my printer worked without have to do a THING (and worked better than it did under Winders!)- I was right at home from that very first night. As others have said- JUST DO IT!- You already know enough to use Linux - and the more technical stuff, if you want to or need to learn, you can easily learn as you go.

Most taskes in Linux can now be done through the GUI- but many Linux references/users seem to be a little behind the times, and are still treating it as though certain things must be done through CLI- but speaking for myself, coming from Winders, I find GUI much easier.

Also, in Linux, you don't have to do all the maintenance like we did in Winders- and you need not really be concerned with viruses/spyware, etc. so it will seem a lot easier to use- as you can just concentrate on whatever it is that you want to do, instead of spending half your time keeping your OS up and maintained, like in Win-D'ohs.

1 members found this post helpful.

For Ubuntu users, "A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux" by Mark Sobell must be one of the more durable investments. It is a bit of a misnomer, though, unless you happen to be an aspiring new system administrator. About half of the book deals with topics that the regular beginner may see no immediate practical use for but I feel that it is exactly what makes it so useful. It covers pretty much anything from GNOME, networking, package management, bash and scripting to kernel compilation, PAM, TCP wrappers and managing servers like CUPS, Samba, Apache, SSH, Mail servers, NFS, NIS and DNS, which makes it also a reference that you can dip into as the need arises to explore new areas.

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Linux in Easy Steps by Mike McGrath
Linux in a Nutshell by E.Siever,S. Figgins,R. Love and A. Robbins
Slackware Linux Essentials, at http://www.slackbook.org/html/index.html

Suggestion: learn to use the Command Line for Package Management, as a practical exercise.

Welcome and enjoy!

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi,

Welcome to LQ!

Linux Books & Online Magazines, Tutorials would be useful.

Just a few more useful links;
Linux Documentation Project
Rute Tutorial & Exposition
Linux Command Guide
Bash Reference Manual
Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
Linux Newbie Admin Guide
LinuxSelfHelp
Getting Started with Linux

The above links and others can be found at 'Slackware-Links'. More than just Slackware® links!

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This too: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html
and
http://www.advancedlinuxprogramming.com/

4 dupes of Brian, must have clicked Submit button many times !!

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Four? I only see two, and there was only one yesterday after I posted it. Very mysterious!

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I still see 4 !!!

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Very strange, indeed. They must be breeding.

1 members found this post helpful.

Actually I also saw one in the morning and clicked "helpful" on it. and now there are four with "helpful" clicked on all of them

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That's the kind of book I like! You may not need 95% of it now....but when a specific problem arises....you know you have the answer sitting on your shelf. (Well, I like those kinds of books...and ones with lots of pictures....)

1 members found this post helpful.