LinuxQuestions.org
Share your knowledge at the LQ Wiki.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie
User Name
Password
Linux - Newbie This Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question? If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 11-11-2009, 03:47 PM   #1
mtonkinson
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Jan 2007
Distribution: PC Linux OS
Posts: 2

Rep: Reputation: 0
Newbie to linux, have a couple of questions


I am a newbie to linux even though I have toyed around with linux for a while now. I have a lot of experience using other operating system with my hobby of writing computer programs in the late 80s in DOS and eventually in Windows. I do have some experience with Unix and Linux from my college days but am not as knowledgeable as I am in Windows and would like to know if there are any books or web tutorials that were written for someone who has experience with computers and operating systems. The books I have found on linux have been aimed at people who have never run anything other than windows and probably have no idea what a command prompt is. Is there a good book or tutorial that is aimed at someone who has an extensive computer background but is new to linux? My other question involves upgrading hardware. I have a system that I built myself back in 2003 that has aged to the point that I need to upgrade. I first plan to upgrade my PCI-e video card and my motherboard next. How does linux handle updates to hardward components? Is linux good at finding new hardware during boot-up and making the adjustments and updating drivers? There is always the chance that a new video card or motherboard would be incompatible with my version of linux? If I do upgrade and realize it isn't compatible with linux, is there a way I can find drivers or work arounds for my new hardware? Most hardware vendors don't provide linux drivers and if they do, they may only work with a paid version such as Red Hat. I would appreciate any help. Oh, sorry for the long thread.

Marc
 
Old 11-11-2009, 03:55 PM   #2
pixellany
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: Nov 2005
Location: Annapolis, MD
Distribution: Mint
Posts: 17,809

Rep: Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743Reputation: 743
Welcome to LQ!!

Most hardware now is well-supported on Linux--with or without the cooperation of the manufacturers. There are two "safe choices" that I am aware of: NVidia graphics and Intel Wireless.

You can do searches here or on Google using specific brands and model numbers.
 
Old 11-11-2009, 05:06 PM   #3
markush
Senior Member
 
Registered: Apr 2007
Location: Germany
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 3,979

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Hello mtonkinson, welcome to LQ,

to your first question. To find a good book about Linux is really a problem. I used Unix back in the 80's, began with Linux back in 1994 with Slackware and Kernel 1.0. But then I had nothing to do with Computers at all for a long time. Since 2006 I'm back to Linux and to Slackware. I have read some books about Linux but the problem is that they are outdated when they are printed.
I always missed explanations of modern concepts such as cups, sane, udev which are/were (relatively) new in Linux. It would be much easier to understand many things when I could read a book and then try the things out.
Some weeks ago I converted the manpage of fvwm2 into postscript and now I'm reading the printed version of it.
But the point is that new concepts come very fast in Linux and long before any book is printed which covers this topic one has to be familiar with this. Nowadays the hal-daemon is such a feature in Linux.
One great advantage of the Linux/Unix world is that there are many tutorials, manpages and other documents which are very well written.
It may be helpful to chose a distribution which is well documented, such as Gentoo.

Markus
 
Old 11-11-2009, 07:26 PM   #4
chrism01
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Aug 2004
Location: Sydney
Distribution: Rocky 9.2
Posts: 18,415

Rep: Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785Reputation: 2785
For the cmd line I can recommend
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz
http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-G...tml/index.html
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

A cornucopia of free online Linux books/manuals etc
http://www.linuxtopia.org/index.html
 
Old 11-11-2009, 08:14 PM   #5
frankbell
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Jan 2006
Location: Virginia, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Ubuntu MATE, Mageia, and whatever VMs I happen to be playing with
Posts: 19,666
Blog Entries: 28

Rep: Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248Reputation: 6248
There is good general introduction here: http://linux.about.com/

I started off with Slackware. The Slackbook is a great reference:

http://www.slackbook.org/

When I started, I found a lot out via Google. Just be sure to add "Linux" or your distro name to the search string.

And, frankly, LQ was probably the second biggest source of help over the years.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Couple newbie questions gorilla man Linux - Newbie 8 09-21-2009 11:30 PM
a couple of newbie questions... tjb Fedora 1 12-23-2004 10:59 PM
A couple of Linux newbie questions BBB Linux - Newbie 4 09-03-2004 09:18 AM
Couple of newbie questions acidblue Slackware 3 07-22-2004 01:42 AM
A couple of Newbie Questions! saturdaysk8ter Linux - Newbie 1 11-29-2003 10:15 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Newbie

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:00 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration