I'm finding the Mandrake Linux 8.1 manual that came with the CDs relatively helpful, but not as in-depth as such a newbie as me could use.

A long, long time ago when I used WP 5.1 for DOS, I had a nifty Que reference for it, and it was great. I haven't really felt the need for something like that since then...I'm more of a poke-around-and-figure-it-out type, which has worked pretty well in Windows. But Linux is quite a bit different from what I'm used to, and I think a good reference is now in order.

So, does anyone have a particular newbie-friendly reference they'd recommend?

I'd like to hear from as many people as possible on this. A good reference can be the difference between learning something new or giving up in frustration, so it's pretty important.

So, what do you have in your reference library? Do you like it? What are its strengths? weaknesses? If you were going to buy a reference book now, would you get the same thing?

Dani

From O'Reilly Press, and I must have made this same post a number of times... Tim O'Reilly owes me a kickback by now:

Running Linux, Matt Welsh, 3rd Ed.
Linux in a Nutshell, Ellen Seiver, 2nd Ed.

Running Linux covers a ton of just the general logic behind how the shells work, how the file systems are put together, how to install from source, make back-ups, plus a bunch of useless garbage... honestly how many people use tape drives any longer? Its written high enough level to be tough, but not something that only an experienced geek can understand.

Nutshell is basically a dictionary of commands that goes far enough beyond the sometimes poorly written man pages so as to be almost a must-have.

The other best reference: The source , which has set up my bleeding edge wireless gear, hacked me through a dozen apache troubles, and been the source of numerous tricks.

Cheers,


Finegan

The Linux Documention Project is usuall my first stop when looking for a particular bit of penguin lore.

I don't have any hardcopy references right now, but www.linuxdoc.org combined with the man pages will have almost everything I need. Hanging around forums and reading random problems and their solutions helps a lot too.

dani - I'm brand new to 8.1 also, but a windows semi-pro. I have been browsing local bookstores such as Barnes & Noble, and Borders (borders has huge selection of linux books), but found most to be a bunch of tech junk I didn't want to get into at least yet. Ended up buying Teach Yourself Mandrake Linux in 24 Hours, by Sams Publishing. It goes a little farther than the 8.1 manual but its not real techie. Gave me a good starting point of how linux file system works, installing apps, and such.