The First Three Books Every Linux User Should Read

lessthan0 writes "Anyone proficient with Linux had to climb the steep learning curve. Part of getting over the top for me was reading a hundred different Linux and Unix related books. From that list, three books stand out as the most useful and influential. I can't promise easy sledding; it will take some work, but mastering this material will demystify Linux and make you appreciate it more."

Poor Grandma

[AKAImBatman]

...Though there are no illustrations...

...There is excellent coverage of the GNU utilities, a guide to TCP/IP and networking, Apache, DNS, NFS, email, databases and more...

...The one glaring omission is the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS)...

...Learning the BASH Shell...

...You need to understand shell scripting to understand the system...

...Learning BASH will make you more productive and at ease managing a system 1000 kilometers away...

... If you were not lucky enough to work with Ken Thompson, and didn't cut your teeth on Unix, the system may seem chaotic...
 

The author's conclusion?

Anyone can learn Linux

Me: "Here Grandma. These three books will make you an expert sysadmin so that you can use your own Linux box!"

Grandma: "What kind of idiot are you, boy? Your old grandma just needs something that works, not something that takes an associates degree from CalTech to use! You kids these days have it so easy that you think you can waste time on learning everything there is to know about a computer before you use it! Why, in my day we were too busy walking uphill both ways through a snowstorm to waste time with these neutered Enuich computers!"

Me: "But Grandma! Bash is so easy..."

Grandma: "BASH?! You want BASH?"

* Grandma whacks me over the head with her cane.

Grandma: "There's your BASH, boy! Now hurry up and get Grandma a computer she can use!"

Me: (sheepishly) "Like a Mac?"

Grandma "Yes, like a Mac, you dolt!" *mutters something about genes from the wrong side of the family*

(Disclaimer: The above is well-intentioned humor. Do not attempt to argue with it or grandma will bash you over the head with her cane.) :-P

Wait..

[BenHoltz]

No doubt that google will index these some day soon... ;)

And then...

[Hacksaw]

After you have read these books, start with section 1 of the manual pages, read through to section 8 or 9 if it exists.

Then start with the Gnome and KDE help pages, and the info pages, and swear and swear and swear at the rotten uncooperative bastards that can't agree on one documentation format, so I have to go searching all over the place to figure out how to use anything.

Oh, yeah, and then buy everything O'Reilly publishes, and sprinkle in most of Addison Wesley.

Those books are nice...

[goofyheadedpunk]

but there's really no substitute for learning a new operating system like being 16, being in a special school for gifted kids that completely stiffles any socializing after 8PM, being without a lady friend, having the drive to learn new things, and having the intense desire to show that really annoying kid two floors up that he's got shit for brains.

Everyone has their own method, I suppose.

My list

[SpaghettiPattern]

Rede these:

• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The UNIX Programming Environment by Brian W. Kernighan and Rob Pike

and you'll never be lost on any Unix-like system. Trust me.

First three?

[Limburgher]

Mine were Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, The Tawny Scrwany Lion, and The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook. Learning the Bash Shell seems a bit high-level for young children. . .

Re:First three?

[Anonymous Coward]

"Today's list of files is brought to you by the letters 'l', 's', and the key ''enter!""

Re:3 Books

[Anonymous Coward]

You're right, Windows XP is for dummies.

Re:Huh...?

[Khyron42]

A past lover went by the nickname "Cat." She had me install an alternate man page for cat that a previous boyfriend had written, including such tidbits as both of the command-line options chocolate and sex were required for cat to function normally. Also mentioned that any problems with cat were the fault of the user.

Sadly, there was no -q option, nor were there any debug features. I had to remove the program after a few months.

Re:Poor Grandma

[Anonymous Coward]

Men, don't you know that everyone is born with the ability to use Windows and no-one has to learn it? Or did you ever have to help someone installing or using Windows? Of course not; it's so easy that it administers itself!