Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX

My thoughts on "Running Linux"

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creedon:
I'm a documentation freak; it's gotta be on paper for me, I'm very good at reading and comprehending what I read.  That being said, I DON'T believe that spending money on books for Linux is particularly neccisary (GOD I HATE THAT WORD; I can NEVER remember how to spell it!)  There's a HUGE amount of documentation available on the internet; the biggest thing is being able to determine what information you're looking for- that's not particularly easy, given the unstructured form of the 'net.  As I've said before, the best information gathering source available to Linux users (and people who want to be Linux users) is Google.  If an individual is willing to exchange some time for information, almost anything they're looking for can be found using Google, so the situation boils down to deciding if you want to spend your cash for a book that may or may not have the specific information you're looking for, or spend some time with Google, and find exactly the information you want.  Given the increasingly rapid development of Linux, a hard-copy book may be out of date shortly after it's printed, whereas information on the internet (both archived articles and at forums like this one) might have been writen or posted within days of the introduction of some new application for Linux, and allow a user to add a new application o his (or her) system that might not have hard copy documentation available for several months.
BTW: I see you're from the Syracuse area; looks like the'cuse is becoming a hotbed of penguin activity, given Dosman and myself.

DJ:
Don't mean to step on any toes but wouldn't make more sense for a newbie to purchase/acquire a book if possible as opposed to searching the internet for a list of commands/directions that match with his or her needs? It's always there night and day internet or not and in the incident you mess up your OS or whatever and have to reinstall you don't lose any emails/bookmarks/favorites etc. . . Just a thunk

Dj

creedon:

quote:Originally posted by Engineer:
Don't mean to step on any toes but wouldn't make more sense for a newbie to purchase/acquire a book if possible as opposed to searching the internet for a list of commands/directions that match with his or her needs? It's always there night and day internet or not and in the incident you mess up your OS or whatever and have to reinstall you don't lose any emails/bookmarks/favorites etc. . . Just a thunk

Dj
--- End quote ---
Agreed to a point; I'm assuming (yeah, I KNOW what assuming does!) that, if the individual wants to buy a book on Linux, that they have some idea what the O.S. is; if they just heard a comment like "Linux is great" or "Linux sucks!", then I wouldn't expect them to have ANY idea what to search for; I DO think that a basic tutorial for Linux isn't a bad idea- I have a couple, and I refer to them every once in a while, but, as I said, Linux develpoment has gotten so rapid, only the basics have remained static; you need basics, but that isn't a realistic veiw of the state of Linux today- ya gotta Google!

DJ:
and I agree with you there, I guess I could have been a little more detailed in my post. I did mean by books, something basic because as you said we simply cannot keep up

Dj

creedon:

quote:Originally posted by Engineer:
and I agree with you there, I guess I could have been a little more detailed in my post. I did mean by books, something basic because as you said we simply cannot keep up

Dj
--- End quote ---
I'm starting a LAN (Debian-powered, of course!)  It's just a small home network, not intended for internet use; DAMN, I sure am glad that Google exists; I thought I was pretty good wth Linux- hot-shot Debian user and all, but I don't know SQUAT about networking; Debian has a tremendous amount of documentation on their website, BUT IT'S ALL IN GEEKLISH!  That's a tounge I'm not fluent in, but by using Google, I'm learning pretty fast; I figure by the time I get my LAN up, I'll know enough to be able to configure it without a problem,or conversely, burn my house down in a spectacular fire; Hey, you don't hit a home run EVERY time, right?

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