Linux All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies [Paperback]

Emmett Dulaney (Author), Naba Barkakati (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0470275359 | ISBN-13: 978-0470275351 | Edition: 3rd Edition

Curious about Linux, the amazing alternative operating system? Not sure which of the zillion different variations is right for you, or how to find out? How wise you are to think of Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies!

Because Linux offers so many options, this book helps you narrow them down by giving you five popular Linux distributions on a DVD—Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, openSUSE Linux, Ubuntu, and Xandros. You get everything you need to test-drive all five, including the instructions to install and use any of them. But that’s just the beginning! Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies includes eight individual minibooks, each devoted to a specific aspect of Linux:

• Linux Basics
• Linux Desktops
• Networking
• Internet
• Administration
• Security
• Internet Servers
• Programming

You’ll find out how to:

• Understand the Linux kernel
• Create a network and connect a Linux PC to the Internet
• Use Internet services including Web, Mail, News, FTP, NFS, and DNS.
• Set up a Windows server using Samba
• Use Perl, shell, and C programming with Linux
• Manage system and network security and administration
• Work with the OpenOffice.org productivity tools and other applications that come with Linux

So what are you waiting for? Linux All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies is like having a guided tour of the wonderful world of Linux!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

8 books in 1 — your key to the world of Linux!

Your one-stop guide to installing, administering, using, and programming Linux

Curious about Linux, the amazing alternative operating system? This bookanswers your questions and shows you how to handle several of the most popular Linux distributions. Compare different versions, install and configure them, connect to the Internet, set up a network, use the OpenOffice.org productivity tools, secure your system, and explore Linux programming.

Discover how to:

• Use Linux without removing Windows

• Connect a Linux PC to the Internet

• Set up a Windows server using Samba

• Manage system and network security

• Use Perl, shell, and C programming with Linux

About the Author

Emmett Dulaney is a technical trainer who has written more than 30 books, including the CompTIA Security+ Study Guide, 3rd Edition.

Naba Barkakati is an internationally acclaimed technology author.

Product Details

• Paperback: 648 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 3rd Edition edition (July 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470275359
• ISBN-13: 978-0470275351
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Overview, Too Many Distributions, May 14, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Linux All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

I really only have one complaint about this book. Other than that, it's excellect. The book is intended for the almost newbie. That is someone who knows how to turn the machine on, knows that a mouse is a plastic thing with buttons instead of a furry thing in the pantry, and so forth.

The book is divided into eight major subsections, or as the book says, 8 mini books. These are intended to be self standing so that if you want to set up an internet server you really only to read that particular book (but you may want to read a couple of others like the ones on administration and security).

Like a lot of Linux books, this one comes with a DVD disk, filled with lots of software (the DVD can hold a lot more data than a conventional CD). Or for $11 you can order a set of CD's that contain the Fedorea 3 Core distribution.

One point about the book I liked, he tells you how to make a partition to dual boot Windows and Linux. But he also comments that you might want to set up your experimental Linux system on a separate freestanding machine. This is clearly the way to go. I bought a computer at a thrift shop recently - 1 GHZ AMD Athlon - certainly not the hottest iron on the market, but it was only $75, including a 17" monitor. I've seen too many people screw up an installation and wipe out a hard drive to suggest that the newbie do a dual boot.

The problem I have with the book. He includes five flavors of Linux on the disk. In the first part of the book he goes a bit into the various distributions, but he never makes a solid recommendation. (There is a hint that this was the editors recommendation to get one book that would please the fans of any distribution.) If the newbie knows enough to say that he wants Debian or SUSE or Fedora, he probably doesn't need a For Dummies book. And the author does not say the advantages of the particular distributions, merely that they are here and here's how you install them.

By default the DVD loads Fedora, and that's fine. But in the installation section the author has to jump around a lot talking about the way the other distributions do things and it gets confusing. When you read the installation chapter, feel free to ignore what you aren't using.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT BOOK!!!, July 15, 2011

By 

PersonReviewing - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Linux All-in-One For Dummies (Paperback)

I purchased this book primarily as a review of Linux terminal commands as I have switched back to Linux for the first time in nearly eight years.

I love Linux it is my favorite OS. I currently use Ubuntu, but I have used two different distrobutions of Red Hat and two Different distrobutions of Mandrake (Back when it was Mandrake) and also Knoppix Live CD linux which I used on PC's where I could not install Linux.

This book contains a lot of basic information, but also some that is a little more advanced. It comes with some Linux distrobutions which are helpful if you wish to install Linux, but don't have the internet.

Linux is a great OS to learn C or C++ programming on. All the way back in 1973 Dennis Ritchie(Inventor of C) and Ken Thompson(Developer of UNIX in DEC PDP-7 assembly, and the inventor of the B language) together rewrote UNIX in C on (I believe) a DEC PDP 11 - Making UNIX portable to many other systems which had a C compiler available.
Linux as well as many other OSs and System software are also written primarilly in C.

"C all-in-one desk reference for Dummies" by Dan Gookin is good for learning C, but if you need more help with C consider "C for Dummies" by Dan Gookin.
I learned C with C all-inOne Desk Reference for Dummies and various reference books and man pages. There is a little errata mainly typos in the C all in One Desk Reference book but they are all well documented on the authors website and its easy to scribble them in the book.

NOTE TO PEOPLE NEW TO LINUX:
If you are new to Linux and want to keep Windows with no risk of loosing any files I recomend buying a one or two yearold computer - maybee used and then installing Linux as the only OS on that computer. Laptops that are a year or so old work good usually.
Then when you get used to Linux you can, if you wish, do a full install or set up a dual boot computer.

I used to juggle Windows 98 and Redhat on a 4GB hard drive, and to less success Windows 98 and Mandrake (Required to much RAM).

Linux is becoming easier to install than ever before. I remember having to configure my printer and soundcard from the terminal. Now most, if not all, of the devices are configured automatically.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the introduction to Linux I was looking for, August 15, 2011

By 

Christopher W Jochem - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Linux All-in-One For Dummies (Paperback)

I was looking for an easy intro to Linux to see if I wanted to get deeper into the OS and this fit the bill. The included DVD was very helpful for getting a hands-on feel for the different distributions. Worth the price.