The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use [Paperback]

Michael Stutz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2001

The Linux Cookbook shows Linux users at all levels how to perform a variety of everyday computer tasks such as: printing stationery; converting and managing files; editing and formatting text; working with digital audio; and creating and manipulating graphics. The quick-reference, "cookbook"-style format, includes step-by-step Linux "recipes."

Editorial Reviews

Review

"(With this book)I can face the Linux command line without fear..." -- SKIPPING DOT NET

"...has given me the knowledge to get the most out of Linux." -- RAVEN MATRIX

"If you plan on running any distribution of linux - this book needs to be on your desk." -- TechWeek TV!

Winner of the Outstanding Academic Title Award! -- Choice Magazine

“The Linux Cookbook is a good guide for beginners who want to learn about the standard commands that are available on all systems." -- Debian

From the Author

I wrote this book because I want everyone to know how to use free (or "open source") software, because I think everyone deserves the freedom that comes with it. Linux is becoming ever more powerful and popular, and the free software movement is gaining ground -- everyone should know what it is all about, and how they can use it in their lives.

Linux isn't hard to use, but if you're used to a completely different way of doing things, you might need someone to show you what to do. When you want to use your computer to do some task, you can break down the task into a "recipe" -- and that's what I've done to make it easy to use Linux. And anyone can follow a recipe.

This book aims to give all of the easiest and most effective "recipes" for people who want to use a Linux-based computer system to get things done.

Proprietary software denies you the freedoms that should be your right. You deserve better than that; you deserve the freedom of free software. Learn how to get it with THE LINUX COOKBOOK.

~Michael Stutz, August 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 402 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press; 1st edition (August 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886411484
• ISBN-13: 978-1886411487
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,908,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

MICHAEL STUTZ coined the phrase "net generation" while working as a reporter for Wired News--and in the early 1990s kicked off the Wikipedia era by being the first to take open source beyond software. He lives in Space Age Central, the former home of the NASA rocket scientist who planned the Apollo Project.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Linux book you can actually use to do stuff., August 13, 2001

By 

Jon Konrath "Jon" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use (Paperback)

Linux may be cool, but the documentation is horrible. There are tons of inconsistent HOWTO files, out of date FAQs, and a bunch of programmers that don't really see the problem. Whenever you want to do anything with Linux, you usually have to read every piece of documentation out there, and basically reverse-engineer a solution.

Most commercial Linux books for beginners (or at least for people who don't dig through C++ on a daily basis) are not well laid out. I should know - I wrote several chapters in one a few years back. They are usually organized by major system - a chapter on installation, one for video, one for sound, one for networking, and so on. But what if you want to write a book? Or record an album? Unless you can dig around on the web to find someone else doing the same thing, you are out of luck.

I'm glad that a book like this is out there. First, it is much more theoretical and philisophical than most approaches. That means it doesn't matter if you have RedHat 7.0 or 7.1 or whatever. It's just like if you are using a cookbook to make food - it doesn't matter if you use fresh-squeezed orange juice or Minute Maid orange juice, other than the difference in taste and texture - the basic lessons still apply.

I haven't seen other No Starch books, so I don't know if the look and feel is specific or part of the series, but it works. It's not a glossy, corporate taste - it's easy to flip through and fun to use. After reading a few pages to solve a problem, you're suddenly reading for hours and realizing that there are a lot of other things you could be doing with Linux - and that's the point. People don't need to be programmers to use a computer, and people can use their computer for more than email, web browsing and minesweeper. It's like you wanted a recipe to make some hamburgers, and you find a dozen new dishes you'll want to try for the next few weeks.

Great approach overall, and it's also very cool that you can download the entire thing for free at dsl.org, if you want to check it out first, or just have a copy on your local hard drive. I wish more books did this.

Overall, very excellent! Now I just need some more time to try out all of the things I've seen in here...

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real GNU/Linux open source! Great book!, August 20, 2001

By 

xul "xul010" (milky way galaxy) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use (Paperback)

Michael Stutz practices what he preaches. He wrote and typeset the entire book using open source GNU/Linux tools exclusively. This book is a must for users at all levels. Instead of imitating M$ Michael Stutz shows and tells how to do nearly everything using "pure" GNU/Linux tools and applications. He has organised the book very well and struck a balance between terseness and verbosity. He has correctly chosen to order the material according to the jobs to do. He deals with real everyday tasks and configuration issues without trying to isolate the user from the system. He treats the user as an educated, intelligent human being with learning skills and willingness to do some real work. Michael Stutz has added real value instead of just copying HOWTOs. His book is a MUST for every GNU/Linux user. It is for the end user and is NOT a system administrator's handbook. Thanks, Michael, for the great job! May your book be translated into some other major languages.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Extreme View, January 24, 2002

By 

"frutger" (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use (Paperback)

This book offers an extremist view of Linux.
It shows you how to do your everyday computer
work using ONLY open source software - many
Linux books take a much less "pure" view of
the system. But that's not all. It can also
claim what others can't. The dirty little
secret of Linux books is most authors use M$
to write and publish them! But Stutz is a
GNU/Linux fanatic, and he wrote and produced
the whole thing with ONLY Open Source software!
This in effect means that the book itself is
an example of the kind of things you can do
with Linux. And if that wasn't enough this book
is also Open Source! If he is right that the
Open Source movement is about to transform book
publishing like it transformed software, then
this book is a glimpse at the future.

And by the way, Linux Cookbook is packed with
lots great tips! It is a thorough guide for
learning how to use any Linux system, regardless
of your distro or hardware. It is refreshing to
see such an extreme view brought to the everyday
user. Dare I suggest that it may one day be
regarded as a "classic for the masses".