Linux Desktop Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference) [Paperback]

David Brickner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 059610104X | ISBN-13: 978-0596101046 | Publication Date: September 30, 2005 | Edition: 1

While Mac OS X garners all the praise from pundits, and Windows XP attracts all the viruses, Linux is quietly being installed on millions of desktops every year. For programmers and system administrators, business users, and educators, desktop Linux is a breath of fresh air and a needed alternative to other operating systems.

The Linux Desktop Pocket Guide is your introduction to using Linux on five of the most popular distributions: Fedora, Gentoo, Mandriva, SUSE, and Ubuntu. Despite what you may have heard, using Linux is not all that hard. Firefox and Konqueror can handle all your web browsing needs; GAIM and Kopete allow you to chat with your friends on the AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! networks; and the email programs Evolution and Kontact provide the same functionality as Microsoft Outlook, with none of the cost. All of these programs run within the beautiful, feature-packed, and easy-to-use GNOME or KDE desktop environments.

No operating system truly "just works," and Linux is no exception. Although Linux is capable of running on most any computing hardware that Microsoft Windows can use, you sometimes need to tweak it just a little to make it work the way you really want. To help you with this task, Linux Desktop Pocket Guide covers essential topics, such as configuring your video card, screen resolution, sound, and wireless networking. And laptop users are not left out--an entire section is devoted to the laptop issues of battery life, sleep, and hibernate modes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Brickner is an editor of Linux and open source books at O'Reilly Media, Inc. Before that, he worked as a Linux and Windows system administrator for eight years. He has used Linux servers since 1998, and has run it as his full-time desktop for the past four years. David enjoys reading Fantasy and Science-Fiction books, eating his own pumpkin bread, and going to the movies. He wishes his hobbies were woodworking and camping, but he hasn't done enough of either for this to be true.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (September 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059610104X
• ISBN-13: 978-0596101046
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #395,550 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Computers & Internet > General

More About the Author

I currently work as an editor at No Starch Press (http://nostarch.com) where I work on books of all types including Linux, open source, system administration, programming, and general geek interest.

I've been a Linux user since late 1997 or early 1998. I forget exactly when. I didn't become a full time desktop user until 2001, though I used it a lot until that point. Desktop Linux is a particular passion of mine, and I'm a big believer that Linux or some other free software OS will eventually be the dominant desktop OS.

My history with Linux is rather boring. Suffice to say that I didn't really feel comfortable with it until after I had been working at O'Reilly & Associates for several months and had received help learning how to work on the Solaris servers there. With that foundation I started deploying Linux desktops and a print server, and later set up an LTSP server to provide a Linux desktops to the production staff (O'Reilly books are usually laid out in an X11 version of Framemaker running on a Solaris server).

Anyway, as I said, I've been a full-time Linux desktop user for a number of years, I've edited several books on the topic and written a couple of more. Hope you check them out and enjoy them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars May try to cover too much in too little space..., October 30, 2005

By 

Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Linux Desktop Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference) (Paperback)

I recently received a review copy of Linux Desktop Pocket Guide by David Brickner. This is one of those books that you may like or hate depending on what you're looking for...

Contents: Distributions; Logging In; GNOME; KDE; Applications; Add, Remove, and Update Programs; Configuration; Laptops; Running Commands and Editing Text; Index

Since this is a "pocket guide", I don't expect there to be a lot of conversational writing and screen prints. Normally you get core reference material that you can find and use quickly. The Linux Desktop Pocket Guide seems to be somewhat of a departure from that pattern. There's still no screen prints, which is fine. But I can't tell what level of reader would benefit most from this book. The distribution chapter has a nice short comparison between a number of distro choices, but seems to be a bit light in order for newbies to make decisions (or experts to learn anything new). GNOME and KDE are quick references to the basic desktop tool, and it will help the new Linux user to learn the basic keystrokes and components. The Applications chapter is a high-level sweep through some of the basic choices of software for things like media manipulation and office productivity software. Add/Remove finally starts to show the pattern of other pocket guides, by recapping the command line choices possible for installing programs on the different distros. Configuration and Laptops can help the reader get things like mice and sound cards running, but if you run into problems, there's not a lot of additional troubleshooting stuff here. Finally, the Running Commands appendix is just a short two or three page chapter on how the command line works.

In my opinion, I'd try and look at this book first before buying it. I'm just not sure if there's a single audience that this would appeal to without exception...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource, August 30, 2006

By 

Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Linux Desktop Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference) (Paperback)

This is basically a small format pocket reference to five of the most common desktop distributions of Linux. The distributions covered are Fedora, Gentoo, Mandriva, SUSE, and Ubuntu. The author covers the basics of navigating the GNOME and KDE desktop environments and the applications that come with each of the distributions. Deviating from the normal layout of such texts it is organized by the type of application instead of by the Linux distribution. As a result if you want to work with the web browser you go to that section where the author discuses the web browsers Firefox and Konquerer. These are the two that are included because each of the distributions has either one or the other.

The section on how to add, remove, and update programs is particularly good as it discusses the various techniques including how to add a package that it not part of your distribution. Here the author not only discusses the various package managers included with the distribution but also how to go the long way around and work with rpms. This is not an extensive technical reference to any of the Linux distributions discussed but it is a good first resource for common questions and a good introduction to all of them. Linux Desktop Pocket Guide is recommended for the average Linux user and a must have guide for others who need to know the differences between various distribution.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars mixed feelings, February 14, 2009

By 

Raval Seojattan "metal head for life \m/" (Georgetown, Guyana, S. America.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Linux Desktop Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference) (Paperback)

While the book was helpful in understanding the difference between some Linux distros it wasn't all that helpful since it is a bit dated compared to the latest versions of the distros it covers.