New users are flocking to Linux literally by the millions. Yet most of these new users draw from Microsoft Windows as their primary computing experience; for them an operating system from the UNIX family is an unfamiliar experience. In Learning Red Hat Linux, Bill McCarty has written a book aimed specifically at this new audience.
Learning Red Hat Linux will guide any new user of Linux through the installing and use of the Red Hat® version of the free operating system that is shaking up the commercial world of software. It demystifies Linux in terms familiar to Windows users and gives readers only what they need to start being successful users of Linux.
Built around the popular Red Hat distribution of Linux, Learning Red Hat Linux takes the reader step by step through the process of installing and setting up a Red Hat Linux system, and provides a thorough but gentle introduction to the basics of using Red Hat Linux.
Because the book is written specifically for the enclosed CD, the reader needs nothing else to get started with this exciting new operating system.
Chapter 1 Why Run Linux?
Linux at Home and at Work
What is Linux?
Reasons to Choose or Not Choose Linux
Linux Resources on the Internet
Chapter 2 Preparing to Install Linux
Minimum Hardware Requirements
Collecting Information About Your System
Installation Types
Preparing Your Hard Disk
Chapter 3 Installing Linux
Installing the Operating System and Applications
Configuring Devices and Services
Completing the Installation
Getting Help
Chapter 4 Issuing Linux Commands
The System Use Cycle
Working with the Linux Command Prompt
How Linux Organizes Data
Working with Devices
Useful Linux Programs
Chapter 5 Installing and Configuring the X Window System
Bill McCarty is associate professor of management information systems in the School of Business and Management of Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, California, and was previously associate professor of computer science, in which capacity he taught for ten years in Azusa Pacific's Master of Applied Computer Science program. Bill holds a Ph.D. in the management of information systems from the Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California, and worked for 15 years as a software developer and manager.
Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The cover image of a man wearing a wide-brimmed hat is adapted from a 19th-century engraving from Marvels of the New West: A Vivid Portrayal of the Stupendous Marvels in the Vast Wonderland West of the Missouri River, by William Thayer (The Henry Bill Publishing Co., Norwich, CT, 1888). David Futato was the production editor and copyeditor for Learning Red Hat Linux; Ellie Cutler was the proofreader; Kimo Carter provided production assistance; Sarah Jane Shangraw, Jeff Holcomb, and Claire Cloutier LeBlanc provided quality control. Robert Romano and Rhon Porter created the illustrations using Adobe Photoshop 5 and Macromedia FreeHand 8. Brenda Miller wrote the index.
The cover layout was designed by Hanna Dyer and produced by Kathleen Wilson with QuarkXPress 3.32 and Adobe Photoshop 5 software, using the ITC Garamond Condensed font. The interior layouts were designed by Alicia Cech, based on a series design created by Edie Freedman and Jennifer Niederst and modified by Nancy Priest. Chapter opening graphics are from the Dover Pictorial Archive and Marvels of the New West.
Interior fonts are Adobe ITC Garamond and Adobe ConstantWillison. Text was prepared in SGML using the DocBook 2.1 DTD. The print version of this book was created by translating the SGML source into a set of gtroff macros using a filter developed at O'Reilly by Norman Walsh. Steve Talbott designed and wrote the underlying macro set on the basis of the GNU gtroff –gs macros; Lenny Muellner adapted them to SGML and implemented the book design. The GNUgroff text formatter version 1.09 was used to generate PostScript output; this output was distilled to PDF for use at press.
Great book. Bill McCarty does a great job of explained Linux to a Windows based user. If you wanting to move to Linux, this book is a must.
6/28/2000
(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
4.0
Learning Red Hat Linux Review
By Peter Kunz
from Undisclosed
Comments about oreilly Learning Red Hat Linux:
I have been reading learning red hat Linux.(by Bill McCarty) This person knows how to get certain points across that are difficult to understand. If the the point is difficult he will relate it so that it is very easy to understand. I have been reading other books on operating system and networking (Micrsoft)it is like they donot want you to understand their product. I have been very impressed with this book and the operating system and are hoping to get involed and learn this system. One little comment about this book certain short forms would be nice if they were in full context in brackets eg. page 205
IP number. I know that it is the designated address for your computer or number but what is the full version of IP number. It is easier when you are learning this.
