Recommend boooks on LInux for Beginners

[TSX]

All I know is how to click on firefox to go on the internet and setting up OpenVpn. Not sure how to install or uninstall programs and other tasks. Looking for a very basic book on Linux. If it helps, I'm on the latest version of Linux Mint Mate Edition.

 

[devonblzx]

Well, you could read up on the linux kernel and such but it probably wouldn't do as much good being an end-user.  A good place to start would be http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php

I doubt there has been any good books written about Linux Mint, it just isn't a common enough OS.

What exactly are you trying to do?  Just learn how to use Linux Mint as an end-user?  If you're interested in servers, you should pick a flavor like RHEL (or CentOS) or Debian (or Ubuntu).  These will have a lot more online documentation, or books if you really are into having a book.

 

[blergh]

Congrats on the first post and welcome to vpsboard. I'd suggest having a look here to begin with. There's plenty of good resources out there, here's a few sites that will teach you a thing or two;

http://www.howtoforge.com/

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/

http://stacksetup.com/

https://library.linode.com/

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-faq/ (hint, hint)

Personally i find the best way to learn is by allowing yourself to make mistakes, get yourself a cheap OpenVZ VPS and play around, if anything breaks you can easily just reimage it in a matter of minutes.

 

[BuyCPanel-Kevin]

I wouldn't start from a book, at least I didn't. There's lots of application based knowledge you simply cannot learn from a book, besides a book will just fill your brain with stuff that you may never even use. Just try Googling what tasks you want to do and see of you can reproduce those later, or try taking a class on it.

 

[grillmaster]

I would stick with google.  There is plenty of information out there (more so with the mainstream distributions) and people are generally willing to help if you ask for it.  

I recommend keeping a local backup of your .bashhistory files, which keep a log of everything you type into the terminal.  It's usually located in the /home folder of your username, or /root folder in the case of root.

 

[RLT]

One thing to remember is how out of date most mainstream books are by the time they are published. Textbooks are notorious for having long development cycles. 

We used to say the books were about 5 years out of date. This may be less with the computerization of the industry. However I don't see the editors, fact reviewers and proof readers speeding up that much.

 

[bpsRobert]

Google is the way to go.

 

[drmike]

Welcome @TSX,  best way to learn is by watching folks in the trenches and observing how things are done.

What are you interested in learning / wanting to do currently?  Maybe I can point you towards some things.

Books, ehh, aren't really great for sysadmin stuff.   At least that's my take.  Good for very specialized and limited knowledge though.

 

[WebSearchingPro]

I do have to say a mixture of hands on and books does wonders. One single thing by itself is okay, but when you bring the solid foundations of a book with the expansion of real world experience its a whole different learning environment. There are right ways and not so right ways to do things, books help guide you down the correct path, but its your job to explore further.

 

[Eric1212]

What's a book? 

 

[libro22]

And I started with a book... haha, try the handbook > admin.com 

If you're used to Windows system, I find that it's easier to learn the fundamental concepts through a book. Try also some Linux certification books and handouts for some nice how-to's, problem solving techniques and quick references.

Although I agree with everyone. This is very similar with learning programming techniques. Learn by getting your hands dirty, setup a virtual machine, do stuffs, download packages, configure them, destroy them and fix them.

 

[drserver]

http://www.howtoforge.com/

Best way to start

 

[KS_Samuel]

Play with it, break it, find out how to fix it, fix it. Rinse, lather, repeat.

 

[RisingFog]

If you absolutely want to learn from a book, Unix In A Nutshell is the way to go.

 

[earl]

If anyone is interested, here is a free ebook "The Linux Command Line" May help in getting you familiar with some of the commands..



Designed for the new command line user, this 537-page volume covers the same material as LinuxCommand.org but in much greater detail.

In addition to the basics of command line use and shell scripting, The Linux Command Line includes chapters on many common programs used on the command line, as well as more advanced topics.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxcommand/files/TLCL/13.07/TLCL-13.07.pdf/download

 

[Magiobiwan]

If anyone is interested, here is a free ebook "The Linux Command Line" May help in getting you familiar with some of the commands..



Designed for the new command line user, this 537-page volume covers the same material as LinuxCommand.org but in much greater detail.

In addition to the basics of command line use and shell scripting, The Linux Command Line includes chapters on many common programs used on the command line, as well as more advanced topics.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxcommand/files/TLCL/13.07/TLCL-13.07.pdf/download

I have this book. Even though I've gotten to the point where I know what I'm doing, it's a GREAT reference for when you can't remember how to append the results of a grep search through something you used cat on (for example), or when you can't remember that one argument that does that one thing that wasn't documented super well in --help.

 

[wlanboy]

Want to add two books:

• Linux Kernel in a Nutshell
  
• Linux Network Administrator's Guide