Running Linux, Third Edition

Organization of This Book

Each chapter of this book contains a big chunk of information. It takes you into a world of material that could easily take up several books. But we move quickly through the topics you need to know.

Chapter 1 tries to draw together many different threads. It explains why Linux came to be and what makes it different from other versions of Unix as well as other operating systems for personal computers.

Chapter 2 describes preliminary tasks that you may have to do before installation, such as partitioning your disk (in case you want to run another operating system as well as Linux).

Chapter 3 is a comprehensive tutorial on installing and configuring Linux on your system.

Chapter 4 offers a system administrator’s introduction to Unix, for people who need one. It is intended to give you enough tools to perform the basic tasks you’ll need to do throughout the book. Basic commands are covered, along with some tips for administrators and some concepts you should know.

Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 cover system administration and maintenance. These are perhaps the most important and useful chapters of the book; they cover user account management, backups, software upgrading, building a new kernel, and more.

Chapter 9 introduces you to the most popular and commonly used text tools and editors on Linux—vi and Emacs—and shows you how to print a document and how to use various graphics programs.

Chapter 10 shows you how to install and configure the ...