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On 26/07/11 11:09, Tom Brough wrote:
Looking through my local library(s) in Paignton and Torquay, I find it
very frustrating that there are so few books on Gnu/Linux available.
When you can find one (or possibly two) they are either way out of date
or aimed at Sys Admins / "higher end" users or specific services
("Wordpress", "Samba" etc). Looking at my own library of books I can't
really find any books that fall into the starter / beginner category
either, and being as I learn Unix over 20 years ago, and then migrated
to Linux, my library is totally inappropriate for beginners.
So today I'm challenging the group to recommend 10 GNU/Linux books that
are current and in publication that are targeted at beginners and their
needs.
Looking forward to your suggestions.
Tom.
For starters I'd suggest maybe a book on Ubuntu.Now as much as I don't like what they are doing with regards to Unity on Ubuntu, this book covers Ubuntu 10.04 which is supported on the desktop until April 2013 so it would at least be valid for just under another 2 years...
http://tinyurl.com/3r7hr7dIt's about £15 from Amazon and the official Ubuntu book covering installation, how to use Ubuntu, a bit about how Ubuntu works etc.
Other than that, not really sure, the Linux for Dummies book released in September 2010 already includes out of date distros such as Mint 8 which is based on Ubuntu 9.10 (so unsupported as of April 2011) so I wouldn't really recommend it.
I think part of the problem is that because distros are being released on such quick release cycles in some cases it makes it hard to write a book and make sure it's up to date and valid for a couple of years to make it worthwhile.
There are a few free eBooks out there, and companies such as Lulu.com will print the ebooks and bind them into real books, maybe that is an option.
Other than that, if it isn't wholely GNU/Linux related, how about some books on things like Inkscape, OpenOffice.org, maybe even Scribus and The Gimp if they're available?
Rob -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq