Useful Links

Submitted by roland tarver on Mon, 05/03/2010 - 10:56

This alphabetical list contains links to information on various topics that members have found useful.

Books (free)

http://oreilly.com/openbook/freedom

Free As In Freedom - Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software. Pivotal, fundamental and outstanding have all been used to describe the work of Richard Stallman. A must read for anyone new to the principles of open source software and it's methodologies.

http://catb.org/esr/writings/homesteading/cathedral-bazaar/

The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric Raymond. Another fundamental text for the open source community.

http://www.ubuntupocketguide.com/index_main.html

Free Ubuntu Pocket guide by Keir Thomas. I assume a significant amount of the content will be relevant to other GNUi/Linux distributions.

http://ubuntu-manual.org/

Ubuntu Manual for 10.04 Lucid lynx - will be updated with new releases, created by the Ubuntu Community.

http://ftacademy.org/materials/fsm/2

545 page free Linux administration book. I have not read it, so cannot comment on its quality; but certainly worth a look.

Documentation

http://www.tldp.org

Vast amounts of GNU/Linux documentation, covering a large array of topics. There are several forms of documentation: Guides, HOWTOs, man pages, and FAQs. An excellent resource.

Laptops

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-laptop.html

The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop. A nice article with some sound advice about deciding what hardware you will need and possibly where to make your purchase.

New Users

http://www.getgnulinux.org/

A good looking, simple site, making basic explanations for new users. Apparently has a Fedora/Ubuntu bias.

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Linux Is Not Windows. An excellent article which answers typical questions/frustrations of new users. Explanations are clear and well reasoned. Well worth a look.

www.linuxforums.org - How to solve problems

A reasonable novice guide to solving problems. Perhaps, very useful for new DCGLUG members.

Office Documents

www.odfalliance.org

The official site of the Open Document Format.

http://www.openoffice.org/

Open Office is a group of programs for word processing, presentations, spreadsheets, drawing and data bases (and more). It runs on various platforms and is an excellent alternative to propriety office suites.

Older Hardware

http://www.linux.com/archive/articles/52134?page=1

Reviews of Debiani, Slackware, Damn Small Linux, Puppy, Vector, and STX running on an older machine. Written by Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier.

http://www.tuxradar.com/content/resurrect-your-old-pc

A nice article discussing several distributions suitable for older hardware. They chose Vector Linux for their test.

Why GNU/Linux?

http://polishlinux.org/why-linux/

10 good reasons to choose GNU/Linux. Arguably, you could add Community Ethos as the 11th reason to choose GNU/Linux. Site is also useful for other Linux topics.

Window Managers and Desktop Environments

http://xwinman.org/

A very good starting place for learning about the numerous window managers and desktop environments. Thanks to Grant for recommending it.

www.maketecheasier.com

Not all will like this. But if you want to see how far the Linux desktop has evolved and how glitzy you can make it, check out these great looking desktops.

X Server

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/running-multiple-x-sessions/

Run multiple X sessions on the same computer. Use ctrl+alt+[F7-F12] to switch between sessions.

Note: The opinions offered about the (linked) information above are the views of the page author and not necessarily the views of the collective DCGLUG. The author (Roland Tarver) is a novice GNU/Linux user. 23rd May 2010.