on Wed, Jun 12, 2002, Michael D. Crawford (crawford@goingware.com) wrote:
> I may have my first opportunity in a long time to turn someone on to
> Free Software.
>
> I showed my brother in law my Slackware laptop, and he thought it was
> pretty cool. I suggested I install Linux on his PC for him, and he
> wants me to do that.
>
> I've decided to install Woody. I use both Slackware and Debian, but I
> think Bruce would get better support from the Debian community than
> the Slackware one. I think once its installed, Debian's much easier
> to keep maintained. Slackware never came up with any way to handle
> upgrading either - Patrick Volkerding's recommendation is to wipe your
> partition and reinstall from scratch!
>
> I'm only going to be here for a month, and while I can do the
> installation and teach Bruce the basics, I think it would be very
> helpful to get Bruce a printed book. The online doc only works if you
> know enough about Linux to find it and use the whatever tool is
> required to read it.
>
> Bruce knows nothing about Linux or Unix. He's not a programmer. He's
> an intelligent and curious fellow, and he can run a Windows machine.
> Is there a book you would recommend I get him?
Depends on how deeply he wants to get involved. I catalog several
useful texts here:
http://kmself.home.netcom.com/Linux/FAQs/linux-books.html
> It would be helpful if it covered Woody and kernel 2.4.
Largely irrelevant.
If you're looking for Debian docs, the Debian.org website, particularly
the installation manual, and Debian Policy (likely installed on your
system) are good sources.
Roaming the /usr/share/doc (or with dwww: http://localhost/doc/) is
also highly rewarding.
> But mostly I want something that will help him feel comfortable
> operating his machine, help him do basic administration, learn to
> edit text files and help him find more advanced documentation
> installed on his disk or on the Internet.
>
> It would be OK if I had to get more than one book, but I don't want to
> overwhelm him. Maybe I could get a book on Linux basics and another
> on Debian administration, but I think he would find it least
> intimidating if I could give him just one book to refer to.
_Running Linux_ (at the link above) is still probably the single best
book covering the topic.
Peace.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
There is no K5 Cabal: http://www.kuro5hin.org/
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