Tip: debian-handbook > Debian Administrator's Handbook
Preface: AFTER writing all this up, it occurred to me to perform an
in-house email search to see if this had already been recently
addressed. Only 26 references total in some ~3.5GB of emails so I'm
going ahead and posting this as its own special highlight.
KEY THOUGHTS: .deb package, online ebook, hard copy purchase.
~
Hi.. This is another hit-n-run topic that seemed selfish to keep
self-contained. While running an "apt-cache search" query, I recently
tripped over the "debian-handbook" (.deb archived) package among the
tens of thousands of software packages Debian offers to its users. If
you download that package and install it *successfully* (e.g. I used
"apt-get install debian-handbook"), you should then be able to point a
favored browser to:
/usr/share/doc/debian-handbook/html/
In my case, that's Chromium at this second in time. Chromium
redirects/points that to:
file:///usr/share/doc/debian-handbook/html/
That page displays a decent sized list of the various languages
currently available. For a quick test drive, I opened the "ja-JP"
version which worked very well (because that font was previously
installed).
en-US US English version starts here (via classic index.html homepage):
/usr/share/doc/debian-handbook/html/en-US/index.html
Is this large (22.8MB) .deb archive package download for me, you ask?
The handbook answers with "2. Who Is this Book For?":
+ + BEGIN QUOTE FROM DEBIAN ADMINISTRATOR'S HANDBOOK + +
We tried to make this book useful for many categories of readers.
First, systems administrators (both beginners and experienced) will
find explanations about the installation and deployment of Debian on
many computers. They will also get a glimpse of most of the services
available on Debian, along with matching configuration instructions
and a description of the specifics coming from the distribution.
Understanding the mechanisms involved in Debian's development will
enable them to deal with unforeseen problems, knowing that they can
always find help within the community.
Users of another Linux distribution, or of another Unix variant, will
discover the specifics of Debian, and should become operational very
quickly while benefiting fully from the unique advantages of this
distribution.
Finally, readers who already have some knowledge of Debian and want to
know more about the community behind it should see their expectations
fulfilled. This book should make them much closer to joining us as
contributors.
+ + END QUOTE FROM DEBIAN ADMINISTRATOR'S HANDBOOK + +
>From my Shoes in answer to the same "Is this book for me?",
appearances are that it certainly couldn't hurt since it's presented
by Debian via even its most basic of installs possible (debootstrap).
Alternatively, that debian-handbook package download also points us to:
https://debian-handbook.info/get/
THAT page offers a *_CHOICE_* between reading an online ebook or
retrieving it otherwise. Rightly or wrongly, my interpretation of that
is that the second option MIGHT be presenting the possibility of a
hard copy purchase via Lulu.com (but I'm not quite sure because that's
out of my realm of #Life experiences).
Personally, I remain a huge fan of a hard copy book in hand, primarily
because computers occasionally become completely inoperable and thus
so do any downloaded ebooks included within. Of note, though, is that
I've seen the debian-handbook package upgrade several times in recent
weeks which quickly outdates an in-hand hard copy. Yes/no, that's been
nothing new to tech users for decades, but still, it was worth noting.
DISCLAIMER: If I have oopsied on which package ultimately installed
those documents, my apologies in advance. If someone would please then
specify the ultimately correct package name, that would be awesome.
Happy Debian'ing!
Cindy :)
--
Cindy-Sue Causey
Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA
* runs with duct tape *
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