[HN Gopher] A Book on Linux
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       A Book on Linux
        
       What's the best book for beginners to learn Linux?
        
       Author : NCaffer
       Score  : 9 points
       Date   : 2024-06-19 11:34 UTC (1 days ago)
        
       | thaumiel wrote:
       | I have found that How Linux Works, 3rd Edition from No Starch
       | Press is a pretty good book talking about linux for beginners.
        
       | coldtea wrote:
       | Start here: https://web.mit.edu/~simsong/www/ugh.pdf
        
       | brudgers wrote:
       | In the long run, I've learned the most important things from just
       | using Linux, but I used books when starting and occasionally now.
       | 
       | For me, it was _Linux in a Nutshell_ (942 pages in the current
       | edition) because I wanted a reference made of paper instead of
       | pixels.
       | 
       | Later for deep background, _Design of the Linux Operating System_
       | https://archive.org/details/DesignUNIXOperatingSystem but I
       | picked up an used print copy for <$10.
       | 
       | Those were the best books for me. You are not me. Good luck.
        
       | NCaffer wrote:
       | Thank you for your recommendations! You've been very helpful.
        
       | jjice wrote:
       | Depends on if you mean Linux internals, or working with Linux in
       | general. In the case of the latter, I really liked "Unix and
       | Linux System Administration Handbook". It's a monster sitting at
       | just under 1200 pages (for the fifth edition) and covers a bit of
       | everything from a user of a Unix OS's perspective. The way the
       | chapters are broken out, you can pick and choose what you care
       | about.
       | 
       | The modern editions of this book are primarily focused on Linux
       | with some side notes for the BSDs.
        
       | frithsun wrote:
       | Unix Power Tools
       | 
       | The Linux kernel doesn't matter. What matters is understanding
       | the history, philosophy, and purpose of the unix environment.
       | 
       | You needn't become a religious zealot committed to the unix
       | philosophy, but if you don't take the time to understand it,
       | you'll never get the most out of the environment.
        
         | NegativeLatency wrote:
         | Similar but more historical, The Unix Programming Environment
         | is a fun read, I learned a lot from it, and it's nice to have
         | some historical context.
        
       | abdullahkhalids wrote:
       | Linux From Scratch [1] calls itself a collection of book.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
        
       | jovial_cavalier wrote:
       | The trouble is that things change too quickly for there to be a
       | specific tome that everyone agrees is gospel. I think the closest
       | you will get to gospel in this space are classic books like K&R
       | C, which have very little to do with Linux per se.
       | 
       | Also, a "book on linux" is going to look very different if it's
       | based on Debian as opposed to e.g. NixOS. Linux distros come in
       | all shapes and sizes and no matter what level you're operating on
       | (just using the GUI, light sysadmin, deep systems programming,
       | down to kernel hacking), they may appear as totally different
       | paradigms.
       | 
       | I would recommend simply daily driving Linux. If you're still
       | using another operating system, ween yourself off of that.
       | Additionally, there are a bunch of obvious projects that are low
       | hanging fruit for just getting to grips with Linux. Want a
       | personal website? Spin up a VPS or a cheap laptop and build it
       | from scratch. Set up your own personal email. Get certbot
       | running. Write a simple server in C that can do request/response
       | of TCP. Write an i2c driver for some random micro you have lying
       | around. Whatever you are interested in making/doing, just go do
       | it.
       | 
       | Resist the urge to google everything. `man` has more information
       | than you think it does.
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-20 23:00 UTC)