by Patrick Lambert
This book was written for anyone using Linux, from new users to experts who want to explore this wonderful operating system. The tips and tricks in this book were discovered by myself over years of experience using Linux, and learning about it. Some are very basic tips to make your computing life easier, others are advanced tricks that can save you days of work.
I tried to cover all distributions of Linux in this book. I personaly use Slackware and RedHat on PC systems. If you find any error in the book, feel free to contact me so a future second edition could correct them.
This book is divided into 5 chapters. Each chapter covers a specific topic:
- Chapter 2 covers installation of Linux. These are tips and tricks useful when installing Linux itself or any new program. Some tips will cover new means of installing Linux on non-typical hardware, others will explain how to take Linux distributions from an FTP server and make your own CD-ROM with them, or where to find Linux CD-ROMs for as little as $2.
- Chapter 3 covers hardware related matters. You will learn tips there on how to get your non-PostScript compatible printer to work, or how to get a sound card detected.
- Chapter 4 covers software. You will find tips there about all kinds of Linux software, including where to find and how to install the Java Development Kit port, and everything about the Pine mail and news program.
- Chapter 5 covers networking in all its forms. There you will see how to setup a PPP connection quickly, without editing all of the configuration files yourself, as well as some nice programs that were made to ease dialup procedures. You will also see tricks on how to make your local LAN network without unexpected problems.
- Chapter 6 is the last chapter but covers an important part of Linux: development. Here you will find a lot of tips on how to write powerful scripts to make your system easier to handle, and a full overview of what to do and what you don't want to do in C to avoid problems like memory leaks, and how to allow easy scalability.