[ltp] Comprehensive Linux Book to show me the ropes

[Bob Toxen]

> I am dabbling in Linux with my new Thinkpad... and was wondering if there 
> are any recommendations on a book that will teach me all the ins and outs 
> of Linux.

First, I find the printed version of the HowTo docs to be very helpful.
I use the following two.  While aimed toward Slackware (my preferred
Distro that installed easily on my R31 ThinkPad), they are suitable for
any Distro:

  Linux: The Complete Reference
  7th Edition

and

  Linux: The Advanced Reference
  7th Edition

Both are published by Walnut Creek CDROM Books and are stocked by
Barnes & Noble stores (the last time I checked).


Mueller's "Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Linux Edition" is quite good.


I find Hunt's

  "Linux Sendmail Administration"
  "Linux Apache Web Server Administration"
  "Linux Samba Server Administration"

books to be quite good.  His book on Sendmail is, IMHO, so much better
than O'Reilly's that one might as well happily throw out the latter.
I learned more about Sendmail (having used it since the '70s) skimming it
for 10 minutes at Borders than I did from the many hours unsuccessfully
searching for answers in the O'Reilly's book.  I cannot recommend Hunt's
other Linux books, though.


For the programmers, Johnson's and Troan's "Linux Application Development"
is excellent, especially for C programmers moving from UNIX or Win#%^@
to Linux.


You will want a good book on security.  This is particularly important on
Laptops that are connected to other people's networks that may be insecure
(clients, hotels, etc.) or which use wireless.  It also is critical since
most people's laptops contain very confidential information, including
company documents, personal information (cached credit card numbers from
on-line purchases?, one's home address and phone number, etc.) and frequently
are stolen or lost.

An encrypted file system solves the latter problem; I use PPDD.

Anyway, may I humbly recommend my book on Linux Security.  Having been
published in late 2002 it is quite current and contains more useful
and surprising information about IP Tables than any other documentation
I know.

  "Real World Linux Security: Intrusion Detection, Prevention, and Recovery"
  2nd Ed., Prentice Hall, October 2002, 848 pages, ISBN: 0130464562
  By Bob Toxen

Bob Toxen
bob@verysecurelinux.com (e-mail)
http://www.verysecurelinux.com   [Network & Linux/Unix Security Consulting]
+1 770-662-8321  (Office)

I'll be giving talks on computer security at IBM's Linux Competency Center
in New York City on March 6 and at the "Real World Linux" conference in
Toronto on April 30.

Public key available at http://www.verysecurelinux.com/pubkey.txt, keyservers,
  and on the CD-ROM that comes sealed and attached to Real World Linux Security
pub  1024D/E3A1C540 2000-06-21 Bob Toxen <book@verysecurelinux.com>
     Key fingerprint = 30BA AA0A 31DD B68B 47C9  601E 96D3 533D E3A1 C540
sub  2048g/03FFCCB9 2000-06-21