Rants About Software

by Brian WardThere are plenty of Linux manuals out there. But from what I've seen, none of them are as well written or as well organized as How Linux Works. Author, Brian Ward, begins this book with basic shell commands and gradually builds up to configuring hardware, scripting, networking, and customizing the kernel.

One of the things that I really like about this book is that it doesn't just say "here is how you do this with Linux". This book goes a small step beyond that and explains some of the underlying technologies behind what you are doing. For example, when discussing networking, the book describes some of the protocols involved as well as how the software at the interface layer interacts with these technologies.

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[Originally published 11/14/07]

There are two things that keep many people from making the jump to Linux: Leaving behind their commercial software(1) and using the shell(2). Linux users love their command-line, while most others fear it. Once someone begins to use the shell, however, they come to realize just how useful/powerful it really is. As for their commercial software, it's pretty common knowledge that Linux provides various free alternatives to most win32 programs. But what most people don't consider is that there are many command-line applications that are also viable options when replacing old applications. You see, this is that whole "two birds with one stone" thing.

..... except instead of birds, we're talking about issues with switching to Linux, and instead of a stone, we're talking about using the shell.

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