the book thing

[Michael Bovee]

Well, some non-newbies have spoken, here's a newbie opinion:

> Which is more appealing:
> 1) A Linux book that covers EVERYTHING...
> 2) Two Linux books.  One that covers the basics... the other more 
> advanced...

It seems that there are so many possibilities, that this is pretty much 
a false dichotomy. But having said that, I would make a qualified 
choice of #1:

a) I think its impossible for someone else to know what topics will be 
too basic for me and what will be too advanced; I'm interested in 
really learning the stuff I need to know to get a distro set up 
correctly and fully functional for my needs. No automated installer is 
ever going to get it right. But I also want a book I could grow into. 
Basics in the front, more details later for configuration of things 
where default settings will Just Work and get the job done for a 
while...

b) I grew up on Macintosh (groans from the peanut gallery :0) and so I 
expect to be able to get work done pretty quickly, and learn finer ways 
of doing things as I go. (my adventure into SuSE for PowerPC 7.1 and 
then 7.3 was rather disappointing, even with a decent bound manual) I 
have often thought of MacOS like driving a tricked-out mini van, 
whereas *nix is like having a harrier jet dropped in my back yard. Its 
pretty cool, but who's gonna FLY that thing? How am I going to get 
groceries?  :0)
Philosophically, linux is a beautiful thing, and I hope one day to 
really get on board, so to speak.

c) I have resigned myself to learning the most universal unix skills 
through MacOS X, and I'm doing pretty well.  I believe developing unix 
skills is essential for my survival (and sanity) even in personal 
computing nowadays, but its hard to just 'get it' by reading a book. 
I've heard it before and I think its true that the way to really learn 
unix is when you have a problem(s) that unix solves. then you go learn 
how to solve those problems one at a time, through books but also 
through people who know.  That works for me, but it takes too long to 
depend on that method day by day.

I follow almost every thread on this list, listening for solutions to 
problems that I have wondered about. Along the way there is also a lot 
of tangential wisdom and fun.  Thanks to all of you.

--Michael