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Welcome to Linux in Plain English! Whether you’re a novice Linux user or an advanced Linux hack, we think you’ll find this book very useful.
This book is meant for any Linux user: the curious user seeking an alternative to the Microsoft/Apple personal-computer operating systems, the programmer who wants a version of UNIX for the office or home, the Webmaster who wants a stable Internet server, the end user who wants a stable operating system with all the tools for local and Internet usage, the networking engineer who wants to set up a Linux server, or the student who wants to know more about a state-of-the-art operating system. They’ll all be very happy using Linux as their operating system.
What is now known as Linux began life as a small student project at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Linux Torvalds wanted a small, UNIX-like operating system, and so he set out to write one. He received help from volunteers all around the globe, who collaborated via bulletin-board, electronic mail, and the Internet to create the Linux operating system.
The crew ended up creating a rather remarkable operating system that works very well, is very stable, and rivals offerings from Microsoft, Apple, and Sun. Linux offers the following features:
Today, Linux claims half a million users, and that number keeps growing every day. One reason is cost—Linux itself is free of charge, and only those who package a Linux distribution charge for it (and many don’t charge at all). These distributions, such as Red Hat Linux, vary as to their installation processes and accompanying tools. You can get a full-blown, powerful operating system for the price of a book; see the Bibliography for a listing of books in the Slackware Series that ship with Slackware Linux on an accompanying CD-ROM.
Although this book covers all Linux implementations, the real focus is on the Slackware Linux distribution. Some of the commands, such as httpd (the Apache Web server) and pkgtool (used for updating software packages), aren’t found in all Linux distributions. We’ve noted where there’s a Slackware-only command listed.
This book does not feature a CD-ROM with Linux. However, we strongly urge you to check out one of the other titles in the Slackware Series, all of which contain Slackware Linux on an accompanying CD-ROM. You can check out the title list in the bibliography.
Linux is the product of many devoted volunteers, and many of the same volunteers also gave their time to the Free Software Foundation. The FSF is an idealistic group lead by Richard Stallman, and their belief is that all software should be free or no charge, so they issue a lot of useful software to the world, either directly or under the auspices of the GNU License.
The result is a slew of GNU commands incorporated into Linux; we’ve noted them with an icon. These GNU commands are typically clones of the most popular UNIX commands, created in such a way that UNIX licensing schemes don’t kick in. As such, they’re very useful, and they tend to work very well. (However, there’s no such thing as “GNU Linux” or “Linux-based variants of the GNU system,” no matter what the Free Software Foundation claims. We’re not going to get into the politics of FSF and Linux; we’ll just point out that Linux is a reality.)
You can reach the Free Software Foundation at:
We took a consistent approach to the commands listed in Chapter 5 of this book. All the commands are set up in the same fashion: a headline, a sample command-line usage, the purpose of the command (in some detail), the command-line options (usually all of them), any commands if the command itself requires further input (e.g., mail or ftp), an example of actual usage, and related commands. We think this consistency will help you expand your Linux usage and master new commands and concepts.
In addition, the text itself features the following conventions:
You can drop us a line via electronic mail at reichard@mr.net. Because of the amount of electronic mail we receive, we can’t guarantee an immediate response. You can also visit a Web site devoted to the Slackware series from MIS:Press at http://www.mispress.com/linux/index.html.
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