Don Marti

Tue 16 Feb 2010 08:13:40 AM PST

Best Linux book for getting started?

Got a question through Aardvark, now part of Google. What's the best book for getting started with Ubuntu? (Ubuntu may or may not be the best distribution for getting started. To decide on that, you need to figure out where you're going to go with support questions, and find out what the helpful people there run.)

Anyway, I try to take anything that I post to someone else's web site and put a version here, too. Other people's web sites go away or change their policies.

As far as I know, Mark G. Sobell's A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux is still the best for learning the fundamentals, such as the shell and setting up network services. You'll need to look at the online docs for items that have changed since the book came out.

Bonus link: Why the Economics of The Aardvark Acquisition Make Sense by Stephen O'Grady. (Startups launch. Established companies make things that are "Five Years Away".