Organization of This Book
Chapter 1This chapter is designed to introduce you to Linux and help you
determine whether Linux is appropriate for you.
Chapter 2This chapter helps you understand what's involved in
installing Red Hat Linux and guides you through the process of
gathering information about your system necessary to successfully
install Linux.
Chapter 3This chapter takes you step-by-step through the installation of Red
Hat Linux.
Chapter 4Before you can effectively use a desktop environment, you need to
know some Linux fundamentals. This chapter explains basic Linux
concepts that underlie graphical and nongraphical system use.
Chapter 5This chapter explains how to configure and use the GNOME and KDE
desktop environments.
Chapter 6This chapter describes the OpenOffice.org application suite, the
Evolution email client and scheduler, the Pilot/Handspring tool, and
GnomeToaster.
Chapter 7This chapter digs deeper into the bash shell,
the Linux command-line interface. You'll learn how
to use the Linux command-line interface, which resembles MS-DOS but
is much more powerful and sophisticated. Here you'll
see firsthand just how powerful and easy to use Linux can be.
Chapter 8This chapter explains the RPM Package Manager, which helps you manage
programs and applications.
Chapter 9Administering a multiuser operating system such as Linux is somewhat
more complicated than administering a single-user operating system,
but Linux includes tools that simplify the work. This chapter shows
you how to configure your Linux system, including how to configure
sound and printers.
Chapter 10This chapter shows you how to connect to the Internet via your
Internet Service Provider (ISP). Once connected, you can use your
Linux system to surf the Web and access other familiar Internet
services.
Chapter 11This chapter shows you how to connect your Linux system to other
systems on your Local-Area Network.
Chapter 12This chapter shows you how to set up servers that users around the
world can access via the Internet. For example,
you'll learn how to install and configure Apache,
the world's most popular web server.
Chapter 13This chapter shows how to use advanced shell features and how to
create shell scripts that extend the capabilities of Linux.
Appendixes to the book help you locate important files and
directories, manage the way your system boots, and use common Linux
commands.