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Mstation Book Reviews
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Sat, 01 Oct 2005

Linux, Moving to and a Guide to

Marcel Gagne, Moving to Linux,
Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!,
2nd ed., Addison Wesley, with CD

Readers of the Linux Journal will know Marcel from his regular column there which, I think it's fair to say, some people find amusing and educational while others find it annoying.

This book is not annoying though. It is a straightforward trip through the process of leaving Windows which is made easier by the inclusion of a CD with Knoppix Linux on it.

You are guided through the hardware situation and then on to working with Linux as a substitute for Windows -- what do I use to get my email, browse the web, play with graphics, play my toons and DVDs? etc. It's a sensible approach that is aimed at a reasonably sensible person. People who want to go on to become gurus will need another book as well.

Peter van der Linden, Guide to Linux, Prentice Hall,
 with CD

I'm not going to compare this book and Marcel Gagne's. They both cover much the same ground but with a different emphasis and a slightly different audience in mind. This book, for example, is slightly more detailed, and uses the Linpire Live CD for Linux.

It starts out looking at the desktop (KDE) and then X Windows, and then onto the internet and home networking. After that, there's email and web browsing, package handling and compiling. There are sections on burning and playing DVDs and CDs as well. There's even a section on encryption of files and emails.

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