LINUX Pocket Guide
Review By: Diana F. ArsenaultThis Linux Pocket Guide is a 179 page book that covers Fedora Linux which is the latest spinoff of RedHat Linux. It focuses on commands that tell a Fedora Linux System what to do.
If you’re wondering what Linux is, it’s a very popular open source computer operating system that competes with Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh operating system.
This pocket guide is based on the Fedora Core 1 which is the first official release of the new Fedora Linux Operating System that was released in November 2003.
A Fedora Linux command typically consists of a program name followed by options and arguments, typed within a shell. The program name refers to a program somewhere on the drive (which the shell will locate and run). Options, which usually begin with a dash, affect the behavior of the program and arguments usually represent inputs and outputs.
For example, this command to count the lines in a file: $ wc -1 myfile consists of a program (wc is the word count program), an option (-1) says to count lines and an argument (myfile) indicating the file to read. The dollar sign is a prompt from the shell, indicating that it is waiting for your command.
Although this Linux Pocket Guide is designed for the Fedora Linux Core 1 version, most of the commands contained in it will work on just about any Linux system. If you need a handy quick reference for Linux commands, this would be an excellent choice and the price is very reasonable!
LINUX Pocket Guide
Daniel J. Barrett, Author
Published by: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472
(800) 998-9938
www.oreilly.com
Price: $ 9.95 US