2. Sources of Information

2.1. Documentation Available via FTP

If you have access to anonymous FTP, you can obtain all Linux documentation listed above from various sites, including metalab.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs and tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/docs.

These sites are mirrored by a number of sites around the world.

2.2. Documentation Available via WWW

There are many Linux-based WWW sites available. The home site for the Linux Documentation Project can be accessed at http://www.linuxdoc.org/.

The Open Source Writers Guild (OSWG) is a project that has a scope that extends beyond Linux. The OSWG, like this book, is committed to advocating and facilitating the production of OpenSource documentation. The OSWG home site is at http://www.oswg.org:8080/oswg.

Both of these sites contain hypertext (and other) versions of many Linux related documents.

2.3. Documentation Available Commercially

A number of publishing companies and software vendors publish the works of the Linux Documentation Project. Two such vendors are:

Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. (SSC) 
http://www.ssc.com/ 
P.O. Box 55549 Seattle, WA 98155-0549 
1-206-782-7733 
1-206-782-7191 (FAX) 
[email protected]

and:

Linux Systems Labs
http://www.lsl.com/
18300 Tara Drive
Clinton Township, MI 48036
1-810-987-8807
1-810-987-3562 (FAX)
[email protected]

Both companies sell compendiums of Linux HOWTO documents and other Linux documentation in printed and bound form.

O'Reilly & Associates publishes a series of Linux books. This one is a work of the Linux Documentation Project, but most have been independently authored. Their range includes:

2.4. Linux Journal and Linux Magazine

Linux Journal and Linux Magazine are monthly magazines for the Linux community, written and published by a number of Linux activists. They contain articles ranging from novice questions and answers to kernel programming internals. Even if you have Usenet access, these magazines are a good way to stay in touch with the Linux community.

Linux Journal is the oldest magazine and is published by S.S.C. Incorporated, for which details were listed previously. You can also find the magazine on the World Wide Web at http://www.linuxjournal.com/.

Linux Magazine is a newer, independent publication. The home web site for the magazine is http://www.linuxmagazine.com/.

2.5. Linux Usenet Newsgroups

If you have access to Usenet news, the following Linux-related newsgroups are available:

There are also several newsgroups devoted to Linux in languages other than English, such as fr.comp.os.linux in French and de.comp.os.linux in German.

2.6. Linux Mailing Lists

There is a large number of specialist Linux mailing lists on which you will find many people willing to help with questions you might have.

The best-known of these are the lists hosted by Rutgers University. You may subscribe to these lists by sending an email message formatted as follows:

To: [email protected]
Subject: anything at all
Body:

subscribe listname

Some of the available lists related to Linux networking are:

2.7. Online Linux Support

There are many ways of obtaining help online, where volunteers from around the world offer expertise and services to assist users with questions and problems.

The OpenProjects IRC Network is an IRC network devoted entirely to Open Projects—Open Source and Open Hardware alike. Some of its channels are designed to provide online Linux support services. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat, and is a network service that allows you to talk interactively on the Internet to other users. IRC networks support multiple channels on which groups of people talk. Whatever you type in a channel is seen by all other users of that channel.

There are a number of active channels on the OpenProjects IRC network where you will find users 24 hours a day, 7 days a week who are willing and able to help you solve any Linux problems you may have, or just chat. You can use this service by installing an IRC client like irc-II, connecting to servername irc.openprojects.org:6667, and joining the #linpeople channel.

2.8. Linux User Groups

Many Linux User Groups around the world offer direct support to users. Many Linux User Groups engage in activities such as installation days, talks and seminars, demonstration nights, and other completely social events. Linux User Groups are a great way of meeting other Linux users in your area. There are a number of published lists of Linux User Groups. Some of the better-known ones are:

2.9. Obtaining Linux

There is no single distribution of the Linux software; instead, there are many distributions, such as Debian, RedHat, Caldera, Corel, SuSE, and Slackware. Each distribution contains everything you need to run a complete Linux system: the kernel, basic utilities, libraries, support files, and applications software.

Linux distributions may be obtained via a number of online sources, such as the Internet. Each of the major distributions has its own FTP and web site. Some of these sites are:

metalab.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/distributions/
ftp.funet.fi:/pub/Linux/mirrors/
tsx-11.mit.edu:/pub/linux/distributions/
mirror.aarnet.edu.au:/pub/linux/distributions/

Many of the modern distributions can be installed directly from the Internet. There is a lot of software to download for a typical installation, though, so you'd probably want to do this only if you have a high-speed, permanent network connection, or if you just need to update an existing installation.[1]

Linux may be purchased on CD-ROM from an increasing number of software vendors. If your local computer store doesn't have it, perhaps you should ask them to stock it! Most of the popular distributions can be obtained on CD-ROM. Some vendors produce products containing multiple CD-ROMs, each of which provides a different Linux distribution. This is an ideal way to try a number of different distributions before you settle on your favorite one.