Excellent No-Charge Linux Books – Learn About Linux – For Beginners

Linux Links ^ | 2/1/18 | Steve Emms

[markomalley]

Do you want to learn about Linux? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Not sure what Linux is? To a purist, Linux refers to an open source kernel – the program at the heart of the operating system. But it’s easiest to think of Linux as a family of free and open source software operating systems built around that kernel. More importantly, it’s a genuine contender to the Windows family of operating systems, surpassing it in many areas.

Linux differs in so many ways to Windows. You might be well versed with Windows. But if you’re keen to explore and experiment with Linux, it’s worth investing some time with a good book about the subject. There are a huge range of books to learn about Linux. With many thousands of e-book and in-print books available, the choice can be baffling. And many paperback and hardback books are expensive. Step forward no-charge e-books designed for the beginner. Naturally, there are many other ways of learning about Linux, such as reading official documentation from the developers of Linux distributions, or from projects such as the respected Linux Documentation Project.

Many no-charge e-books are, frankly, little more than spam bait, often published only to entice you to purchase a book from the same publisher. Poorly written, and with very little original content. Whereas the recommended texts below are definitely worth downloading. They’ll teach you the basics about Linux and so much more. They’re the ideal starting point for your Linux adventures. And you don’t have to divulge any personal information to get your hands on them.

You’re missing out on so much goodness if you don’t learn about the command line. OK, that’s an opinion (which as lawyers often remind me is therefore neither right nor wrong). But it’s an opinion I strongly hold. I recommend everyone embrace the command line use and shell scripting. So indulge me with the inclusion of a few dedicated texts that expound some of the possibilities of the command line.

Some of the books below are somewhat dated, if only by their date of publication. For example, Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference covers Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), released way back in 2008. But that book is expertly written and the information is still extremely useful, relevant, and informative, with good coverage even for non-Debian based distributions.

Note: The title of this article deliberately refers to the following books as no-charge. They are free in the sense you can download them without charge. But some of them are not free in an open source context. For each book, we’ll spell out the license terms. Forewarned is forearmed. The defining characteristic of all the featured books is that they can be read without any payment, although I’m sure many of the authors would welcome a donation. Many users are attracted to Linux simply because it can be downloaded without charge, irrespective of the fact that the kernel (and a huge raft of software) is made available under an open source license.

No Charge Linux eBooks	Author
Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide	Alistair J. Ross
Ubuntu – An Absolute Beginner’s Guide	Courtney Loo
Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide	Machtelt Garrels
Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference	Keir Thomas
The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read	Scott Morris
Learn Linux in 5 Days	Jason Cannon / Linux Training Academy
Linux Starter Pack	Future Publishing
Test Driving Linux: From Windows to Linux in 60 Seconds	David Brickner; Published by O'Reilly
Getting Started with Ubuntu 16.04	The Ubuntu Manual Team
The Debian Administrator's Handbook	Raphaël Hertzog, Roland Mas
LINUX: Rute User’s Tutorial and Exposition	Paul Sheer
Linux in a Windows World	Roderick W. Smith
The Linux Command Line	William D. Shotts, Jnr
Put Yourself in Command	Free Software Foundation
Just Enough Linux	Malcolm Maclean

One (or more) of your favourite introductory general-purpose Linux books might not be listed above? This isn’t an exhaustive selection, but one that focuses on texts that are proven exceptionally useful. Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Any good recommendations will naturally be added to the article. This article does not cover books that focus on a specific Linux software application.

[Ciaphas Cain]

Bumping your bumpy to study.

[BipolarBob]

Thanks for posting. I’ve been Windows free for almost a week now. Using Zorin v.12 Linux distro.

[Bob434]

[[Do you want to learn about Linux?]]

No not really- I juss wanna use it with no issues lol- too old to learn new tricks

But now i spose i gotta look at it because I’m a masochist- thanks a lot lol

[Bob434]

Question- it used to be we had to isntall software in linux but now when i go to update by downloading a file, there doesn’t seem to be any way to actually install it- it just runs when the right icon is clicked- (not an exe, but like the exe)- is that pretty much standard now?

For instance, I wanted to install an older version of firefox, and i downloaded the file for it but there was no way to actually install it- I had to create a sim link to the exe like file on my desktop to run it-

[sparklite2]

It’s okay. And being a masochist, you’ll love having to use your password multiple times per session, you know, for security. My advice is choose a password that’s easy to type in because you’ll be doing it a lot.

[BipolarBob]

I hate Win 10 soooo much I had it stripped off and went with Linux and said I’ll do whatever it takes to not ever have MS on my puter again. MS stole my free win 7 games. What part of free do they not understand?

[sparklite2]

I don’t know why it is, but I have to click the Seamonkey (Mozilla) folder on the desktop, then locate the exe file and click on it. I got Chrome into the task bar, but any attempt to link directly to the exe file for Mozilla returns an error that I’m wanting a folder in a folder or some such.

[factoryrat]

Bookmarked.

Thanks!

[S.O.S121.500]

BOOKbump

[Bob434]

mine’s pretty easy to remember and type- i don’t have to use it much- i automatically log in without having to use password- th only time i have to use it is for like installing something from synaptic, or running commands every now and again in terminal.

On the link to Chrome- I believe you need to create a sim link-

Right click on the exe- choose ‘make a link’- then drag the new icon to your desktop- this creates a symbolic link to the file

[Bob434]

I don’;t blame you bob- I only use windows 7 in a dual boot scenario, and don’t allow windows to access Internet- i turn off the connection altogether- i only allow linux to access Internet and do all of my online stuff with linux- the only reason i have windows at all is to play windows only games and to run photoshop for my photography

[cynwoody]

none of the links seem to work

They work on the article page. In the posted article, however, they fail because they are relative links. A relative link omits the server portion of the address. The browser assumes it is the same as that of the current page. Thus, the links fail because they are now assumed to be on the FR server. The solution is to convert the links to absolute form (server explicitly specified, not implied). E.g.,

<a href="/excellent-no-charge-books-learn-about-linux/2/">Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide</a>

should be changed to

<a href="https://www.linuxlinks.com/excellent-no-charge-books-learn-about-linux/2/">Ultimate Linux Newbie Guide</a>

Before copying HTML, I use a bookmarklet to change all the links on a page (and all the image addresses, as well) to absolute form:

javascript:var links = document.links;for (var x=0; x<links.length; ++x) links[x].href = links[x].href;var pix = document.images;for (var x=0; x<pix.length; ++x) pix[x].src = pix[x].src;void 0;

Basically, it loops over the links and images and assigns each address to itself. That has the effect of expanding relative addresses to absolute form, while leaving absolute addresses unchanged.

To use it, copy the above code to your browser's address bar, hit Enter, then bookmark the page. Name the bookmark Absolutify or whatever. Now, when you are on a page from which you would like to lift some HTML, click the bookmark first, so that the HTML you copy will contain absolute links, which will still work when you paste the HTML into FR. It's quite handy, for instance, when copying from link-happy Wikipedia entries. All the links will still work, even the footnotes.

If you are using Chrome, you probably also will want to install the View Selection Source extension.

[ShadowAce]

[trebb]

Bookmarked - thanks for posting this.

[zeugma]

It’s okay. And being a masochist, you’ll love having to use your password multiple times per session, you know, for security. My advice is choose a password that’s easy to type in because you’ll be doing it a lot.

That's strange. I use linux all day every day and rarely have to enter my password more than once a week unless I'm doing some serious tinkering.

I would actually recommend that your password be fairly long and strong. You don't have to change it often, so your fingers will soon learn even rather lengthy passwords.

[martin_fierro]

[reed13k]

bfl

[ShadowAce]

These threads do tend to bring out people who claim to be experts (or at least know what they are talking about) yet know virtually nothing about the subject matter.

[sparklite2]

Thanks.

[sparklite2]

I never claimed to be an expert. But the too-frequent demand for passwords is a hassle with my Mint.

Unless, since I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m misidentifying a Hello Kitty icon for a password requirement.