Learning Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora

by Bill McCarty

The GNU/Linux® success story is well known. Firmly established as a high-performance operating system, its worldwide installations are increasing at phenomenal rates. Much of this success has been on the server side, but more and more PC users are turning to Linux on the desktop, as well. For those grounded in Microsoft Windows® or Apple Macintosh® graphical interfaces, the first look at a powerful Unix-style operating system can be daunting. This book provides a clear, no-nonsense introduction to the popular Red Hat® distribution of Linux. It takes you through installation and shows you the key parts of the system, always with an eye toward what can go wrong and what you need to know to get over the humps. Linux is known as a secure environment and a good platform to run a web server. These topics are among the many covered in this book. But did you know you can also burn CDs, sync a PalmPilot™, and edit slideshow presentations with powerful tools on Linux? Those topics are covered here, too. Red Hat currently provides two distributions, both documented in this book. The first is their commercial, subscription-based product, called Red Hat Enterprise Linux and also available through retail channels as Red Hat Professional Workstation. The second is the freely distributed Fedora distribution. The Publisher's Edition of Fedora is included in this book on two disks. New in this edition are installation instructions for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora, package updating for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora, information on the GRUB bootloader, and the CUPS printer system. Learning Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora tells you how

348 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jarrodtrainque]

Learning Red Hat Linux walks the reader through the process of installing, configuring, and using Red Hat Linux 6 and some of its most popular applications. Networking coverage includes essential local area network configuration, plus excellent coverage of Samba setup and the process of establishing a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connection to the Internet. The book would be better with some information on setting up a local Domain Name Service (DNS) server to improve Internet connectivity, but what's here is commendable. The author includes basic coverage of the Apache Web server, plus sendmail and File Transfer Protocol (FTP)./ Learning Red Hat Linux emphasizes the Linux command line for system management tasks, explaining all the vital low-level commands as well as configuration aids like linuxconf. Popular graphical applications are explored too, including ApplixWare, StarOffice, and the WordPerfect suite. Bill McCarty exhibits plenty of patience in his writing and organizational styles, assuming no knowledge of Unix on the part of his readers. This book includes lots of annotated tables that explain the features in various programs, and many sections have a procedural format that allows you to follow along on your own Linux machine. --David Wall/ Topics covered: Red Hat Linux 6, preinstallation planning, essential command-line tools, X Windows, Gnome, the K Desktop Environment (KDE), and networking./