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Hello friends, My first time here and I am so curious as too Linux that I need the expert help of this forum. Yes I am a Windows XP Pro user. Yes I am really starting to hate the spam and adware. Yes I want to learn Linux. Now, for a beginner, what would be a good couple of books to purchase to using and understanding Linux as if I was a fifth grader? Also, since I have two hard-drives on my system can I use one for Windows and one for Linux? If I have to partition one hard-drive to add Linux, is there a book on how to do so? I would like to learn as much as I can but step-by-step instead of jumping in to deep that I get lost. If you all can help, I would appreciate it. Thank you, Thorrax

I always keep a copy of "Linux in a Nutshell" handy, O'Reilly publishers. Magazines like Linux Format or Linux Format Pro taught me a lot. Also, reading the online forums of your favorite distro or joining the IRC channels and reading the discussions are great for increasing your Linux knowledge. The best way to learn Linux is just to jump in. Download a Live-CD from Mepis, Ubuntu, Sidux, PCLinuxOS etc., and run it without installing to HD. Get a feel for the Desktop, make sure all your peripherals work, get comfortable with a distro before you actually do the HD install. There are threads on distro forums that will help you with step by step instructions on how to do the install with the Linux distro you choose. Hope this helps

As far as command-line stuff goes, look for a book called "Think UNIX" by Que. http://www.amazon.com/Think-UNIX-Que-Consumer-Other-Jon-Lasser/dp/078972376X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208557568&sr=8-1 It's amazing. Very straight-forward and teaches you handy things instad of just beating around the bush like other books I've read. FYI, Linux and UNIX are almost the same. As far as partitioning your drive, that's very easy. First, you need unallocated space on your drive. I would start with at least 10G of playing room. You might have to resize your drive using PatitionMagic or something similar if you have XP spanning the whole drive. Then, pop in a linux install CD. Format your empty space the way you want it (I just make one large ext3 partition for everything for simplicity's sake), and install. When you get to installing your bootloader (probably GRUB), make sure there's an entry for Windows in there. That's it. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/reinstall-ubuntu-grub-bootloader-after-windows-wipes-it-out/

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