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Linux in the Workplace: How to Use Linux in Your Workplace Review by Thomas Duff
Nice book for a desktop Linux user to start with...
Target Audience
Users of Linux desktop environments who need to learn the basic tools that are equivalents of Windows software.Contents
This is a highly illustrated, detailed explanation of the basic programs and utilities found on a typical Linux desktop environment.The book is divided into the following chapters:
Introduction; Learning About The Pieces; Logging In and Moving Around; Managing Files; Getting Organized; The OpenOffice Suite; Alternative Office Software; Working with Graphics; More on Graphics: The GIMP; Communication: Working with Email, Usenet News, and Faxes; Accessing the Web; Customizing Your Desktop; Making Job Backups; Using The Command Line; OpenOffice Default Key Bindings/Keyboard Shortcuts; What Does What: Matching Your Task with the Appropriate Program; Creating and Maintaining a GPG Key for KMail; Index
Review
When I first looked at Linux way too many years ago, it was nothing more than a DOS style operating system that required a fair amount of geekiness to use. For various reasons, my experimentation with it didn't go much further. I recently gave it another shot and was blown away by how far it's come and how close to a Windows environment you can get. But what Linux programs do what when it comes to normal day-to-day activities? This is where Linux In The Workplace comes in.This is not a book on how to download and install a Linux system. To get that type of information, you'll need to check out some other title. But once you get your Linux system set up, you'll need to know how the desktop works, how to find files, how to create a document, etc. Using the KDE graphical interface, the authors show you the commands and menu options available to you. You'll quickly find that there is a matching Linux process to do just about everything you would do in Windows. Once you're comfortable with the desktop interface, they then start to examine different productivity tools, such as OpenOffice. You will quickly find that you can, once again, do just about anything in OpenOffice that you would need to do in Microsoft Office.
There is a chapter towards the end that gets into the command line interface that is part of Linux. Power users will find this useful to see what they might be able to do if they want to push their knowledge. True geeks will definitely want to find another title that goes into command line information in depth if that's what their next step will be. And average users can bypass this information with no problems.
The authors have successfully (in my opinion) walked the line in the amount of information they convey in the book. They don't try to tell you absolutely everything there is to know about a utility, but they do give you enough information that you can effectively use it right away.
Conclusion
If you're looking to try out a Linux desktop to replace your Windows operating system, and you need help understand what the different utilities and programs are, this is a perfect book to help you make that jump.