Linux Resources

by Nathan Bailey

Searching for 'Linux' on the 'net results in millions of documents. Just where do you start for good, practical information? This document gives you a bit of an overview of most of the key 'net resources for Linux.

News

slashdot.org

Slashdot is the premier news site for Linux and geek news. Whilst it does tend to drown in flame wars at times, it remains an excellent source of current techie news. Browse the article descriptions and only read the ones that interest you. Join in the discussions with your asbestos suit on! :-)

LinuxToday

LinuxToday is published by Dave Whitinger, it's main feature over the other news services is providing an emailed summary, by category, for each day's news/software/security announcements. A fairly comprehensive site, with significant original content (interviews, etc).

Linux Gazette

Now part of the LDP, the Linux Gazette is 'a compilation of basic tips, tricks, suggestions, ideas and short articles about Linux designed to make using Linux fun and easy', published online monthly by the Linux Journal.

Linux Weekly News

Somewhat more magazine/journal-like in presentation, LWN is probably a good read if you find slashdot a bit too busy.

Alan Cox's diary

Alan Cox, kernel hacker. Maintainer of the production kernels, significant contributor to large portions of the development kernels. Read about his progress (and his wife's perspective) in his on-line diary. An interesting read, I think :-)

LinuxWorld

Before it's demise, Nicholas Petreley used to write very cutting articles on the shortcomings of Microsoft in NC World. LinuxWorld is the huge IDG group's effort in capitalizing on Linux's popularity. I haven't looked at it much, but perhaps the fact that it's published by IDG will give it PHB credibility :-) Slashdot links to the occasional article therein, and they are sponsoring the LinuxWorld conference.

Linux Journal

The Linux Journal was first published in April of 1994, and remains the premier paper-based magazine for Linux news, reviews and interest articles. LJ also publishes a portion of each issue online.

Robert S. Cringely's I, Cringely pulpits

More 'opinion' than news, Bob Cringely's Pulpits provide an interesting and usually brief overview of market trends, often involving free software/Linux (and Microsoft).

Software

freshmeat.net

The premier site for information on free-software packages, freshmeat is the first place to go if you're looking for a free program to itch your scratch.

comp.os.linux.announce and COLA archives

A bit too busy for me these days, COLA has lots of Linux related announcements for the community too, but most of the stuff is software package related. Personally I prefer to go to freshmeat for this info.

View MSWord or the office suites.

More of an FAQ -- if you need to see Word documents, there are a number of ways -- here's one of the viewers and a link to all the Linux office suites including StarOffice, Applixware and KOffice.

Linux Applications

LinuxApp's main advantage over freshmeat is its information about non-free software. If you're looking for information on proprietary products that run on Linux, here's where to start.

Kernel Notes

What's changed in this latest kernel patch? Kernel Notes is the place to find out, with links to each of the patches and the full source if necessary.

Bowtie Software

Sole claim to fame is the cheapest Aussie Red Hat CD -- $3.75!

Hardware

Red Hat Linux Hardware Compatibility List

Another FAQ -- will an XYZ work with Linux? Red Hat has an "approved software" list which is a good place to start if you're looking at buying new hardware.

Linux on Laptops

One more FAQ -- Linux laptops bring a whole bag of their own unique problems, and thus have a whole sub-community that supports them.

Security

Bugtraq

The canonical list for security related announcements. If you're a system administrator responsible for any network-connected machines, you're already on this list! :-)

rootshell.com

The slashdot of cracker news, it reports break-ins, vulnerabilities and exploit scripts. If you've been hacked, you can probably find out how by looking here.

replay.com

Playing it again for those of us who don't live in the US. (Since security-related stuff can't be exported, non-US citizens can get these RPMs from replay.com)

AusCERT

CERT reports security threats, generally vendor-related announcements, etc.

Books

Matt Welsh's Running Linux

A very popular introduction/overview written by the founder of the LDP.

Mark Sobell's A Practical Introduction to Linux

For people with some computer experience but little or no experience with a Linux/UNIX system.

Olaf Kirch's Network Administrator's Guide [O'Reilly edition]

Available both online and in print form, this is an excellent reference.

Neil Matthew and Richard Stones's Beginning Linux Programming

Could be subtitled 'Learning C on a Linux box', the book provides a thorough introduction to programming in C and the various Unix tools associated with building Linux programs.

Advocacy

Unix vs. NT

PHB info for why your boss should choose Unix over NT.

NT's BugTraq

NT's bugtraq might provide you with some ammunition.

Linux counter

The Linux counter lists registered users, which is but a small fraction of all users. Make sure you register!

Eric Raymond and the Open Source consortium

The high priest of the open source religion. Also the author of a number of well-respected 'net documents such as the Hacker FAQ and the Jargon file. Visit here if you want to understand the 'net consciousness.

Free Software

The Free Software Foundation explains what 'free software' really means. Read this if you want to understand RMS's perspective/world-view.

Debian Social Contract

An important document in the philosophy of open software. This forms the foundation of the definition of 'open software(tm)', as published by the Open Software consortium.

Help and the Linux community

Linux Documentation Project [Local Mirror #1] and [Local Mirror #2]

The canonical source of all Linux documentation. Here's the place to start! Probably installed in full on your machine as /usr/doc/...

Linux Users of Victoria

That's us! Mailing lists, web site, meetings and installfests -- what else can we do for you?

Linux Australia

Organizers of Australian-wide events such as the Conference of Australian Linux Users.

Red Hat mailing lists

A good place to start for distribution-specific enquiries. You might like to sign up on the security list if you are responsible for net-connected Linux servers.

Debian mailing lists

A good place to start for distribution-specific enquiries. You might like to sign up on the security list if you are responsible for net-connected Linux servers.

Google Search: Linux

A Linux-centric 'net search.