UNIX For Dummies

• UNIX For Dummies has been the standard for beginning UNIX references for nearly ten years, and this latest edition continues that tradition of success
• This unparalled resource is updated to cover the latest applications of UNIX technology, including Linux and Mac desktops as well as how UNIX works with Microsoft server software
• Thorough coverage of how to handle UNIX installation, file management, software, utilities, networks, Internet access, and other basic tasks
• Aimed at the first-time UNIX desktop user growing accustomed to the ins and outs of the OS, as well as the beginning administrator who needs to get a handle on UNIX networking basics
• Written by John Levine and Margaret Levine Young, longtime UNIX experts and highly experienced For Dummies authors

Once you get past a couple of pointless chapters about offering pizza to Unix experts in exchange for help, you'll find conceptual explanations of files, directories, permissions, and redirection. Command explanations take a hybrid form; they mix "type this verbatim" statements with tables showing switches and parameters.

Much of Unix for Dummies is task-oriented. You'll find a whole chapter on printing, for example, that covers the commands you'll need to know to format and print a document on the right printer. Other chapters cover file searches, software installation, and X Windows navigation. The book also provides cursory coverage of four text editors--ED, vi, Emacs, and pico--but you learn little more than how to enter and save text in each.

Levine and Young include an eminently useful "DOS-to-Unix Rosetta Stone" that immediately tells you, for example, that the approximate Unix equivalent of DOS's copy is cp. DOS experts who are new transplants to a Unix environment will appreciate this translation guide. The authors wrap up with a wealth of basic troubleshooting information and a command reference.

This book, along with its companion, More Unix for Dummies, is the perfect choice for those who have no knowledge of Unix and need to learn it quickly.