ch15.htm

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<H1></H1>



<UL>

	<LI><A HREF="#Heading1">- 15 -</A>

	<UL>

		<LI><A HREF="#Heading2">Using the Linux Documentation</A>

		<UL>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading3">The Linux Documentation Project</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading4">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading5">CD-ROM Documentation</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading6">Listing 15.1. The contents of the /docs directory.</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading7">Listing 15.2. The files in the /usr/doc directory.</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading8">HOWTO Documents</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading9">Usenet Newsgroups</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading10">World Wide Web Sites</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading11">Linux Journal</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading12">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading13">NOTE</A>

			<LI><A HREF="#Heading14">Summary</A>

		</UL>

	</UL>

</UL>



<P>

<HR SIZE="4">



<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading1<FONT COLOR="#000077">- 15 -</FONT></H2>

<H2 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading2<FONT COLOR="#000077">Using the Linux Documentation</FONT></H2>

<P><I>by Tim Parker and Kamran Husain</I></P>



<P>IN THIS CHAPTER</P>



<UL>

	<LI>The Linux Documentation Project 

	<P>

	<LI>CD-ROM Documentation 

	<P>

	<LI>HOWTO Documents 

	<P>

	<LI>Usenet Newsgroups 

	<P>

	<LI>World Wide Web Sites 

	<P>

	<LI>Linux Journal 

</UL>



<P>This chapter takes a brief look at the documentation available from the Linux

CD-ROM, as well as alternative sources. You will read about the following topics:



<UL>

	<LI>What documentation is available on the CD-ROM

	<P>

	<LI>Where to go on the Internet for more information

	<P>

	<LI>Linux newsgroups you should check for help

</UL>



<P>This book should provide most of the information you'll need in order to get going

with Linux, but you might need to investigate other sources of information for various

reasons (such as hardware support or troubleshooting).

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading3<FONT COLOR="#000077">The Linux Documentation

Project</FONT></H3>

<P>The first exposure most people get to Linux is a book like the one you are now

reading or the Linux <TT>INFO-SHEET</TT>, a relatively short ASCII document available

from Usenet, BBSs (bulletin board systems), and many user groups. The <TT>INFO-SHEET</TT>

is a quick summary of Linux posted at regular intervals to the Linux newsgroups on

Usenet. In addition, you can find the <TT>INFO-SHEET</TT> on this book's CD-ROM,

in the <TT>/cdrom/docs</TT> directory.</P>

<P>As Linux was developed, several programmers started writing brief guides to their

contributions, as well as wider areas of the operating system. These documents, while

usually terse and awkward to read, did provide others with enough information to

continue their own use of Linux. Over a short span, the documentation for Linux began

growing rapidly, and a central organizing body became necessary to help keep it on

track and avoid unnecessary duplication.</P>

<P>The Linux Documentation Project was created to provide a complete set of public

domain documentation for Linux. From a few rough installation notes a couple of years

ago, the documentation has expanded to include almost a thousand pages, some very

good, some not. The following primary documents are currently available or soon to

be released:



<UL>

	<LI>Linux Installation explains how to install and configure Linux.

	<P>

	<LI>The Linux User's Guide is a guide for first-time users.

	<P>

	<LI>The Linux System Administrator's Guide gives information about various aspects

	of system administration.

	<P>

	<LI>The Linux Network Administration Guide explains how to set up and use networks.

	<P>

	<LI>The Linux Kernel Hacker's Guide is a guide to modifying the Linux kernel.

</UL>



<P>In addition to these primary documents, there are about a dozen smaller guides

to specific or esoteric aspects of Linux. These smaller guides are called <TT>HOWTO</TT>

documents. Together they form a growing document suite that covers practically every

aspect of Linux. These documents are available with most distributions of the software.

Not all the documents are up-to-date, because changes to the operating system have

occurred since they were first written. Several people wrote the Linux documents,

so the styles and layout are not consistent. A printed copy of the Linux Documentation

Project is available from Linux Systems Labs and some bookstores.



<DL>

	<DT></DT>

</DL>





<DL>

	<DD>

<HR>

<A NAME="Heading4<FONT COLOR="#000077"><B>NOTE:</B> </FONT>You can contact

	the Linux Systems Labs at 49884 Miller Court, Chesterfield, MI 48047. The telephone

	number is [phone], and the fax number is [phone]. You can get information

	about LSL from the e-mail address <TT>[e-mail]</TT>.

<HR>



</DL>



<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading5<FONT COLOR="#000077">CD-ROM Documentation</FONT></H3>

<P>The Slackware CD-ROM that accompanies this book supplies a lot of documentation.

The primary location of information is the <TT>/docs</TT> directory of the CD-ROM,

which contains several types of files. Listing 15.1 shows a directory listing of

this <TT>/docs</TT> directory.

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading6<FONT COLOR="#000077">Listing 15.1. The

contents of the /docs directory.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#0066FF"></FONT></H3>

<PRE><FONT COLOR="#0066FF"># ls /cdrom/docs

AX25-HOWTO            Hebrew-HOWTO        Polish-HOWTO

Access-HOWTO          INDEX               Portuguese-HOWTO

BootPrompt-HOWTO      INDEX.html          Printing-HOWTO

Bootdisk-HOWTO        INDEX.short.html    Printing-Usage-HOWTO

Busmouse-HOWTO        INFO-SHEET          SCSI-HOWTO

CDROM-HOWTO           IPX-HOWTO           SCSI-Programming-HOWTO

COPYRIGHT             ISP-Hookup-HOWTO    Serial-HOWTO

Commercial-HOWTO      Installation-HOWTO  Shadow-Password-HOWTO

Cyrillic-HOWTO        Italian-HOWTO       Sound-HOWTO

DNS-HOWTO             JE-HOWTO            Sound-Playing-HOWTO

DOSEMU-HOWTO          Java-HOWTO          TRANS.TBL

Danish-HOWTO          Kernel-HOWTO        Term-HOWTO

Distribution-HOWTO    Keyboard-HOWTO      Tips-HOWTO

ELF-HOWTO             Keystroke-HOWTO     UMSDOS-HOWTO

Ethernet-HOWTO        META-FAQ            UPS-HOWTO

Finnish-HOWTO         MGR-HOWTO           UUCP-HOWTO

Firewall-HOWTO        Mail-HOWTO          WRITING

Ftape-HOWTO           NET-2-HOWTO         XFree86-HOWTO

GCC-HOWTO             NIS-HOWTO           install-guide/

German-HOWTO          News-HOWTO          kernel-2.0/

HAM-HOWTO             PCI-HOWTO           linux.faq/

HOWTO-INDEX           PCMCIA-HOWTO        mini/

Hardware-HOWTO        PPP-HOWTO           slack-docs/

</FONT></PRE>

<P>Most of these files are extracted to your Linux hard drive if you select the documentation

options when installing Linux through setup. The setup routine lets you choose which

types of documentation will be moved from the installation CD-ROM to your hard drive,

but you can't select individual entries in the sets. If you are limited in disk space,

you should consider leaving most of the document on the CD-ROM and viewing it only

when needed.</P>

<P>Most documentation files are stored in the <TT>/usr/doc</TT> directory (both on

the CD-ROM and when installed to your hard drive). A directory listing of this area

shows a wealth of files, as given in Listing 15.2.

<H3 ALIGN="CENTER"><A NAME="Heading7<FONT COLOR="#000077">Listing 15.2. The

files in the /usr/doc directory.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#0066FF"></FONT></H3>

<PRE><FONT COLOR="#0066FF"># ls /usr/doc

GETTING.GNU.SOFTWARE    indent/       sendmail/

INSTALL                 ipfwadm/      seyon/

PROBLEMS                ispell/       splitvt/

README                  jpeg/         strace/

SlingShot/              ldso/         sysklogd/

WorkBone-2.3/           less/         sysvinit/

arena/                  libc-4.7.6/   tar/

bash/                   lilo@         tcl7.5/

bc/                     lizards/      tclX7.5.0/

bind-4.9.3-BETA26/      lrzsz/        tcsh/

binutils/               lynx/         textutils/

bootutils/              m4/           tin/

cnews/                  mc/           tk4.1/

cpio-2.3/               metamail/     tkdesk/

dialog/                 minicom/      tools-2.17/

diffutils/              modules/      ttysnoop/