Finding Linux-Related Information


Finding Linux-Related Information

CentOS Linux comes with reference pages stored online. You can read these documents by using the info (page ) or man (page ) utilities. You can read man and info pages to get more information about specific topics while reading this book or to determine which features are available with Linux. You can search for topics using apropos (see page or give the command man apropos).

Documentation

Good books are available on various aspects of using and managing UNIX systems in general and Linux systems in particular. In addition, you may find the sites listed in useful.

The right-hand columns of most of the tables in this appendix show Internet addresses (URLs). All sites have an implicit http:// prefix unless ftp:// or https:// is shown. Refer to "" on page .

Table B-1. Documentation

Site

About the site

URL

Creates standards for interoperability between open-source desktop environments.

GNOME

GNOME home page.

GNU Manuals

GNU manuals.

Internet FAQ Archives

Searchable FAQ archives.

info

Instructions for using the info utility.

KDE Documentation

KDE documentation.

KDE News

KDE news.

The Linux Documentation Project

All things related to Linux documentation (in many languages): HOWTOs, guides, FAQs, man pages, and magazines. This is the best overall source for Linux documentation. Make sure to visit the Links page.

Red Hat Documentation and Support

This site has a link to the Red Hat Knowledgebase that can help answer questions. It also has links to online documentation for Red Hat products and to a support guide.

RFCs

Request for comments; see (page ).

System Administrators Guild (SAGE)

SAGE is a group for system administrators.


Useful Linux Sites

Sometimes the sites listed in are so busy that you cannot connect to them. In this case, you are usually given a list of alternative, or mirror, sites to try.

Table B-2. Useful Linux Sites

Site

About the site

URL

DistroWatch

A survey of many Linux distributions, including news, reviews, and articles.

GNU

GNU Project Web server.

ibiblio

A large library and digital archive. Formerly Metalab; formerly Sunsite.

LinuxHQ.org

An administrator and power user resource site.

Linux Standard Base (LSB)

A group dedicated to standardizing Linux.

Rpmfind.Net

A good source for rpm files, especially when you need a specific version.

Sobell

The author's home page contains useful links, errata for this book, code for many of the examples in this book, and answers to selected exercises.

USENIX

A large, well-established UNIX group. This site has many links, including a list of conferences.

X.Org

The X Window System home.


Linux Newsgroups

One of the best ways of getting specific information is through a newsgroup (refer to "" on page ). Frequently you can find the answer to a question by reading postings to the newsgroup. Try using Google Groups () to search through newsgroups to see whether the question has already been asked and answered. Or open a newsreader program and subscribe to appropriate newsgroups. If necessary, you can post a question for someone to answer. Before you do so, make sure you are posting to the correct group and that your question has not already been answered. There is an etiquette to posting questionssee for a good paper by Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen titled "How To Ask Questions the Smart Way."

The newsgroup comp.os.linux.answers provides postings of solutions to common problems and periodic postings of the most up-to-date versions of the FAQ and HOWTO documents. The comp.os.linux.misc newsgroup has answers to miscellaneous Linux-related questions.

Mailing Lists

Subscribing to a mailing list (page ) allows you to participate in an electronic discussion. With most lists, you can send and receive email dedicated to a specific topic to and from a group of users. Moderated lists do not tend to stray as much as unmoderated lists, assuming the list has a good moderator. The disadvantage of a moderated list is that some discussions may be cut off when they get interesting if the moderator deems that the discussion has gone on for too long. Mailing lists described as bulletins are strictly unidirectional: You cannot post information to these lists but can only receive periodic bulletins. If you have the subscription address for a mailing list but are not sure how to subscribe, put the word help in the body and/or header of email that you send to the address. You will usually receive instructions via return email. Red Hat hosts several mailing lists; go to for more information. You can also use a search engine to search for mailing list linux.

Words

Many dictionaries, thesauruses, and glossaries are available online. lists a few of them.

Table B-3. Looking up words

Site

About the site

URL

ROGET'S Thesaurus

Thesaurus

DICT.org

Multiple-database search for words

Dictionary.com

Everything related to words

DNS Glossary

DNS glossary

FOLDOC (The Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing)

Computer terms

The Jargon File

An online version of The New Hacker's Dictionary

Merriam-Webster

English language

OneLook

Multiple-site word search with a single query

Webopedia

Commercial technical dictionary

Wikipedia

An open-source (user-contributed) encyclopedia project

Wordsmyth

Dictionary and thesaurus

Yahoo Reference

Search multiple sources at the same time


Software

There are many ways to learn about interesting software packages and their availability on the Internet. lists sites that you can download software from. For security-related programs, refer to on page . Another way to learn about software packages is through a newsgroup (page ).

Table B-4. Software

Site

About the site

URL

Apt

Apt installs, removes, and updates system software packages

BitTorrent

BitTorrent efficiently distributes large amounts of static data

CVS

CVS (Concurrent Versions System) is a version control system

ddd

The ddd utility is a graphical front end for command line debuggers such as gdb

Firefox

Web browser

Free Software Directory

Categorized, searchable lists of free software

Freshmeat

A large index of UNIX and cross-platform software and themes

gdb

The gdb utility is a command line debugger

GNOME Project

Links to all GNOME projects

IceWALKERS

Categorized, searchable lists of free software

kdbg

The kdbg utility is a graphical user interface to gdb

Linux Software Map

A database of packages written for, ported to, or compiled for Linux

Mtools

A collection of utilities to access DOS floppy diskettes from Linux without mounting the diskettes

Network Calculators

Subnet mask calculator

rpmfind.net

Searchable list of rpm files for various Linux distributions and versions

Savannah

Central point for development, distribution, and maintenance of free software

SourceForge

A development Web site with a large repository of open-source code and applications

strace

The strace utility is a system call trace debugging tool

Thunderbird

Mail application

Tucows-Linux

Commercial, categorized, searchable list of software

ups

The ups utility is a graphical source-level debugger

yum

The yum utility installs, removes, and updates system software packages


Office Suites and Word Processors

Several office suites and many word processors are available for Linux. lists a few of them. If you are exchanging documents with people using Windows, make sure the import from/export to MS Word functionality covers your needs.

Table B-5. Office suites and word processors

Product name

What it does

URL

AbiWord

Word processor

KOffice

Integrated suite of office applications including the KWord word processing program

OpenOffice

A multiplatform and multilingual office suite

Xcoral

A programmer's multiwindow mouse based editor that runs under X