20 of the Best Free Linux Books – Part 3

11. Put Yourself in Command

By Free Software Foundation (PDF, Multi-page HTML; 136 pages)

This book was initially written at LibrePlanet, the GNU/Linux conference hosted at the Harvard Science Center, Cambridge, MA, on March 21, 22 2009.

Topics covered include:

• Basic commands, including sections on permissions, manipulating processes and redirection, Absolute and relative paths
• Globbing
• Auto completion
• Piping commands
• Command History
• Command & Parameter Substitution
• Customizations
• Installing Software
• Exploration of text editors including nano, vi, vim, emacs, kedit, kwrite, kate, and gedit
• Scripting
• Programming languages including Perl, Awk, Ruby, and Python
• Command Quick Reference

12. Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x

By OOoAuthors group (PDF, Multi-page HTML; 433 pages)

Open Office (OpenOffice.org) is a freely-distributed, full-featured, multi-platform office suite. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to get up to speed quickly with the latest OpenOffice.org version 3.x.

The book covers all the software programs of the OpenOffice suite:

• Writer (word processing)
• Calc (spreadsheets)
• Impress (presentations)
• Draw (vector drawings)
• Math (equation editor)
• Base (database)

13. Grokking the GIMP

By Carey Bunks (HTML; 352 pages)

This book providers a taster of image theory, working with the independent features of GIMP (layers, selections, masks and colourspaces) before advancing to compositing and rendering, and ending with short reviews of web-based applications of image manipulation.

Topics covered include:

• Reviews the features of the GIMP Toolbox
• Reviews Layers covering creation, manipulation, combining, export/import
• Selection Tools
• Masks exploring channel & layer masks
• Colorspaces and Blending modes
• Touchup and Enhancing images
• Compositing
• Rendering Techniques
• Web-Centric GIMP focusing on web animations, clickable image maps, type effects, tileable backgrounds, web-safe color

14. The Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial

By James Mohr (PDF; 614 pages)

The Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial (LINKBAT) is a web-based, unified knowledge base and tutorial with the goal of educating users about Linux.

Topics covered include:

• Linux basics
• Shells and Utilities
• Editing files
• Basic system administration
• X Windowing system
• Networking (TCP-IP, DHCP, NFS, Samba, Firewalls, Technologies)
• System Monitoring
• Solving Problems

15. Advanced Linux Programming

By CodeSourcery LLC (Multiple PDFs; 344 pages)

This book takes a tutorial approach, introducing the most important programming concepts and techniques, and providing examples of how to use them. The book is not intended for beginners, and readers are expected to be competent with the C programming lanague and C library functions.

This book is helpful if you want to:

• Develop Linux software that works the way users expect it to
• Write more sophisticated programs with features such as multiprocessing, multi-threading, interprocess communication, and interaction with hardware devices
• Improve programs by making them run faster, more reliably, and more securely
• Understand the preculiarities of a Linux system, including its limitations, special capabilities, and conventions.

Next Section: 20 of the Best Free Linux Books – Part 4

This article is divided into four parts:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Explore our carefully curated directory of recommended free and open source software, covering every major software category. The directory forms part of our extensive collection of articles for Linux enthusiasts. It includes hundreds of detailed reviews, together with free and open source alternatives to proprietary software from companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. LinuxLinks also covers interesting projects worth exploring, Linux-compatible hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application that we haven’t covered? Tell us about it using our submission form.