% Linux Installation and Getting Started    -*- TeX -*-
% about.tex
% Copyright (c) 1992-1994 by Matt Welsh <mdw@sunsite.unc.edu>
%
% This file is freely redistributable, but you must preserve this copyright 
% notice on all copies, and it must be distributed only as part of "Linux 
% Installation and Getting Started". This file's use is covered by the 
% copyright for the entire document, in the file "copyright.tex".

\section{About This Book}

This book is an installation and entry-level guide to the Linux system.
The purpose is to get new users up and running with the system by 
consolodating as much important material as possible into one book.
Instead of covering many of the volatile technical details, those things which 
tend to change with rapid development, we give you
enough background to find out more on your own.

Linux is not difficult to install and use. However, as with any 
implementation of UNIX, there is often some black magic involved to 
get everything working correctly. We hope that this book will get you
on the Linux tourbus and show you how groovy this operating system can be.

In this book, we cover the following topics.
\begin{itemize}
\item What is Linux? The design and philosophy of this unique operating
      system, and what it can do for you.

\item All of the details of what is needed to
run Linux, including suggestions on what kind of hardware
configuration is recommended for a complete system.

\item How to obtain and install Linux. There are many distributions of the 
Linux software. We present a general discussion of Linux software
distributions, how to obtain them, and generic instructions for installing
the software (which should be applicable to any distribution).

\ifodd\igsslack
This edition also contains specific instructions for the 
Slackware distribution of Linux.
\fi

\item A brief introductory UNIX tutorial, for those users who have never
had experience with UNIX before. This tutorial should, hopefully, 
provide enough material for complete novices to have enough
basic know-how to find their way around the system.

\item An introduction to systems administration with Linux. This covers
the most important tasks that new Linux administrators will need to be
familiar with, such as creating users, managing filesystems, and so forth.

\item Information on configuring more advanced aspects of Linux, such as the
X~Window System, networking with TCP/IP and SLIP, and the setup of
electronic mail and news systems. 

\end{itemize}

This book is for the personal computer user wishing to get started with
Linux. We don't assume previous UNIX experience, but do expect novices
to refer to other materials along the way.
For those unfamiliar with UNIX, a list of useful sources of 
information is given in Appendix~\ref{app-sources-num}. In general, this book 
is meant to be read along with another book on basic UNIX concepts. 

