[mythtv-users] New install and my problmes.

[Dewey Smolka]

> > I would also strongly recommend you consider picking up a Ubuntu book
> > (or take the tune to read the Ubunu site) that will methodically take
> > you through how Linux (and any Ubuntu special features) works and how
> > all the pieces fit together on your system.
> >
> Thanks Nick. Can you recommend a good book? I agree I could certainly do
> with one to bring me up to speed. I feel like I did the first time I
> made a boot disk in DOS :-)
>

I'm not sure how much it is worth to look for a book geared towards
your specific system -- after all, books are written and published
slowly, while OSs change relatively quickly. If you find an Ubuntu
book, most likely it will be based on 'Breezy' or an earlier
iteration.

What I'd recommend instead is looking for something that contains the
basic organizational principles, commands and syntax of all
UNIX/GNU/Linux systems.

Look for a volume that contains lots of details on things like:
setting up IP networking and using iptables; using fstab to mount
storage volumes; using NFS and/or SMB to manage remote storage;
setting and managing user and group permissions; basic *nix commands
like mv, cp, chmod, chown, which, find, etc; what logs your system
keeps, where they are, and how to interpret them, and other
information that will get you accustomed to (and eventually enamored
with) the command line.

When I started with Linux I bought a used the Debian GNU/Linux Bible
although I was using Fedora. Most of the valuble information is not
Debian-specific and it did give me a solid enough grounding to be able
to diagnose and solve problems myself, or at least more clearly
articulate what specific problems I was having and more easily find
the solution.

I don't know that I'd recommend this particular book -- too much of it
(IMHO) was built around things that are self explanatory and/or
unecessary -- like how to use OpenOffice/StarOffice and GIMP, or how
to set up, administer, and monitor a web server.

There's a pretty good range of Linux/UNIX books these days, though,
and you should have no problem finding one that has the info you're
looking for and is written at the level you need. Because the essence
of *nix is in the interchangability of its parts and the flexible,
modular nature of its components, the effort you put into learning it
will repay itself many times over as you learn to combine simple
components and commands into ever more powerful tools.