Linux® Desk Reference, Second Edition

Introduction

I hope you get a lot of use out of this book. Since I first got started with Unix in 1986, I've spent a ton of cash buying reference books. I've always been a bibliophile, and computer books have the advantage of being tax deductible, so I've amassed quite a collection. It always annoys me when I get home and the glitzy, well-packaged, 400-page document-o-rama I just shelled out $50 for turns out to contain only 5 pages of actual information or, worse, to be full of information but so poorly organized that it's more trouble than it's worth to find what I need. I've got a shelf full of them, which I will sell cheap.

What I've tried to do here is incorporate the best features from my collection. I know what I like—a good index, thorough ...