Linux Desktop Pocket Guide - O'Reilly's Latest Release

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or an interview with
the author, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7094 or kathrynb@oreilly.com

Advice for Running the Popular Distributions on Your Desktop
O'Reilly Releases "Linux Desktop Pocket Guide"

Sebastopol, CA--Linux has always been a desktop operating system. This was
true when Linus Torvalds created it on his personal computer in 1991, and
it remains true today. While Mac OS X and Windows XP bask in the limelight
of their perceived brilliance or imperfections, Linux is being quietly
installed on thousands of desktops every year. Programmers, system
administrators, business users, and computer enthusiasts find desktop
Linux a refreshing alternative to other operating systems. If there is any
single impediment to desktop Linux's rapid adoption, one might say that
it's the amount of information available to users: not a dearth of
information, however, but the opposite. This is what David Brickner seeks
to remedy in his new book, the "Linux Desktop Pocket Guide" (O'Reilly, US
$9.95).

"There is so much information on the Internet about Linux, distributions,
and basic use that it is hard to sift through it all, to know what is
accurate and what is up-to-date," says Brickner. "This is quite a barrier
for new users to overcome.  This book provides timely information about
the current state of the most important Linux distributions and the
current favorite applications for desktop use."

This pocket-sized book introduces GNOME and KDE, the most-used desktop
environments on Linux. It also covers the most popular GUI programs for
web surfing, email, music playing, video watching, and CD burning. Since
selecting a version of Linux to run is often the most daunting task for
new users, the "Linux Desktop Pocket Guide" reviews and offers useful
instruction on managing the five most popular distributions: Fedora,
Gentoo, Mandriva, SUSE, and Ubuntu. Armed with this immensely useful
information, new users can install Linux with confidence.

But no operating system truly "just works" and Linux is no exception.
Linux is capable of running on most PC hardware, but sometimes it needs
tweaking to make it work the way you'd like it to.  Brickner addresses
this issue as well:  "I wanted to give some information about getting
Linux working with your hardware, particularly your laptop. New users are
often frustrated with the process of setting up printers, getting video to
work, and configuring power management on their laptop. The last couple of
chapters should help readers overcome many common problems."

Brickner covers all the hardware-associated topics that users need the
most, such as configuring a video card, screen resolution, sound, and
wireless networking. Laptop users will find advice on battery life, sleep
and hibernate issues, and more.

Running Linux doesn't need to be difficult, and "The Linux Pocket Guide"
was written to specifically address the needs those who are new to running
desktop Linux. "Like many people, I found my initial forays into desktop
Linux difficult," Brickner recalls. "Until I made the commitment to use
Linux fulltime on the desktop, I never really felt comfortable with it.
Within a week of running nothing but Linux, I had settled in and found the
experience mostly enjoyable. Now, years later, I have a hard time getting
anything useful done at a Windows machine, as I just don't feel
comfortable with the way it forces me to work. I just can't stand not
having virtual desktops."

Additional Resources:

Chapter 1, "Distributions," is available online at:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdesktoppr/chapter/ind...

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bios, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxdesktoppr/index.html

For a cover graphic in JPEG format, go to:
ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/graphics/book_covers/hi-res/0596101...

Linux Desktop Pocket Guide
David Brickner
ISBN: 0-596-10104-X, 181 pages, $9.95 US, $13.95 CA
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com
1005 Gravenstein Highway North
Sebastopol, CA 95472

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