Starting with Unix

[phiscock-g851W1bGYuGnS0EtXVNi6w at public.gmane.org]

One of the questions that came up at the meeting this evening: Reading
recommendation for a beginner to Linux?

The first book I read, which I found enormously useful, was:

Starting with Unix, P.J.Brown, Addison Wesley, 1984.

I suspect it's out of print, but you can get it used for the princely sum
of $1 plus shipping from Abebooks:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?&isbn=0201109247&nsa=1

Believe it or not, this is an entertaining read, the P.J. has a whimsical
sense of humour that leavens the material.

For example:

'It  can now be revealed that there was a third person.. who was
responsible for the original design of Unix. He is a hermit who does his
very best to avoid human conversation. Because he shuns publicity his
contribution to  Unix has be overlooked but it was he who design nearly
all the parts of Unix that interface with the user. This hermit prefers to
be known... by the name 'hrmt'. Hrmt would have preferred the ls command
to have had a one-character name rather than its outrageously long
two-character name: his view was unfortunately overruled.'

OK, it's not sidesplitting humour. But it does help turn the pages.

Peter

-- 
Peter Hiscocks
Syscomp Electronic Design Limited, Toronto
http://www.syscompdesign.com
USB Oscilloscope and Waveform Generator
647-839-0325

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