The Free Technology Academy is closed. To know why, and what may come next, please read here. To find and download FTA resources not listed in these pages, instead, please visit the Free Technology Academy File Archive! Thanks!

Book: GNU/Linux Basic

  • Authors:Joaquín López Sánchez-Montañés, Sofia Belles Ramos, Roger Baig Viñas, Francesc Aulí Llinàs
  • Coordinators:Jordi Serra i Ruiz, David Megías Jiménez, Jordi Mas
  • Licenses: GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribute ShareAlike License
  • Information: 255 Pages; 13.5Mb
The aim of this book is to initiate you into the world of GNU/Linux. It covers the basics of the free software, how to use and modify GNU/Linux to suit your needs, and how to find your way in this new world more easily. Nonetheless, this document is not an essential reference guide for administrators and/or users; there are already hundreds of manuals, how-to guides and other reference works numbering thousands of pages that serve this purpose. Our aim here is to help you take your first steps in this as-yet uncharted territory for too many users and administrators, and to explain how to tackle and resolve potential problems by yourself.

The Book is not based on any particular distribution, but we need to specify certain actions for most of the examples and activities, for which we will use Debian GNU/Linux. Although this distribution is not as intuitive and user-friendly as others, it will serve to explain all the characteristics of a GNU/Linux-based operating system, step by step.

Book cover
 

Evolution of this book

The FTA has reused existing course materials from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Additionally the FTA has developed a study guide and learning activities which are available for learners enrolled in the FTA Campus.

Translations

This material can be found in the following languages:

Note that the materials in different languages might have minor differences between the different version.

Participation

Users of FTA learning materials are encouraged to provide feedback and make suggestions for improvement. A specific space for this feedback will be set up and referenced from here. These inputs will be taken into account for next versions. Moreover, the FTA welcomes anyone to use and distribute this material as well as to make new versions and translations.