Linux Desktop Garage

Title: Linux Desktop Garage

Author: Susan Matteson

Publisher: Prentice Hall, 2005

Vital Stats: 352 pages, 1 CD, paperback, $29.99; ISBN 0-13-149419-8, http://www.snerf.com/linuxdesktopgarage

Reviewer: AdamRubin

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10 (Good)

Review:

This is a Linux book with attitude. Whether that is a good thing or not might depend on your age, as it seems to be written with Generation X in mind, which I'm not. It's targeted at users who are new to Linux but have some experience with Windows (or a Mac), and are more comfortable with a GUI than a command line. It covers Fedora (Core 2) and Mandrake 10.0, although much is applicable to newer versions and other distributions.

This book covers Linux installation, and how to select and use GUI programs to accomplish common tasks, such as web browsing, email, scheduling, digital cameras and graphics, games, and so on. Each chapter covers several popular programs for the tasks under discussion, and most chapters include hands-on exercises. A table of popular Linux equivalents for Windows programs is included, and the glossary has good explanations of terms and abbreviations.

The most annoying aspect of the book is the generally irrelevant digressions that open most chapters. Is this a Generation X thing? Other books in this series (e.g. Web Search Garage, iPod & iTunes Garage) don't have this. A mere five pages of the book are devoted to the command line. Occasional non-computer terms are misspelled. There is also one entire section where Konqueror is consistently misspelled "Konquorer," which makes me wonder how many other errors slipped through.

Despite the digressions, this book generally does a capable job of explaining how to choose and use GUI programs for common tasks. Among books of this type (Linux for Dummies, Moving to Linux, and numerous others), this book would be an adequate choice as an introductory book for new users with Windows (or Mac) experience. It's especially suited for Generation X users who prefer a GUI over a command line.

Although this book covers Fedora and Mandrake, it comes with a live CD that is identified as Gnoppix but appears to be Ubuntu. I'm not sure why.