Common Questions and Misconceptions

From LQWiki

There is no generic Linux FAQ (frequently asked questions), so let's gather some of the most common, often-repeated questions about the operating system and social movement here and in sub-FAQs.

Feel free to add new questions/answers if you think they are common enough to warrant it. Let's keep the FAQ general - if you have commands as part of an answer you probably want a new Wiki page for it. Q&As should ideally be topics which are hard to find answers for elsewhere, because they are "too basic", or because they are not concrete issues. Think "Why?" rather than "How?".

Let's target this FAQ at the real newbies amongst us - more experienced users can probably find specific FAQs and resources elsewhere. However, it is fine to link an answer to a FAQ designed for experienced users. That way a confused "expert" can start here and easily navigate to the information needed for a particular problem, and a newbie can easily find the information needed to become as expert as desired.

Separate each Q&A with a horizontal line (four dashes). We'll start with the simple, basic questions

If you can think of a question you feel belongs here or in one of the and don't feeling comfortable adding it directly, please add it to the corresponding Discuss page, or contact Mike.

Remember, put general stuff only in the FAQs! All other questions should go to the forums. Of course, more detailed topics and todo's go in other pages of the Wiki.

see: Newbie Shakedown Guide - What's Linux?

1 General
- 1.1 Q: Help! What is this? Where am I? Who are you guys?
- 1.2 Q: What is Linux?
2 Operating systems
3 Linux distributions
4 Linux kernel and desktop
- 4.1 Q: What are KDE/GNOME and why are there two of them?
- 4.2 Q: What is it that I keep hearing about kernel versions?
5 Linux problems
6 Linux HOWTOs, FAQs, docs, tutorials, man pages, guides, tips, reference manuals, indexes
7 External links

General

Q: Help! What is this? Where am I? Who are you guys?

A: This is the LinuxQuestions Wiki. It's a website that's editable by anybody, and it's used to collect information and notes about the Linux operating system. Feel free to browse around, and if you understand a topic maybe add some content yourself.

The people who write this site are a combination of Linux users and developers. Mostly it's written by people who use Linux frequently, and who therefore understand it and can help others.There are developers here too - these are the people who create Linux and improve it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year - of course, developers are also users :)

You may find links to pages that aren't written yet - when you find one it will be colored red instead of the usual blue.If you click it, you'll go to a page that is ready for you to start adding information. If you click blue text, you'll go to a page that already has some information.

See Editing help in the Side panel of the Main page to get started editing pages in this wiki. See Policies to find out what kind of content is preferred.

Q: What is Linux?

A: Let's take this one step at a time. When people say "Linux", they are typically referring to one of two possible things: the operating system or the kernel.

The operating system (OS) is a collection of software that runs your computer. Other OSs you may have heard of include Microsoft Windows, MS-DOS and Mac OS X. A complete OS consists of several parts. The most fundamental is the kernel, which controls and distributes your computer's hardware resources amongst the applications you actually use. In its canonical form, the term "Linux" refers only to the kernel, but it has become commonplace to use the term to refer to the entire operating system, even though such usage is not technically accurate.

Here's an analogy. The kernel is like the engine of a car - very important, but by itself not a complete car. A complete car will require brakes, steering wheel, transmission, etc, to interact with the engine and make it do something useful. There are other things that are "part of the car" to varying degrees, like the seat covers, maps, stereo and so on. These are like optional programs that often come with the operating system, whether a Linux-based OS or Windows.

You can usually infer the meaning of the word depending on its context. If someone has "installed Linux on their laptop" they're talking about installing the entire operating system, probably a specific distribution such as Debian, Mandrake or RedHat. If some company has "built their set-top DVR using Linux" they are referring only to the kernel itself - you can (probably) not run OpenOffice or X Window on it. Exactly what the kernel does is not relevant here; go to the kernel.org site for more information on it.

Some refer to the operating system as GNU/Linux. This is technically more accurate than just "Linux", since virtually all Linux distributions are based on GNU tools. These tools are what allows for user-level interaction with the kernel - in short, they are what makes you able to "use" Linux (steer, brake, shift gears, clean the seat covers, change the oil). The GNU system includes a compiler, a system library, a text editor, a shell, a help system and more.

If you want to ensure you are interpreted correctly, you may wish to refer to the kernel as the "Linux kernel", and the operating system as "GNU/Linux" or simply the name of your distribution. On LinuxQuestions and elsewhere, "Linux" will frequently refer to the operating system, but some may prefer to make the distinction clearer.

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Operating systems

The following questions are answered in FAQ - operating systems

Q: What makes Linux different from Microsoft Windows?

Linux is a UNIX clone. It adheres to the time-tested Unix tradition of making small components that each do their jobs very well. Linux is highly modular, with available source code for most programs. This feature makes it easy to develop Linux programs, which are very powerful. Linux runs on any machine with a C compiler. Linux is free, discouraging piracy. Linux is a favorite among power users and academics. Linux lacks major bugs, but has a lot of minor bugs which may annoy casual users.

Linux programs are primarily aimed at people who want to do work of some sort. Most linux programs serve a particular work function. Because of the ability to be customized, linux gives power and flexibility, while steepening the learning curve for using it effectively. Most Linux distributions come with 5,000, or more user programs. Linux is secure. Linux is open source, so anyone can secure the source code for all the programs, and kernel, and make whatever they want out of it. Linux is cryptic and difficult to understand for non-programmers. Linux is written by many different individuals, groups, and companies. With a little effort you can take Linux apart and put it back together differently, like an old VW Beetle. But it can be set up to handle a track like a Ferrari or handle a muddy road like a Hummer H1. Oh, and this Beetle/Ferrari/Hummer can be had for free.

MS Windows uses large, proprietary, closed source programs and kernel. MS Windows is not modular, making it difficult to maintain. Large programs are hard to debug, so many experts argue that the security problems of Windows and Internet Explorer are caused by the fact that they are large, complicated, and hard for Microsoft to maintain. Linux is often thought to be more secure than Windows. Software development with MS Windows is difficult because it is closed source (source code is not available). MS Windows only runs on small computers of a single architecture (PC). MS Windows costs quite a substantial sum, when you add in for all the software that doesn't come with it, which encourages piracy. MS Windows is a favorite among grandparents, children and software pirates. MS Windows lacks the minor bugs which might annoy casual users, but is full of bugs that can bring down the whole system.

MS Windows is primarily aimed at people who want to do the least amount of work possible, especially learning how to use a computer. MS Windows lacks power and flexibility, but has a easier learning curve. Because of its ease of use, it has the lion's share of desktop users (around 80 percent). This means that almost all new PC hardware will work with Windows, because hardware companies would be very foolish to make a product that was incompatible with Windows. MS Windows comes with very little useful software, because you are expected to supplement your initial purchase with further purchases of programs such as Office. MS Windows is not secure. Windows is closed source, so very few people really know exactly what it does behind the scenes, or how inefficiently it does it. MS Windows has a compatible, but very expensive integrated development environment, also available from Microsoft. MS Windows is easy to understand for non-programmers. MS Windows is written by one company. MS Windows is like a late-model four cylinder automatic sedan--with the hood sealed shut.

Q: Is Linux the only Open Source operating system?

No. There are other open source operating systems(OSs). Most are based on UNIX. The most popular and readily available open source OSs are Linux and the variants of the Berkeley Systems Division (BSD) OSs, including: Free BSD, Net BSD, and PC BSD. There is also OpenSolaris, a descendant of Sun Microsystem's operating system, however, OpenSolaris is still under construction.

It's worthy to note that the Apple Macintosh OS X, although a commercial OS, is also a UNIX-based OS, derived from BSD.

Therefore, those of us running x86 Intel architecture based personal computers have 2 main choices: Microsoft Windows or UNIX (whether that be Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, or OpenSolaris).

Q: How does Linux differ from Microsoft Windows?

A: See How does Linux differ from Microsoft Windows.

Q: What does Linux look like?

Before you install it, it looks like a bunch of CD's. But you probably want to know what it looks like on your computer.

That depends. In so-called text mode, it looks like a (usually) black screen on which you type characters (commands, ...). Pretty much like DOS, or what you get when you open a command prompt (cmd.exe, command.exe) under Windows.

As explained in another answer, you can have several 'Graphical User Interfaces' (GUI) on Linux. A GUI is software that provides the user with windows, dialog boxes, a desktop, menus, buttons to click, etc. For Windows the GUI is 'part of the system' and people don't make the distinction between GUI and Operating System. Under Linux and Unix, the GUI is just another application, so you can choose whatever you want. GNOME and KDE are popular. They are both very much customizable, i.e. you can modify color schemes, window behavour, etc. So it can be made to look like Windows XP, or not.

GNOME and KDE are considered Desktop Environments, as they include many different utilities common for a computer desktop. Another desktop environment, which is not as fully-featured (and usually runs a little faster) is called XFCE.

Apart from these Desktop Environments, there are a number of so-called 'Window Managers' - not complete desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE, but more rudimentary applications that provide windows etc for user interaction.

So, in short : what does Linux look like? Linux will look exactly how you want it to look.

Q: Is Linux compatible with Windows?

Not really. You can't natively run Windows applications on Linux or Linux applications on Windows. But there are emulators like Wine, Win4Lin, Cedega and CrossOver which you can use to run Windows applications on Linux. Linux can mount Windows FAT32 and NTFS (experimental) partitions and also share files between Windows on a network using Samba. Many file types can be used with both, such as doc and PDF files. For most applications running on Windows, there's a replacement available.

Q: Is Linux really more secure than Windows?

When we speak of an operating system being secure, there are various facets of security to consider. We have to ask ourselves, 'What can an operating system do to harm us?, What can attack an operating system via a network connection, and harm us? Is the operating system easily exploited by others? Does the operating system compromise privacy? Could the operating system cause legal problems? Is the operating system safe from the user?'

What can an operating system do to harm us? Our most valuable commodity is time. In the end, a well configured linux system wastes far less time than a similar MS Windows system. Aside from taking up your time, the os can't really hurt you. Linux consumes less of the users time.

What can attack an os through a network connection, and harm us? Once again, it is all about time. Given enough time one can recover from almost any type of attack. Unless the attack overwrites the disk seven times with random characters, you can get the data back. So, how much time are you going to spend setting up and administering security policies, and recovering from disaster? Linux is generally safe right out of the package. SELinux is even more safe, but flexibility and ease of use are compromised.

If proper protocol is followed, you can't damage the os or data via an outside attack. There are some harassing attacks that will bring down any server targeted, and these are more likely to run linux simply because linux is more reliable than MS Windows. MS Windows is more vulnerable to attack because of the sheer volume of security holes in MS Windows. There are several tools that run on linux, which report any security holes. Saint is one. This makes it easy to seal up a system against outside attacks. Most people who use MS Windows are security illiterate, and not savvy enough to implement security measures. Windows runs with administrator permissions by default, which is incredibly ill-advised. There are, however, heavy penalties for destroying computer data. Thus, even if an attacker does secure administrator privileges, they generally do not destroy data.

Is an os easily exploited? Both MS Windows and linux are fairly easy to exploit. MS Windows is likely more easier to exploit because more ne'er-do-wells use MS Windows. Both MS Windows and linux are surprisingly easy to compromise if physical access is secured.

Does the OS compromise privacy? Maintaining privacy requires diligence, both with MS Windows and linux. For instance, linux usually has a file called '.bash_history' in the users home directory. If you are using a program to download entire websites, such as wget or curl, and a website doesn't want you to do this, and you have circumvented robots.txt, they can read your '.bash_history' file to see exactly what you have been doing. Also, the contents of memory contain information from days or weeks previous. You may have deleted a file, securely, but if another program hasn't used the memory location that once stored the file, and you haven't shut down yet, outsiders may gain access to the memory contents if they have the proper skill, and read the file. Additionally, users of both operating systems must be aware that NOTHING they transmit over an unencrypted interface is "private".

Some consider MS Windows to be spyware. According to Microsoft, no personally identifying information is collected. This means your birthdate, Social Security number, street address, telephone number, and full name. Everything else on the whole machine is fair game. That means if you have pictures, Windows is allowed to calculate MD5 hash sums of the picture files, which you will transfer from computer to computer, and each MD5 sum is unique. There are no two files with an identical MD5 sum. That means Microsoft can track you by the MD5 sums of your picture files, or even just one. Hal.dll is unique for every computer running Windows. It is a machine fingerprint because it contains the unique mixture of all your hardware components, with serial numbers. So, wherever that machine goes Microsoft can track it. But, Microsoft knows there would be some law passed against storing all this information, so it uses a Canadian database giant called Verisign to catalog the vast array of data over international boundaries.

Could the os cause legal problems? Forensic examination of a computer can reveal more than one could imagine. Even a forensic expert could not remove all evidence from a PC so it was not recoverable without ruining the entire installation. If you use a computer to help you commit a crime you have just hung yourself. Even with the most secure erasure in the world you cannot cover the evidence. You would have to melt the HDD with a welding torch, which is what the DoD does.

Is the os safe from user error? MS Windows is designed poorly, yielding vulnerability to the user. The user is free, by default, to do pretty much anything. MS Windows supplies tools to fix some of the problems caused by this vulnerability, but a user can really mess up Windows. Linux is relatively safe from the user because administrator privileges do not run by default. You can type pretty much anything as a user, and you won't hurt anything. This is a much better design.

Q: Why Open Source?

Open-source software is required to have its source code freely available; end-users have the right to modify and redistribute the software, as well as the right to package and sell the software. Software with source code in the public domain meets these criteria, as does any software distributed under the popular GNU General Public License (GPL). Open-source licenses may have additional restrictions, such as a requirement to preserve the authors' names and copyright statement in the code.

The term open source in common usage may refer to any software with publicly available source code, though this usage is discouraged by many. Examples of such non-OSF open source software include some versions of Solaris and PGP. There are also shared source licenses which have some similarities with open source, but a number of critical differences make such licenses incompatible with the Open Source Definition.

Despite apparent similarities, open-source software is distinct from free software. The Free Software Foundation's (FSF) free software definition is more restrictive than the Open Source Definition; as a consequence of this, free software is open source, but open-source software may or may not be "free". In practice, nearly all open-source licenses also satisfy the FSF's free software definition, and the difference is more a matter of philosophical emphasis. (One exception is an early version of the Apple Public Source License, which was considered open-source but not free, because it did not allow private modified versions; this restriction was later removed.) Software distributed under both the GPL and BSD licenses is considered both free and open-source.

The decision to adopt the term "open source", suggested by Christine Peterson of the Foresight Institute, was based partly on the confusion caused by the dual meaning of the word "free"; the FSF intended the word to mean "free as in free speech", not "free as in free beer", but nevertheless, free software came to be associated with zero cost, a problem which was exacerbated by the fact that a great deal of it is, in fact, free of charge. It was hoped that the usage of the newer term "open source" would eliminate such ambiguity, particularly for users who might mistakenly associate "free software" with anti-commercialism. Since its introduction, however, the "open source" label has been criticized for fostering an ambiguity of a different kind: that of confusing it for mere availability of the source, rather than the freedom to use, modify, and redistribute it.

Q: Which Windows users should switch to Linux? Why? When? How?

Anyone can switch to Linux, provided they want to learn and are ready to accept changes. Why? There are lots of reasons. You might hate Microsoft and its policies, hate the insecure environment of Windows or you might want freedom from restrictive proprietary licences. When? Whenever you're ready! How? Just download an ISO, burn it, install it and go!

Linux distributions

The following questions are answered in FAQ - Linux distributions

Q: Is Linux really available for zero cost?

Yes and No. Yes, you can download off the internet almost any distribution of linux free of charge. However, like any software, it can be bought from a retailer. Mandrake Discovery 10.1, for example, can be bought from mandrakesoft.com for $45. Buying an official package most often gives technical support from the company.

The Free character of linux is often misunderstood. As Richard Stallman, the founder of GNU and the most famous promoter of free software said, "Free taken as in free speech, not free beer."

You can go to distrowatch.com to find and get a large number of linux distributions.

Q: Cost of acquiring knowledge about Linux?

The cost of aquiring knowlege about Linux varies depending on how fast you want it and what kind of a commitment you want to make. Some people learn their way around Linux simply by using it as their primary desktop. With a good year of use, a person can have a fair knowlege of the operating system, enough to handle most things they want to do on a regular basis.

However, there are a number of books out there that can help you learn to use Linux much faster than simple experience can.

Finally, many IT jobs involve working with Linux servers. This is probably the best and fastest way to learn to use Linux, because there are tasks you are required to complete, so you must learn how to do them, and you are immersed in the operating system, ensuring that what you learn is put into practice.

This is not just for Linux. Windows itself has a cost to acquire the knowledge. Because, however, most of us end up seeing Windows at school, we are already familiar with it, and so generally is considered to not have an actual cost of acquiring the knowledge. One interesting point to note is that many companies will not upgrade to Office 2007 when it comes out because of the cost of learning the new way it works. Many companies seem to delay upgrading until whenever they can and then jump several versions to minimize the cost of re-testing the software and re-training the staff.

Q: What is a distro/distribution?

Linux is not what you sit in front of your computer and use. "Linux" in it's strictest sense is merely the base "kernel", that is, core bit of software that everything on your computer running on Linux interacts with. Everything else are "packages", collections of software. Window managers programs are packages, and it is the collection of packages that defines a distribution. Some people want a version of Linux bundled with a heaping load of packages to do everything under the sun out of the box. Distributions like Suse and Fedora cater to that. Other people want a distribution that's especially lightweight, containing nothing but what they need. Distros like Vector and Puppy Linux cater to those people.

A distribution is just a bundle of software that is placed on top of the Linux kernel. There are other differences between distros, though, such as Debian's apt-get system, but that, too, is a sort of program.

Q: I want to try it. What distribution/desktop should I use?

You just asked a religious question. The short answer is, if you've been hearing a lot about it, and you want ot try it, then go for it. I have just two caveats. Either begin with a "Live CD" distribution (like Knoppix) which will boot from your Windows machine without wiping out Windows (because it never installs to your hard-drive), or find an older machine that you can dedicate to playing with Linux. For the love of God don't let your first experience with Linux be trying to dual-boot it to an existing Windows box with all of your business or family records! It can be done, and when you mess it up, a guru can probably rescue you, and your baby pictures, but it is a really bad place to begin because it is somewhat tricky and you, by being here, are a total noob.

If you do find a "sandbox" machine, I like Ubuntu, as it is a descendant of Debian, a very-stable, well-supported, distribution. Even beneath Ubuntu there are choices. Pick one -- maybe "Edubuntu". Other good non-Debian/non-Ubuntu choices are Mandriva, Suse and Fedora. What you want, of course, is something that will install without difficulty, even though you don't know how to answer all the questions it will ask you. I think if you just hit enter or "OK" to the install CD questions for these distros, you'll probably get a working distro. If you fail to set up networking properly at install, you can learn later and fix it. If you are given a "root" account, do remember its password. Otherwise -- not too much can go wrong.

Here is the terrifying long list of existing distributions. [1]. Almost any distribution can use almost any program you would want. The difference (for noobies) between distros is what programs are installed by default, and what the upgrade or install procedure is for new software. For Debian-descendants (like Ubuntu), software packages are installed via "apt-get", or apt's friendly user interface application (known as a package manager), called "Synaptic". For Fedora-like distros, its "rpm". And there are many others.

The next section talks about desktops. If you're a Windows user, start with Gnome, you'll see less difference. You can always change later. In fact with Linux, you can change almost anything after the install, it's just a question of learning how.

Linux kernel and desktop

The following questions are answered in FAQ - Linux kernel and desktop.

Q: What are KDE/GNOME and why are there two of them?

see : what does Linux look like ....

KDE and GNOME are desktop environments that look very similar to Windows, but are not integrated with the operating system the way Windows is. They interact with Linux through the X server, which is a very robust and configurable windowing system. The X server runs on top of Linux, which means that it is optional to the running of the operating system. Without it Linux looks like the command prompt in DOS. Since X is very stable, you can run a lot of programs at the same time. You can also run Linux on one computer and its X server on another, however, this is beyond the scope of this article.

With Linux you can choose from a wide variety of 'GUI' interfaces that have their own look and feel. Some look and behave like Windows, some look more like a Mac, and others are more spartan in nature, allowing them to be used with older hardware without slowing down. The two most popular windows managers are KDE and GNOME, which both come with a lot of features and games. They both can be customized to a great extent.

The Gnome desktop has always been open source, so all of its programming tools have always been open source as well. KDE got a jump start by using a commercial product called QT to create its programs. Although QT is now open source too, Gnome more fully conforms with the philosophy of Linux. You can switch desktops very easily in some distros like Slackware or Fedora etc. In other distros the choice is not offered.

Unlike in Windows, the command prompt, or shell in Linux is still very useful. There are a lot of applications that run without X. There are also a lot of things that can be done more easily without the use of graphical tools. Linux is all about choice, and there are many ways to change the look and feel of your computer.

Q: What is it that I keep hearing about kernel versions?

The kernel is 'the essence' of the operating system, and it's constantly 'updated'. To keep track of the changes, the developers use numbers. For Linux kernels, and many other open source software, the version number consists of 3 parts : major version - minor version - changes - eg/ 2.6.0 or 2.4.2

The 'major version' number only changes when a great deal of the source code has been rewritten, or very large changes have been implemented. 'Minor' versions are more like upgrades, with new features added, or with modifications that were necessary for (newer) programmes to run.

The 3rd part of the version number is to keep track of smaller changes, bug fixes, maybe security patches, etc.

The kernel versions that are distributed have even numbers, the 'development' kernels have uneven numbers (so kernel 2.5 was developed after 2.4 and became 2.6 when it was ready to be distributed).

These kernel versions have no relationship with the 'versions' of distributions. E.g. SuSE 9.x probably uses kernel 2.6, and in Debian 3.0 you can choose between kernel 2.4 and 2.6.

Linux problems

The following questions are answered in FAQ - Linux problems.

Q: Where can I get support for Linux?

Point your favorite IRC program to irc.freenode.org, join the channel of your distribution like #suse or #fedora. There you can have a live chat and ask as well as answer questions.

Q: Linux feels slow - why?

This can be related to either your specific computer or the version --or distro-- of Linux you are using.

Naturally, an older computer will feel slow. However, many Linux distros are not designed with speed in mind. Many, like Fedora, come with multiple CDs that contain everything you might want to use. Because distros like Fedora try to be general-purpose and all-encompassing, they run a number of processes on your computer that you probably aren't using. These processes take up much of your system resources, causing the things you DO want to do to happen slowly.

Another thing might be the window manager you are running. KDE is notorious for chewing up system resources, as is Gnome, to a lesser but still noticeable extent. Choosing a lighter window manager that is designed with speed in mind can help a lot with system speed. Many people like XFCE, because it's fairly light but still offers much of the power of the heavyweight window managers. For even lighter use, many people like fluxbox. There are a number of others, as well, such as Window Maker and IceWM.

If you are still looking for a Linux distro to use as your main OS, now is a good time to look into some that are designed with speed in mind. Vector Linux is a good choice for speed. It comes in a really fast flavor and a fairly fast but easier to use flavor. Others include Beatrix, Puppy, Kanotix, and Arch Linux. These distros are known to be very fast, and each brings its own advantages --and disadvantages-- to the table.

Q: How can I get a directory's size?

This is a major problem of Linux file systems - it is not possible. However, there are programs that read all files in a directory and add their sizes, so you can find out the directory's size. Here's an example:

ls -1 | xargs du -sh

This shows you all directories with their size.

Q: Why is Linux using up all my memory?

See FAQ - Linux problems for answers.

Linux HOWTOs, FAQs, docs, tutorials, man pages, guides, tips, reference manuals, indexes

The following questions are answered in FAQ - Linux information sources.

Q: Where can I get information about Linux on LQWiki?

A good place to start is the Main Page where you can choose a section related to the question or interests you have about Linux.

Another way is to use the 'Go or Find' part on the right of every page. Just type your subject in the text-area and press the 'Go' or 'Search' button. The 'Go' button sends you to the page with the name of the subject you filed in. If there is no page with that name it will look for pages with almost the same name. The 'Search' button gives you a result of a search in the titles or content of the site.

Q: How do I get from a vague idea to the information I want?

Posting in a forum is a good way to resolve this issue. Many forums --like LinuxQuestions-- have many people who are eager to help you with your problems Simply search in the forum for your problem. If no one else has had the same problem, start a new thread in the appropriate portion of the forum with a descriptive title. Inside the post, put all necessary information. Don't simply say "my printer won't print". Include the make and model of your printer, how it's connected to your computer, how did you set it up, did it ever print properly, etc., . Giving all pertinent information when asking for help is a very good way to increase your chances of resolving the issue.

Q: Where can I get information about Linux on the internet?

Of course this Linux Wiki is a good place for information. Other good places for information are:

also the google linux search engine (www.google.com) is a good way to find information.

There are also Linux podcasts that allow you to get reviews of Linux distros and programs, as well as interviews with prominent open source developers.

TLLTS (www.tllts.info)

The Linux User show

LUG Radio

Q: Are there any good books about Linux?

Linux Administration: A beginner's guide (4th edition, 2005) by Steve Shah and Wale Soyinka is excellent for those NOT new to administering Windows (e.g., installing applications and new hardware, setting up users, etc.) Available at Amazon.com