Linux Computer Hardware & Software
(Image courtesy of the Penguin Dance)
Guylhem Aznar, Joshua Drake
& Greg Ferguson: The Linux Documentation Project HowTo-Index. Index of all the
Linux HowTo's. Some of the ones that "newbies" may need to get started are listed below:
Anne Baretta: Consistent BackSpace
and Delete Configuration. Many people using Linux do not like the default behaviour of
the BackSpace and Delete keys. The goal of this document is to make [<---] (i.e. the
backspace-key on your keyboard) to erase to the left, and make [Delete] (i.e. the delete-key)
erase under the cursor. The essential point is to use one way consistently. This page describes
a way to consistently use Delete to erase the previous character, another link on this page called
The Alternative Way
describes a way to consistently use Backspace.
Basic Linux: How To Be Root, text translation of a pictorial slide show.
Ladislav Bodnar: Comparison of Linux
Distributions: The Linux Distribution Game. An excellent overview of major Linux packages,
detailing their pluses and minuses.
Christopher Browne: Linux and the Year
2000. Basically, Linux is fine up to the year 2038, and a 64-bit fix for the libraries is expected
to be finished before then. Includes an array of links to resources to help you understand the concepts
involved, as well as what everyone is saying about their own particular distribution or piece of the puzzle.
Caldera Support Knowledge Base, a searchable
database from Caldera Systems, Lindon, Utah.
Gordon Chaffee: Linux Support for
FAT32: Anyone who is unfamiliar with hard drive formatting, etc. should read this, as it
explains quite a bit.
Rob Clark: Winmodems Are Not Modems:
A FAQ and list of modems found to be incompatible with Linux due to the fact that they require proprietary
software drivers that are only available for Windows, because the modem manufacturers who make them
are generally not releasing the information the programmers need to know to write drivers for Linux. These
software-driven modems are less effective than hardware-driven modems.
Comp.os.linux.announce: newsgroup archive. If you
plan to use Linux, you are advised to read this group to keep up with news about your flavor of Linux.
Creative
Labs Linux Support Page, Milpitas, California. From the makers of Soundblaster, Graphics
Blaster, and other sound and video products.
Debian GNU/Linux, Indianapolis, Indiana. A Unix-compatible
operating system. Debian GNU/Linux includes hundreds of software packages, including most GNU
software, TeX, and the X Window System (XFree86 version). Used by many webmasters to run their
own server. Not recommended for "newbies" but it does have the largest selection of software
packages in a distribution. (Freeware)
Steve Feil: The Enlightenment Customization
Faq-O-Matic. Information about using the Enlightenment X Window manager.
GNOME.Org, Durham, North Carolina. Information about the
"GNU Network Object Model Environment". GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix". GNOME is the GUI
desktop of the GNU Project. You can get the files and answers to questions at this site. (Freeware)
Larry Greenfield: Linux User's Guide: Versions available for download in *N*x or Pkzipped PDF formats.
GNU Compiler Collection, Boston, Massachusetts. Information
about the GNU compiler used with Linux source code.
Geoff Harrison: The Enlightenment X-Window System
Manager, Atlanta, Georgia. Used by the GNOME Project. This is the official site, where you
can read all about it and download the program. (Freeware)
Keith Keller: Alt.os.linux.slackware
FAQ. "The Slack FAQ."
Kernel Cousins, San Francisco, California. The website of the
Linux-kernel and related mailing lists where Linux developers hang out.
Linux Care, San Francisco, California. Technical
information and support services to enhance and simplify your use of Linux and other Open
Source software.
Linux Documentation Project, Portland, Oregon. Linux
online and printed documentation resource. Definitive source for "How-To's" and manuals.
Linux Hardware Database at DataPower Technology,
Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts. A searchable repository of ratings of compatibility and performance
of computer hardware components under Linux. It also includes some information about device drivers
and some tips for getting quirky devices working under Linux.
Linux Newbie, Darien, Connecticut. Organization
dedicated to helping newcomers to Linux. Confused by other documentation? Read the "Newbieized
Help File" (NHF) documentation to get started.
Linux On Laptops, Austin, Texas. An index of information
and documentation for those who now use or are considering using the Linux operating system on a
notebook or laptop computer.
Linux Power, Fredericksburg, Virginia. A community forum for
new Linux users.
Linux Software Map (FTP), East Lansing, Michigan.
LSM search engine, Seattle Washington. A directory
of information about each of the software packages available via FTP for the Linux operating system.
Linux Step-By-Step, Hilliard, Ohio. Central
resource for variety of Linux guides.
Linux Step-by-Step, Gaylord, Michigan. Mirror site.
Linux 2000, Seabrook, Texas. Linux information center,
committed to bringing online the best information about Linux. News, books, links to other Linux sites.
The Linux USB Project, Pleasanton, California. Serving as
a central point of information on USB support under Linux.
Mandrake-User.org, Paris, France. Support site for
Linux Mandrake How-To and troubleshooting.
David Merrill & Robert Kiesling:
Linux Frequently Asked Questions with Answers. Posted weekly to the Usenet news
groups news.answers, comp.answers, and comp.os.linux.misc.
Tim Prince: Multiple Boot Advice for
x86: Multiple booting with Windows including NT or Windows 2000 (W2K) and Linux. Also
read the Linux HowTo Index
for other people's approaches to multiple booting.
OpenSRC, Broadbeach, Queensland, Australia. An
Open Source site with discussion forums and links to software distributions, including Linux.
John E. Pisini: Alt.os.linux.mandrake
(AOLM) FAQ.
Precision Insight Inc., Cedar Park, Texas.
Specializing in the creation of device drivers for 2D and 3D graphics hardware within the
industry standard XFree86 X server. (Now merged with VA Linux)
Red Hat Linux Support
Resources, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Official support site.
Sendmail.org, Berkeley, California. All about the
free *N*x Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) that lets you be your own post office. You may
also want to read the Sendmail FAQ if you
are having problems configuring sendmail.
The Slackware Linux Project , Concord, California. One
of the oldest Linux distributions, said to be the most "Unix-like" and difficult to install, but it's ideal
for people who already know how to install and use a Unix OS. You can download a package
description file from this site to evaluate whether or not it has what you're interested in. Also
providing the latest news about the Slackware Linux distribution, as well as installation help,
configuration help, and other general information about Slackware Linux. (Walnut Creek CDROM)
SuSE Inc. Support & Download, Nuernberg,
Germany. U.S. offices in Oakland, California. Includes a Support Database, Hardware Database,
links to other sites, and more.
Aaron Turner: Red Hat Linux User's FAQ
UNIXhelp server lists at University
of Edinburgh, Scotland. List of servers that host Unix Href files.
Unix Reference Desk at Geek-Girl.com, Chicago,
Illinois.
Tim Waugh: External Parallel Port devices and
Linux: scanners, zip drives, tape backup, and more. Home page for the linux-parport mailing
list. There's a long list of links to Linux parallel port driver projects where you can find documentation,
drivers, etc.
X.Org, Reading, Berkshire, UK. X Window Resources.
Learn more about the graphical user interface (GUI) used by Linux.
Caldera Systems, Orem, Utah.
OpenLinux software and utilities, mainly for businesses and developers.
CheapBytes, Lodi, California. Discounted Linux
software, books, t-shirts, etc.
L4
Linux at University of Dresden, Germany. A port of the Linux kernel to the
L4/x86 and Fiasco microkernels. It can be used with
any PC-based Linux distribution.
Linux Central, Clinton Township, Michigan. Software,
hardware, downloads, books, and Linux gear such as penguin t-shirts, etc. (Div. of internet.com)
Linux Mall, Stafford, Texas. Online shopping
center for Linux-related products.
Linux Online, Laurel, Maryland. Linux books, souvenirs,
projects, links to information, distributions, etc. A one-stop resource and clearinghouse for Linux.
MandrakeSoft Inc., Paris, France. U.S.
offices in Altadena, California. Distributors of Linux Mandrake, an optimized version of Red Hat
Linux for Pentium computers (also runs on AMD and other x86 compatible architectures.).
Includes Wine, support for True Type fonts, and internationalization features.
Partition Magic, Orem, Utah.
Commercial partitioning tool used by many Linux users to set up dual-boot systems. Also
compatible with Windows. (PowerQuest Corporation)
Red Hat Software, Durham, North Carolina. A commercial
Linux distribution. Includes both GNOME and KDE desktops, and the Red Hat Package Manager
(RPM), an accessory which keeps track of what software has been installed. One of the most
stable distributions of Linux, considered ideal for newcomers as well as popular with network
administrators.
SuSE Inc., Nuernberg, Germany. One of the oldest and
largest commercial Linux distributions. Includes both the GNOME and KDE desktops and the
SuSE Linux manual.
SuSE blinux is a version optimized for people who use braille screenreaders.
Ximian, Boston, Massachusetts. Providing open source
desktop technology, applications, support and services for corporate Linux and Unix users.
4Front Technologies: Opensound System for
Linux, Culver City, California. Digital Audio software for Linux/Unix. If you can't find the drivers
you need for your sound card in the distribution you have or from ALSA, check this place. Cost:
US$20. California residents pay sales tax.
Opensound System - Linux.org U.K. Free version
which lacks support for certain sound cards with proprietary programming information. It has been
incorporated into current Linux distributions.
The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture project (ALSA),
Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic. A fully modularized sound driver developed for the Linux system.
Includes software, the latest news, and information about the project. There is also a
list of supported sound cards. (Freeware)
Debian GNU/Linux, Boston, Massachusetts.
Debian FTP
Debian FTP Mirror List
Freshmeat.net, Acton, Massachusetts. Linux software. Major
sections include: Console (stuff most of us will need), Daemons (TSRs such as anti-virus, mail servers,
etc.), Development (programming tools), GNOME (general category, items written using the GNOME
libraries), KDE (desktop applications), Web (networking), and X11 (X Window tools). (Freeware/Shareware)
Gilles Vollant Software, Mennecy, France.
BootPart: Boot Partition for WinNT. A tool
for adding one partition in the Windows NT multi boot menu. You can add OS/2 Multiboot, or Linux
Partition (with Lilo) to the menu. Compatible with Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
(Freeware)
ibiblio's Linux Archive, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Everything from ALPHA to UTILS, and some documentation.
ibiblio's Linux FTP Site
ibiblio's Metalab Mirrors List
ISA Plug-and-Play Tools, Hertfordshire,
U.K.. This program allows ISA Plug-And-Play devices to be configured on a Linux machine; suitable for
all systems which contain ISA bus Plug-and-Play cards, whether or not they include a PnP BIOS.
Includes news and a FAQ. (Freeware)
The K Desk Environment (KDE), Koenigsbrunn, Germany.
Graphical desktop environment for Unix workstations, also used for Linux. Includes software,
FAQ and information. (Freeware)
KDE Mirrors List
KDE.com, Omaha, Nebraska. Community portal for developers
and users of the K Desk Environment. Links to KDE software sites, headlines, and announcements.
The Kermit Project @ Columbia University, New York,
New York. Kermit is both a file transfer protocol and a suite of communications software programs.
Features include connection establishment and maintenance for a wide variety of connection methods
(dialup, TCP/IP, X.25, LAN, etc), terminal emulation, error-free file transfer, numeric and alphanumeric
paging, character-set translation during both terminal emulation and file transfer (a unique feature),
and script programming to automate complicated or repetitive tasks. The software is free, but you are
asked to support the project by purchasing a
manual for your particular distribution.
Kernelnotes.de, Dueren, Germany. Information about Linux
kernels, patches, and distributions, and links to get them.
Linux BSOD:
The Blue Screen of Death for Linux, a joke on MS Windows. (tar gzipped) Brief details
here. (Freeware)
Linux Center, Paris, France. Index of links to shareware,
freeware, information and news. Includes a search engine. (English/Française)
Linux Headquarters, Ogdensburg, New York. Home page for the
Linux-kernel mailing list, organizes and catalogs many of the Linux related kernel patches in one central
location and links to other Linux pages. Good site for people who already have Linux installed to get OS
updates.
Linux Kernel Archives, Santa Clara, California. List of Linux kernel
source code, patches, and where to get them.
Linux Kernel Mirror List - over 90 sites in 44 countries
and territories.
Linux.org U.K., Swansea, Wales. Linux resource with links
to sites, distributions, news, etc.
Netfilter/IPtables, Griffith, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia. Linux firewall, and how to use it.
IPTables Mirror Site in Nuernberg, Bavaria, Germany.
(Freeware)
nVidia Linux Drivers, Santa Clara,
California. Drivers for NVIDIA chips including Creative Labs and other companies' boards using
any of these chips, and installation guides. (Freeware)
nVidia Linux Drivers FTP
RealPlayer for Linux (You'll need to fill out a form first) (Freeware)
Red Hat Linux, Durham, North Carolina.
Red Hat FTP site
RPM Find, Seattle, Washington. Designed to help people
who have an RPM based setup and need to install or upgrade files on their machine. Mirrors and
links to many Linux software archives.
RPM Find European Mirror, Grenoble, France.
Samba, Griffith, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Samba allows Windows and Unix machines to work together in an Intranet. It provides a complete
replacement for Windows NT, Warp, NFS or Netware servers and runs on Unix platforms but
communicates with Windows clients like a native, allowing a Unix system to move into a Windows
'Network Neighborhood' without causing problems. Windows users can access file and print services
without knowing or caring that those services are being offered by a Unix host. (Freeware)
Slackware Linux, Concord, California. The most "Unix-like"
Linux distribution. If you are a Unix expert, this distribution may be the one for you.
Slackware FTP site
Slackware Mirrors List
SourceForge.net, Fremont, California. World's largest open
source development website, with the largest repository of open source code and applications
available on the Internet.
Sourceforge FTP Site
Sound & MIDI Software For Linux, Provo, Utah.
Applications, drivers, etc.
Sound & Midi European Mirror, Wien, Austria.
SuSE Linux, Nuremberg, Germany. U.S. Headquarters
in Oakland, California. Recently rated the best Linux version for businesses and servers because
of plentiful applications and good support.
SuSE Linux Support and Download
Themes.org, hosted by VA Linux, Fremont, California. Graphics,
information, themes, and other resources for the X Window System. Links to many Linux-related sites.
Webmin, Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia. A
web-based administration interface for Unix systems. Using Webmin you can configure DNS, Samba,
NFS, local/remote filesystems and more using your web browser. The FAQ is on this page also.
(Freeware)
Window Managers for X, London, U.K.. A guide to the variety
of window managers and desktop environments for The X Window System. You'll need to be already running
Linux to get the most benefit from this site.
Wine Development HQ, Saint Paul, Minnesota. WINE is
an implementation of the Windows 3.x and Win32 APIs on top of X and Unix. Wine provides a
development toolkit (Winelib) for porting Windows sources to Unix, and a program loader, allowing
unmodified Windows 3.1/95/NT binaries to run under Intel Unixes. Wine works on most popular Intel
Unixes, including Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris. (Freeware)
Wine FAQ
XFree86, Pelham, New Hampshire. An implementation
of the X Window System that runs on UNIX, UNIX-like (including Linux) and OS/2 operating
systems. X Window is a graphical user interface. (Freeware)
xfsft: Truetype Font Support For X,
a set of patches to make X11 support TrueType fonts. Xfsft has now been integrated with the main
branch of XFree86 as the 'freetype' module, and the standalone version is no longer current. The site
can still help to answer questions you may have about the patches. (Freeware)
California Digital Corporation, Fremont,
California. Linux servers.
Cyclades, Fremont, California. Multiport serial cards,
synchronous boards for server-based networking, remote access servers featuring built-in digital
modems, terminal servers, and routers. Specializing in Linux connectivity, but also sells products
for Windows, Unix, etc.
EBIZ Enterprises Inc., Stafford, Texas. Linux and
Windows servers.
eLinux, Torrance, California. Linux superstore.
Linux Mall, Stafford, Texas. Online shopping
center for Linux-related products.
Ximian, Boston, Massachusetts. Providing open source
desktop technology, applications, support and services for corporate Linux and Unix users.
