When you ask a question online about something that is well documented, you will often be curtly told to ‘RTFM’. That expands (in the polite version) to ‘Read The Fine Manual’. That hardly helps if you don’t have the manuals handy. Fortunately, PCQ Linux 7.1 ships with a selection of useful documents in HTML form. With your browser, navigate to CD 2 of the PCQ Linux install set and open a file named ‘linux.htm’. This file has links to the online documentation.

Some of this documentation is the official Red Hat documentation. In spite of this, please remember that PCQ Linux is a Linux distribution based on Red Hat Linux 7.1; it is not Red Hat Linux. It is not supported by Red Hat. For installation-related support, send mail to linux-project@pcquest.com You can also get support from the Linux India mailing lists (www.linux-india.org ).

Installation Guide. This is the official Red Hat installation manual. It has lots of details about installation, including how to choose your installation class, partitioning your hard disk and configuring LILO. It also helps you to troubleshoot install and post-install problems.

Getting Started Guide. As the title suggests, this manual helps you to get started with your new OS. It covers the use of both the GNOME and KDE environments, connecting to the Internet, and basic configuration of printers and sound cards. Consult this if you need help with the basics of Linux.

Resource Guide. This is an official Red Hat guide that has advanced information about partitioning concepts, the boot-up process, system and network security, RAID concepts and secure Web-server installation. Read this if you want to know more about how your system works.

Customization Guide. This explains how to configure your system for your purposes. It covers topics like configuring a NIC, setting up dual booting, configuring Samba shares and managing software with RPM.

Network Administration Guide. This guide is a part of the excellent documentation written by the Linux Documentation Project (LDP) (www.linuxdoc.org). It is a single-point reference for network administration using a Linux environment. Its target audience ranges from beginners to experienced professionals.

Linux Kernel 2.4 Internals. This is a technical introduction to the internals of the 2.4 version of the Linux kernel. Amongst other things, it discusses booting, process and interrupt management, and virtual filesystems.

Linux Administrator’s Security Guide. This is a comprehensive guide to almost all aspects of security in a Linux environment. It includes discussions of everything from secure installs to firewalls, VPNs and intrusion detection. Read this if you administer a system that is exposed to the Internet.

A thorough understanding of these documents will considerably ease your Linux experience.

Biju Chacko is a projects consultant with Exocore Consulting