To paraphrase a character from The Matrix, "No one can tell you what the Linux is. You have experience it yourself." It hasn't always been easy to try out GNU/Linux for yourself, but it's getting more user friendly as time goes on. Now we even have books to help, of which Point and Click Linux is the latest. What differentiates it from the rest?

"Linux is complicated, scary, and only for Unix-heads." That axiom has held fairly true for the last 10 years. Are things finally changing? The answer, thankfully, is yes. Point and Click Linux (PCL) will show you how to get a full Linux system up and running, no command line required. PCL is written by Robin "Roblimo" Miller, editor-in-chief of OSTG, a group of Web sites that publish technology news and host open source software projects. Basically he wrote this book to prove one point: Linux can be simple.

To make this point, PCL uses the Mepis Linux distribution, which is based on Debian GNU/Linux. While there are probably other Linux distros that are easier to use (SUSE Linux springs to mind), Mepis has the advantages of being completely free of charge and using Debian's Advanced Package Tool (APT) system to make adding additional software very easy and at no cost. Mepis is maintained by one man, Warren Woodford, and is described by it supporters as "Everything Debian should be." Mepis tries to follow the philosophy of it just works -- you pop in the CD, and a few minutes later you have a running desktop environment.

Reading through the book, I liked the way it was organized better than any other "Linux made easy" book I have read. While I don't claim to be an expert on such books, I have browsed through the limited selection my local library has, and they all seemed to follow the same recipe: take a guy who has used Unix for 20+ years and Linux since it's inception, and let him write out a lesson plan with minimal editorial review. The problem is that the Unix guru unintentionally assumes that the readers know more than the average user does, and that his everyday tasks are shared by all computer users.

When I was introduced to Linux, I had only used the command line interface (CLI) in windows 3.1 (which was on my first computer) and in my Windows XP machine when my friend showed me the ipconfig command. For all of my computing knowledge, the CLI was still scary. The CLI was like the sewers of the operating system -- dark, scary, and probably infested with alligators. When you're trying something new, you probably want don't want it to be in the dark with the alligators giving you snide pointers. PCL Starts off completely in the GUI (graphical user interface), and the CLI is only covered in the "Beyond the Basics" section. Having users stay in the environment they know -- the GUI -- makes the transition go smoother.

What really sets this book apart is the how-to DVD that comes with it. On it, Roblimo appears, dressed casually, demonstrating programs like Mozilla and OpenOffice.org, and shows the viewer how to install new software. Seeing a man who isn't a suspenders-wearing Unix geek should be comforting to newer users. The DVD plays in standard set-top DVD players and while handy, it has few extras or easter eggs, thus lessening re-watching value. Jokes aside, the DVD is a welcome addition to the text.

There are some negatives to the book. For instance, why can't I watch the demo DVD in Linux? I know that it has to do with legal matters, but why couldn't Roblimo do a "Here is how you set up libdvdcss so that Linux can play commercial DVDs, but don't do it. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge?" The lack of DVD support and the lack of legal alternatives is one thing that keeps me booting into Windows.

Second, I think they should have had more things in the "Beyond the Basics" section, like having sample config files and explaining how the samples work so that they are no longer scary. A few more CLI commands would have been nice, and providing a few more examples or the output text for each command would have been better, since it would show the new user what to expect when executing that command. Listing "apt-get upgrade" would have fit well, since the function has already been shown in GUI mode, having a command line equivalent would be a good introduction in to performing CLI operation.

I also had problems with the Mepis disc, which wouldn't uncompress the cloop image off the CD, saying it couldn't find the disc. This meant my laptop, which I have SUSE Linux already installed on, wasn't usable for testing. Instead I had to use a spare Pentium 3 box I had lying around. The only problem with this system was the sound -- Mepis recognized the integrated sound chip, but no sound was produced. This was solved by adding a borrowed Soundblaster 16. Everything else worked.

Also, some of the graphics used in the book were blurry, and few were showing exactly what the text said. All in all, though, the book's many merits far outweigh its few faults.

Point and Click Linux is a solid book for the Linux beginner. This book is well-suited for the proficient, curious Windows user, or as a gift from the advanced Linux user to less experienced users who are tired of spam, pop ups, viruses, and malware. It offers little new information for the intermediate Linux user and nothing for the advanced Linux user. Point and Click Linux is, however, an easy way to start using Linux for those who want to move beyond Windows.

Click here to buy Point and Click Linux from Amazon.com.

Discuss this article or get technical support on our forum.

Copyright 2005 Ben Leach. Verbatim copying and redistribution of this entire article are permitted without royalty in any medium provided this notice is preserved.