Before you take the plunge and devote time and hardware to experimenting with Linux, let's cover the basics of this free OS. Though its design varies substantially from what you are used to in the ...

If you are doing X11, for example, you can go low-level or pick any of a number of high-level libraries. The tutorial assumes you understand C and basic Linux programming. It has two sections, really.

I've pulled off a few successful source installations a few times in my year or two spent in Linux, but I wish I'd had this guide bookmarked from the start. Compiling and installing software from ...