3. Network Sources and Resources
3.1. Where Is the Latest Kernel Version on the Internet?
Make that versions. The 2.0 series
kernels are still available for older machines.
The latest production kernel series is 2.2.x.
The updates to this kernel are bug fixes.
The new 2.4 kernel sources are also on-line.
The Web page at http://www.kernel.org/ lists the current versions of the development and production kernels.
If you want to download the source code, FTP to ftp.xx.kernel.org, where ``xx'' is the two-letter Internet domain abbreviation of your country; e.g., ``us'' for United States, ``ca'' for Canada, or ``de'' for Germany. Kernel versions 2.2.x are archived in the directory pub/linux/kernel/v2.2, as are patches for the prerelease versions. The kernel source code is archived
as a .tar.gz file, and as a .tar.bz2 file.
Follow the instructions in any of the standard references to compile the kernel,
as you would with any other custom kernel.
The Documentation subdirectory contains information by the authors of various subsystems and drivers,
and much of that information is not documented
elsewhere.
If you want to participate in kernel development, make sure that you sign on
to the linux-kernel mailing list to find out
what people are working on. Refer to the answer:
``What Mailing Lists Are There?''
There is a story about the features of the 2.4 series kernels at http://features.linuxtoday.com/stories/8191.html.
3.2. Where Is the Documentation?
Look in the following places, and
the sites that mirror them.
For a list of Linux FTP sites, refer to the answer for: ``Where Are the Linux FTP Archives?''
If you don't have access to FTP, try the FTP-by-mail servers: ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com, ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk, or: ftp-mailer@informatik.tu-muenchen.de.
A complete list of HOWTO's is available in the file HOWTO-INDEX at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/howtos.html. The mini-HOWTO's are indexed at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/mini.html.
A search engine at the Linux FAQ Home Page, http://www.mainmatter.com/, allows you to search LDP HOWTO's, the Linux FAQ, man pages, and Network Administrator's Guide.
In addition, translations are available from ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/translations/ and mirrors worldwide. The HOWTO's and other documentation have been translated
into the following languages:
| Chinese (Big5) (zh) Croatian
(hr) French (fr)
German (de
Hellenic (el) Indonesian
(id)
Italian (it)
Japanese (ja) Korean
(ko)
Polish (pl)
Slovenian (sl) Spanish (es)
Swedish (sv)
Turkish (tr) |
Additional documents are always in preparation. Please get in touch with the
coordinators if you are interested in writing
one. Contact and submission information is
at http://www.linuxdoc.org/mailinfo.html.
There is also a LDP HOWTO page at http://howto.tucows.org/.
The Guide Series produced by the Linux Documentation Project is available from
http://www.linuxdoc.org/. Please read them if you are new to Unix and Linux.
The Linux Mobile Guide is an expanded version of the Linux-Laptop-HOWTO. The URL is: http://home.snafu.de/wehe/howtos.html.
And, of course, a number of people have written documentation independently of
the LDP:
Documentation for kernel developers is on-line: http://kernelbook.sourceforge.net/.
To find out about Linux memory management, including performance tuning, see
Rik van Riel's Web page at http://humbolt.geo.uu.nl/Linux-MM/.
The Linux Consultants HOWTO has a directory of Linux consultants at http://www.linuxports.com/.
Gary's Encyclopedia lists over 4,000 Linux related links. Its URL is http://members.aa.net/~swear/pedia/index.html.
There is also a FAQ specifically for the Red Hat Linux distribution, at http://www.best.com/~aturner/RedHat-FAQ/faq_index.html.
And the Home Page of this FAQ is http://www.mainmatter.com/.
3.3. Where Is the Linux Stuff on the World Wide Web?
In addition to the Linux Documentation Project Home Page: http://www.linuxdoc.org/, there are many pages that provide beginning and advanced information about
Linux.
These two pages provide a good starting point for general Linux information:
Linux International's Home Page, at http://www.li.org/, and the Linux Online's Linux Home Page at http://www.linux.org/.
Both of these pages provide links to other sites, information about general information,
distributions, new software, documentation,
and news.
Documentation for kernel developers is on-line: http://kernelbook.sourceforge.net/.
The tutorial, Unix is a Four Letter Word..., is located at http://www.linuxbox.com/~taylor/4ltrwrd/. It is a general introduction to Unix operating systems and is not Linux specific.
Additionally, here is a certainly incomplete list of Web pages devoted to Linux:
Searching for ``Linux'' on Web Search Engines, like Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/), Altavista (http://www.altavista.com/), or Google (http://www.google.com/) will provide copious references to Linux Web sites. Further information about
about Web search engines is in the Web and Internet Search Engine Faq: http://www.infobasic.com/pagefaq.html.
Refer also to the answer for: ``What Other FAQ's and Documentation Are There for Linux?''
3.4. What News Groups Are There for Linux?
Comp.os.linux.announce is the moderated announcements group. You should read this if you intend to
use Linux. It contains information about software
updates, new ports, user group meetings, and
commercial products. It is the only newsgroup that may carry commercial postings. Submissions for that group should
be e-mailed to linux-announce@news.ornl.gov.
Comp.os.linux.announce is archived at: http://www.iki.fi/mjr/linux/cola.html, and ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/comp.os.linux.announce/.
Also worth reading are the following other groups in the comp.os.linux.* and alt.uu.comp.os.linux.* hierarchies—you may find many common problems too recent for the documentation
but are answered in the newsgroups.
-
alt.uu.comp.os.linux
-
alt.uu.comp.os.linux.questions
-
alt.os.linux
-
alt.os.linux.mandrake
-
comp.os.linux.admin
-
comp.os.linux.advocacy
-
comp.os.linux.alpha
-
comp.os.linux.answers
-
comp.os.linux.development
-
comp.os.linux.development.apps
-
comp.os.linux.development.system
-
comp.os.linux.embedded
-
comp.os.linux.hardware
-
comp.os.linux.help
-
comp.os.linux.m68k
-
comp.os.linux.misc
-
comp.os.linux.network
-
comp.os.linux.networking
-
comp.os.linux.portable
-
comp.os.linux.powerpc
-
comp.os.linux.questions
-
comp.os.linux.redhat
-
comp.os.linux.security
-
comp.os.linux.setup
-
comp.os.linux.test
-
comp.os.linux.x
-
comp.os.linux.x.video
Remember that Linux is POSIX compatible, and most all of the material in the
comp.unix.* and comp.windows.x.* groups will be relevant. Apart from hardware considerations, and some obscure
or very technical low-level issues, you'll
find that these groups are good places to
start.
Information about e-mail clients (MUA's), mail transfer agents (MTA's), and other
related software are in the comp.mail.* groups, especially:
-
comp.mail.misc
-
comp.mail.pine
-
comp.mail.sendmail
Questions and information about News reading software are in: news.software.readers.
Please read ``If this Document Still Hasn't Answered Your Question....'' before posting. Cross posting between different comp.os.linux.* groups is rarely a good idea.
There may well be Linux groups local to your institution or area—check
there first.
See also ``How To Get Information without Usenet Access.''
Other regional and local newsgroups also exist—you may find the traffic
more manageable there. The French Linux newsgroup
is fr.comp.os.linux. In Germany there is de.comp.os.linux.*. In Australia, try aus.computers.linux. In Croatia there is hr.comp.linux. In Italy, there is it.comp.linux.
A search of http://groups.google.com/ can provide an up-to-date list of News groups.
[Axel Boldt, Robert Kiesling]
3.5. What Other FAQ's and Documentation Are There for Linux?
There are a number of special-interest FAQ's on different subjects related to
system administration and use, and also on
miscellaneous topics like Flying Saucer Attacks
(the music) and support for recovering sysadmins.
The official Usenet FAQ archives are: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/.
The Internet FAQ Consortium provides a searchable archive at: http://www.faqs.org/. The site also maintains a current archive of Internet Request For Comment (RFC),
Best Current Practices (BCP), and For Your
Information (FYI) documents.
Here are some FAQ's and documents that might be especially useful, and their
network addresses:
3.8. How To Get Information without Usenet Access.
A digest of comp.os.linux.announce is available by mailing the word "subscribe"
(without the quotes) as the body of a message
to linux-announce-REQUEST@news-digests.mit.edu. Subscribing to this list is a good idea, as it carries important information
and documentation about Linux.
Please remember to use the *-request addresses for your subscribe and unsubscribe
messages; mail to the other address is posted
to the news group.
3.9. What Mailing Lists Are There?
The Linux developers now mainly use the Majordomo server at majordomo@vger.redhat.com. Send a message with the word "lists" (without the quotes) in the body to get
a list of lists there. Add a line with the
word, "help," to get the standard Majordomo
help file that lists instructions for subscribing
and unsubscribing to the lists.
Currently, the kernel list is archived at: http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/, and http://www.lib.uaa.alaska.edu/linux-kernel/archive/
Please do not post off-topic material to the mailing lists. Most of them are
used by Linux developers to talk about technical
issues and future developments. They are not
intended for new users' questions, advertisements,
or public postings that are not directly related
to the mailing list's subject matter. Comp.os.linux.announce is the place for all public announcements. This is a common Internet policy.
If you don't observe this guideline, there's
a good chance that you'll be flamed.
There is a linux-newbie list where, "no question is too stupid." Unfortunately,
it seems that few experienced users read that
list, and it has very low volume.
There are numerous Linux related mailing lists at http://www.onelist.com/. Go to the categories page and choose "Linux." There are also mailing list subscription
links at: http://oslab.snu.ac.kr/~djshin/linux/mail-list/.
The Mailing Lists Available in Usenet page is: http://paml.net/. The list information is also on: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/, and is posted to the groups: news.announce.newgroups, news.lists, and news.groups, among others.
