1. Introduction

Development in the world of Linux takes place at an incredible speed and it can be difficult to keep abreast with the latest development. This HOWTO gives you a few guidelines on how to get the information you need, fast and efficiently. Most are quite familiar with using the World Wide Web (WWW) and Usenet News but as will be shown here there are many other methods that can be as good or even better.

There are now many new translations available and special thanks go to the translators for the job and the input they have given:

• Polish translation by Tomasz Sienicki tsca (at) cryogen.com
• French Translation by Jean-Albert Ferrez Jean-Albert.Ferrez (at) epfl.ch
• Portuguese Translation by Duarte Loreto dnloreto (at) esoterica.pt
• Japanese translation by Satoru Takahashi hisai (at) din.or.jp

1.1 Copyright

This HOWTO is copyrighted 1998 Kjell Sundby, Kjetil Bakkeskaug and Stein Gjoen. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

If you have any questions, please contact <{linux-howto@metalab.unc.edu}>

1.2 Disclaimer

Use the information in this document at your own risk. We disavow any potential liability for the contents of this document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this document is entirely at your own risk.

All copyrights are owned by their owners, unless specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.

You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major installation and backups at regular intervals.

1.3 News

Updated links to LinuxNetMag

Did a major link check but linkrot sets in quickly.

Added link to Penguin Magazine.

Added more information on the workings of mailing lists. Also proper indexing is now added.

Renamed Dejanews to Deja and one chapter title. Also added note on translation now underway. Minor typos fixed.

Added link to Polish translation

Added link to Linux Focus and Linux Magazine.

Added links to French and Japanese translations as well as several online resources.

Link rot is setting in, numerous corrections made. Also expanded on searching choices.

1.4 Credits

Tomasz Sienicki | tsca <tsca (at) cryogen.com>
Satoru Takahashi <hisai (at) din.or.jp>