I'm a pure Windows guy but i'm working with linux and raspberries pretty heavily in my current project and i wanted to know if you guys could recommand a book that could give me a solid fundation with the following traits:

- No begginer level book, i'm new to linux but not new to computers nor to programming

- Not a programmer book : i'm looking for a book on using and managing linux, the programming part isn't much of an issue as i'm using VisualGDB and having no problems so far

- Not a humor book : i like formal content packed books where every page feels like it was Worth reading, i don't need a light tone to keep me interested at all, so at equal quality between 2 books suggest the most "academic" one.

- Not a chose your linux book, the choice is made and it's raspbian, i'm looking for something about linux and not about a specific distribution nor about their pro & cons

- No user interface, i'm only using the PIs through SSH and have zero interest in X.

I'm finding myself having to Google things that are pretty basic like "how do i set a program to start on boot without anyone logging on and keep running in the background unatached to a specific bash instance" and i think it's time i step up and actually learn this more formally, any advice is most welcome.

In my opinion the best book you can ever lay your hands on about linux is available online and it's called Google.

I've purchased several Linux books before, and although when purchased their content is useful, they have one thing in common: They very quickly become outdated, faster than any other book in any other technical subject.

Linux and the programs upon it move at such a pace, that if you spend your hard earned cash on a book about it then you can gaurantee that by the next minor version of the kernel half of what's in that book will be inaccurate.

I would advise on just skipping buying books about this subject and use the internet as your resource, and i speak from personal experience...

My first steps in Linux was buying Suse which by then (1998) came with a accompanying book in a box.

It was very useful to get to know all, although nowadays all I need is a quick google search.

Googling is great for a specific issue, i want to learn the thing as a whole.

I just like you can learn a few PowerShell commands but that's very different from Learning the .net Framework as a whole, i'm looking for the later. Some kind of linux admin book.

Raspbian is a port of Debian compiled for the processor used in the Raspberry Pi[1] so look for Debian documentation. A good place to start id the Debian documentation site.


[1] The standard linux ARM distributions are armel (ARMv4 using method supporting floating point that is compatible with software FP and hardware FP but is relatively slow) and armhf (ARMv7 with hardware FP required). Rasbian is Debian recompiled for ARMv6 with hardware FP (with kernels and a few other bits also available in ARMv7 versions for Pi2s).

Raspbian is a port of Debian compiled for the processor used in the Raspberry Pi[1] so look for Debian documentation. A good place to start id the Debian documentation site.


[1] The standard linux ARM distributions are armel (ARMv4 using method supporting floating point that is compatible with software FP and hardware FP but is relatively slow) and armhf (ARMv7 with hardware FP required). Rasbian is Debian recompiled for ARMv6 with hardware FP (with kernels and a few other bits also available in ARMv7 versions for Pi2s).

I guess the debian administrator handbook would be a good starting place and quite book-like in scope and quality, thanks!

Never read but Wiley's "Linux Bible" might worth checking

A Practical Guide to Fedora ... Mark G. Sobel Paperback: 1300 pages Publisher: Prentice Hall; 7 edition (January 10, 2014) ISBN-13: 978-0133477436 Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook Nemeth, Snyder, Hein, and Whaley Paperback: 1344 pages Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4th edition (July 24, 2010) ISBN-13: 978-0131480056 Modern Operating Systems Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Herbert Bos Hardcover: 1136 pages Publisher: Pearson; 4 edition (March 20, 2014) ISBN-13: 978-0133591620

That last one is for OS architecture design and concepts though.

To get better at using a shell, try Linux power tools, it explains the commands you can type as the command line