Welcome, and thank you for using Linux-Mandrake! This book is divided into two parts: an Installation guide and a User Guide. The Installation guide will help you installing your Linux-Mandrake distribution by describing the preparation, installation and post-installation procedures. The User Guide will help you using your Linux-Mandrake system on a daily basis. Here is a summary of each chapter of the User Guide:
The first chapter, "Linux for Beginners", is aimed at those of you who have no or very little knowledge about GNU/Linux. It is really basic level information, if you have previously used a GNU/Linux system with a graphical interface, just ignore this chapter.
The second chapter is dedicated to the use of KDE, the default graphical environment of Linux-Mandrake. You will see that it is a powerful working environment, very intuitive and fully configurable. You will probably be amazed by what it can do.
Reading further, you will find chapters dedicated to system configuration tools especially designed for you by Linux-Mandrake. Those tools are organized in four chapters: first, how to configure an Internet connection, then many little graphical tools all accessible from the control center DrakConf, following is explained the managing of software packages and finally configuring your hardware with a useful tool: HardDrake.
The next section is devoted to documentation. Apart from introducing you to documentation you will have available on your GNU/Linux system, we will provide some useful links to Internet sites.
Finally as appendices, you will find respectively the legal notice for the whole Linux-Mandrake distribution followed by the text of the GPL, then an extensive glossary, and finally the index for this book.