Praise for Marcel Gagné’s Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!

“This is kind of a funny book for me to be recommending to readers of a Windows newsletter, but a lot of people ask me about this topic, so here goes. Author Marcel Gagné is a columnist for Linux Journal, and in Moving to Linux he’s prepared a step-by-step guide to converting a Windows PC to Linux—or just trying it! The book includes a bootable CD with a version of Linux that you can poke around in without touching or changing anything about your Windows installation. If your boss is asking, ‘What’s with this Linux stuff?’, moving to Linux is a great way to show that you know what you’re talking about.”
—Brian Livingston, Editor, WindowsSecrets.com

“Pros: Too many to list in the available space. We liked the book from the very first page right through to the end. Gagné has done a solid job of exposing Linux and all its components in a way that is both inviting, useful, and easy to understand . . . We really liked this book—highly recommended.”
—Howard Carson, Kickstart News, www.kickstartnews.com

“Marcel walks the user through each technique in a very chatty and comfortable style. In fact, when I put the book down, I had a momentary impression that I’d just finished watching a good cooking show with an entertaining chef. (Australian readers may understand if I say that it felt like having just watched Ian Parmenter do an episode of ‘Consuming Passions.’)”
—Jenn Vesperman, Linuxchix.org

“Gagné’s Moving to Linux is a straightforward exposition of just how a non-hacker PC user can get rid of ‘The Blue Screen of Death’. If you have a friend, a co-worker, a significant other, or a relative who periodically screams, sighs, bursts into tears, or asks for help, here’s the simple solution. It comes with a bootable CD of Knoppix, Klaus Knopper’s variant of Debian.”
—Peter H. Salus, writing in ;login: The Usenix Magazine

“This is a book aimed not at you, dear developer/techie/guru, but at your friends, acquaintances, and family who are lowly users of Windows. Yes, such people do exist even in the tightest of families. Fear not, however, because salvation is at hand should any of them decide that this Linux thing might be worth investigating. No longer will you be faced with the unenviable task of walking them through the process of switching OS. Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye! is a big, bold, and friendly guide to help them along. The emphasis is firmly on using Linux as a desktop system—this isn’t a book about Linux as a file, print, or Web server.”
—Tech Book Reports

Say Goodbye to Windows^®-Related Crashes, Viruses, Hassles, and Costs!

Today, Linux is more powerful, useful, and practical than ever before! Moving to Linux, Second Edition, can help you migrate from Windows to the latest and best versions of Linux in just hours. By the time you’re finished, you’ll be able to do virtually anything in Linux—without the aggravation, crashes, security risks, or high costs of running Windows!

This is not a book for techies! It’s for people who write documents, create spreadsheets, surf the Web, use email, listen to music, watch movies, and play games—and want to do it in Linux, without becoming technical experts.

• Convert your Windows PC to a Linux system that does more for less money—one step at a time

• Take control of Linux the easy way, with the quick, efficient KDE graphical environment

• Browse the Internet using Firefox, the fast, powerful browser that’s quickly replacing Microsoft Internet Explorer

• Send and receive email and instant messages using your existing AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! accounts

• Manage all your digital photos, without the hassle, using digikam

• Rip music, burn and play CDs, and watch movies

• Discover the world of Linux games and learn how to run Windows games on your Linux PC

There’s more! Create documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with OpenOffice.org 2.0—the free office suite for Linux that’s now easier, more powerful, and even more compatible with Microsoft Office.

Say goodbye to expensive software upgrades, burdensome Microsoft licensing, Windows viruses, and “blue screens of death.” Say hello to computing the way it’s supposed to be—with Linux!

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 11 Ratings

Great book! Very beginner-friendly... - 2006-02-21
Reviewer Rating:
I had never used the Linux operating system before I bought this book. This book introduces all aspects of Linux in a way that is easy to understand. It comes with a CD that simulates having Knoppix (a distribution of Linux) loaded, and allows you to "test-drive" Linux without actually loading the operating system or making any changes to your existing Windows setup.
With detailed illustration (and a sense of humor), the author does a great job of helping a newbe become familiar with the Linux operating system. I ended up loading SUSE Linux 10.0 from Novell. There are a few small differences between SUSE and Knoppix (and the many other Linux distributions) but most of what is in the book still applies.
If you are considering Linux as your operating system, I would recommend this book.

2006 isn't the stone age......BSoD still lives! - 2006-01-06
Reviewer Rating:
Roberto.........unfortunately I've seen the Blue Screen of Death 5x in the last 2 days. I'm running Windows XP SP2, etc. Perhaps its time to buy this book!

Perhaps you didn't like the title. I would have appreciated an actual review of the book, not a bashing of the title. So, I'm giving the book 5 stars to balance out your 2 stars.

I love Linux and would encourage anyone to at least try it. I still run Windows XP on my laptop. As a systems architect there's advantages of knowing multiple platforms. Don't let a questionable title spoil your fun of trying out a new OS.

You can't migrate to what you can't install! - 2006-01-30
Reviewer Rating:
[I paid $40 for a copy of this book at Barnes & Nobel. I don't know if there are different versions of this title; the one I had was labeled "Barnes & Nobel Exclusive Edition" or something like that, on its cover.]

If you are considering this book, be warned: YOU CANNOT INSTALL LINUX TO YOUR HARD DRIVE FROM THE INCLUDED CDs. There's nothing explicit on the book cover or on the CD labels to alert you to this drawback; you have to get to the bottom of page 16 in the book before the author admits it. It has been at least 20 years since anyone seriously presumed to run an operating system from removable media, and I found it completely unreasonable not to include an installable version of a FREE OS in a book about that OS -- especially one that retails for 40 bucks!

If Barnes & Noble had not agreed to take the book back -- even though I had opened the seals on the discs -- I was prepared to file a complaint with the Consumer Protection Division of my state's Attorney General's Office. I had already spoken with the AG's office and they expressed interested in the case.

If you are seriously interested in Linux, you will be better served by something you can actually install. (Try Miller's "Point and Click Linux," for instance.)

Blue Screen of Death??? Is this guy from Stone Age? - 2005-12-12
Reviewer Rating:
Extremely disingenuous title!
Yes, Windows 3.1 was a piece of junk. Windows 95 was a junk with pretty good facelift, but... that was in the Ice Age. Did the author hear about OS called Windows 2000? Both at home and at work my main PCs are W2000. I supported bunch of heavy duty Windows 2000 servers and I have yet to see infamous "Blue Screen of Death". No luck so far.

Maybe the book was written 5-6 years ago and the author just now had time to publish?

I am not biased either way and in fact I am hardcore Unix fan, but I don't like gratuitous attacks especially when they are anachronisms.
As to the content of the book it is very superficial even for the beginner and intermediate user. For that audience Peter van der Linden's Guide to Linux is much more superior!

GagnGÇÜ, you didn't gain much after year 2000, pardon the pun.

Good book, maybe, but if the CDROM doesn't work... - 2006-08-15
Reviewer Rating:
you are screwed. Linux has come a long way since I
learned UNIX last decade, before it got (a) GUI. This
might be a great book, but to use it you REALLY need
the accompanying CDROM. Mine didn't work; the author's
website tells you to ask the publisher for a replacement.
After a month, I'm still waiting... (There are frequent
complaints about this problem on that website, BTW.)

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