Acknowledgments

I'd like to thank the LPI, its staff, its contributors, and its sponsors for creating a unique and valuable community-based certification program. The LPI mission and organization are in line with the open source community it serves, and the LPIC series of certificates are respected and credible achievements.

For their general good advice as well as some specific information on PC hardware, my thanks go to Matt Welsh, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, and Lar Kaufman, authors of Running Linux, Third Edition. Likewise, Linux in a Nutshell, Third Edition, by Ellen Siever, Stephen Spainhour, Jessica P. Hekman, and Stephen Figgins, is invaluable for reference information like bash programming details. I'm also indebted to the many volunteer authors and editors contributing to the Linux Documentation Project.

A lot of important feedback came from technical reviewers Kara Prichard and Richard Fifarek, and my hat's off to them for their detailed suggestions and corrections.

Of course, this book wouldn't be nearly as readable or as useful without the dedicated support of my editor, Chuck Toporek. His guidance and encouragement kept me consistent, accurate, and motivated, and the book wouldn't have been the same without him. Thanks, Chuck!

Thanks also to the others who helped with the completion of this book: Mary Brady, the production editor; Claire Cloutier, the production manager; and Ellie Volckhausen, the cover designer.

Finally, I'd like to thank my lovely wife Monica, whose love, vision, and support made this project possible in the first place, and my boys Austin and Alexander, my constant source of inspiration.