A practical guide to Ubuntu Linux

And there's plenty of material on Apache, but many of today's new Linux boxes are being deployed in order to run a PHP application, and new users could really use some material on how to set up PHP correctly and securely, and make sure the basics are working before installing that nifty new Wiki or web board application.

But you can't add everyone's favorite topics to a book, or they wouldn't be able to bind it. Work through the core material here, plus one or two of the server tasks, and you'll be ready to get some meaningful projects done with Linux, and ask or answer questions on mailing lists to expand your knowledge.