There are several programs that make Linux easy to setup and configure.
Some are becoming sort of standard: Red Hat, Caldera and other
distributions ship with apps like setup,
printtool, netcfg,
usertool, etc, while S.u.S.E. ships with a
comprehensive configuration program called Yast. Other useful programs
are:
Documents on Linux configuration are popping up everywhere. One of the
most complete is TrinityOS, http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~dranch/LINUX/index-linux.html
. Bug the author to have him turn the document in
nicer formats.
A jolly good page is http://dotfiles.com. Just what it says - a collection
of configuration files.