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Summary: Someday I will cave in and buy this book...
Review: I had a look at this book in the library and spent nearly 3 hours fully immersed. As an ardent vi user, I was really happy at the coverage given to ed and vi. This is not to say that other utilities are not covered. In fact they are covered in so much detail that I am afraid I will never use them. This book is not for beginners though. A little expectation is necessary to make the most of it. If you have ever wondered why running a .cshrc script with csh doesnot work (use the source command) or why your terminal goes into a hang with Emacs (you may have pressed <Ctrl+s> inadvertently), you will benefit greatly from this book. The book is true to its name. You won't go work with a power chain saw after using a kitchen knife, will you? Everytime I see it in the library, I am tempted to buy it on Amazon, and I know I will, someday, the day I decide I am going to try out all thos **POWER** commands. Till then......(sigh!!!)
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Summary: It's the buy or die bible of UNIX.
Review: This is without a shadow of a doubt the single most important volume for UNIX administrators and powerusers.The book is loaded with hints, tips, truicks and explanations bound to make your everyday UNIX life a lot easier! It's the buy or die bible of UNIX.
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Summary: Hands down the best Unix book on the market.
Review: I've been a Unix user for over fourteen years ( Xenix, SCO, AIX, Solaris). This book covers the real problems Unix users and administrators face. If nothing else, the examples are worth the cost of the book. Many of those items in man pages which are mentioned but never shown in detail are covered. The best aspect of the book is the coverage of shell scripts especially the comparison of how things would be done using C, Bourne and Korn shells. Even without the CD, the book would still be worth it.
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Summary: Very Good book
Review: basically as follows: #include <iostream.h> int main() { cout << "BUY THIS BOOK!!!\n"; cout << "It's worth every penny\n"; return 1; }
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Summary: Background story of UPT: how we made it and why
Review: Hi. Thanks for your interest in this book. Here's some history and info. This is a bit rambling, but I hope it'll help you understand the book's design and purpose better--and might be fun to read, too. In the early 1980's, I taught myself to use UNIX--with some help from a couple of colleagues and the early Usenet newsgroups. (There were almost no UNIX books back then--just the "man pages.") As I read Usenet and fiddled around over the next five or six years, I made notes and kept copies of articles with non-obvious and elegant tips. (Yes, back then, with only a handful of Usenet sites and no spam, Usenet was actually useful!) Later, when I started to work for the publisher as a staff writer, all these random notes and article copies were a perfect start for this experimental book project that O'Reilly folks had been dreaming up. We didn't want to make another tutorial that you had to read start-to-finish: people who already knew some UNIX would have to wade through the stuff they did know to find the good stuff they didn't. Though the World Wide Web wasn't around in 1991, we knew about hypertext and decided it would be a great way to organize the book. The big questions then were how to put it together and whether it would sell! The folks at O'Reilly (I've left O'Reilly since, BTW) are a really creative bunch who took risks and tried innovative things. Thanks to UNIX tools like troff, sed, and perl, we cooked up this readable and useful format that I don't think any commercial publishing package can emulate. (Maybe that's why I've never seen another book like this, even though it's been very popular?) Once we decided on the format, and the book design and production folks came up with a way to make it happen, we had to figure out how to shoehorn the huge amount of material into "just" 1,000 pages. (Back then, 1,000 pages was a big computer book! Not any more. :-(...) We tracked down authors of the original Usenet articles, from years back. (Most email addresses were absolute "bang-paths" back then, like ucbvax!tektronix!tekid!jerryp, and you had to know which machine could route to which other machines. Years later, finding people who'd moved or changed hosts could be a real challenge.) When we contacted all these gurus, several of them got involved in the book project with us--updating their original Usenet material and writing new stuff, too. (BTW, I never did meet many of those people face-to-face. Most of our contact was through email.) I, my co-authors, and several other folks, wrote a lot of original material for this book... maybe three-quarters of the book came from material we wrote. (But that story isn't as much fun to tell.) Two years later, after lots of 16-hour workdays, many versions, and extensive technical review, we finished the beast. I'm so glad to see that all the work paid off (as the reviews here on amazon.com show...). I did basically all of the second edition myself, in 1997, with more emphasis on Linux and GNU utilities. The book is still updated often, printing to printing, from reader comments and from changes in the UNIX/open-systems field. It feels great that so many people find it useful. I used to be an instructor, and my real pleasure in both teaching and writing comes when people get value from my work. I also like to hear suggestions and criticisms, so please feel free to email me... I'll try to work your changes into the book. Regards, Jerry Peek jpeek@jpeek.com
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Summary: Awesome book!
Review: This is by far the best Unix reference book on the market. I keep coming back to it again and again. I really love it. It contains a wealth of information on just about every Unix topic you can imagine. This book is like having a Unix guru by your side at all times, and actually teaches you to become a Unix guru yourself. If you have to have only one Unix book on your bookshelf, this should be it.
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Summary: Best "how-to" reference book I have seen. Must have.
Review: I looked for this book on the recommendation of a co-worker. I read the reviews prior to purchasing, but reserved judgement until I saw it myself. I must agree with everyone else that this is the best "how-to" book for any Unix Systems Administrator. The book gives practical answers in simple form for just about every situation a typical SA would run into. I put it to use from the first day I got it! Being new to Unix, I'm glad I have this as a reference book.
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Summary: The Quintessential Reference Book!
Review: I work for a major software manufacturer on mostly UNIX systems and often have to delve into the esoteric world of awk, sed, and perl to automate tasks. In this single reference I can find exactly what I need, and only what I need, very efficiently. Often, the very script or technique I need is listed in the text. Opening any page at random is to find some golden nugget of UNIX lore written out in light-hearted, readable text with useful examples.
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Summary: Saving my life
Review: I'm an experienced programmer, but haven't wandered into UNIX in over 20 years. I was having some serious problems deciphering shells. Not any more! UNIX Power Tools explains things in a way that is at the same time technical enough for old UNIX hands, and simple enough for the beginner. If you don't buy any other UNIX book, buy this one.
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Summary: Mama Mia!
Review: Excellent! This book covers all major versions of UNIX and then some. The tips and tricks are easy to use and very pertinent. Installing the software from the CD was a breeze! By far the best collection of freeware for UNIX I have ever seen. The book was very well written. Those with some moderate UNIX experience will get the most out of this book. A must have for any serious UNIX buff.
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