Rating: 
Summary: Without question, the perfect introduction to FreeBSD
Review: "FreeBSD, 2nd Edition" is the best introductory UNIX book since Shah's "Linux Administration: A Beginner's Guide, 2nd Edition." So few authors remember that the people who read technical books need to solve real-world administration problems. Annelise Anderson knows the answers, and delivers the commands and concepts the FreeBSD beginner should understand. She offers practical guidance in a direct and simple manner. "FreeBSD, 2nd Edition" could be the book that convinces members of the Linux crowd to try another operating system.
Even though I've been administering FreeBSD servers for over a year, I still discovered many novel tips. "FreeBSD, 2nd Edition" covers material neglected in other recent FreeBSD books, such as apsfilter, the printing configuration tool. The author describes many of the small yet crucial details which make administration easier. These helpful recommendations include enabling color directory listings, clearing print queues, accessing extra terminals during installation, printing manual pages, and searching the ports tree using 'make search name=<target>'. Beyond minor conveniences, the author shares numerous warnings against possible technical pitfalls, like trying to use cvsup on FreeBSD 4.3 RELEASE and earlier distros. She provides thorough documentation on many key aspects of FreeBSD administration, such as upgrades, enabling sound, and managing ports and packages.
The book differs from most UNIX books in that it does not spend a great deal of time discussing installation and configuration of common applications, like sendmail, BIND, Apache, and so on. While seasoned system administrators probably want more on these subjects, those new to the FreeBSD operating system need the foundation the author so skillfully builds.
If you're new to FreeBSD, you'll love this book. One word of caution: the binding seems weak, as mentioned in an earlier review. I've handled my copy carefully, and it remains intact. I hope it stays that way, since I plan to reference this book for months to come.
Rating:
Summary: It Takes a Real Talent...
Review: ...to make the subject such an easy read and still present it in a very structured way. I am just starting a UNIX journey, and the book brings this newbie in a state of infinite infatuation loop. The fact that the FreeBSD OS is a masterpiece of global collaboration adds to it. I am not a pro, just a curious hobbyist. The book comes with the FreeBSD 4.3 for PC installation CD, so you can install it right away: a few concise yet thorough chapters handhold you along the way. After you are done, you'll be presented with a set of useful commands. The author shows advantages of one way of doing the task at hand over another and teaches a few simple yet witty tricks - a nice way to teach good habits from the start and giving you a chance to think for yourself at the same time. Not everybody can do this, pedagogical talent is obviously present here. There are few small errors and omissions, but for the beginner to intermediate level nothing comes close in the whole UNIX Universe. The best cab money I ever spent
Rating:
Summary: simply excellent for me as a beginner, very nontechie
Review: After a year of struggling with Redhat books, I have 5 of them now...I find THIS starter freeBSD book superior to anything I've used...plan nontechie talk and explanations focused on getting the os setup and running...I wish I had found a linux beginner book as good...
if Miss Anderson writes another, I'll buy it sight unseen
I find her teaching most helpful and light
Dr. Morris Stallings
Rating: 
Summary: Fills a needed niche
Review: Although there is a plethoria of Linux books, FreeBSD doesn't yet have too many. There is Mr. Lehey's extremely comprehensive
tome, which is excellent. However, there is also the need for a book like Ms. Anderson's. It takes itself a bit less seriously, but manages to give much necessary information and perfectly treads the fine line between being patronizing and leaving out things necessary to those who are as yet inexperienced with the operating system. Since I began playing with BSD, I've thought there should be a book similar to Mr. Minasi's book on Linux for the NT Administrator--one that gives straightforward instructions on how to do things, but assumes that the reader has some intelligence. Ms Anderson's book fills that need quite well. The only reason that I don't give it five stars is that I thought there was a bit too much on the installation--usually, an installation either goes moderately smoothly or doesn't go well and fails--she could have given a bit less detail about a smooth install and covered likely problems more completely, but this is possibly a personal quibble on my part. (I would have given 4-1/2 if I'd had the option--it's just a little short of perfect for what it is.) Ms. Anderson tries to address the less computer literate as well, so, perhaps the detail was necessary for her purposes. (Please don't think that the above means this is a "For Dummies" beginning with push that button on the front to turn on the computer--it most certainly isn't. All in all, I would recommend this book to any of my friends beginning to investigate BSD--Ms. Anderson did a great job.
Rating:
Summary: The best for beginners
Review: Annelise Anderson has filled the gap for an old fart like me. I have many if not all of the Freebsd books out there. the best are this one, FreeBSd Unleashed, and FreeBSD Corporate User. The Complete FreeBSd is still notable, but very dated. I have not used a Unix box since 1990. She supplies the answers to all of the little quirky this that bug the hell out of you. For example, How to change the system date and time. With this book and the others, I have started to move my company from Microsoft toward FreeBSD. Ms. Anderson is a saint just based on her very articulate answers to questions on FreeBSD-Newbies.
Rating:
Summary: * * * * * *
Review: Don't tell that you have it -> /dev/null
So..., I don,t have it.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny !
Review: I bought the book after I had installed a broken FreeBSD 4.7 on my old AMD K6-II. Despite the few typos here and there, the book helped me figure out what mistakes I had made during my previous installation ! I thus re-installed from scratch, following page by page. In no time, the system was up and running, I was customizing my shell behavior, connecting to the internet through my cable modem (Roadrunner/Earthlink), etc... With some extra hardware, my old AMD K6-II is now a router/firewall between my cable modem and my WinXP/Red Hat 8.0 dual-boot box without a glitch, and am planning to add a second box to my LAN and use it as a printer server too. For those who still hesitate, this book is written in english, not in nerdish. That itself makes it stand out from all the computer litterature I've read. This book is very valuable. Annelise: your book made my hardware firewall project feel like a walk in the park. Thank you so much !
Rating:
Summary: Great content--lousy binding
Review: I don't know if I got a bad copy or what, but pages started falling out after opening it the third time. Pages now fall out on a regular basis. The content is great. As a complete newbie to UNIX, I had no problems installing FreeBSD, X Windows, and tons of ports by following the steps in the book. I was even able to configure the network settings to use my DSL connection, which I thought was going to be a huge hassle. I would have given it 5 stars if not for the binding problem. So if you don't mind some loose pages tucked into your book, go ahead and buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for newbies
Review: I first tried to install FreeBSD 4.8 on my K6-2 500mhz machine using the FreeBSD Handbook as a guide. While this book (the Handbook) is the standard for reference on the subject, it doesn't really explain it to a newbie's needs (even someone coming from Linux). My first attempts failed. I bought Annelise's book and was able to get 4.8 up and running following her suggestions. Though my copy came with a CD of FreeBSD 4.7, I had already burned ISO images of 4.8. The processes detailed in the book applied equally well. My only complaint would be that the book needs updating to reflect areas that a lot of people (most people) are interested in these days: burning music to CD - especially ATAPI CD devices, and USB mass storage devices. Both could be covered by a chapter on how to use SCSI emulation. I still give it 5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for learning FreeBSD
Review: I first tried to install FreeBSD 4.8 on my K6-2 500mhz machine using the FreeBSD Handbook as a guide. While this book (the Handbook) is the standard for reference on the subject, it doesn't really explain it to a newbie's needs (even someone coming from Linux). My first attempts failed. I bought Annelise's book and was able to get 4.8 up and running following her suggestions. Though my copy came with a CD of FreeBSD 4.7, I had already burned ISO images of 4.8. The processes detailed in the book applied equally well. My only complaint would be that the book needs updating to reflect areas that a lot of people (most people) are interested in these days: burning music to CD - especially ATAPI CD devices, and USB mass storage devices. Both could be covered by a chapter on how to use SCSI emulation. I still give it 5 stars.
|
