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Rating: 
Summary: Best Linux+ book if you've Hardware experience...
Review: A few months ago, i've taken the Linux+ exam. I've passed the Exam just reading this book and some Troytech exam crams. But wait! don't go out running to buy this book, I'm a CompTIA A+ too. So, i've experience with Hardware details. The exam is 60% Linux and 40% Hardware. Just take this book and an A+ book and you'll be ready!
Good Luck!
Rating: 
Summary: Great For The Linux+ Exam
Review: I have been a Linux user for about a year and a half now. I use Red Hat Linux 7.2 exclusively on my home box, use SuSE Linux 7.2 at work and have used Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 as well, so by the time I registered to take this exam, I was certainly not a Linux newbie. All the same, I was reluctant to take the test without some sort of guide. I bought this guide as I have always been fond of Sybex books (they successfully got me through my A+, Network+ and i-Net+ certifications) and it was just what I needed. The book breaks down the objectives on the exam chapter by chapter and does an excellent job of highlighting just what is important, allowing you to focus your efforts more. The Linux+ exam does cover hardware very heavily, especially SCSI, ATA disks, and peripherals, with most of the emphasis on SCSI. The hardware objectives take up about 20% of the exam material and this book, while covering hardware, does not quite cover it extensively enough for the Linux+ exam. Having said that, I think that any A+ exam guide would, and thus I suggest that only people who have successfully completed their A+ or CST exams, or have the equivalent level of knowlegde, should attempt to take the Linux+ exam. I also used "Running Linux" and "Special Edition Using Linux" by O'Reilly and Vue, respectively and found that those books did a much better job of helping me to learn Linux in general, whereas this book focuses squarely on the test. After studying intenesely for one month with Mr. Smith's book, I scored an 800 out of a possible 900 on the exam this morning. So, if you are not a newbie and have a good bit of general Linux experince (just like CompTIA suggests, by the way), this book should be all that you need to get you ready to take the exam. Thanks, Rod!
Rating: 
Summary: Good basic overview of Linux Administration
Review: I have not yet taken the exam and am planning on reading a couple of other study guides and the exam cram first. I have only been using linux for about 4 or 5 months and use it as my primary desktop operating system. This study guide is easy to understand and appears to cover all of the objectives of the exam except for the hardware objectives. The book does not, however, go into a lot of detail. Linux+ is supposed to be an entry level exam (with LPI and SAIR being mid-level) so this may be sufficient. If the test goes very far into detail (such as asking what ps -aux does rather than what ps does), there might be a problem. I would stronly suggest that test-takers read this book and then follow it with a more in-depth book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Linux+ Study Guide
Review: I took the Linux+ test recently and passed it with ease using only Roderick Smith's Study Guide to pass the test. I have been using Linux for nearly two years now, and I used "Special Edition Using Caldera OpenLinux" and "Running Linux" to teach myself the Linux operating system. Although they gave me an excellent grounding in basic Linux, I still wasn't comfortable sitting for the test since my knowledge was rather sporadic and haphazard, like that of many self-taught users, so I tried this book out to round out my knowledge and get some idea of where the exam topics were focused. And this book was right on the money. Every topic that I saw on the exam was fully covered in this book. System logging, basic administration, command line syntax, UNIX utilities . . . everything. The only weak point of the book is the hardware section, and that is not so much a weakness of the book as it is a weakness of the test. About 1/4 of the test is hardware-related topics, many of which have nothing directly related to Linux. I already had my A+, so this was not an issue for me, but for some people it may be. I STRONGLY suggest that you do not take this exam unless you have your A+ or CST or the equivalent level of knowledge. The hardware topics were diverse enough that any book on Linux would have trouble filling in all of the extra details that you need to know to get past the hardware section of the exam. So, do the A+ first, then soon after, use this book to ace your test. And most of all, USE Linux instead of just reading about it. There is no reason for a "paper cert" with regards to this exam. Install and configure it yourself, spend some time hacking and then get certified. Thanks, Rod!
Rating: 
Summary: buy only if you have vast hardware troubleshooting experienc
Review: I'm an MCSE, A+, and passed all of those with ease. This book lacks hardware troubleshooting, hardly talks about it at all except for a couple of questions on SCSI in the practice questions. On the CD, chaper 7 doesn't work, and the bonus exams cover material not even in the book. IMO this book was quickly put together with the demands of the publishing house, and/or the author wanting to go on vacation. It doesn't cover the objectives and the practice questions are easy and don't explain why every wrong answer is wrong, just why the right answer is right, very incomplete. I failed the test by 35 points out of 900, a real kick in the teeth for a guy who graduated CS Summa Cum Laude. There were many questions on the test which had no mention in the book, even a flavor of Linux not covered. The only value the book has to me now is as a decorative peice in my bookcase, a paperweight, or emergency toilet paper should a nuclear holocaust occur. The people who gave it 5 stars IMO probably liked it because it's casual in it's writing and easy to read, especially for an experienced Linux Admin, but without that experience you're unprepared. Just my 2 cents.
Ryan
Rating:
Summary: One of the best available
Review: I've been a fan of certification books from Sybex for some time and this one is up to the usual standards of quality and content. One of the things that I like best about their books is that they are one of the few publishers who provide both the information needed to pass the exam and the information needed to actually work in the real world. Generally my experience has been that there are good books that provide practical knowledge and good books that provide the information to pass the certification exams. But there are very few that provide the information to do both. All the common networking and administrative tasks are covered in detail including installation methods and problems, security, file services, and troubleshooting. The author does an excellent job of walking the reader through all the various processes step by step and explaining each item in detail including little quirks to be careful of. In addition each chapter ends with a chapter summary, as section on exam essentials that summarize exam critical items, a summary of commands covered in the chapter, a key terms list, and review questions and answers. The book even includes a CD with a test engine, two exam preparation exams, and flashcards. I've taught Linux at the college level both for certification and for practical application purposes and this is one of the best books available for the new or only minimally experienced Linux user who is seeking to pass the certification exam. Although I do consider this one of the best certification exam books on the market I do have a few items that I did not like. First, the graphical installation instructions in the book are for the Mandrake distribution of Linux. This is not a problem for exam preparation and since that is the purpose of the book it is really not a problem. However, in the real world, at least here in Florida, RedHat is a much more common distribution and I would have preferred to see the screen shots reflect a RedHat distribution than Mandrake. The graphical installation method is the only place where this makes any difference of consequence and even the novice can figure it out with a little patience and thought. The second item is that the index is rather skimpy given the amount of material in the book and all the items covered. All the major items are in the index but many of the important minor items are not. For example, if you wanted to know what ipchains is about or iptables then you would not find them in the index at all. For purposes of the certification exam the main thing you need to know about them is that they are related to setting up a firewall. Well, there is an entry in the index for firewall but not for ipchains or iptables. If you knew to look up firewalls to know about ipchains then you would have gotten the question right and would not need the entry in the index. If you missed it and wanted to know what they are you are out of luck. Finally, it does not cover hardware well enough to pass the exam. While this is a shortcoming of this book, I have not found any other Linux+ study guides that do any better of a job, this is a problem with all of them. Even with the small index shortcoming, the "Linux+ Study Guide" is still one of the best sources for learning what you need to know to pass the certification exam. Since all the guides are too shallow on hardware, the only factor that keeps this one from being the best of the best in this category is the skimpy index.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best available
Review: I've been a fan of certification books from Sybex for some time and this one is up to the usual standards of quality and content. One of the things that I like best about their books is that they are one of the few publishers who provide both the information needed to pass the exam and the information needed to actually work in the real world. Generally my experience has been that there are good books that provide practical knowledge and good books that provide the information to pass the certification exams. But there are very few that provide the information to do both. All the common networking and administrative tasks are covered in detail including installation methods and problems, security, file services, and troubleshooting. The author does an excellent job of walking the reader through all the various processes step by step and explaining each item in detail including little quirks to be careful of. In addition each chapter ends with a chapter summary, as section on exam essentials that summarize exam critical items, a summary of commands covered in the chapter, a key terms list, and review questions and answers. The book even includes a CD with a test engine, two exam preparation exams, and flashcards. I've taught Linux at the college level both for certification and for practical application purposes and this is one of the best books available for the new or only minimally experienced Linux user who is seeking to pass the certification exam. Although I do consider this one of the best certification exam books on the market I do have a few items that I did not like. First, the graphical installation instructions in the book are for the Mandrake distribution of Linux. This is not a problem for exam preparation and since that is the purpose of the book it is really not a problem. However, in the real world, at least here in Florida, RedHat is a much more common distribution and I would have preferred to see the screen shots reflect a RedHat distribution than Mandrake. The graphical installation method is the only place where this makes any difference of consequence and even the novice can figure it out with a little patience and thought. The second item is that the index is rather skimpy given the amount of material in the book and all the items covered. All the major items are in the index but many of the important minor items are not. For example, if you wanted to know what ipchains is about or iptables then you would not find them in the index at all. For purposes of the certification exam the main thing you need to know about them is that they are related to setting up a firewall. Well, there is an entry in the index for firewall but not for ipchains or iptables. If you knew to look up firewalls to know about ipchains then you would have gotten the question right and would not need the entry in the index. If you missed it and wanted to know what they are you are out of luck. Finally, it does not cover hardware well enough to pass the exam. While this is a shortcoming of this book, I have not found any other Linux+ study guides that do any better of a job, this is a problem with all of them. Even with the small index shortcoming, the "Linux+ Study Guide" is still one of the best sources for learning what you need to know to pass the certification exam. Since all the guides are too shallow on hardware, the only factor that keeps this one from being the best of the best in this category is the skimpy index.
Rating:
Summary: NOTE FROM PUBLISHER: 2ND EDITION AVAILABLE
Review: Sybex recently released a revised edition of the Linux+ Study Guide, with added coverage of exam objectives related to hardware issues, and updated test engine on the CD with updated review questions. The ISBN is 0782143121. Enter that number in the search field to go to the correct page.--Neil Edde, Associate Publisher, Sybex, Inc.
Rating:
Summary: Be Careful
Review: This book covers all of the Linux objectives for the CompTIA exam but all but ignores the hardware objectives. Teh Linux+ exam has many detailed hardware questions including stuff like IRQ assignments that are simply not found in this book. I passed this test using this book but I recently wrote my A+ exam. If I had not, I would not have passed with this book alone. Definately do not use this book as your only study guide.
Rating: 
Summary: Needed more on the hardware side.
Review: This book is not that bad for understanding Linux, but it is very weak on the hardware side of the exam. 19% of the Linux+ exam is on hardware and this book pretty much left if all out. I wish Sybex would check the objectives with the text to make sure everything is there. If you are using this book for the Linux+ exam make sure you pick up another book that does not leave out the hardware section. Happy Studying.
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