How Linux Works

Rating:
Summary: Brian Ward knows his stuff!
Review: After several books and online help for linux I have finally put the pieces together. This boook aids you in really seeing how linux is put together. If you are a Windows admin or superuser you will really appreciate the way the author puts it together. This helped me fill in the blanks and made me excited to really get deep into linux.

Rating:
Summary: Great Introduction to the Linux World
Review: I didn't know about this book until it showed up on my doorstep courtesy of the great folks at the O'Reilly LUG program. But I was interested in it from the moment I opened the box.

It's a basic guide to general Linux. It's new, fun and the author does a nice job of covering the basics. He doesn't dwell on any one distro, but covers all sorts of commands, issues, and questions that a lot of people who are switching to linux might have. He goes over basics of Networking, Printing, and touches upon more advanced options in linux. I was especially pleased with the referencing he did, if you want to know more about a subject he recommends a book to check out! Very nice.

I sat down on a Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday night I had read my way through it. Even as an experienced Linux user I was interested and picked up a few tidbits from this book that I didn't know about. Although it's aimed at the new user, it was fun and interesting for me to read.

I'd definately recommend this book to people wanting to get into the Linux world.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I was expecting
Review: This book was not was I was expecting at all. This book lists great topics that it covers. However, it just bearly touches the surface of these topics and has been written in a way that assumes you already have basic or in some cases more than basic knowledge of the areas. Prime example of this is when the author gives you commands to try. He shows you the command to try but does not break down its components. so will have entered a lenghty command to execute as an example but you are not told why you have entered all the different components of that command. So it creates more questions than anything. This book has done an exellent job from the stand point of introducing you to these areas. I now have ideas of which topics I want to explore more and the author cites further readings on a lot of them. But be very aware they DO MENTION this book is geared toward superusers and or administrators. this is exactly what I found.. I do not regret my purchase, I just was expecting something more informal from the new user standpoint. The title may be a little misleading in that to benifit from how linux works more than I did, it assumes you have a prior knowledge of how linux works. LOL interesting, no?

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Tech Oriented Guide to Linux
Review: This is a good techie overview of Linux. This is not the book you hand to Grandma (unless Grandma is a system admin), but it is a very well done Linux guide/introduction.

The first couple of chapters are old hat to any Unix user, being just basic overviews of how Unix in gneral works, but Brian quickly gets into the real meat of Linux with chapter 3 "How Linux Boots" and goes on from there with coverage of networking, printing and everything else you'd expect. If that were all there was, I'd be impressed and would recommend this book, but there is more. There are two excellent chapters on programming tools and compiling source code. These include troubleshooting compilation problems, an often ignored aspect of our Open Source world. A third related chapter covers kernel compilation specifically and again goes beyond the usual treatment.

Throughout the book, Brian gives useful hints and suggestions. He has obviously used and administered real Linux systems and has good experience and advice to share.

I like Brian's writing style and the definite techie orientation. If you are a tech person investigating Linux, this is a good book to read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent teaching guide
Review: This is one of the best basic books on learning Linux and is written with the power user in mind. It takes a different approach to learning Linux than most other books. Other books typically focus on a section of Linux and go over it in detail. For example, it may cover the file system from selecting an appropriate one to how to mount disks, security, directories, links, and similar information until it has presented all the information on the file system. Instead this one divides the learning task up into basic stuff you need to know, intermediate knowledge, and more advanced levels. This is actually more consistent with the knowledge expected in the real world. While I would expect even a basic administrator to understand how to mount and unmount a drive I would not necessarily expect them to know how to interpret and change an fstab configuration file. To go over the whole file system from beginning to advanced levels leaving the student unknowledgeable in other basic tasks doesn't make as much senses. I would rather hire someone who knows the basics of the system including adding users and other administration than one who knows everything about one area. So, I really like the way it teaches basic knowledge in all areas, then intermediate knowledge in all areas, then advanced.

The focus is on the user or the person who has been assigned to administer an existing Linux system. If you need to add a peripheral device, setup or change printing, mount a CD for access by Windows based machines, or pretty much anything else that an administrator of a Linux file server needs to know its covered. There are better books for other type of servers like setting up a web server, MySQL, or other items. However, if you are completely new to Linux or a fairly novice Linux user and need to be able to administer a file server type system you will enjoy this book. Designed for the person who wants to really learn about Linux from the ground up "How Linux Works" is a recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent teaching guide
Review: This is one of the best basic books on learning Linux and is written with the power user in mind. It takes a different approach to learning Linux than most other books. Other books typically focus on a section of Linux and go over it in detail. For example, it may cover the file system from selecting an appropriate one to how to mount disks, security, directories, links, and similar information until it has presented all the information on the file system. Instead this one divides the learning task up into basic stuff you need to know, intermediate knowledge, and more advanced levels. This is actually more consistent with the knowledge expected in the real world. While I would expect even a basic administrator to understand how to mount and unmount a drive I would not necessarily expect them to know how to interpret and change an fstab configuration file. To go over the whole file system from beginning to advanced levels leaving the student unknowledgeable in other basic tasks doesn't make as much senses. I would rather hire someone who knows the basics of the system including adding users and other administration than one who knows everything about one area. So, I really like the way it teaches basic knowledge in all areas, then intermediate knowledge in all areas, then advanced.

The focus is on the user or the person who has been assigned to administer an existing Linux system. If you need to add a peripheral device, setup or change printing, mount a CD for access by Windows based machines, or pretty much anything else that an administrator of a Linux file server needs to know its covered. There are better books for other type of servers like setting up a web server, MySQL, or other items. However, if you are completely new to Linux or a fairly novice Linux user and need to be able to administer a file server type system you will enjoy this book. Designed for the person who wants to really learn about Linux from the ground up "How Linux Works" is a recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Become a SuperUser
Review: This is the second Linux book you should buy.

First you need something a bit simpler to get the of off the ground (or off the CD perhaps). Perhaps the 'Linux For Non-Geeks' which even includes a distribution of the latest Fedora (RedHat) core.

But by the time you are getting ready to actually make the system do something, then you need this book. The sub-title is 'What every Superuser should know.' Maybe you're not going to be a super user, but you can bet that when you're behind schedule, trying to get that application working, you're going to be missing some little bit of knowledge that would solve the problem.

Changes are that the little knowledge you need is here, easy to find (supurb index), and clearly explained.