Customer Reviews

Beginning SUSE Linux: From Novice to Professional

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book covers the end user portions of SUSE. Installation, basics shell use, and primarily use of the operating system through the graphical user interface. The writing is good. But given the size of the book I think more could have been written about the fundamentals of the operating system, and in particular the use of the shell. The author just breezes over the use of Bash. A lot more could have been said there.

That being said, there are far, far, worse books on Linux. So in a way I'm just being picky. This is a fine book if you are new to Unix operating systems and want to try out SUSE for yourself.

I've spent years working with Linux and think it is one of the best operating systems going but I have spent very little time with the SUSE distribution. This book not only describes the basics of SUSE Linux but also includes a DVD with a complete copy of version 9.1 ready to install. Why should you consider looking at SUSE? If you work in the networking technical support arena then sooner or later you will have to deal with a SUSE system. Since Novell and IBM worked together to purchase the rights to SUSE Linux you can be sure it will appear in many networking environments.

The first part of the book provides the reader with the history of Linux, its benefits, and a description of some of the different distributions of Linux. This is common to all introductory Linux books and can be skipped if you are already knowledgeable about Linux in general.

The second section covers installing Linux and walks the reader through the installation process for the version on the DVD. It is absolutely critical that this section be detailed and thorough. The authors do an excellent job by dividing it up into four sections - pre-installation steps, installing SUSE, solving installation problems, and GUI configuration with SaX2

Part three includes instruction on the very basics of what you need to know in order to work effectively in Linux. The subjects in this section include booting Linux for the first time and logging in, virtual desktops, setting up e-mail and instant messaging, getting your hardware up and running, securing your system with the basic security tools and setting up the Linux firewall, using Linux replacements of Windows programs, managing your files, including accessing Windows files, floppies, CDs and DVDs, and dealing with common problems.

If you want to have a deeper understanding of Linux (beyond the basic user level), part four introduces the Linux shell (the BASH shell in particular) and how it can be used to work with the system from the command line. The authors also discuss the Linux virtual file system and how it works. They conclude with a discussion of how to control processes and jobs. This is one of the really great things about Linux - the ability to change priorities for specific jobs.

Part five covers multimedia and working with MP3s, CDs, viewing movies, and editing images. Of course it also covers playing and ripping MP3 Music, recording audio and burning CDs. It includes the very basics of using GIMP, the powerful image editing software included with Linux.

Part six covers working with Open Office. Open Office is Linux software that does essentially the equivalent tasks as Microsoft Office (it even reads and writes Microsoft Office files). Of, if you prefer, they also cover how to install Microsoft Office in Linux so that it works correctly. The various chapters in this section each take on one aspect of office including using Writer, Calc, Impress (presentation software), and ReKall (database).

Part seven is various operating system administration tasks including installing new software, managing users, optimizing the system, backing up data, scheduling, and remote access. The authors do an excellent job in this area for a beginner book. If you are an administrator of a SUSE system you will want a much more detailed book.

This is a good book that is fun to work with, very well written, and covers the subjects in appropriate detail for a beginner volume. There are better and more thorough books on some of the programs covered in this book (for example, there are complete books dedicated just to OpenOffice) but this book is not intended to be a complete reference on all the Linux programs. Beginning SUSE Linux is a beginning book to get the reader familiar with the operating system and common programs and at this task it does an excellent job. Beginning SUSE Linux is highly recommended and comes with a great operating system and default software.

If you really a beginner and never had an opportunity to play around with a command line you find it difficult to read, however this book is valuable if you have passed initial "scared" phase.
Try also Linux and UNIX for a beginner complete training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs ed.2008
Happy learning!

This books is really useful if you've got some Windows experience and want to try SuSe as a desktop platform. It covers all desktop tools in great details, tells how to work with office documents, multimedia, burning CDs, building dual boot systems, etc.

Actually the best part of this book is not really Linux itself, but all extra apps you need to use under SuSE to get your common tasks done.

The book is not really useful if you plan to build a SuSE server.

This book is a great way for any reasonably experienced PC user to break into the Linux world. The author is clearly prejudiced against Microsft but who can blame him? He can do almost anything with Suse that can be done with XP for free. I have used all versions of windows from 3.0 to XP and I found Linux a little bit intimidating initially. After reading this book and using the information provided I now dual boot my primary box, I have turned an old PC into a web server, revived an old Thinkpad long thought useless, and my kids have a box that is used for school work, web surfing and photo editing (but not gaming). In many ways Linux is superior to windows especially when comparing costs. This book is a great way to get started!

I am a Novell SuSE Linux Professional user. I do not consider myself a newbie, however, I went ahead and read Beginning SuSE Linux from Apress. I found the book very enjoyable to read because its focus is on the Linux desktop. I do not believe you can escape the need to understand the Linux file system or shell scripting. This book does go into it a little but the focus of the book is the desktop and proves that Linux can go head to head with Windows XP. You will learn about installation, a well written section on desktop applications, a great section on Open Office, and an introduction to administration. The desktop is focused on KDE and not on GNOME. I am a GNOME user and was a little disappointed that the book did not include it. However, this book is written as an introduction not as a comprehensive book in its entirety. I am going to go ahead and follow through with Apress's Linux roadmap, which are 5 books as a whole.

I am an intermediate level computer user. I have tried Linux about three times over the last three years and have aborted the effort because it was too hard and too time consuming for my taste. Seeing that this book was coming out and included a copy of SUSE 9.1 Pro, I decided to try again. I was pleasantly surprised.

I installed on an older laptop with an Athlon 1.2 chip. Basic install went perfectly and I have been using the open office suite primarily. The later chapters of the book dealing with the Suite have cleared up several of the differences with MS Office which would have surprised me otherwise.

My one complaint is that I have not been able to get my wireless system operational. The instructions in Chapter 8 do not correspond to the included software distribution. Specifically, the Wireless Device Setting screen does not come up. Since the encryption key data is put on this screen, and you can't get into a WEP protected system without the encryption key, this is a real problem.

Despite this foible I am enjoying both the OS and the book!

Besides the fact that it took Amazon two months to send it to me, it's an AMAZING book! By the time you're at the 20th page, you're totally entranced by the world of Linux, and want to get started as fast as you can. Everything you'd ever need to know about starting out with Linux is in there - and more!

In case you don't know, it also comes with SUSE Linux 9.1 Professional DVD, so don't buy a seperate SUSE box - it has everything!

All in all, amazing book!

As a Red Hat linux user, but not as a sysadmin, I was curious how different SUSE linux looks. In this book Thomas takes us comprehensively into many common aspects of SUSE. The book gives only passing mention to Red Hat, Mandrake and others who make distributions of linux. Not surprising, of course.

But to anyone steeped in any dialect of unix, or using Red Hat, then much of the book will feel right at home. Sure, the toolbar looks somewhat different. But in no major way to most users. As it should be. There is good coverage of the common linux programs offered by SUSE. Most importantly to some of you will be an explanation of OpenOffice.org, which was donated into open source by Sun.

It's really the sysadmins amongst us who'll notice and have to deal with any substantive differences between SUSE and the other distros. But even here, from Thomas' descriptions, nothing seems really complicated. SUSE has sweated out the details to make your tasks easier.

After more than 10 years experience with windows operating system, I plan to extend my knowledge into Linux operating system. I choose this book to study about SUSE.

I found this book is written very clear and easy to understand, you do not need to have any experience with Linux before reading this book. I also found some point that is and strength and weakness compare to windows. If you never use windows before, it might be a little bit difficult to you because most of explanation in this book is compare to feature in windows.

Thank,
Kanel