Customer Reviews

The Complete Linux Kit

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

At first glance this book seems to have it all, browsing through the contents it mentions all the right chapters and even has a 60+ page unix tutorial. Examing the book further the book level is for beginner/int/adv users and the type is described as a how to/reference book. You even get a free copy of Sackware Linux. Looks great, however the content is frustrating to say the least. The book is good at telling you about what buzzwords mean, don't expect it to actually give you relavent command syntax. At best it normally points you to one of the linux documents contained on the CD and one starts to wonder why you pay all this money for a book that doesn't explain anything to complettion. A good example is looking for information about the find command. It is easily found through the index and the information given about this command is "The find command can be useful in locating files,...". That's it, no command line parameters? In fact in this case, just like many other cases it doesn't even mention the relavent document to find the syntax for the find command.

In a nutshell, Sybex has let slip an appalling piece of computer literature that should be withdrawn rather than tarnish a fairly good reputation as a publisher of quality IT reference manuals. As for the author, well, I don't know how you scammed this work as being a reference manual or a how to. The only How-to was how-to use only 10 fingers to jump back and forward to various spots of the book on a quest for information tha wasn't there.

This is an intro level book to Linux. It was pretty good, but only covers the basic installation of Linux

This package includes Slackware Linux on the CD, a nice convenience compared to having to download the software. The book's two parts are a hands-on guide by a Linux programmer and strong documentation by a Linux celebrity. Linux is no picnic, but I found this book very helpful.