Customer Reviews

Corel LINUX OS Starter Kit: The Official Guide (CD-ROM included)

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While the manual that comes with Corel Linux is superior to those of most other distribution, it really covers only the basics and presents Linux from within the KDE desktop. If you need more in-depth coverage this "Official Guide" will provide information that goes far beyond the KDE desktop: from the first steps all the way to advanced scripting. A look at the newsgroups, however, shows that despite automatic hardware detection some people need advice or trouble-shooting during installation. While this distribution is by far the easiest to install, some hardware (some graphics adapters and sound cards) may cause trouble. Installation troublshooting is the one area where this book could improve. The most frequent installation problems should have been covered in a more extensive way. Otherwise it as an excellent guide that will make your Linux experience a lot more fun.

Once I began to read the book I couldn't put it down. The book is well written. The way it explains each issue is excellent. This book is a good start to this alternative OS.

While I enjoyed reading this book and now run the OS on my computer this book is not perfect. For one installing a printer took me through three sections with very little information just a sort of run around. I did get my printer installed but it is isn't complete. The Word Perfect 8 is not on the CD as far as I can tell it is a free download but Corel no longer offer it and the company that took over the Corel OS have nothing yet made. Now I find the OS provided very good and the book was fun and relaxing to read. I haven't finished it and I agree with another reviewer that it goes into depth on topics but I think generally it is a bit thin on important configuration of hardware issues. not a bad book I would recommend it if you need to install Linux OS on a Windows hard drive.

Pros:

Probably one of the best introduction books to a Linux OS currently in print. It also deals with Corel Linux, which is a lot easier to use than a Red Hat. The chapters are organized coherently, and if your objective is to get a Linux OS up and running, you can do it simply by installing from the supplied CDROM. It also comes with WordPerfect 8.

Cons:

The book deals with Corel Linux. Even though this is not necessarily bad, Red Hat may be the better choice if you are serious in implementing Linux in your system.

From Personal Experience:

This was the easiest and most stable Linux OS I installed. I have tried Red Hat and a few others, but the Linux OS that came with this book was definately the best. The one click install option is something every Linux OS should include.

Sections(6 Parts, 30 Chapters, 4 Appendixes):

Part 1 Introduction to Corel Linux: A generic introduction section that is usually included in a starter book. You will be able to install Corel Linux OS and start using it with some ease if you read this section.

Part 2 The K Desktop Environment: This section deals with basic configuration of the OS.

Part 3 Running Your Corel Linux System: A continuation of Part 2. This section has useful information about running and maintaining your OS.

Part 4 Essential System Administration: The authors lump "everything else" into this section. It might have been better if they split the programming part and hardware configuration part into two sections. The explanations they give are pretty good, even though the programming section may not be helpful that much to non-programmers.

Part 5 WordPerfect 8 for Linux: An introduction to WordPerfect 8. If you plan to use WordPerfect as your main text editor, this section is worth your time.

Part 6 Appendixes: Appendix B which explains Shell Commands and Appendix C which has links to useful websites are the most useful out of the 4 Appendixes. Appendix D has some sample Initialization Scripts which may be useful for the advanced user.

I bought the book thinking that there was at least a downloadable version of Corel Linux on it. The Cd only starts from a windows desktop. Not to useful when you have a clean hard disk. Also it will not start with the corel linux floppy. Not to helpful to me.