Customer Reviews

Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 Unleashed

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

 

 

Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 Unleashed promised to be the book I was looking for, especially when it had the 2.2 version number in the working title back in the Fall of '99. Debian was undergoing some radical transformations (X, FHS, etc.) and I wanted to know what was going on. As the Debian Team continually pushed the release of 2.2 back, I assume the publisher (determined to include a CD-ROM) eventually decided to just make it "2.1" and call it a day.

Fortunately, this book deals with Debian in such a marginal manner that the version number doesn't matter a hill of beans. This is the typical 1000+ page Linux book plus the word "Debian" on the cover. Chapter after chapter introduces UNIX, X, editors (WordPerfect?! hardly appropriate...), servers, a host of programming languages, and all of the bizarre UNIX commands we know and love, but Debian specific information about these tools is scattershot at best.

This wouldn't be so bad if, after going over a standard UNIX topic, the authors took time to explain how and why Debian implements that topic the way it does. In most situations they don't. Most of this text could've been ripped straight from the "Using Slackware Linux" book I bought in 1995.

A classic example is the woefully inadequate chapter on email. Debian installs Exim as its standard MTA. But "DG/L2.1U" contains 11 pages on sendmail and 8 pages on listar (listar?!). There is one mention of Exim in the book that basically says, Debian will install Exim as your default MTA. I guess it's up to you to figure out how to configure it.

"DG/L2.1U" devotes about 95 of its 1000+ pages to Debian topics, including dpkg, make-kpkg, the Debian bug tracking system, installing Debian, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines. But that's it. Really.

If you know very little about Linux or UNIX and you want to install Debian, you might want to buy this book. Or you might want to buy any other, it won't matter.

After receiving this book I spent about 3 hours examing most of his aspects. I have to confess that for me this book wasn't new at all having seen it before in a bookstore (and having had another half an hour to "test" it). My first impression was "it's too big" so I preferred to buy "Learning Debian GNU/Linux" by O'Reilly (which you can find, of course, in Amazon :-). Then, beeing a kind of Unix/Linux books collector, I've changed first idea and convinced myself to buy also this one. IMHO, I think this book is great (not only in dimensions !) if: 1) you are not a Linux novice and 2) you like to have a kind of "Linux compendium", I mean a book speaking of arguments from shell to Java programming, from Debian packages (some) to Samba and so on. A kind of "all-in-one", but of course with all these arguments a Linux (also a Debian GNU/Linux) encyclopedia should be at least made by 6 volumes like this. If you are a novice I suggest the other one I've mentioned before. If, like me, you are interested (I mean you have deep interests) in Debian Linux, window managers and some programming language (like Perl), you'll buy at least other 3 books (one for each subject), the official Debian distribution, and you'll like to give a donation to Debian group. P.S. Sorry for my english ...

I came into this as a Unix user, never having administered anything a day in my life. I thought it was an execllent introduction for a new user - one book can't be all things to all people. But the installation guide was great for someone who has never touched a Linux install before. I'll agree with one of the above reviewers... it could stand to be a little more in-depth with core Linux daemons like apache and sendmail. I did think the section on Samba was outstanding, but was a little confused when it came the entire section on networking and BIND. A little less on programming with TCL and Python, and a little more on the common tasks the administrator takes on every day.

Still, I think it's a great primer, and it was certainly enough that I got a box up and running without too much of a headache.

Don't let "2.1" influence you; the linux version really doesn't make a difference. This book covers a wide range of topics from scripting to C to Java to python to file sharing to internet services and the like. The strength of this book is the wide range of things it covers. Another strength is that is generally very easy reading and easy to follow for a beginner. You don't have to know what you are doing to learn a lot. The Samba chapter is topnotch with sections on troubleshooting and everything. The shell scripting chapter is nice too.

The downside of this book is that nothing is really done in detail. For instance the chapter on shells lists some differences between C shells and bash shells, which was good. But it has nothing really about commands themselves. In some ways this book can't decide if it's for beginners or more advanced people. The chapters on internet services (httpd, nfs etc) are really simple. But the chapters on stuff like tcl python java are more for advanced people.

I think the book works best for beginners. There is a lot of information clearly written, all in one book. It is a very good book, with limitations.

I was more or less forced into learning Linux for my job. This was the 1st book I bought regarding Debian Linux and I have learned an extensive amount of information regarding Linux.

The book does a very good job starting with the very basics of Linux to advanced server administration. There was also a very interesting section on securing your Linux server.

With the help of this book, I've successfully set up a web/intranet/ftp/mail server at my workplace. I would highly recommend this book.

I loved the history and run through of commands. It's a book worthy of the old pale red "Unleashed" style.. which means.. very good, well thought out, and excellent editing.

Unlike some other book series I've always found the "Unleashed" series very worthy. They rarely make mistakes, and always try to liven up the material with pleasant gray scale graphics.

There's a nice section on System Administration, Security, and Programming, each broken down into lengthy sections and divided into chapters with an intelligent choice of content.

Most important it does not start out thinking this is your "first" computer. It assume you know the subject, to a degree and just treats this book like its for New "Debian" users.

There are great chapters on Vi and Emacs, DocBook and LaTex, groff, and then the most excellent chapters on Debian management I've ever seen. Dselect, Apt, and Dpkg. The chapters on Kernel 2.2 building couldn't help but be out of date since Debian now has a Kernel "Team" but all the rest on GNU tools is dead on current.

The Programming content should be broken out into a book all its own and reissued. Covers C/C++, Java, TCL/TK, Python, Scheme and Expect.. and to top it all off it covers the AutoTools too. Very little dating.. though most people don't use AWT for Java GUI programming anymore.

CVS and bugzilla versus bug tracking system were very nice.

And finally in "In the Appendices" mind you.. they cover "installing Debian", the Kernel section in the appendices is actually quite good cover more of the options in detail.

I'm a big fan of the Older Unleashed books, the editors and people who put them together made them really of great quality.. and fortunately this one did not disappoint.

I wish we could recapture that genie in a bottle and or the current Unleashed books were as spot on target and topical.

It's hard to not pander towards the newbies of the market and give great content to people who have mastered the simplicities but ready to take it to the next level. Unleashed "always" did that.

How I miss the days of the "matte" finish pale red "Unleashed" books.

Well at least they're still available here.

The book is excelent for beginners to intermediate users, but more oriented to the sysadmins. It covers all importante aspects of installing, configuring and maintaining Debian. If it were a little bit more broader it would cover everything needed.
The only disapointing aspect it's the ortographic errors and the mislabeled pictures.

I don't even use debian myself ... but I'm a "collector" of various technical manuals and this one actually impressed me with the last 1/3 of the book actually going into C/C++ Python, Java, and even had a section in the 1st 1/3 on perl ...... not BAD!