Customer Reviews

Easy Linux Commands: Working Examples of Linux Command Syntax

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
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After wading through a maze of complex Linux tomes that are geared toward experienced Unix administrators, I finally found an excellent tips and tricks guide that can walk a novice through the maze of Unix commands. This book is easy to follow and makes using Linux operating system a breeze rather than a painful austerity. Highly recommended!

My shelf is full of technical books on a variety of topics, including Linux. But there have been times when someone new to the IT world will ask me for a book to get them started in a particular area. Alas, most of my books are thousand-page, exhaustively-detailed volumes that would be so inaccessible that the only use a beginner could get out of it would be to kill a few spiders.

But now, thanks to Jon Emmons and Terry Clark, I finally have a book I can give a young student, or a previously "Windows-only" PC user. "Easy Linux Commands" is just what it claims to be: an easy introduction to the command-line world.

Being easy to read and accessible is this book's chief selling point. The book is not only under 200 pages, with lots of pictures, big text and barely 30 lines per page, but it's also structured in the exact same familiar fashion as countless other books. Furthermore, I don't find the author's style overly technical. His writing style is very informal and almost conversational. Judge for yourself by visiting his blog "Life After Coffee," where he occasionally includes excerpts from the book. In fact, if something is not clear, Jon Emmons is very accessible and answers questions quickly and happily.

[...]

Also notice that I said this books introduces you to the command-line world, not Linux. I said that for two reasons:
1. Almost everything in this books applies equally well to Unix. Very little in this book is actually Linux-specific.
2. Even though Linux has graphical user interfaces, like Gnome and KDE, this book covers command-line Linux only.

One word of caution. Don't be thrown by the "Become a Linux Command Guru" picture stamped on the front cover. You won't be a guru. This covers the basics, and only a little more. But this book will get you past square one and allow you to use some of those big books for becoming a guru (instead of an exterminator).

I consider myself an average Linux user and not an expect. I found this book to be very good for beginners as well as a quick reference guide for an expert. The book is logically organized and covers the most used (and needed) commands. Each command has a break down of how it works and then gives examples. One of the things that really impressed me is how concise explanations were. There is a great balance between giving enough information and bogging you down with every possible detail. This is the type of book that is great to read while you are sitting at your computer. Read a few paragraphs and then tryout the examples.

I was very pleased with this book. It's a quick intro to the Linux command line. It's easy to follow and the examples are good. While this book won't make you a Linux guru (as someone else already mentioned), it will help you develop the fundamentals of the command line and help make you more proficient. This is also a good reference for Linux certification exams, as many of them have several questions pertaining to the command line. Also, I noticed one reviewer complained that some of the commands in the book didn't work for him on Ubuntu. This is a good point for newbies who don't know much about Linux. Not all commands work across all distributions and some commands are unique to certain distros. This isn't really a flaw of the book though. This is a good book for anyone new to Linux or even for those more experienced who want a good reference book for CLI tasks.

This is one of the few Linux books I've actually made it the whole way through. Usually, Linux books are HUGE, and while very informative, drown you in details. This book is pretty short, and introduces all the commands you will need fora basic understanding of the terminal. It won't make you an admin, but is great for home users. My only beef is that there is an index of commands which is placed towards the middle of the book, instead of as an appendix, so I had to dog-ear the book to find it.

The world needs a readable introduction to the Linux command line. Many potential users of Linux are put off by the idea of using a command line. Massive tomes like "Linux In A Nutshell" stoke the fear with their listings of hundreds of commands and options. Many new users of Linux - including me - grow frustrated trying to find the commands needed to do simple tasks, until they are finally memorized.

"Easy Linux Commands: Working Examples of Linux Command Syntax" attempts to resolve the need for "working examples of Linux command syntax". It comes reasonably close, but doesn't grab the brass ring.

It is hampered by the writing styles of its authors, Jon Emmons and Terry Clark. They are adequate writers, but not blessed with the ability to make their words flow smoothly. Sometimes they simply wander off-topic and provide information the reader doesn't need. They also structured the book around Red Hat Linux which most contemporary users are unlikely to be running.

But even with these perceived shortcomings, the book holds great value for the Linux beginner as a slightly disjointed introduction to many commonly used Linux commands as fully formed examples. It is a good approach and one that screams for treatment at more capable hands. Still, some of the examples given are valuable and generally well done. The authors do go into a few areas that may not be of interest to those who are not administering a Linux system.

On the whole, this is a great concept but the execution is somewhat lacking. That said, it is still a book that I found useful in taking some of the mystery out of the Linux commands line and one that I would recommend for Linux beginners.

Jerry

New users to Linux and old-school Unix engineers alike will find value in this book. The author did a tremendous service representing this rapidly growing technology in an easy to read, easy to follow humorous format. Page to page there are examples of basic Unix commands and obscure Linux features available to most builds. Having built my career in deploying "Enterprise Class" Unix based solutions for today's high availability needs, it is refreshing to learn some new tricks and be reacquainted with old tools built discussed in this book. I recommend it to entry level and veterans alike.

-Kurt

After purchasing this book being new to Linux I first started to read the book without a computer near me, during a travel abroad.

Upon arrival at home I worked on the codes examples and a UBUNTU 8.04 distribution just to find out the first commands in the book were not supported in my distribution.

Going further I found out that there were many commands did not work or worked different within Ubuntu.

My next guess is to wait for the The Official Ubuntu Book, Third Edition that will come later this month June 2008.

However I was able to get a first look into Linux, to my opion the chapters in the book were easy to understand. The steep learning curve that is given as a reason why people have difficulties to switch from MS to Linux was much lower then expected.

I am very experienced, 24 years working in MS-DOS, Windows, Visual C++, Visual Basic .net, PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and Javascript. This might have a nice start to get acquainted with Linux.