Customer Reviews

Fedora Linux: A Complete Guide to Red Hat's Community Distribution

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

 

 

Chris' writing style is easy to read and flows as smoothly and conversationally as chatting with your best friend. The book is not an "overview," as it does drill down into many of the most difficult issues surrounding using and administering a Fedora-based Linux system.

I've been a Linux user since 1992 and I learned a LOT from reading this book. There are literally 100s of nifty tidbits of useful information packed away inside these pages. I don't know if I can give 5 stars to a "secular" Linux book, but it probably deserves them!

In the usual O'Reilly tradition, the book is exceptionally well-edited and the content practically overflows the pages.

There is an interesting presentation "feature" to the book that constantly poses questions and provides the answers to them that is compelling, unique and very practical. While not every question is one that I've asked myself, each answer is useful information to which I often didn't know the exact answer.

I highly commend Chris' work. If you are using or plan to use a Fedora-based Linux system, this is a "must have" book!

Despite having used linux for many years, and fedora since its release, I found lots of very specific how-to information in this book that would take a long time to find in other documentation. The term "lab-based approach" in the book's description basically translates into the book having very detailed and accurate step-by-step instructions for performing common (and some not-so-common) Fedora tasks. Although the book is focused on Fedora system administration tasks, there is also lots of material that any Fedora desktop or laptop user would want/need to know.

I hope the author is able to continue to revise the book as new Fedora releases are produced. The book is very current as of Core 5/6 but Linux changes so fast that any book has to be revised frequently to keep up.

One thing I especially like about this book is that there isn't the "padding" so common in Linux books. This book includes helpful URL references, but doesn't pad its page count with their contents. All the original content in this book makes it an extremely good value and I strongly recommend it to anyone working with a relevant Fedora release.

Are you an experienced computer user with some Linux experience? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Chris Tyler, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that covers both desktop and server configurations, and is ideally suited to an administrator or power user migrating to Fedora Linux from another environment, such as Windows, Mac OS X, or Unix.

Tyler, begins by covering the installation of Fedora Core. Then, the author introduces the use of Fedora on the desktop. Next, he deals with the issues specific to using Fedora on a notebook computer. The author also covers basic system management tasks. He continues by discussing package management--adding, removing and updating software. Then, the author deals with storage administration, using logical volume management and RAID arrays. Next, he covers the Samba file server; as well as, DHCP, DNS, web, email, and print services. The author then deals with security using Fedora's security facilities including SELinux, PAM, and ACLs. He continues by discussing the Fedora community and how you can become involved. Finally, the author deals with advanced installation options.

This most excellent book is targeted at Fedora Core 6, but is also useful to users of Fedora Core 5 and 7. Perhaps more importantly, this book is designed to give you the most critical information in an accessible format, and shows you how the packages work within the context of Fedora.

Just to add what the others have said -- this book is very, very well written. I've read (or tried to read) several Linux "get up to speed" books on specific distributions and have found that most either insult your intelligence with detailed steps describing very simple procedures -- or they completely gloss over difficult subjects. (Often they do both in the same chapter.) Chris Tyler seems to have found the perfect middle ground in "Fedora Linux." It's easy to read, well formatted and very informative. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn, or better use Fedora, CentOS, Red Hat or any of the Red Hat based distributions. Once the book has been read through, I think you'll find it to be an excellent reference as well. Great textbook, highly recommended.

With any operating system, certain tasks must be addressed. How do I configure peripheral devices, how do I setup a network, how do I find documentation on the many other questions I have?

This book gives basic answers to the major questions, and points the reader to sources of additional information. This is a perfect book for someone looking to become a Fedora Administrator, or for someone looking to gain merely a working knowledge of this operating system.

It seems to be a pretty good book overall.

To be fair, I have not read this book entirely, and I don't intend to do so either. I was reviewing the section on the web server and it is entirely missing the setup or even the mention of SSL (or https) for the web server. That I feel is a bit too important of an information to skip.

Update - 3/1/07
I am editing my review after looking at Chris's comment on my review. I kind of agree with Chris. I do like the book overall and it covers a lot of ground. Having gone through more of this book, I wish I had given it 4 stars, but I don't seem to be able to edit the ratings. I still feel that the https/SSL configuration of the Web Server is important enough and should be covered, and Chris intends to do so in the next revision.