FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer, Second Edition (with CD-ROM) [Paperback]

Annelise Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2001

This book is a friendly, task-oriented introduction to FreeBSD, a free, open-source, industrial strength operating system that runs on a personal computer (the same computer that runs Microsoft Windows) for users new to both FreeBSD and UNIX. The second edition includes a FreeBSD 4.4 installation CD-ROM.

FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer includes:

· installation CD-ROM for the full system plus many software applications
· space requirements, screen shots, and detailed instructions for installing FreeBSD
· descriptions of third-party software applications and how to get them running
· step-by-step instructions on configuring and running FreeBSD, connecting to the Internet,
setting up an internal network, and setting up sound, graphics (X Window), and printing

Based on the UNIX developed at the University of California at Berkeley, FreeBSD is a major competitor to Linux for running Internet servers, the computers that handle electronic mail for many users, provide files for download, and serve web pages.

With this book and the included installation CD-ROM, individual users can install FreeBSD and run a system that goes beyond Microsoft Windows in capability, stability, and flexibility, provides full source code, and makes available thousands of ready-to-install third-party software programs (most of them free) including electronic mail, desktop applications, Netscape, programming languages, graphics, and web servers and other Internet applications.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Explains technical or complex terms or concepts in a way that a beginner would be able to understand -- Daemon News, September 2001

If you have an interest in reliable Open Source operating systems for workstations or servers, you should read this book. -- ACM

About the Author

Annelise Anderson is a fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a frequent contributor to the FreeBSD mailing lists.

Product Details

• Paperback: 443 pages
• Publisher: The Bit Tree Press (December 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0971204519
• ISBN-13: 978-0971204515
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,459,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #31 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > BSD

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a FreeBSD HOWTO for normal people, November 1, 2001

By 

Poul-Henning Kamp - See all my reviews

This review is from: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer (Paperback)

This book finally gives provides an introduction and guide to FreeBSD for normal people.

Where Greg Leheys book is for IT-professionals and Ted Middlestaedts book focuses on FreeBSD in a corporate network, this book does a very good job at making FreeBSD available to the average computer literate person out there.

While not quite the "this is a keyboard" level of a "for dummies" book, this book never fails to explain things at a level which will be understandable for the normal people.

As a developer of FreeBSD since the very beginning, it is a great pleasure for me to see our code being made available to a larger audience, rather than just the rather select elite who have until now discovered and used FreeBSD.

Highly recommended!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fills a needed niche, October 30, 2001

By 

Scott Robbins "Scott" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer (Paperback)

Although there is a plethoria of Linux books, FreeBSD doesn't yet have too many. There is Mr. Lehey's extremely comprehensive
tome, which is excellent. However, there is also the need for a book like Ms. Anderson's. It takes itself a bit less seriously, but manages to give much necessary information and perfectly treads the fine line between being patronizing and leaving out things necessary to those who are as yet inexperienced with the operating system.

Since I began playing with BSD, I've thought there should be a book similar to Mr. Minasi's book on Linux for the NT Administrator--one that gives straightforward instructions on how to do things, but assumes that the reader has some intelligence. Ms Anderson's book fills that need quite well.

The only reason that I don't give it five stars is that I thought there was a bit too much on the installation--usually, an installation either goes moderately smoothly or doesn't go well and fails--she could have given a bit less detail about a smooth install and covered likely problems more completely, but this is possibly a personal quibble on my part. (I would have given 4-1/2 if I'd had the option--it's just a little short of perfect for what it is.) Ms. Anderson tries to address the less computer literate as well, so, perhaps the detail was necessary for her purposes. (Please don't think that the above means this is a "For Dummies" beginning with push that button on the front to turn on the computer--it most certainly isn't.

All in all, I would recommend this book to any of my friends beginning to investigate BSD--Ms. Anderson did a great job.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Absolutely Superb Beginner's Book for FreeBSD, October 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer (Paperback)

If you're a new user to FreeBSD, or have been thinking about trying it, "FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer" is the one book you MUST squander your hard-earned money on.

This superbly written book is an excellent introduction to the FreeBSD operating system. It covers almost everything that a new user needs to know to get a FreeBSD system up and running: installing and configuring, setting up printers, setting up networking and getting connected to the Internet for mail and web browsing, adding additional software (such as shells) using ports and packages, compiling custom kernels, and administering the system with user management and recovering from crises. It even covers upgrading the entire installation to a newer version!

All this is done in a thoroughly professional manner. The book is written in non-technical, but literate, English and does not waste the reader's time by poorly written explanations that need be read and re-read while the reader attempts to puzzle out what the author REALLY meant -- the material is very clear throughout, and consists of discussions followed by easy to carry out steps explaining exactly what and how to do. And, most amazingly, these steps actually work as advertised: I was able to do all of the things that I mentioned in the first paragraph by following the instructions in the book.

Readers who finish this book will find that they can then handle the more advanced books on FreeBSD, such as the "FreeBSD Handbook", "The Complete FreeBSD," (neither of which I would recommend as beginning-level books) and "FreeBSD Unleashed." Their understanding will also allow full use of the wide variety of resources available on the web in areas which the book does not cover in detail, such as security and firewalls.

"FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer" also includes a CD with FreeBSD 4.3 on it. This CD contains all that is needed to get started and has the software needed to work through the entire book.

In conclusion, I would simply say that this is the best beginner-level book on FreeBSD on the market. I'd give the book 5 stars.