Customer Reviews

Linux All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really only have one complaint about this book. Other than that, it's excellect. The book is intended for the almost newbie. That is someone who knows how to turn the machine on, knows that a mouse is a plastic thing with buttons instead of a furry thing in the pantry, and so forth.

The book is divided into eight major subsections, or as the book says, 8 mini books. These are intended to be self standing so that if you want to set up an internet server you really only to read that particular book (but you may want to read a couple of others like the ones on administration and security).

Like a lot of Linux books, this one comes with a DVD disk, filled with lots of software (the DVD can hold a lot more data than a conventional CD). Or for $11 you can order a set of CD's that contain the Fedorea 3 Core distribution.

One point about the book I liked, he tells you how to make a partition to dual boot Windows and Linux. But he also comments that you might want to set up your experimental Linux system on a separate freestanding machine. This is clearly the way to go. I bought a computer at a thrift shop recently - 1 GHZ AMD Athlon - certainly not the hottest iron on the market, but it was only $75, including a 17" monitor. I've seen too many people screw up an installation and wipe out a hard drive to suggest that the newbie do a dual boot.

The problem I have with the book. He includes five flavors of Linux on the disk. In the first part of the book he goes a bit into the various distributions, but he never makes a solid recommendation. (There is a hint that this was the editors recommendation to get one book that would please the fans of any distribution.) If the newbie knows enough to say that he wants Debian or SUSE or Fedora, he probably doesn't need a For Dummies book. And the author does not say the advantages of the particular distributions, merely that they are here and here's how you install them.

By default the DVD loads Fedora, and that's fine. But in the installation section the author has to jump around a lot talking about the way the other distributions do things and it gets confusing. When you read the installation chapter, feel free to ignore what you aren't using.

I purchased this book primarily as a review of Linux terminal commands as I have switched back to Linux for the first time in nearly eight years.

I love Linux it is my favorite OS. I currently use Ubuntu, but I have used two different distrobutions of Red Hat and two Different distrobutions of Mandrake (Back when it was Mandrake) and also Knoppix Live CD linux which I used on PC's where I could not install Linux.

This book contains a lot of basic information, but also some that is a little more advanced. It comes with some Linux distrobutions which are helpful if you wish to install Linux, but don't have the internet.

Linux is a great OS to learn C or C++ programming on. All the way back in 1973 Dennis Ritchie(Inventor of C) and Ken Thompson(Developer of UNIX in DEC PDP-7 assembly, and the inventor of the B language) together rewrote UNIX in C on (I believe) a DEC PDP 11 - Making UNIX portable to many other systems which had a C compiler available.
Linux as well as many other OSs and System software are also written primarilly in C.

"C all-in-one desk reference for Dummies" by Dan Gookin is good for learning C, but if you need more help with C consider "C for Dummies" by Dan Gookin.
I learned C with C all-inOne Desk Reference for Dummies and various reference books and man pages. There is a little errata mainly typos in the C all in One Desk Reference book but they are all well documented on the authors website and its easy to scribble them in the book.

NOTE TO PEOPLE NEW TO LINUX:
If you are new to Linux and want to keep Windows with no risk of loosing any files I recomend buying a one or two yearold computer - maybee used and then installing Linux as the only OS on that computer. Laptops that are a year or so old work good usually.
Then when you get used to Linux you can, if you wish, do a full install or set up a dual boot computer.

I used to juggle Windows 98 and Redhat on a 4GB hard drive, and to less success Windows 98 and Mandrake (Required to much RAM).

Linux is becoming easier to install than ever before. I remember having to configure my printer and soundcard from the terminal. Now most, if not all, of the devices are configured automatically.

I was looking for an easy intro to Linux to see if I wanted to get deeper into the OS and this fit the bill. The included DVD was very helpful for getting a hands-on feel for the different distributions. Worth the price.

I had tried Linux previously and found the online assistance that I could find to be limited and like "finding a needle in a haystack". There are so many distributions of Linux available! Having a handy reference that is comprehensive in nature and specifically addresses the questions I had, made upgrading and tossing my Microsoft monster easy.

Now that I have been using my copy for a while, I even found the courage to upgrade my system from the core model available with this text to a newer version of Fedora. The transition was smooth and easy. Many of the questions I had about the basic operation of Fedora (provided with the book) were still applicable.

If you want to upgrade to Linux and are afraid to jump into it wholeheartedly, this Dummies guide makes it very easy to get your feet wet before committing to the swim!

I like the books but the problem I am having is missing program disk. The books refer to disk that was included but I never received it and I have no idea how to contact to get.Linux All-in-One For Dummies

I am new to Linux but not new to computers or to For Dummies books, and as a pc tech I found the information a little to dummy in some areas and a little to fast paced in other areas. but over all I found the book to be a well rounded, and easy to follow guide to Linux for beginners, I had no problem applying the concepts learned in the book, I can really speak for the accuracy of the book because I have not yet taken the Linux + exam or any of my Linux classes a plan to start taking for work. But as far as a for dummies book I feel it lives up to the standard.

I needed to learn the basics of Linux quickly. Bought this book (at a local store, didn't have time to order from Amazon), and had Linux installed and running VERY quickly. I've only scratched the surface of the book, but so far it's done a great job of telling me everything I needed to know and answering all my questions, quickly and easily. The DVD is exceedingly simple to use, and contains more than "all you'll need"--tons of material. You can install a number of different Linux distributions from the DVD (I like Fedora), and installing Fedora on an unformatted hard drive (my desktop PC) AND installing Fedora in a dual-boot setup on a WinXP machine (my laptop) was easy. Naba's book and DVD are a fantastic introduction to Linux.

Clear and well-organised dissection of Linux in its various flavours. Although it leans to GUI usage more than many Linux books, it does not shy away from the command-line approach, which it does in an entirely unintimidating way - in fact, it made it quite enjoyabe.

Included is a CD with several Linux 'distros' and tools, which is all you need to get up-and-running with Linux. A true time-saver for the uninitiated wishing to evaluate the remarkable potential of Linux.

Very good book and easy to read, everything you wanted to know about Linux (and more), a very good reference volume, and a very good buy in my estimation.

I'm a Noob when it comes to code and config issues.
I'm currently using this as a companion for "Beginning Ubuntu Linux".
I havn't had much chance to make use of some of the more advanced sections, like programming. No book can cover 100% of every issue. "Linux for Dummies" comes darn close. Plus these folk do so in a "Soldier-Proof" format to keep you from being your own worst Complication.