The Linux Bible: The Gnu Testament [Paperback]

John Purcell (Editor), Amanda Robinson (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 1886 pages
• Publisher: Yggdrasil Computing Inc; 4th edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883601207
• ISBN-13: 978-1883601201
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,425,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good installation reference but a bit outdated, June 3, 1998

By 

Joel Hatton ([e-mail]) (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Linux Bible: The Gnu Testament (Paperback)

This huge tome is best referred to if installing onto a machine which is about the same age ie. 486 era. As this book is basically just a hardcopy of the Sunsite how-tos its useful life was always destined to be short, and the number of sections that are still completely relevant is quite disproportionate to the size of the book. That there are so many new software packages available now that the bible doesn't cover isn't a criticism, just a comment on the rate of progress in the development of Linux. That said, it is still the first book I pick up when setting up a system - even if only to refresh my memory on the workings of Lilo or fdisk! For a new user with new hardware, however, buy an install guide (like the one by Matt Welsh that is the most useful part of the bible) for the basics and look elsewhere for up-to-date information.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Saves hours in looking for information., May 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Linux Bible: The Gnu Testament (Paperback)

I bought this a couple of years ago, and it is now an essential companion, instead of having to hunt out the needed info, and juggle screens to read and follow instructions at the same time, the book stays by the computer. It is my most worn out looking text book, a testament indeed to its value. There is probably nothing in it which cannot be found on the net, and if you were to spend a few years doing it, you could probably compile a similar tome free!

5.0 out of 5 stars Even today, the relevance of the GNU Testament shines through!, March 5, 2010

By 

Bradley D. Thornton (Super Sunny Southern California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Linux Bible: The Gnu Testament (Paperback)

I have this, and the original publication of the Linux Bible. Back in the day, Yggdrasil, being one of the very first actually commerically available Linux distributions, brought with it the publication of several CDROM and DVD archives, as well as this compendium of virtually all amassed information regarding Linux and the FSF's GNU tools.

Even today (2010), and approaching two decades of Linux, this book provides an introspective look on the inner workings and evolution of GNU/Linux, and UNIX in general.

This is fantastic easy reading for the UNIX aficionado who is desirous of recreational reading material as it relates to UNIX theory and problem solving, and I still occasionally fan through this comprehensive volume for hints on ways to do things that provide the perspective of a completely manual era in handcrafting and configuring a UNIX system.

Much of the material in this book is still relevant to this day, and even though much has changed in the way we now collect the knowledge we need in a "How-To" situation, you can actually complete the set up and configuration of system daemons and applications through following the guides in this book.

To sum it all up. The GNU Testament is a timeless classic, and should be afforded a proud and prominent place in every Linux or UNIX guru's library!