Customer Reviews

Linux For Dummies, 9th Edition

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

 

 

I have worked with computers for several years now, with my experience being with Microsoft Windows. I am new to the Linux world and have always been interested in knowing more after hearing such stories as Linux running for years without requiring a reboot as well as having many security systems run on Linux due to its security and wanting to get more into security in my career.

Having not known anything about Linux I can honestly say that Richard Blum did an excellent job in writing this book. The way in which Richard explains things in layman terms makes it easy for just about anyone with some knowledge of computers to understand and feel comfortable learning Linux.

I strayed away from the for Dummies series some years back when I purchased a Network+ for Dummies and it did not meet the usual simple explanations I came to expect from the Dummies series but, Richard Blum and the Linux For Dummies, 9th Edition has restored my faith in the Dummies series books.

For some time now I have not enjoyed reading computer related books and mostly did so because I had to and not because I wanted to but, I have really enjoyed reading this book. I would recommend purchasing this book to anyone new to Linux with a bit of computer knowledge looking to tap into what Linux has to offer.

I read this book even before I started with my Fedora 14 Linux, 4-disks DVD Installation and Reference Set, Ed.2011. As another reviewer mentioned, this book deals mostly with Linux graphical interfaces: GNOME and KDE. While I agree that it takes much more than mastering GNOME skills to claim knowledge of Linux, this book actually gives a prospective, explains in very simple language some concepts and serves as a friendly introduction to Linux computer. It provides that basic layer of knowledge that helps not to be overwhelmed by Linux. Can you be without it? Yes, sure, you can get roughly the same info from browsing GUI of installed Linux system, and reading help. But it can be said about almost any other book. If you need an intro to Linux for a complete dummy, this book will provide. I also learned from it some basic ways that helped in my first two days of Linux.

The distros that come on bundled DVD are horribly old and outdated and for this reason I took one star off the rating. It has no drivers for any newer computers and for the reason I purchased Fedora set as mentioned before.

I read this book cover to cover hoping to learn a bit more about Linux than I've learned from just poking around on my own. In all honestly, I didn't learn a ton from this book that I didn't already know. I can't, however, blame the book for that. It is directed at people who are new to Linux. If you aren't incredibly tech savvy and want to jump into Linux (this is probably a minority demographic) then this is the book for you. If you're the average person getting into Linux who can handle booting to a Ubuntu CD and clicking your way through an install with half an ounce of intelligence then you can probably figure out just as much as this book teaches you on your own.

I was given new responsibilites at work, which involved learning a new Linux-based software program, but the software training didn't include any Linux training. I was so glad I bought the book Linux for Dummies. I learned how the open-source software came about, learned details about many commands, and learned about the various features and applications that I had no clue existed on my Thin Anywhere Linux client. So now I know what I'm doing and even have a prettier desktop picture for when I'm running my technical application that runs on Linux. I especially appreciated the bits of humor sprinkled throughout the text and the easy reading aspect of the book and its many screenshot illustrations.

Although this book says "Linux" on the cover really it deals almost exclusively with the GNOME and KDE graphical user interfaces. This book is okay if you have a blank hard drive and are too cheap to buy Windows or a MacOS. But if you have to do anything on a server, this book presents you with only a brief overview, an handful of commands and a warning that you don't want to get in that deep.

This book was a great disappointment for many reasons. Although it was somewhat informative, it lacked any real depth and was not completely accurate. The author seemed to confuse himself at times and became contradictory. The accompanying system disks were not true to the book's description and there was not enough descriptive material in the book (or disc setup instructions) to get an acceptable system started. I got the feeling that the author was in a terrible hurry to get this book out and never really proof read his own work or had someone who could have done it help out.

Waste of time and money so I just gave up on Linux!