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Linux in a Nutshell [Paperback]

Ellen Siever (Author), Aaron Weber (Author), Stephen Figgins (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)


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Paperback, June 2003 --  
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Linux in a Nutshell Linux in a Nutshell 4.4 out of 5 stars (53)
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Book Description

0596004826 978-0596004828 June 2003 Fourth Edition

Linux in a Nutshell, now in its fourth edition, has won awards in the Linux community as the most indispensable book about Linux. It is an essential desktop reference for the commands that users of Linux utilize every day, with the depth of information and the practical, succinct "In a Nutshell" format that made the previous editions so popular.

Comprehensive but concise, Linux in a Nutshell covers all substantial user, programming, administration, and networking commands for the most common Linux distributions. It's several quick references rolled into one: sed, gawk, RCS, CVS, vi, Emacs, bash, tcsh, regular expressions, package management, bootloaders, and desktop environments are all covered in this clear, to-the-point volume, along with core command-line utilities.

The fourth edition continues to track the major changes in bootloaders, the GNOME and KDE desktops, and general Unix commands. Several commands related to CDs and music reflect the evolution of multimedia on Linux. Coverage has been added for GRUB, which has become the default bootloader on several Linux distributions, and for vim, the popular and feature-loaded extension to vi. The addition of several new options to the iptables firewall command and new commands related to DNSSEC and ssh show the book's value as a security tool. With this book, you no longer have to grope through long manpages and info documents for the information you need; you'll find it here in clear language and an easy-to-read format.

Contents include:

  • Programming, system administration, networking, and user commands with complete lists of options
  • GRUB, LILO, and Loadlin bootloaders
  • Shell syntax and variables for the bash, csh, and tcsh shells
  • Pattern matching
  • Emacs, vi, and vim editing commands
  • sed and gawk commands
  • The GNOME and KDE desktops and the fvwm2 window manager
  • Red Hat and Debian package managers


Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is one desktop companion which confident Linux users simply cannot be without." Linux User, November 2003 "The best way to sum this book up is with the original reviewer's words: "If you don't lock your office, this will be the first thing that a techie colleague will steal!"." Linux Format, September "...anyone serious about Linux programming and administration needs this book...The authors are to be congratulated for the scope of coverage, as here's enough here about both the vi and Emacs editing systems, desktop set-ups and packages, as well as a nod to multimedia use. " - Gary Flood, IT Training, October 2004

About the Author

Ellen Siever is a writer and editor specializing in Linux and other open source topics. In addition to Linux in a Nutshell, she co-authored Perl in a Nutshell. She is a long-time Linux and Unix user, and was a programmer for many years until she decided that writing about computers was more fun.

Stephen Figgins is a programmer, animal tracker, musician and life-long learner. He honed many of his computer skills while working as O'Reilly's book answer guy. Now living in Lawrence, Kansas, he works as a writer, editor and consultant.

Aaron Weber is a technical writer for Ximian, Inc. and wrote the manual for Ximian Evolution, Red Carpet, and Red Carpet Enterprise, as well as a section on GNOME in Running Linux. He's also published in Interex Enterprise Solutions (interex.com) and Boston's Weekly Dig (www.weeklydig.com), and is the host of secretlyironic.com.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 944 pages
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media; Fourth Edition edition (June 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0596004826
  • ISBN-13: 978-0596004828
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #401,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

53 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (53 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference Manual, May 6, 2004
This review is from: Linux in a Nutshell (Paperback)
How many times have you been trying to find a particular command but just can't remember what it was called. How many times have you been typing in a command and forgot the options available?

Through this book, the author has taken many of the substaintial commands for users, admins, networking and programming and rolled them into a dictionary of sort for Linux users.

Sure, you can find out a lot about any command through the online man pages, but the author has taken the somewhat cryptic man pages and broken them down into simple, to the point, references laid out much like you would expect to find in a dictionary.

In addition, you'll find handy reference manuals for common utilities, such as emacs, vi, CVS, sed and awk. While each of these could fill a book in themselves, the author has broken them down to the bare basics to help you get up and running and understand basic operation of each.

All in all, a wonderful reference manual that will compliment more in-depth manuals on actual use and administration of a Linux system.

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49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Is just what is should be, November 9, 2004
This review is from: Linux in a Nutshell (Paperback)
If you understand what "in a nutshell" means, then you shall be pleased with this book. It is not a tutorial, it is not a beginners' guide, it is not a theory book... it is a reference book, featuring entries that are succinct, to the point, sparse in places, but complete in breadth and indispensable.

I don't use Linux for my work station (Mac OS X) or for my servers (BSD UNIX) and so when I need to do something on a Linux box the UNIX commands at my fingertips sometimes don't work; then I turn to this book. Very handy.
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40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Your IT tool box would be empty without it, August 19, 2003
This review is from: Linux in a Nutshell (Paperback)
I have used Linux (nearly every major and some minor distributions) and I cannot tell you how many times this book has saved me. It is also great because a huge percentage of the commands covered also work just fine in UNIX (though I recommend UNIX in a nutshell too. I also have never bought a book from O'Rielly that was less than top notch. If you are a newbie or want to learn Linux in general BUY THIS BOOK WITH ANOTHER BOOK. Like all of the ....in a nutshell books it's reference book not a read cover-to-cover book....
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