Official Fedora Companion: Your Guide to the Fedora Project [Paperback]

Nicholas Petreley (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764558366 | ISBN-13: 978-0764558368 | Publication Date: January 2, 2004

• Linux guru Nick Petreley demystifies the most powerful features of Fedora, the new Linux operating system from Red Hat
• The book is tailored for new users and people upgrading from previous Red Hat versions
• Cuts through technical jargon with a concise, friendly approach and offers invaluable insider tips that enable users to get up and running fast with Fedora
• Features step-by-step guidance to help readers to use and customize the friendly graphical Bluecurve desktop; get online with instant messaging, e-mail and a favorite browser; create personal audio and data CD-ROMs; and get started with the OpenOffice office productivity suite
• Includes essential security tips and all the basic configuration details for networks, firewalls, users, and printers
• Two CD-ROMs include Red Hat's new personal edition distribution known as Fedora

Copyright © 2004 by Red Hat, Inc. Material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, V1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/).

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Red Hat and the Linux community have done the work – you just install Fedora

Red Hat has collected everything you need to install and configure Fedora and start participating in this brand-new, community-driven project. There’s no downloading, no looking for documentation, no wondering. Instead, you get official information from the experts at Red Hat, installation and troubleshooting advice, dozens of applications, security tips, and more, along with the exclusive Fedora distribution on two CD-ROMs.

Fedora makes it easy for you to

• Customize the friendly graphical Bluecurve desktop
• Install a browser, get online, and use email and instant messaging
• Create personal audio and data CD-ROMs
• Start using the OpenOffice.org desktop tools
• Configure networks, firewalls, and printers
• Set up appropriate security
• Access and use shell prompts and manage users
• Contribute to the Fedora open source project

Economical!
The Fedora distribution on CD-ROM, plus detailed installation and configuration instructions, troubleshooting help, and more–at one extremely low price!

Loaded!
Feature-packed two-CD distribution includes Bluecurve desktop, instant messaging, email and browser applications, OpenOffice.org desktop productivity suite, and dozens more tools.

More online!
Complete installation advice, including all options; Linux for laptops; using the file system, GIMP, and the X Window System; updating; the boot process; and much more at www.wiley.com/compbooks/petreley

TWO CD-ROMS INCLUDE

• Linux^TM kernel, GNU C compiler, and Bluecurve^TM desktop
• Samba Windows file/ print sharing and CUPS print service
• Apache Web server, Sendmail mail server, and BIND DNS server
• OpenOffice.org desktop productivity suite

About the Author

Nick Petreley (Kansas City, MO) is the founding editor of LinuxWorld magazine, helped establish LinuxWorld Expo, created and first hosted the Golden Penguin Bowl keynote quiz show for the Expo, and is now the Linux analyst for Evans Data Corporation and founding editor of VarLinux.org. He was one of the first journalists to write about Linux, and Red Hat's own founder Bob Young credits Nicholas as a major force behind making the current popularity of Linux possible.

Contributors from the Red Hat Press Documentation Team: Tammy Fox, John Ha, Sandra A. Moore

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: *Red Hat (January 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764558366
• ISBN-13: 978-0764558368
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,721,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An OK book for the beginner, April 14, 2005

By 

Gabriel Burdeti (Deux-Montagnes, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Official Fedora Companion: Your Guide to the Fedora Project (Paperback)

As mentionned, this book is not very technical. It will not teach you many bash commands. It makes you rely more on Linux's graphical interface which is OK I guess. I got myself Linux pocket guide by Daniel Barrett which is a far more technical book that really exposes the true nature of Linux : commands on a terminal, shell scripting. But I can say that Official Fedora Companion will appeal to the common people who only use Windows and are just curious about trying Linux. I regret buying this book because I didn't find the information I wanted in it.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A deal, March 18, 2004

By 

K. Anderson (Duluth, Minnesota United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Official Fedora Companion: Your Guide to the Fedora Project (Paperback)

I've played with several Linux distros in my quest for an operating system that works and might replace Windows. Fedora installed quickly and effortlessly, booted right up and has been enormously fun to play with. It has a good look and feel, it's loaded with features and seems to be rock stable. I like it much better than Mandrake, which I'd previously been using. I've never surfed the web so quickly either. It is a full featured OS and applications suite for under $20 and an incredible deal.

That said, it never did recognize the two wireless cards I tried to use so I had to move my whole machine to someplace I could plug into my cable modem. Wireless networking seems to be a big issue.

Also there is the larger question of when Linux is going to be ready for the average computer user. I'm willing to put up with Linux oddness and complexity because I like to play with it. Most users aren't and they don't want to deal with root passwords and the like. For all of their faults, and they are legion, Microsoft's products are geared to the consumer who just wants to turn on the machine and go. Fedora approaches that better than any other Linux distro I've seen but the OS still has a very long way to go before it's anything other than a sideshow in the consumer market. The book also leaves a lot of areas untouched although it does refer you to other sources of information. Despite these reservations, it's a great package for someone who wants to explore open source and I highly recommend it. Again, it's a complete desktop system and a manual for a very, very reasonable price.