Customer Reviews

A Practical Guide to Linux

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With the assistance of a friend who is more familiar with computer hardware than I am, I installed Linux on my PC several months ago. After that I downloaded a whole bunch of How-Tos and started exploring the Linux System. While the How-To's were extremely useful, they were a little obscure at times. Also they didn't always answer my questions. A month later I purchased 2 Books on Linux - Running Linux by Welsh & Kaufman and A Practical Guide to Linux by Mark Sobell. Welsh & Kaufman's book deals more with Systems Programming and Hardware Issues. In fact, the two books complement each other quite well. Running Linux is also somewhat "chattier" than Sobell's book which basically just "tells it like it is". Sobell's book, although it covers Systems Administration, mainly deals with issues like shell programming, editors, utility programs and programming tools. There are chapters on the Linux utilities, the filesystem, the Shell, X-Windows, the vi and Emacs Editors. Most importantly for me, there are 2 chapters on the Bourne Shell and Bourne shell scripts. Although there is an O'Reilly book on Bash which I have not seen and which presumably deals with Bash programming even more comprehensively, Sobell's book was the most useful and useable source of information on Shell programming that I have found so far. The Command summary at the back is also well presented and useful. Sobell does make extensive use of internal references, presumably because he did not want to restate the same material. While this does lead to a bit of page turning to get an answer sometimes, it leaves more room for other material, so I can readily accept it. Given the enormous amount of possible material that could be covered in any book attempting to deal with Linux comprehensively this is probably the wisest course. If you want a book on Linux and Hardware, then buy Running Linux by Welsh & Kaufman or download the appropriate How-To's (or both). Sobell's book is for use after you have your hardware problems largely solved and want to get on with customizing your system, using X-Windows, utilizing the various compilers, learning about the the Linux/Unix filesystem and basically getting the system to do useful things. There are several small quibbles I have with the book though. Firstly, there is the overlarge Typeface on the Table of Contents starting on Page xvii and running through to xlvii (that's 30 pages for the Roman Numeral illiterate) which is FAR too many. It appears to me that the Table of Contents is also meant to be used as a sort of Reference Guide. This is fair enough but the typeface is way too big. Secondly, as I said above, any comprehensive book on Linux/Unix will have to make decisions on what to put in and what to leave out and this is fair enough. However, it would be nice if the book included an appendix saying where one can obtain information on the topics not dealt with in the book. In fact, I would go further than that. A comprehensive Bibliography of Linux/Unix in general would be a worthwhile addition. One notable Linux utility program not mentioned is Perl. A brief discussion of it in the Linux Utility Programs section would have been nice or alternatively an appendix like that for regular expressions. Admittedly Perl is a vast topic, and doing justice to it in 6 pages is possibly a bit much but some sort of reference would have been nice. The book is an adaptation of the author's two other books on using Unix. Given the nature of the Linux community, Linux users tend to be fairly knowledgeable about Mice and Keyboards already, so pictures of them are probably not necessary. Given the overall quality of the book, these are relatively minor criticisms. All in all, in my opinion, Sobell's Practical Guide to Linux is the best book available on the market, bar none, for quickly and effectively getting to use the Linux editors, X-Windows, shells and Linux Utility Programs If you have a copy of A Practical Guide to Linux and Running Linux you should be able to solve most Linux problems.

If you have installed Linux, and need a coherent, step by step method to show you how to use it, this is a great book. This book is not designed to walk you through the Linux installation process. For that, any number of other books are available. It is not a disassociated compilation of how-tos. It is part tutorial and part reference guide. I am a new Linux user, and am currently taking a class in Unix. I wish the instructor had chosen this book. I am using it rather than the assigned textbook and I find that I am not only keeping up with the class, but my understanding of the material is considerably enhanced. At the end of each chapter, there are questions relating to the material presented in that chapter. If you can answer the questions, you can be sure that you understand the material. The explanations of the utilities are excellent; they provide enough theoretical information to give you an understanding of how they are integrated with the OS, and clear examples, which allow you to use them instantly. The book is designed for the intermediate to advanced user who may have little or no experience with Linux and wants a thorough introduction. The format is well thought out and, if you choose to move through the book chapter by chapter, you will find it well designed and challenging. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I would not have written this review if I didn't see the review by j.guy@soandso (The cute penguin) but after reading this book and thinking it was great I went back to the book and looked up his complaints. By golly he was right! But unfortunately he missed one important point that even the 5 star reviewers did. This book is not the first Linux book you should read! Sobell's book went as smooth as silk for me, but that was after reading both the Red Hat 6.0 manuals front to back and then Linux for Dummies (ok hold on, it only took me 2.5 hours to read so stop laughing). So this book is truely a 5 star book, but probably won't be alot of help to you until you've read about and experimented with some really basic features of the OS. This book should be on your bookshelf and after I read a couple other ones (this level and up) I may come back and review it again just to make sure I'm 100% right.

I've been working on linux for more than a year, and this was a book assigned for a class. Since then, I've bought four other linux books. But this one is usually the first book I will consult regardless.

The problems with the book are: that the book is very old, and that it doesn't discuss newer versions of Netscape and Red Hat and other tools. Linux has gotten a lot more user friendly, and this book won't provide a lot of help about using the most modern window manager. The book does not discuss apache and possibly not even samba (i don't remember). It doesn't really adequately describe dual booting with windows (which is an important thing to discuss). On the other hand, it gives a more than adequate explanation of vi, emacs and cvs.

Also this book is unparalleled is discussing how to use the command line interface and explaining the underworkings of the linux/unix OS. The best thing about the book is that it gives an exceptional index to the bash commands and utility commands and it gives two or three pages of explanations and EXAMPLES for each one. At first glance, it may resemble a man page, but it gives much more than that. It gives actual situations, and prompts, user input and results. These examples easily explain the functions and the powers and the niceties of the command switches. Particularly helpful were the discussion of sed, awk, regular expressions and other low level commands. It doesn't discuss networking as much as it should, but its unwavering focus on the command line more than makes up for this deficiency.

Other books I would recommend include LINUX, Second Edition: Installation, Configuration, and Use and Oreilley's Running Linux or Network Administrator's Guide. But I still go back to this book more often than all three of these books combined. When this book comes out in a later edition (and I feel sure it will), it will undoubtedly be the best guide for newbies and pro's alike.

I have found this to be one of the best books I own on Linux. It has many examples, clear descriptions, and very useful information.

I do hope he comes out with another edition within a year or so - and I only say that because there are so many changes in the Linux world. the basics seem to live on but smaller yet important things do change on a daily basis. Plus many readers do look at copyright dates and make their decisions that way (unfortunately).

Anyway, bottom line: GET IT - You need this

Before I read this book, I had nil knowledge of Linux and only knew how to install the RedHat distribution of Linux (easy).
Not a foreigner to OS (certified in NT), I knew I had to get over the initial learn curve.
Using this book, I was able to learn the basics and I got everything running (dialin to ISP, upgrade packages...) and it opened up a new world to me. I am very happy with Linux thanks Mark Sobell for showing me the ropes.

After reviewing few Lunix book, This book is the best one in its class from a very limited choice in the linux domain.

Sobell wrote this one for novice to intermediate level. Advanced user will find some chapters useful. The topic coveres a wide range of HOW TO USE LINUX. If you are new to Unix or Linux and want to get start quickly, this book is a right one for you. It gentle introduces and guides you to Linux usage. It covers in detail many issues, commands, usages or Shell programming.

This book, like most books from Allison Wesley, use the high quality paper. Much higher quality than books that cost up to $100.00. The paper simply feels good in the hand.

So, what you can expect from this book? It show you how to use Linux, program bash/zsh, use popular utility commands, admin the system, and some introductions to programming in C and debugger tools.

In summary, a high quality Linux book with high quality paper. I gives it 5* for the clear writing from Sobell. And I have read many many Unix books in the last 10 years.

This is the best linux book that i have picked up to date..In the book the author goes through the whole system, showing the reader how to compile the kernal, create a firewall, set security, setup hardware and many other apps.. I would like to find other books from this author as well..

This book is great! I don't care what anyone else says, this is the perfect book for Linux users. I own over 25 books on or related to UNIX/LINUX, and this one is the only one I really go back to (well, this one and Linux the Complete Reference, but that is more a collection of HOWTOs). It is the only book I refer to for an explanation of why something works such-a-such way in Linux. The book is serious enough to talk about shell programming, but also goes over access permissions, networking, and things like vi. It also has some pretty cool man-type pages in the back with examples.

If you are looking for a book that specifically tells you how to set up you ISP connection or ethernet card, look for Linux, The Complete Reference. (A Walnut Creek CDROM book)

This book is good for learning linux and the first few months after. It covers a lot a the commands in a manner that you can understand.

However Mr. Sobell seems to subscribe to the conspiracy to prevent new Linux users from going online, the book does not cover isp hookup focusing on Navigator and such like.

He also misteps by using valuable real estate to give a history of Linux, cute but useless.

The article on X is of little use, but X is very complex. He explains the parts of the windowing environment instead of how to configure X. Granted configuring X is difficult, but an effort should have been made.

The best part of this book is the glossary which list a lot of linux commands and gives explanations, this is better than the man pages and worth the price of admission.

In short this book covers all the important stuff except isp hookup and X. It also does not cover installation. All things considered this is the best Linux book I have read, and I can't see them getting much better.