Customer Reviews

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers))

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

 

 

I am an MIS student at an internship, and had a need to learn RHEL 4 quickly. I love the Dummies books, but personally, I found this one to be a little too remedial. In my opinion, it focused too much on the GUI interface. I thought this was the knowledge I wanted when I purchased the book, but the GUI only gets you so far. Many things that need to be done in RHEL 4, and Linux in general, require you to know how to operate the terminal. I was hesitant to use the terminal at first, because I was unfamiliar with it. I had help from another colleague at another location. He is a Linux guru, and I learned much from him. This book is good for a person who wants to run RHEL as a desktop, but lacks the advise to properly set up a server. I also found the book did not explain the logic and reason behind the various terminal commands it taught. I believe it is extremely important to understand why you type in various commands such as, "ls -lah". I purchased another book after I read this one, and found it much better.

Linux Administration: A Beginner's Guide (Paperback)
ISBN: 0072262591
McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 4 edition (October 25, 2005)

Everything gives me the impression it's like they polished up the/a RHEL3 book.
But it's done a very poor way.
The fact the practises don't differ much between RHEL3 and 4, is no excuse. Using a beta version is hardly avoidable when you write a book to publish shortly after software release.
To write a book for the desktop user (lot's of GUI indeed) is a quit good idea in fact.
This 'Dummies' glitch production does not prevent me from buying others in the series.
In fact right now I'm enjoying a 'Dummies' book about SOA and it fulfills my expectation.
If there's going to be a RHEL5 book, Mr. publisher, please don't make the same/similar mistake.
If you want to know more about RHEL4, take the Negus book e.g.

Because the title doesn't cover the content I rate this book with 1 star.
For what it does content, it could earn an extra half star.

Regards,
Han Coumans
Vietnam