5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Red Hat Fedora Core 5 Unleashed Review, July 24, 2006
This review is from: Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed (Paperback)
Fedora Core 5 was released in March of 2006 so getting this book to press in June was a huge undertaking and the author's have done an excellent job of including tons of information into this book. The Step-by-Step installation chapters include screen shots of the whole process. These are always a great addition to any instructional book.
Post installation configuration includes information on configuring keyboards and mice which is done during the installation process and shouldn't need to be repeated unless the user changes something.
Additional screen shots are used throughout the book which add the connection between the material talked about in the book and what the user sees on the screen.
This book refers to several excellent applications (pirut, yumex) which are a part of Fedora Core 5 but not shown in the Menu's by default.
Although this book attempts to bring the history of Linux, Step-by-Step installation, a plethora of information for beginners and experienced user alike. I don't believe a beginner would be able to use this book as a guide. The heavy use of computer industry acronyms would only serve to confuse the beginner.
This book should definitely be purchased by experienced computer users who want to break into the daily use of Linux and experienced Linux users as a resource for troubleshooting and configuration.
An overall excellent resource for every Linux enthusiasts bookshelf.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not for beginners, but then again neither is Linux., October 27, 2006
This review is from: Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed (Paperback)
When I was a Solaris trainer a few years ago, the one thing that I always told the students was, 'If I would go over in any detail everything that Solaris can do right out of the box, this course would take over a month.' Linux has fallen into the same quandary. Because so many functions, utilities, and applications are available, to find a compilation that explains everything that it can do would be impossible. Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed does a good job at covering a lot of topics, though.
This massive book consists of one thousand pages covering hundreds of topics in almost forty chapters. It also includes Fedora Core 5 on DVD so that you can start working with it immediately - assuming that you have a system on which you can install it, of course.
I can't possibly go into all of the topics here, but I will say that as a systems administrator there is nothing that I could think of for a basic server that I did not find listed in this book. You name it, and it will probably be there. Installation, user management, X windows selection and configuration, Samba, DNS, FTP, sendmail, networking, Perl, PHP, Python, Apache, compiling, security, package management, and a lot of other topics that most system administrators would probably want to know are covered, at least briefly.
The one thing about this book is that it is primarily a 'get your feet wet' reference book. There are hundreds of screen shots, but none of the topics really go into any depth. This certainly is to be expected, though. If all of the topics in this book discussed intricate details, this would end up being a multi-volume encyclopedia. There is enough information to get you started on a particular topic, but you'll have to find more informative resources if you want to know any of the topics in any type of detail.
Although this review so far might imply that this book is geared towards the system administrator, RHF5 Unleashed is just as geared towards the more casual user. Topics such as CD/DVD writing, TV tuning, photo manipulation, digital cameras, webcams, printers, dial-up Internet access, and even gaming are discussed.
The big catch with this book is that it's not meant for your Aunt Bertha in Sheboygan who does nothing but write letters to her sister Mabel in Tuscaloosa. If you're going to read this book, you must be a power user before you open the front cover. You don't necessarily need to be a UNIX administrator to understand it, but a fundamental knowledge of how operating systems work beyond the Start button or a keen grasp of technical details is definitely required for this book to be worthwhile.
This book only mentions the various topics with basic information; but depending on what you want to do with Fedora 5 the basics might be all that you need. Quite simply, this is a really good book. If you want to give Fedora 5 a try but you don't want to 'go it alone' with just a downloaded DVD image, I highly recommend Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book., July 5, 2006
This review is from: Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed (Paperback)
As with the other books of the "Unleashed" series, this book does not disappoint. From installation through recompiling the kernel, each chapter gives clear and concise instructions. Great for beginners and those already familiar with linux. If you want to learn the basics and beyond with one of the best open source distributions, this book is the one. Comes with a DVD packed with programs.
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