Customer Reviews

Red Hat Linux Bible: Fedora and Enterprise Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sometimes an author is at the mercy of those controlling the content he writes about.

Red Hat Inc. developed a great Red Hat Linux 10 operating system, then at the last minute changed its name to Fedora Core 1. If you liked Red Hat Linux 9, you will like the full Fedora Core 1 that comes on 3 CDs in the "Red Hat Linux Bible: Fedora and Enterprise Edition" even better. It is richer in features and even more solid than RHL 9.

While I think Red Hat Inc. did a great job building Fedora Core 1, so far they have done a mediocre job, at best, of marketing it. They even left the word "Linux" out of its name. For those reasons, inside this book, I sort through:

* How Fedora Core came about
* The differences between Fedora Core 1 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
* When you would choose Fedora Core or RHEL

Otherwise, this book is just an improved edition of my Red Hat Linux Bible (that comes after RHL 9 Bible). It still steps you through how to install, use, administer, and build servers in most any Red Hat Linux distribution you choose.

I pulled in two friends to update the sections on security and shell scripting. I added sections on RAID and yum. (Check out some yum respositories to find free, high-quality add-on software.) All the projects we built for our "Linux Toys" book for RHL9 run on Fedora Core 1 without modification.

The foundation for this book is the Red Hat Linux 8 Bible (just voted the "Best Linux Book" by readers of LinuxWorld Magazine) and computer best-selling Red Hat Linux 9 Bible. While I usually leave marketing to marketing people, I just felt that these words just weren't getting out: Fedora Core is the best free Linux available today and this book is a great way to get it and learn it (in my humble opinion).

-- Chris Negus
Author of Red Hat Linux Bible (all editions) & Linux Toys

Are you interested in Linux and don't know where to start?

This book has everything you need to get started.

The book has 3 CDs with the Fedora Core 1 OS. It has over 1000 pages of information describing every aspect of installing and using the Operating System.

And it is readable.

The author seems to understand that not everyone is a "techie", so he has obviously gone to great pains to make his instruction understandable. At the same time, he hasn't simplified it to the point of leaving critical exceptions to procedures out (a failure of most books about Linux).

All applications are listed and described, including many esoteric applications that may be vital to only a few users.

Although enthusiastic about Linux, the author is pretty realistic about its comparison to other operating systems, such as Microsoft's Windows. If you want to get from point A to point B, and you don't care about the price of the ticket, Linux may not be for you. But if you care about "travelling in style" this book is the ultimate guide.

Consider that for the price of this book you can obtain:

OpenOffice, Koffice (2 office productivity suites!)
OpenOffice Writer, Abiword, Kword (3 word processors!)
OpenOffice Calc, Gnumeric (2 spreadsheet applications!)
OpenOffice Impress, Kpresenter (2 presentation programs!)
Mozilla, Epiphany, Konqueror (3 internet browsers!)
Evolution, Kmail, Mozilla Mail (3 e-mail readers!)
Gnu Image Manipulation Program (an image editor for artists)
Gnucash (a financial application)

...And literally hundreds of other special applications including games, and educational programs for children and adults.

With the Fedora Operating System and this book, you can tweak your Computer to look like, and to do anything you dream of doing-- wasn't that why people became interested in computers in the first place?

How much would you have to spend for Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Internet Explorer, Outlook, Adobe Photoshop, Quicken or Microsoft Money? Add it up!

The last Red Hat Linux Bible I bought was about three editions ago (Red Hat 7.3). I also recently bought the authors (Chris Negus) other book - Linux Toys - so I picked up this edition, which covers Fedora Core 2.

There was so much new stuff in it! I got a mailing list running from instructions on mailman in the book in about an hour.

Coverage of ALSA was weak and it took me a while to get my sound card going. But yum totally rocks and I was able to download and install the mplayer video player with just one command. All in all, I liked the book a lot!

This book is mis-labeled. On the back cover, the book is rated from beginner to advanced. This book is only for a *beginner*. The book totally stops once you are passed the gui config programs. Towards the back of the book in the server sections, important details are left out. Some chapters are a cut, paste, edit. Unfortunately, the edits took out important details. The "Red Hat Linux 9 Bible" is more authoritative than this book.

If you want to get started with Linux this is the way to go. Fedora Core (the next step past Red Hat 9) is easy to install and start playing with. The book starts by helping you get installed and trouble shooting any problems (you're not likely to have any problems with install though). I installed it on two very different machines without a hitch. It then takes you through using the graphical user interface (GUI) with Linux. Both Gnome and KDE are covered and I recommend you work through both to see which one you like better or if you want to try a different GUI. After learning to work with the GUI, which is very intuitive if you've used that other OS before, the book then covers using the shell (the command line interface). And all of that is only the first 162 pages of this 1065 page book. It then continues to give you a very solid foundation in Linux, specifically Red Hat Linux. This book also comes with the full 3 CD Fedora Core 1 installation set, which is very nice if you don't have a high speed connection to download it. After reading this book and working along with it in Fedora Core 1, you will have a solid foundation in Linux and be ready to explore this awesome OS further.

Tip: If you have a hard drive just for Linux and don't want to mess with your other drive, unplug your other drive and install Fedora Core. You can then slave your other drive off the Linux drive and add an entry to the GRUB config file to set a dual boot without ever changing anything on your other drive. To add the entry to GRUB open your grub.conf file and add this under the Linux title entry:

title Other OS
map (hd1) (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

For XP you might not need the two map lines but you need them for older versions. That set up assumes you have two hard drives with Linux on the first drive and that other OS on the second. Make the title whatever you want. After adding this you will get a choice the next time you boot and your other drive is still unchanged if you ever want to make it the master again. You won't though once you give Linux a chance.

I've been a Solaris admin for a while and am recently moving towards linux. The book looked fairly complete on a quick view at the book store. After owning it for a few months I find I can't find the answer to my more advanced questions in this book. So I'd say it is a good book for beginners, but not for someone that is looking for an advanced linux reference.

Bought this book a while back and I have to say I was dissapointed with it. Lightly touches on topics and tells you how to "install" programs but if you want to go outside the standard setup....good luck.

There's so much to say, this book is perfect and Amazon.com completes the equation. First of all this book has it all, it really reaches out for all audiences with different levels of experience. It goes around explaining stuff related to Linux directly and talking about general information related to the corresponding field. I mean I am still an undergraduate student who is a MCSE, but hasnt practiced networking in a long time, and this book was an amazing revision for DNS servers, host files, cables, configuration topologies and everything!! It even taught me how to extend my knowledge's potential with Linux's powerful networking capabilities which was my main reason to start with the transition. Second of all Amazon.com is really an excellent company and I am very very happy and satisfied with it, I have never seen such professionalism and dedication towards the satisfaction of customers, even overseas ones!! My order was thought to be lost, and I was issued as quickly as a lightning a replacement order to find out that my original order wasn't lost, but stumbled over customs in my country, then I was thanked by Amazon.com because I told them I recieved my original order, and that the costs of returning it back was on them and it is totally refunded!!
I am really perfectly satisfied with everything, the book and the company, and I can't wait to order again!!!

This book is ideal for those who work with Linux and want something handy to use as reference. It is extremely comprehensive and complete. This book gives enough detail on just about every facet of RH Linux that if it doesn't come right out and answer your questions, it will certainly provide you with enough specific info to get you pointed in the right direction. I wouldn't recommend this book for someone new to Linux as there are other books out there which lend themselves to teaching the fundamentals much more effectively (slower pace step-by-step books). However for people who know Linux and are looking for a comprehensive resource manual, you couldn't find a better book. A must have for anyone working with Linux in: tech support, system administration, application development, etc. Worth every penny!

If you are experienced in UNIX-like OS, this is a good review.

If you are not, this book provides pointers, but you are going
to need to work hard to find out the rest.

I get a discounted price (US$6.99) on the book, so I feel I am
getting a good deal.