Buy Used
Used - Good See details
$3.92 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Underground Guide to UNIX(TM): Slightly Askew Advice from a UNIX? Guru
 
See larger image
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Underground Guide to UNIX(TM): Slightly Askew Advice from a UNIX? Guru [Paperback]

John Montgomery (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.



Book Description

January 12, 1995
It's no coincidence that UNIX is a four-letter word-- the "problem child" of operating systems is notoriously arcane and inscrutable. In "The Underground Guide to UNIX", scrutability expert John Montgomery takes you on an emotional roller-coaster ride through the vagaries of this hard-to-master yet incomprehensible operating system. You'll find serious information on getting the most out of the parts of UNIX you use every day, as well as detailed advice on working better and faster, whatever flavor of UNIX you're stuck with... uh, prefer. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll buy copies for every room in the house. (NOTE TO EDITOR: too blatant?)

Learn how to: master the most popular UNIX text editors: vi, emacs, ex, and sed; use and abuse basic UNIX security-- hide potentially incriminating files like love.letter or resume.doc, or search your boss's files for your name and key words like "problem employee"; access the Internet and use ftp, telnet, gopher, and Mosaic to get completely frivolous information from almost anywhere in the world; program the shells (C, Korn, and Bourne) to do whatever the heck you want; and oh so much more!

Every page has something you can use immediately. This book is packed wall to wall with advice, warnings, tips, bug reports, workarounds, and the kind of nitty-gritty explanations that could come only from someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes UNIX.


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book is for intermediate users--those who can get into Unix and knock around until they accomplish their goals, but who don't know enough about the operating system to really enjoy it. Author John Montgomery, with his fun prose, communicates the pleasure that can come from knowing how to use a powerful tool. He gives you plenty of how information and lots of why information, but it's the humor and mystery he mixes in that make you start to love Unix the way he does.

For example, The Underground Guide to Unix devotes several big, well-written chapters to files, appropriately treating them as the center of the Unix universe. The chapters contain practical explanations of umask, chmod, rm, grep, and the rest of the Unix file-management tools. The text editors vi and Emacs receive adequate explanations--although conceptual diagrams would help--and even little-used ex gets some attention. In the shell programming section, the book explains the differences among the Bourne, C, and Korn shells. Montgomery gives several workarounds that make certain shells act like other shells.

The Internet receives its due attention here. The guide exposes you to mail and mailx, as well as the application of vi to e-mail. The author spends too much time on the structure of an e-mail address, something that's now common knowledge. Mosaic gets only cursory coverage, but TCP/IP networks get explained in full depth. The Underground Guide to Unix concludes with a troubleshooting guide, an abbreviated command reference, listings of Perl programs for text manipulation, and a brief but informed discussion of Unix security.

From the Back Cover

Read a review of The Underground Guide to UNIX that appeared in the August issue of BYTE.

It's no coincidence that UNIX® is a four-letter word--the "problem child" of operating systems is notoriously arcane and inscrutable. In The Underground Guide to UNIX, scrutability expert John Montgomery takes you on an emotional roller coaster ride through the vagaries of this hard-to-master yet incomprehensible operating system. You'll find serious information on getting the most out of the parts of UNIX you use every day, and detailed advice on working better and faster, whatever flavor of UNIX you're stuck wit... uh, prefer. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll buy multiple copies for all your friends.

Learn how to:

  • master the most popular UNIX text editors: vi, emacs, ex, and sed
  • use and abuse basic UNIX security--hide potentially incriminating files like love.letter or resume.doc, or search your boss's files for your name and key words like "problem employee"
  • access the Internet and use ftp, telnet, gopher, and Mosaic to get completely frivolous information from almost anywhere in the world
  • program the shells (C, Korn, and Bourne) to do whatever the heck you want
  • and oh so much more!
Every page has something you can use immediately. This book is packed wall to wall with advice, warnings, tips, bug reports, workarounds, and the kind of nitty-gritty explanations that could only come from someone who eats, sleeps, and breathes UNIX.

Series Editor Woody Leonhard and Addison-Wesley are proud to bring you the Underground Guides--serious fun for power users.



0201406535B04062001


Product Details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (January 12, 1995)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0201406535
  • ISBN-13: 978-0201406535
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,973,114 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

 

Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
5 star:
 (9)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I Still Use It! 5 Years Later!, August 4, 2000
This review is from: Underground Guide to UNIX(TM): Slightly Askew Advice from a UNIX? Guru (Paperback)
I bought this book in '95 when it first came out and I needed to learn UNIX for my job. I was able to self-teach myself using the book and a shell account our sys adm guy set up for me. My only background before this was DOS.

Today I still refer to the book even now and I recommend it to anyone trying to get a handle on files, script files, vi and all those other funs parts of UNIX.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite guide to UNIX, October 9, 2001
By 
S. Brown (St.Louis, Mo. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Underground Guide to UNIX(TM): Slightly Askew Advice from a UNIX? Guru (Paperback)
This is one of those books that's simply fun to read. On top of that, it's pretty darn good about answering the questions you pulled it off the shelf for. UNIX masters may find few new tricks here, but it's a great book for the enthusiastic novice. The worst danger of reading this book is that you'll get sucked into a chapter other than the one you need to get an answer out of because something funny caught your eye.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and easy to read!, December 7, 1999
This review is from: Underground Guide to UNIX(TM): Slightly Askew Advice from a UNIX? Guru (Paperback)
A good combination of humor and details. A particularly good read for Linux users who want or need to get more familiar with mainstream UNIX commands and history.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews










Only search this product's reviews



Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums


Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject