Customer Reviews

Unix for Dummies

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I see people bashing this book for not transforming someone, who knows nothing about UNIX (a "dummy"), into a UNIX Guru. Sheish I mean come on. ONE BOOK cant do that no matter what the reviews say. This book serves its purpose to aquaint a "dummy" to a new opperating system, UNIX. I don't recall this book claiming that it will turn the reader into an internet WHIZ this is a book about UNIX and thats what you will learn about. If you want to learn about the internet go buy a book on it! This book will teach you about the history of UNIX(an important thing to know whether you realize it or not) and about how to get your feet wet in the operating system. This book again is for "DUMMIES" NOT system administrators. If you know nothing about UNIX get this book. If you want to be a GURU or system administrater plan on buying a couple more books such as the UNIX Bible etc.

I've been working on IBM mainframe systems for several years, and had to start working on UNIX. I got a copy of this book, and have never regretted it! Well layed out, informative, and genuinely useful. I still refer to it regularly, and colleagues 'borrow' it on a daily basis. The best work related book I've ever bought!

This book does not go into detail into Unix at all, and for that it has earned criticism shared by many of the Dummy books. Still, for those going into Unix from scratch, this is clearly one of the best choices available.

I am a Unix Systems Administrator. I found a copy of this book in one of my user's office several years ago and said "Unix for Dummies" now that's an oxymoron! But I looked through the book and fell in love with it. I had the user order me a copy through purchasing -- I didn't want anyone to see me buying a "Dummies" book. My dog-eared, bookmarked and highlighted copy still sits on top of my server for emergency referals to seldom used switches and commands in vi or grep. Unix concepts are explained in terms even USERS might understand and checklists and tables make it easy for veterans to find what they are looking for. If you work with Unix, get Amazon.com to find you a copy of this book. You won't regret it.

John R. Levine provides a great introduction to UNIX, geared towards newcomers to this operating system. While anybody who has already spent a while working with UNIX, will probably consider the approach and contents of this book as too simplistic, it appears to be a perfect fit for those readers who need to or want to take their first steps in this great operating system.

Once the basic philosophy of UNIX has been communicated, and the reader has become familiar with the use of a wide variety of the standard commands, as well as the basic functionality of a few shell command interpreters, the reader is equipped with all the basics for jumping into the pool and paddling around.

Even though this title provides a great introduction for UNIX users, and will be sufficient to learn how to swim with the flow, it should by no means be considered a sufficient resource for the experienced and/or advanced UNIX user or system administrator.

For these latter groups there are a variety of other titles available that provide the desired depth. However, Levine's book is one of the very few that manages to address the very basics which quite often are omitted in other publications presumably aimed at the same target group.

Even though it will take an aspiring reader and UNIX user quite a while to get to level of understanding required to get the most out of the likes of "The Design of the UNIX Operating System" and "Design and Implementation of the BSD 4.4 Operating System", this book constitutes the first step for any newcomer towards achieving such a goal.

It seems unfair that there is only one previous review for this book. I am an experienced computer geek, but new to Unix. I bought it to help me understand what I was getting into in setting up a Linux/Apache server. It is a great book, easy to follow, full of useful advice, and (unbelievably) fun. The commands from it that I have used have all been correct. My only complaint is minor - the index could be better.

Why I Chose this Book:

I know only enough about computers to do everyday tasks in Windows and surf the Web. I wanted to develop a foundation of knowledge for discussions with my husband, who is very knowledgeable about UNIX and uses it at work and at home. He recommended this book as a good place to start.

What is this Book's Purpose?

To familiarize the unexperienced reader with the very basics of UNIX history, terminology and basic commands. It is intended as a reference-not necessarily to be read cover to cover. It is assumed that the reader is not a system administrator.

Does this Book Fulfill its Purpose?

Yes: I am now able to have (very basic) discussions about UNIX with my husband, I have been exposed to some of UNIX's basic concepts and terminology, I can run basic commands and programs, and I have an understanding of how UNIX has been and is being developed.

What I Liked About this Book:

The casual, chatty tone of the authors made it very easy to read about a subject that was completely foreign to me without becoming confused and overwhelmed-in fact there was very little that I didn't understand. The formatting of the pages was excellently designed to make things easy to find and to keep the reader's interest. There are lots of examples to illustrate concepts. It covers a broad base of basics including: history, versions, GUIs, files and directories, basic shell commands, text editors, installing software, Internet and other networks, email, file transfer, and troubleshooting.

What I Disliked About this Book:

I find it a little patronizing to be called a "Dummy". The authors often speak negatively about UNIX and other topics, which gets a little old, although it helps break the ice in the beginning. It seems that the authors/editors ran out of steam in the last few chapters: there are more typos, less solid content, and more sweeping statements, repetitiveness and poor wording. There is no glossary. There are no lab-type activities to test your understanding. I took notes as I went along and essentially summarized the book (360 pages long) in about 17 pages-so there is a lot of "fluff", which makes it more accessible to the beginner but also means there is less content than I would have expected, especially for a reference book.

Bottom Line:

Although I have nothing to compare it to, I think this is a good entry level UNIX book. I recommend it as a first "baby step", but if you plan to use UNIX regularly or run a system, you will need much more than this book has to offer.

First, this is a beginner's book. It does the job, no question. If you already know the basics of UNIX, skip it ... you won't learn that much. Buy O'Reilly or Power Tools or whatever you think will help you the most for the *specific* way you want to use UNIX.

For those of you who want to set up a BSD network, or Linux cluster...[sigh]...please buy a book on UNIX networks and/or Linux clusters. You will by no means master MPI or system's level programming in C with this book. What you will learn is a bit more than the very basics. What a directory structure is, how to create, delete, re-permission files, configure some of your user preferences, etc. You will be introduced to the UNIX paradigms that we all live with, and might or might not learn how to tweak the specific thing you're interested in (like "nice"-ness of processes, and the perfect ".alias.all" file, though you'll glimpse their existence). So .... use this to learn about UNIX, not how to use UNIX to automate your life. If you need to write a 200 line shell script, you should already know all this and more. If you want to organize and move some files around, and generally not be an ignoramus in UNIX, then this is as good a place to start as any. It will not, however, make you worthy of a black T-shirt and the title of SYS. ADMIN.

(My UNIX background is extensive, starting around '91, so while I am by no means a UNIX guru, I use it effectively without letting it become a hobby. For things I don't know or can't remember, I "man page", just like everyone else. I taught intro classes at the University level, and I *ONLY WISH* my students had come to me already knowing 25% of what's in this book! It is reasonable to learn only what is in this book, and stop forever unless your job/curriculum demands more. Many users never attain this level, yet function just fine in their "mostly-MSWindows" environments, using UNIX only occasionally.) If you need to pick up UNIX from scratch, don't fear this book. There's *plenty* to learn here. If you're already an NT/XP ADMIN, you aren't really a Dummy, now are you?

The Sam's 24-Hour book is quite good, costs nearly double, and I *GUARANTEE* it covers material you could care less about. PERL programming, for instance, would be a waste in my case. That is not UNIX, much like PHP is not "Internet For Dummies" material. Yes, it can be very useful, but it's a "related topic", at best. Since I have no skin in the game, pick whichever you like (or go with the cheaper option, would be my recomendation), and absorb as much as you can. Then go to work on your system. Nothing trumps usage to find out where and how you'll need to grow your skills.

I am a big admirer of the Dummies books. I bought the Internet and Internet2 for dummies, and was really impressed. But this book really didn't help out all that much. It had a lot on the history of Unix (Who cares) and not a lot of hard core, learning what Unix is all about. It had some good tips, but you may want to borrow it from a friend first before you go out and buy your own copy.

I cannot understand how anyone can say anything bad about this book. It is absolutely fantastic to learn about working with the UNIX operating system. Detail, step-by-step explanations and examples of the main UNIX commands. If you need to work with UNIX, buy this book NOW! There is no better guide to help you get started in the confusing world of UNIX. I wish someone would write Oracle database books that are this easy to use and reference. Thanks to the authors!