Customer Reviews

Unix in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference for System V & Solaris 2.0

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The only reason that this book didn't get 5 stars is that it isn't what I'd consider a "bible". Its not recent, so many of the commands listed in there have additional switches or are now obsolete. But what is in there is great. I use it everytime I'm writing a shell script. It lacks extensive samples, so it isn't great for a beginner unless it is supplemented by a more in depth book. I use the reference section on awk and vi daily.

This book is great as a referance. Don't buy this is your looking for a step by step book. This book has ALOT of commands and shows you all the options associated with that command. It also has a few shells and certain shortcuts you can exacute within that shell. Overall its great as a referance. If you want to find out what a command does, just flip through the book.

If you're a beginner or even casual user of Unix then steer clear of this book. While the information contained within is excellent, it's more suited towards experienced users as it's not very well explained.

Also a major fault is the incredibly poor index. Frankly, it's one of the worst I've ever seen in any computer book. Pathetic. Instead of just indexing the terms, the descriptives should be listed as well.

But all is not lost. When you become used to Unix (although I cringe at the title, Unix For Dummies 3rd Edition is a very good starting point), Unix In A Nutshell is a thorough reference. Just don't plan on using the index!

If you want to be able to read the man pages away frm your computer, this book is for you. Basically its general unix MAN pages put on page, without all the length bs thats in the computerized version. All the attributes are listed and explained clearly (more clearly than most of the man pages, which I sometimes find to be poorly written or by people too nerdy for their own good). But thats only 1/3 of the book. The other 2/3 is details about each shell, C shell, Korn shell, Bourne shell. It then goes on to discuss things like pattern matching, emacs, troffm sedm awk, make, sccs. And considering this book costs a mere $10 retail its a steal. Especially when computer monitors are not easy on the eyes to read. This is a reference book EVERY unix sys admin needs.

There isn't much I can add about this gem. My copy, from 1993, is starting to really show its age - physically. I still use it regularly because so much of the information in it is still relevant and applicable, even to Linux. I have UNIX in Nutshell (4th Ed.) and Linux in a Nutshell (5th Ed.), and while both of those are powerful tomes containing more and newer information than the 2nd Edition, neither can match the 2nd's conciseness.

None of these books is designed as a tutorial, but I think it's worth noting that when I first started using the 2nd Edition in 1993, I knew little of UNIX (although I was not a noob to computing). In any case, almost sixteen years later, this edition is still serving me quite well for probably ~90% of the *nix info I need. I am delighted to see that it is still available!

There's no better reference book for Unix. Recommended to me by all my programming pals.

If you understand what "in a nutshell" means, then you shall be pleased with this book. It is not a tutorial, it is not a beginners' guide, it is not a theory book... it is a reference book, featuring entries that are succinct, to the point, sparse in many places, but complete in breadth and indispensable for the serious UNIX administrator. Compared to its companion book, Linux in a Nutshell, it is thinner and the entries parsimonious. But, well, if you are using UNIX, then you will be accustomed to this... indeed, it may be why you are using UNIX.

It one of the best books for someone who makes first steps into UNIX. This book gives you the start very descriptively. If you have never touched UNIX before you should consider the "UNIX Essentials" DVD also. I paired them and I learned that much that in two month I engaged myself into discussion with our UNIX "guru" and kept it up to the point that my opinion has prevailed.

If you are an experienced user, this is a great reference to keep close by. Better than the man pages because it doesn't scroll off the screen, you can make notes on the pages, and bookmark with Post-it notes. Jam packed with the key knowledge you use all the time.

The command summary is great, with no fluff like those big, useless books you use as a platform for your monitor. I have manuals on awk and sed, but I rarely need to look at them because I can find what I need here. The same is true of the shells, emacs, and vi. It covers the territory well.

Of course, this is not a tutorial book, so you need to know what you are doing to begin with. But if I was stuck on a desert island with a Unix box and only one book, this would be it!

This is a great reference for beginners. It is billed as a reference for System V and Solaris 2.0 but applies well to most versions of UNIX, even Linux.

It is more of a command and function reference than a tutorial, in fact it is NOT a tutorial but with a little practice on a UNIX system you will find this book invaluable. I have O'Reilly books specific to vi, sed and awk, but this one is the main reference I use for looking up command structure.

Its the most comprehensive and usable UNIX references I have seen and compares well to the big books that cost a lot more and could prop the wheels on a DC-3.

This book in easily carried in an brief case for quick deployment. You can look up things quickly even when folks pop out of the room for a moment, you can look up something and be working away with your newfound information whenthey return and everyone will think you knew it all along. hahaha

Great book, highly recommended. I even use it for AIX although mostly for vi, se and awk.