Customer Reviews

Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Linux Edition (Upgrading & Repairing)

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

 

 

This book is Very well written. I have been a computer professional for over 20 years and find this book an excellent resource. I commend the Linux General Store and specifically Joe Divita. After calling his shop and speaking with Joe on a technical issue I am very impressed with his ability and knowledge.

Scott Mueller has been an authority on PC hardware for well over a decade, so it should come as no surprise that this book (like its predecessors) is a fantastic resource on PC hardware. Unfortunately, I bought it to learn more about the server-building side of Linux, and found it lacking. Owners of any relatively current version of Mueller's book (say, 8th Ed. or later) have no real need for this edition... with that book, a few HOW-TO print-outs, scissors, and glue, they could make their own!

Never the less, this book is still a great guide to hardware. The non-Windows perspective makes it an excellent complement to Minasi's or Bigelow's book, and it is fairly current (with coverage of RDRAM, DVDs, and FireWire). The CD comes in handy, too. Bottom line: if it's time to upgrade your copy of Upgrading & Repairing PCs, you might as well dual-boot.

Little or no new information here. Basically the same good review of hardware. I wanted SMP processor info specific to Linux, or Memory optimization info or maybe RAID card analysis for servers using Linux. But unfortunately what is here is lots of "plug and play" info and a pargraph or two in each chapter with newbie hints. If you own a copy at all, don't bother. The only thing Linux is the penguin on the cover. If you do not own a copy at all...it is a good hardware manual.

This is a great book for general computer information, as are all his books. Its low score is based on the linux content, this book is just a quick re-write of the ordinary book, for Linux users, especially new Linux users, it fails to provide enough info. It needs to discuss compatible hardware more and Linux specific setup set out in easy to follow points.
A disapointing effort.

I hereby retract my previous review of this book. Looking at my review, I said a couple of things about this book that appear negative, even though they were not intended that way. Please remove the review immediately.

I spent six months working on this book with Linux General Store, primarily co-ordinating the writing and writing a lot of the book myself with Mr. Yeske and company. It was a Herculean task, and even now, I am not completely happy with the book. I feel there is more material that we could have added in, especially where network and kernel configuration are involved. (O'Reilly has good books on network configuration, especially SendMail.) However, to include all the material that I wanted to include would have moved the project back by months, cost LGS serious money, and doubled the size of the volume.

Probably the best thing about this book is the Linux Everything Disk. Originally, MacMillan wanted to include Caldera with this book, but I felt that was a waste of time. LGS put together a disk including a pared-down Debian install and a bunch of smaller Linux utility distributions, plus some tools for configuration. It was a hack but a useful hack, and the disk is almost entirely GPL. I think the disk alone probably justifies the price of the book.

(NB- the book having been completed, I have moved on to other projects. Email me for information on Penguin Laboratories. :))

There of course exists an A+ for Windows/Dos. There is an A+ for Macintosh and its' OS. In all fairness and consistent with market forces, ethical treatment, future growth projections, use in PRESENT corporate environments, historical fact and even demographic preponderance; There needs to be an A+ for Linux! Linux breathes new life into old hardware and it is embedded in the Crusoe, ported to Silicon Graphics Servers and runs advanced clustering solutions worldwide. Okay. I will simply make this happen myself!

I purchase "Upgrading and repairing PCs 11 edition", will the linux edition repeat most of the info, or is it a whole new book?