Fedora Unleashed, 2008 Edition: Covering Fedora 7 and Fedora 8 (8th Edition) (Paperback)

by Andrew Hudson (Author), Paul Hudson (Author)
Key Phrases: basic commands, automating tasks, command environment, Red Hat, Remote File Serving, System Settings (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Fedora Unleashed, 2008 Edition presents comprehensive coverage of Fedora 8, the popular Linux distribution developed by the Red Hat-sponsored Fedora Project. This book provides detailed information on installing, using, and administering Fedora. You’ll learn how to set up a desktop workstation or a high-powered server, and you’ll find complete details on Yum, Fedora’s easy-to-use desktop and productivity software. Fedora Unleashed, 2008 Edition covers a wide range of topics, from using the software you need every day for work, such as the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and the Firefox web browser, to configuring your Linux desktop to run smoothly using multiple printers, shell scripts, and more. 

• Install and configure the Fedora 8 Linux distribution
• Manage Linux services and users
• Run a printer server with CUPS
• Connect to a local network and the Internet
• Set up and administer a web server with Apache
• Secure your machine and your network from intruders
• Rebuild and install a new Linux kernel
• Learn shell scripting
• Run other operating systems on Fedora with Xen
• Share files with Windows users using Samba
• Get productive with OpenOffice.org
• Play games on Linux
• Use Linux multimedia programs
• Use a database with Fedora
• Set up a firewall
• Set up a DNS server
• Work with the X Window system
• Learn Linux programming (including Mono)

Fedora 8 on DVD: DVD includes the Fedora 8 binary distribution with all the base Fedora packages plus hundreds of additional programs and utilities.

 

Free Upgrade! Purchase this book anytime in 2008 and receive a free Fedora 9 Upgrade Kit by mail (U.S. or Canada only) after Fedora 9 is released. See inside back cover for details.

About the Author

Andrew Hudson is a regular freelance contributor to Linux Format magazine, the UK’s largest Linux magazine. His particular area of expertise is Fedora and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform.

 

Paul Hudson is Editor of Linux Format magazine, a professional developer, and full-time journalist for Future Publishing. His articles have appeared in Mac Format, PC Answers, PC Format, PC Plus, and Linux Format.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 960 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 8 edition (February 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672329778
• ISBN-13: 978-0672329777
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #323,880 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 8th edition ?, March 9, 2008

By	seapwc "seapwc" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

The authors have been writing this book or earlier versions for some time,
but the book is filled with stock introductory material such as shell commands. Coverage of most topics feels superficial. The editing including spelling is poor.

I expected a "what's new" chapter but it wasn't there.
But there is a history of redhat and fedora. But why.

somewhat disapointing

4.0 out of 5 stars Good try but some drawbacks, December 31, 2008

By	Alexander Hewitt "geezer geek" (Manchester, NH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book, one of a series of "Unleashed" books published by SAMS is a topical work designed to instruct intermediate to advanced users of RedHat's Fedora distribution of Linux. This edition covers Fedora version 8 and includes a DVD with the software. It also states that if the book is registered in 2008, a free Fedora version 9 DVD will be sent to the owner provided the owner registers the book at the publisher's web site. My reading of the material suggests that the book should have targeted beginner to intermediate users. The authors attempt to cover a lot of ground and there is a fair bit of historical asides to keep up interest.

I have purchased "Unleashed" books before but noted that they suffered from several problems. One problem that makes the book much less useful as a reference is relatively poor indexing. To cite one example, if you look up ntfs in the index you will find minimally useful references that lead you to pages in the book that simply inform the reader that ntfs is a file system designed and released by the Microsoft corporation. Much earlier in the book in the "How to install" section the authors mention that Windows users will already have at least one ntfs partition on their computers and that the ntfs partition will need to be re-sized in order to install Fedora. Unfortunately quite a bit of vital information will either not be present or will be difficult to find due to poor indexing.

An advanced book on Fedora would likely have a detailed description of RAID technology. Although on page 277 of the book the authors state that more information will be available in chapter 35, no such information was present leading me to think that the editing of this book left a lot to be desired.

Still, despite the shortcomings the authors have written a book that most readers should find easy to absorb. They try hard to be thorough and have certainly delivered lot's of useful information. Delivering this much material would seem to be a Herculean task.

This book would be useful for someone who wants to cover Fedora's features but it is less useful as a reference book. I'm not sure how useful the "Programming Linux" part of the book would be to users since I think this is better covered in separate material.