FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer, Second Edition (with CD-ROM) (Paperback)

~ Annelise Anderson (Author) "FreeBSD is a powerful, free operating system based on the UNIX developed at the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1970s and the..." (more)
Key Phrases: ppp prompt, xinitrc file, package selection menu, Window System, Name Description, Microsoft Windows (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Explains technical or complex terms or concepts in a way that a beginner would be able to understand -- Daemon News, September 2001

If you have an interest in reliable Open Source operating systems for workstations or servers, you should read this book. -- ACM

Product Description

This book is a friendly, task-oriented introduction to FreeBSD, a free, open-source, industrial strength operating system that runs on a personal computer (the same computer that runs Microsoft Windows) for users new to both FreeBSD and UNIX. The second edition includes a FreeBSD 4.4 installation CD-ROM.

FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer includes:

· installation CD-ROM for the full system plus many software applications
· space requirements, screen shots, and detailed instructions for installing FreeBSD
· descriptions of third-party software applications and how to get them running
· step-by-step instructions on configuring and running FreeBSD, connecting to the Internet,
setting up an internal network, and setting up sound, graphics (X Window), and printing

Based on the UNIX developed at the University of California at Berkeley, FreeBSD is a major competitor to Linux for running Internet servers, the computers that handle electronic mail for many users, provide files for download, and serve web pages.

With this book and the included installation CD-ROM, individual users can install FreeBSD and run a system that goes beyond Microsoft Windows in capability, stability, and flexibility, provides full source code, and makes available thousands of ready-to-install third-party software programs (most of them free) including electronic mail, desktop applications, Netscape, programming languages, graphics, and web servers and other Internet applications.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 443 pages
• Publisher: The Bit Tree Press (December 1, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0971204519
• ISBN-13: 978-0971204515
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,312,581 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally a FreeBSD HOWTO for normal people, November 1, 2001

By	Poul-Henning Kamp "poul-henning" (Slagelse, Denmark) - See all my reviews

This review is from: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer (Paperback)

This book finally gives provides an introduction and guide to FreeBSD for normal people.

Where Greg Leheys book is for IT-professionals and Ted Middlestaedts book focuses on FreeBSD in a corporate network, this book does a very good job at making FreeBSD available to the average computer literate person out there.

While not quite the "this is a keyboard" level of a "for dummies" book, this book never fails to explain things at a level which will be understandable for the normal people.

As a developer of FreeBSD since the very beginning, it is a great pleasure for me to see our code being made available to a larger audience, rather than just the rather select elite who have until now discovered and used FreeBSD.

Highly recommended!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good basis for newbies, April 8, 2003

By	Timothy McCarthy (New Hyde Park, New York United States) - See all my reviews

I had been getting fed up with using Windows and wanted to learn a new operating system. I bought Anderson's book and installed FreeBSD 4.6 on an extra hard drive in my computer. The book covers a broad range of topics and I found it very helpful during the installation process. The first 10 chapters are great. I started to get annoyed with Chapter 12 on connecting to the internet. I used PPP and something kept going wrong. I still do not know what it was but the errors I got were endless. The chapters little sidenotes on troubeshooting were of no help and I eventually gave up. Then I tried to install the printer daemon and also recieved errors. I followed the book as best I could and eventually gave up and moved on. Chapter 14 on the X window system is great. Other than the printer and PPP problems (which could have just been my misunderstanding of the book), I would recommend this book to someone else

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fills a needed niche, October 30, 2001

By	Scott Robbins (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer (Paperback)

Although there is a plethoria of Linux books, FreeBSD doesn't yet have too many. There is Mr. Lehey's extremely comprehensive
tome, which is excellent. However, there is also the need for a book like Ms. Anderson's. It takes itself a bit less seriously, but manages to give much necessary information and perfectly treads the fine line between being patronizing and leaving out things necessary to those who are as yet inexperienced with the operating system.

Since I began playing with BSD, I've thought there should be a book similar to Mr. Minasi's book on Linux for the NT Administrator--one that gives straightforward instructions on how to do things, but assumes that the reader has some intelligence. Ms Anderson's book fills that need quite well.

The only reason that I don't give it five stars is that I thought there was a bit too much on the installation--usually, an installation either goes moderately smoothly or doesn't go well and fails--she could have given a bit less detail about a smooth install and covered likely problems more completely, but this is possibly a personal quibble on my part. (I would have given 4-1/2 if I'd had the option--it's just a little short of perfect for what it is.) Ms. Anderson tries to address the less computer literate as well, so, perhaps the detail was necessary for her purposes. (Please don't think that the above means this is a "For Dummies" beginning with push that button on the front to turn on the computer--it most certainly isn't.

All in all, I would recommend this book to any of my friends beginning to investigate BSD--Ms. Anderson did a great job.