Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsA Solid Foundation on Linux Architecture
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 14, 2015
I found out that I love this book in about 30 seconds of flipping through the chapters and looking at what the author was trying to do. This is EXACTLY (one of) the books I was looking for!
I have several other Linux books and they all start to approach their content the same way: Introducing the Linux BASH command line, and then jumping into doing various tasks and explaining what you are doing. This is fine, and there are several other books that I think do this very well, but what I was REALLY looking for was an explanation of how the whole operating system actually is structured, how it works, how it is built, how it boots, what it boots, and how all the different pieces of software fit together. In other words, the "architecture" of Linux/GNU. Not only does this book cover all of these topics in detail, but it does so in a very straight forward, no nonsense, no fluff way. There is also a lot of detailed explanation of how the software works in conjunction with hardware. There is actually a section that explains hard drive geometry and how that works with various file systems. The author goes into enough detail about RAM that you can almost picture in your head what the 1s and 0s look like in a stack of RAM and how the Linux kernel directs traffic to and from devices and into user space. Run levels are also discussed in detail. I've been working as a computer professional for over 2 decades now, but have only recently switched my focus over to Linux, and since most of my training has been in Windows architecture, there isn't a lot of that I could transfer to Linux 1 for 1. POSIX systems are quite a bit different from MS OSs.
If you are already a Linux guru and know how everything works, then this book probably isn't for you, but I was surprised that I learned about 10 new things in just the first chapter! Even the first chapter made "lightbulbs" go off in my head and I found myself saying "Now I get it! Why couldn't anyone else explain it THAT way?"
Don't worry, if all of what I have written is "Greek" to you, the author does an excellent job of explaining how things work in a way where you don't need a math degree or be a "programmer" to "get it". You can start from square one.
To use the (often worn out) "car" analogy, a lot of Linux books teach you how to drive the car, how to change the oil, how to put in wiper fluid, how to put gas in the car, how to work a stick shift etc. All of those things are very useful and for a lot of sysadmins and regular users, you don't need to examine things any further to "get the job done", and that's how a lot of these books are. But THIS book tells you what the engine is, how it is assembled, and how all the parts in it work. How the engine connects to the drive shaft, how that connects to the axle and how power is transferred to the wheels. It explains how the steering wheel is connected to the steering column which is attached to the power assist system which helps turn the wheels and change the direction of the car. How the power buttons for the windows are wired to the servo motors for the windows which turn the windows up or down. But not only does the author explain how everything is put together, but he gives examples of how to control all those elements through the command line!
So, in summary, this book may not give you all the specific knowledge on passing the RHCSA or RHCE exams, but it will give you a solid foundation and a solid understanding of the actual architecture of Linux so that you aren't just blindly punching in commands at the command line without understanding what's going on "under the hood".
I can recommend this 100% for beginners, and for people who are familiar working with Linux but want more concrete knowledge about how the computer actually works, and how Linux runs it.
If you want to know how the whole darn thing works so you have a solid foundation to build on, this is the book for you.
