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Mastering Red Hat Linux 9
The book starts out with an introduction to Linux, and has a good chapter on preparing to install, including hardware checklists. This is followed by a very detailed step-by-step explanation of installing Red Hat, both locally and via network. A nice part of this is a troubleshooting chapter for solving installation problems. Part Two explains the basics of using the command line, how filesystems work in Linux, and using the shell for various tasks.
Part Three includes chapters for administering users and groups on your new system, and how the RPM software package management process works. Other chapters in this part explain the bootup process and how to configure it, various ways to perform system backups, and other common administration tasks such as cron jobs and logs. Especially useful should be Chapter 12 which explains how to update/compile your own kernel. There are very good examples of the myriad kernel options, mostly by using the xconfig utility.
The next several chapters go over how to configure and use the X Window display system, including good examples from the XF86Config file. This is followed by detailed explanations of configuring and using the Gnome and KDE desktop environments. The KDE discussion is very good, considering Red Hat is more known for its use of Gnome as the default desktop. Chapter 18 introduces many of the more commonly used graphical applications in Linux, such as OpenOffice.org, Gnome Office, and the KOffice suite. Chapter 19 should be very handy for Linux/RH new users, as it outlines the Red Hat graphical configuration utilities which allow customization of the desktop look-and-feel and other system preferences.
Chapters 20-22 cover basic Linux networking. The first part of this section gives a very understandable primer on TCP/IP and network terminology. This is followed up by excellent discussions on how to setup and manage networking on your Linux computer, including security recommendations and firewall/masquerading methods. Once you've got your network running safely, there are additional chapters which cover topics such as remote access and xinetd services, and various server applications installation and operation. These include DNS, DHCP, CUPS printing operations, FTP servers (and clients), NFS and NIS, and mail servers (sendmail). Some of these services are probably more than most home users would need, and the sendmail operation in particular is a little difficult to understand.
Chapter 29 (Using Samba) will probably be a great help for people desiring to integrate a Linux system with existing Windows computers on a network. It offers an excellent tutorial on how to share files and resources across the LAN, and includes an explanation of the SWAT configuration utility which greatly simplifies initial setup for newcomers. The final chapter in the book explains how to install and setup a basic webserver using the Apache software. The appendix of the book is a relatively short section called the Linux Command Reference. There is some handy information in this, although it seems to be organized somewhat haphazardly. The book's index, on the other hand, seems to be very complete.
Overall, I found this book to be a very useful reference tool. It is basic enough for most beginners to get all the help they need, and has a good amount of usable knowledge for more advanced Linux users. One thing I realized is that much of the information here is not necessarily Red Hat-specific, so it can be helpful to users of other Linux distributions as well.
You can purchase Mastering Red Hat Linux 9 from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Even though the content of this book is relevant and probably useful, the title should have been change to reflect more the Mandrake/Fedora Linux distributions. The fact that Red Hat will now be synonymous with their expensive Red Hat Enterprise edition, this will probably limit the audience and sale of this book.
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How can a first post, be redundant, when it actually has content? Surely, nobody before him said, "RedHat is off the user linux market" Troll, sure, but Redundant? wtf are you smoking?
Plenty of folks complaining or pointing the finger that Red Hat will be pulling the plug on RH9 this spring. In my opinion there's even more reason to go buy this book, if you plan on sticking w/ RH9. Why not have a 900 page bible on the OS you plan on sticking with? I know I know, gentoo gentoo gentoo, but in the meantime us newbies can contniue using RH and at least have one decent source to turn to.
Seriously, this review belongs in the "It's funny, laugh" department.
Although the impending RHL EOL is not all that "funny" to me....
dinner: it's what's for beer
I wonder how this book rates with NON GUI subjects. Of the last several books I looked at on RH8, not a single one touched on command line stuff more than an occasional teaser here or there. When you are using one as a headless server, not only no monitor, but X not even installed, all these GUI centric books don't help one iota. It seems like either the authors don't have a clue as to how to administer one via the keyboard, or they just choose to take the 'easy' way to a quick buck.
(Stolen sig) Remember: it's a "Microsoft virus", not an "email virus", a "Microsoft worm", not a "computer worm
man tar
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the en_US locale) should be used both to create the archive and to extract files from the archive.
Last change: 28 Jan 1998 12
Maybe not as current as we'd like?
--Keeping the flame wars alive, one post at a time
which will continue keeping redhat 7.3 and redhat 9 up to date with all current security patches so you can happily continue to run machine on those distros far into the future... why troll???
tasty electronic music vittles
Too Late, now I need the Mastering Fedora FC 1 Book
I'm sorry. But isn't there a problem with a 900 page guide to an operating system? This isn't even advanced server. This is RH9 desktop. This is why I stopped using Linux on my desktop. It took me way more time to learn how to set something up, try to set it up, troubleshoot, and find the dirty hacks than to actually do what I was trying to do. Yes, it ran faster than windows and philosophically better, but I just didn't have time in my life!
So in regards to linux being ready for the prime-time desktop, well I think that it's still a hobbyist's OS. The day when you can plug stuff in and it all just *works* properly will be great. I know Lycoris and Lindows are working toward this, but doesn't it seem like they're just layering wrappers upon wrappers on top of the fundamentally unelegant backend? Take USB keys for example. You need to have SCSI compiled to use them. Why???
Sorry for the rant. But I see many posts making fun of 900 pages, and many posts making fun of RH not being ready for the desktop, but if you look at things from a realistic perspective, it's just *not ready* for mainstream. RH is not an idealistic company. They are reealistic, want to make money, and are succeeding at it, so I'd tend to think they know what they're talking about. Maybe linux is ready for tightly controlled office settings where you have homogenous hardware, set it up so it all works dandy, don't touch it and pray it doesn't break down, but it's not good where you have people with many diverse needs from their computers.
Mod me down, burn me at the stake, but this really is a personal reaction to all the "+5 Funny" posts on this page.
Last change: 28 Jan 1998 12
Maybe not as current as we'd like?
Maybe nothing has changed since then?
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I mean, come on. People are making it seem like Redhat is dead or that they're abandoning the product. Like if you install RH9 it's a dead product.
Do we have to spell it out for the ones that choose not to think? RH9 is not dead. If you install it, the upgrades are going through Fedora now. I know this because I "upgraded" to Fedora from RH-9 on one box.
OR you can choose to go the Enterprise route.
Freedom of choice baby!
Why are some people missing this?
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
I wonder how many others (than me) are seriously considering moving to debian now that RH9 isn't a 'hold-your-hands' upgradable system (assuming you buy RH update
Not many, and those that don't will likely come back when they relize exactly how much bullshit Slashdot has put out about Fedora. I upgraded from Red Hat 9 to Fedora 1 last night. Pop in CD. Click upgrade. Same as any other Red Hat upgrade.