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Running Linux, 3rd Edition
Overview You've decided to take the Linux plunge. You have a computer all set up and you have your shiny new CD in hand. You're excited and nervous all at the same time. You've put in some time on your shell account at work, but you're not a power user. This dual-booting thing might be for you. But the CD just sits there next to the black screen... where do you go from here?
"Running Linux" seeks to take you from that first icy shock of installation to the deep end of recompiling kernels, upgrading system libraries, and tweaking your X configuration.
The intended audience is people with some previous Unix experience who are willing to get their hands dirty under the hood of their installations. There are frequent references to man pages and HOWTOs for gory details.
What's good? The authors take an early distribution-neutral stance, glossing over some of the slick configuration utilities in favor of editing text files. While that may dissuade some users, it has the benefits of being universally applicable as well as more educational.
The section on installation is particularly good, discussing common pitfalls, partitioning techniques (and preferences), and various configurations, including dual booting. The Samba information is also quite good.
"Running Linux" covers a wide scope of other utilities, from Apache to gdb, Tcl/Tk to the GIMP.
What Might Bite Back? There's a lot of material covering a lot of subjects. This means that there's not much fat here -- just the bare essentials. Consider this your roadmap and be ready check the references provided when you need to know more.
Some of the applications covered appear only by personal preference. For example, fvwn, elm, and smail are discussed, while WindowMaker, pine, and sendmail are not. That's not a big issue, however.
Feel free to jump around between the chapters -- the arrangement is more encyclopedic than progressive. Common tools such as vi or Emacs appear in chapter 9, while kernel upgrades and modules show up in chapter 7.
One of the larger limitations in the draft copy was the conspicuous absence of GNOME-related material. Thankfully, the final version includes an appendix written by members of the GNOME team. (One of the authors, Matthias Dalheimer, develops KDE.)
The Bottom Line If you're the curious type, looking to play around with Linux, and you need a little friendly advice and some suggestions on where to look for further information, this is the place to start. If you've used Linux for a while, and want to start understanding your system, this is also the book for you.
Pick this book up at Amazon.
Table of Contents (abbreviated) Preface
Chapter 1. Introduction to Linux
Chapter 2. Preparing to Install Linux
Chapter 3. Installation and Initial Configuration
Chapter 4. Basic Unix Commands and Concepts
Chapter 5. Essential System Management
Chapter 6. Managing Filesystems, Swap, and Devices
Chapter 7. Upgrading Software and the Kernel
Chapter 8. Other Administrative Tasks
Chapter 9. Editors, Text Tools, Graphics, and Printing
Chapter 10. Installing the X Window System
Chapter 11. Customizing Your X Environment
Chapter 12. Windows Compatibility and Samba
Chapter 13. Programming Languages
Chapter 14. Tools for Programmers
Chapter 15. TCP/IP and PPP
Chapter 16. The World Wide Web and Electronic Mail
Appendix A. Sources of Linux Information
Appendix B. The GNOME Project
Appendix C. Installing Linux on Digital/Compaq Alpha Systems
Appendix D. LinuxPPC: Installing Linux on PowerPC Computers
Appendix E. Installing Linux/m68k on Motorola 68000-Series Systems
Appendix F. Installing Linux on Sun SPARC Systems
Appendix G. LILO Boot Options
Appendix H. Zmodem File Transfer
I too bought this book with the hopes that all 1114 pages would have a whole lot of information. Instead, I found myself reading pages on pages of nothingness. I still cannot figure out how the author managed to write so many pages of words on so little information. I really recommend you find a different book for yourself to read if you want to learn Linux.
-B
In addition to those already mentioned, I highly recommend "Essential System Administration." I don't know a [Li|U]nix admin who doesn't have a copy of this on his bookshelf.
Written by Aeleen Frisch, published by (you guessed it) O'Reilly and Associates.
The Idiot's Guide to Linux for Dummies Unleashed in 21 Days
That covers all the bases, doesn't it?
Just curious: I have "UNIX in a Nutshell" and "Essential System Administration". Between the two I've been able to figure out how to do the majority of things I've wanted to do.
How does "Running Linux" fit into this? Does "Running Linux" cover a lot of ground that isn't covered by "Essential Sys Admin"?
Thanks.
I have a hard time picking a favorite between O'Reilly's "Armadillo Book" and "The Red Book". Both are great. Both are a bit dated (The Red Book published Jan 1995, Armadillo 2nd Edition Dec 1996). Nevertheless, both provide invaluable information about general Unix administration (including how to deal with variations in flavors).
Having said that... I'm partial to O'Reilly & Associates as a company. And the Armadillo book can be picked up for much cheaper. If you're on a budget, buy only the Armadillo Book. If your budget allows, pick up The Red Book too. Both are worth the expense.
The non-distro-specific nature of the book is great--after all, a Linux system is configurable to a large extent, and who knows what new oddities Corel/RH/Sun/Debian will put in their latest and greatest things? In the tech world, it seems that if it's documented, it's out of date. Maybe this book will be useful for a bit longer because it doesn't only cover version 0.997 of YaST.
This book also answered one nagging question I had: "How do I switch from 1024x768 to 800x600 to 640x480 under X?" The SuSE manual (and their Web page IIRC) said, "Ctrl-Alt-{+,-}" which didn't do anything. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the "+" and "-" referred to the keys on the numeric keypad. :-( Now if only we could switch color depth on the fly....
Give a monkey a brain and he'll swear he's the center of the universe.
Plus, when you show this to people used to buying Microsoft products, they don't believe their eyes... $30 for a Linux reference, complete with a CD including a truckload of apps. Most Microsoft application books are more expensive than that, and they certainly don't come with the OS!
"There is no surer way to ruin a good discussion than to contaminate it with the facts."
I picked this book up last week, and have really found it useful. It was even a great help fixing a friend of mines networking problems. I really have to credit O'Reilly for thier good work, but I think that there was a certain bias to KDE (a big, "DUH" on the reasons why). I've been neutral on the Window Manager war and plan to stay that way, but it would have been wise for O'Reilly to include on of the team members in the book's production as a whole. The additional GNOME material was nice but something about it to me seemed "too little, too late", I'd like to see some definitive guides to Window Managers published by O'Reilly very soon as this is one area of expertise that I seriously lack in (usually sticking to straight text and only using x-windows in order to have multiple sessions running easily), hurm, I should check thier upcoming releases section of thier web page.
LO
______________________ There is no
1) Running Linux - (the one reviewed here)
2) Linux in a Nutshell - Ellen Siever Et. al
(2nd Ed - O'Reilly)
3) Beginning Linux Programming - Matthew & Stones
(WROX Press)
Criminalize spam and telemarketing!
I still have my 1st edition of dis book and use it often. As the review says it is more encyclopedic than linear which is the way I like to use a book. I generall don't read my new computer books cover to cover. I skim the chapters that hold specific needed knowledge or special interest information for me then sit down with a box and really get my hands dirty. Another good refernce in the linux vein that I like is the Linux Network by Fred Butzen and Christopher Hilton published by IDG. Fairly inexpensive in paperback it lacks alot of meat but covers in varying detail everything from diald to ipchains to sendmail to socks to a litle security. It even has a little samba thrown in for good meauser. It is writen to assist in building a MS intranet with Linux acin as file/print/net access server but is applicable to many different styles of network. It is fairly distributionless in instruction in that it reminds you that what it says is for one distribution and others may vary. it comes with Slackware (my old favorite so that makes me biased) but for a good reference its hard to beat.
www.mp3.com/Undocumented
First of all, I really appreciate all of the good reviews here on Slashdot, and I'm glad that folks find Running Linux to be useful. I wanted it to be a book that Slashdot readers would appreciate :-)
I'd just like to point out that if you do find any mistakes or incorrect information in the book, please feel free to send corrections my way: mdw@metalab.unc.edu. Usually we can correct small things in subsequent printings without waiting for the next edition to be released. In a book of this size, sometimes things slip through the cracks, but we do our best.
Also, feel free to send me any suggestions or ideas for future editions. We really depend upon readers to help us to shape the direction of the book's content, since it's often hard to tell which topics are important to cover and which are not. Now that Linux has grown so much this task is even more difficult than in previous editions.
It is true that our bias towards KDE was due to Kalle being on-board for this edition, but we did our best to talk about GNOME (albeit in an appendix). I hope that the next edition will have a bona fide section on GNOME incorporated into the book, but unfortunately we ran out of time to include it in this one.
Thanks everyone!
Matt Welsh
I bought this book about a week ago when I decided to take the Linux plunge. I chose that book because it seemed to cover a lot of subjects, it had a lot of references for each subject, and it's published by O'Reilly (they just have good books).
Considering I'm a complete Unix/Linux newbie (I just found out yesterday I have to be logged in as root user to invoke shutdown. Stop laughing, you were a newbie once too), it's been pretty usefull so far.
I've managed to install Linux in about an hour, and most of that time was spent trying to configure my Linux partitions properly with Disk Druid. I have Lilo running well for dual boot with Win98, and I've been able to do some file management, DOS style.
I obviously still have much to read, but considering all of the complaints I've read about installing Linux (including last week's CNN article), it's been very helpful so far, and I don't have any problems recommending it.
bh