Linux Books

Every Linux Operating System involves a lot of things. This beautifully reinforced text did all that is needed to be done in providing extensive and reliable information on the OS. It dissected every aspect of the software. Whether you are an ardent Linux pal or just an adventurer, this book will alleviate your tuition problems. From software installation down to security and networking options, there is hardly anything that you would not find in this well-detailed text. Its depth and accuracy is unique. For switchers in particular, this "Linux Complete" provides the easiest and the most comprehensive way of adapting to the new Linux environment.

I have read the previous version of this book, and from what I've read I really enjoyed it. The book touches over linux and can get even the greenest greenhorn started working with the operating system.

When I first saw this book I was sceptical of how good it would be. The paper is not especially good quality and the price is cheap .... But don't let looks deceive you - 'Linux Complete' is excellent!

The sheer weight of material covered in this book is impressive on its own merit. But for such an inexpensive price it is amazing. For twenty bucks you get walk-throughs on installing Red Hat Linux, setting up Apache, setting up Samba, working with Gnome, handling multimedia, and all the basics you'll need to do a whole host of other tasks. Plus the topic index is very comprehensive.

Linux Complete is better than other computer reference books that are twice the price. It is easy to read, and is useful to beginners and intermediate users. It offers clear and accurate information and good step-by-step instructions. It doesn't cover the various problems that can occur when installing or running Linux software especially well, but considering the wide content covered that's understandable.

This book has saved me many hours of frustration and I have no reservations in recommending it to other users!

To be honest, I didn't go throught the whole contents yet. However, I found the chapter on (GNU) make utility is the best I ever read. It is clear, thorough, and practical. For example, I really like the section on how to organize a project with multiple make files and subdirectories. In addition, the author also did good job explaining compilers. In all, I think it is a great book for those who already know some programming basics and want to start serious developments on Linux.

Back before the advent of Mac OS X, my favourite (and for many years, only) development environment was one variety of Unix or another. The nicest thing about Unix was that the development environment stayed pretty much the same regardless of the variety; this stayed the same with the introduction of Linux.

The Linux Development Platform might be better titled "The GNU Development Platform" since almost all of the tools discussed come from the FSF, and those that don't are nevertheless open source; as a result they will run on almost any Unix variety. You know that the 'Linux' in the title is almost just a marketing ploy, but we will forgive Prentice Hall and the authors. Certainly more people will buy this book to learn about using these tools under Linux than under any other *nix variety.

The book starts with a short chapter on software development per se before getting down to the nuts and bolts. It starts in the obvious spot, with editors, and quickly covers choosing an editor before taking a brief look at Emacs, Jed and VIM. The rest of the book is devoted to much less contentious issues.

As a whole, the text provides a good grounding in using gcc, make, CVS and GDB, with enough extra information on smaller tools and larger issues (such as cross-platform and embedded systems) that you will not need more than this book and, perhaps, the man pages to understand and use these tools. Of course others, have written entire volumes on each of these topics, but for most of us this book will provide the information we need.

The Linux Development Platform comes with a CD containing the source for a fair number of the tools discussed, so you can build any tools which happen to be missing on your platform, though some of the included apps are, of course, already a version or two behind.

The writing is mixed in quality: while never bad, it has a slightly heavy, technical feel to it, often a bit wordy or cumbersome. This rarely gets in the way of understanding, but it does slow you down. The topic coverage is good, moving from a beginner level right through to a good understanding of each tool discussed. More importantly, all the tools you will need are covered.

I imagine this would make an excellent companion text for any programming course: note that it doesn't provide details on any programming language, but covers everything else you need to know regarding the development tools. It is thinnest in the discussion of editors, really only giving a brief overview of each. I cannot really see this as a fault since detailed coverage really would take a separate book, and this quick look is better than pretending to cover the topic well and failing. The other possible weakness is that there is almost no coverage of general Linux usage, so calling the book The Linux Development Platform is a bit of a misnomer -- it is really devoted to the tools available for development, not the underlying operating system at all. Once again, I feel that this lack is not serious; most buyers should know enough about the operating system and any attempt to cover it adequately would have swelled the size and cost of the book.

Prentice Hall PTR have a site for the book with a Table of Contents or you can see the whole book in HTML format at FAQs.org.

I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a good, general introduction to developing software on a Unix platform. Though it's not a cheap book, it is a good one. It was certainly a relief for me to find a good book in Prentice Hall's 'Bruce Peren Open Source Series' after a couple of flawed ones. I've marked it three stars rather than four (and it really deserves a three and a half) for the slightly clunky writing.

To work with open source platform is not that hard thing to do
Although to get up to the speed & work on a production server
You need this reference to feel comfort
This book saved me much time, googling & waiting on answers from the mailing lists to solve my problems
I recommend to any sysadmin, Developer, learner,....

This book was grea, though it talks about an old kernel version. I neede to know about journaling filesystems, and this boom\k not only told me what I needed, but told me what to avoid.

Great book, but shows it's age - things are changing fast in Linux world (it's based on 2.4.9 kernel and so
most of those filesystems weren't integrated).
Benchmarking info is very interesting but was collected
on very low-end hardware (1-2 Celeron500 with 1 IDE drive).
I wish that updated 2nd edition (2.6 kernel and benchmarks
on modern hardware - like 2CPU and at least 8-10 hd) will be published soon.

I'd been looking for a book on journaling and networked file systems for Linux for a while, and was happy to find this one. There is one other book on Linux file systems, but this one is the one to get. It discusses the EXT3, JFS, XFS and Reiser journaling file systems, and also the NFS and OpenAFS networked file systems. It provides plenty of background information about basic concepts, but also provides real explanations of how to build kernels that support these file systems and how to configure, administer, and use them. I was really impressed. The book also talks about interoperating with Macintosh, Windows and Novell systems - it was handy to find all of that in one book. It is well written and the author has a sense of humor that I enjoyed. The section on the Distributed Computing Environment's distributed file system was especially funny (and from what I hear, true).

When you are ready to build your own linux kernel this is a great book to read! Greg achieves his goal of providing lots of kernel building information in one easily useable source. He explains without being wordy and lets you learn from his ample experience. The first section deals with getting and building a vanilla kernel and should take you about an hour to read. Chapter 7 is neat because it shows how to isolate exactly what hardware you need to build for to optimize a running system. Chapters 9-11 cover half the book in reference format; boot parameters, build parameters, and configuration options.

If you are a kernel hacker the material is a bit light. However, if you have never built a kernel before you will save hours by this one read. I particularly like the reference style because I can study as much as my brain can absorb, make notes, and come back when I have a question.

The book is clear, authoritative, and wonderfully focused on getting you started. All the information you need without wandering off-point.

Nowadays its less common for a user to have to compile a kernel, but there are times that if you don't do it a given device will no work properly (or at all). Despite the huge amount of Linux distributions available none is able to fulfill every user requirement. Configuring a laptop or installing a server requires different sets of modules with imply reconfiguring and recompiling the kernel. If you want to listen to a music, enable power management on a laptop or install some enterprise grade features like RAID or LVM this book is surely to help you.

The "Linux Kernel in a Nutshell" was written by one of the most renoun Linux kernel hackers, Greg Kroab-Hartman. Greg Kroab-Hartman develops system drivers since 1999 and is currently responsible for several of the kernel's subsystems, udev and hotplug.

This book was written to explain everything with is necessary to compile and install a Linux kernel. You don't need any prior programming experience but is most recommend some knowledge of the Linux system and it's command line.

The "Linux Kernel in a Nutshell" is quite complete and clear making it easy for the reader to compile its first kernel in just a few hours after having the book. Kroab-Hartman manages to do this supplying plenty of information in a well structured form that makes its reading extraordinarily easy.

The first chapters explain how to obtain and compile the kernel with is very light reading (about one hour). In the next chapters he explains how to customize your kernel. Finally at the end there is a list of boot and compilation parameters.

If you have some experience with Linux or you usually compile your kernel the information available in this book is a bit too simple never the less useful. If you never compiled a Kernel this book will save you plenty of time.

I recommend "Linux Kernel in a Nutshell" to every Linux user with wishes to learn a bit more how it's Linux system works.

Review made by Luis Rodrigues "Khromu".

Theis is not actually a book. I ordered this item after reading Mr. Anarchy's review, expecting a book. Much to my surprise, it was actually just the Linux Mandrake operating system itself, with a user guide that is available for free in PDF form, at www.linux-mandrake.com. The operating system itself can also be downloaded for free.

This package is still a pretty good deal. For about $20, you get the installation CD, the sources CD, which contains a ton of Linux software in RPM format, the printed installation guide, the printed 390 page user guide, a bootable floppy, and a few pieces of paper containing mostly advertisements. The only real compelling item in the box is the "extras" CD, which has 5 books in PDF format. They are: Redhat Linux Unleashed, Teach Yourself KDE 1.1 in 24 Hours, Teach Yourself Gimp In 24 Hours, Teach Yourself Linux In 24 Hours, and Special Edition Using Linux. That's roughly $100 worth of books, but they are in PDF, not actual printed books. The extras CD also contains Sta Office 5.1, but that can be downloaded for free as well.

The only actual printed book is the user guide, which is questionable in it's usefulness. While it is geared toward beginners, it doesn't go too in-depth about subjects, instead only covering the basics and sometimes not giving enough information. It also seems to have been written by someone who doesn't speak English as a first language, as there are numerous grammar errors, and I found myself reading sentences numerous times to grasp what the author was saying.

I still believe that this item is worth purchasing, considering it's low price. It saves you quite a bit of time downloading the 650 meg Linux Mandrake OS, which must then be burned onto a CDR. For someone starting Linux, there isn't a better distibution than Mandrake. However, for someone looking for printed word on Linux, especially a beginner, I recommend the book Running Linux, which has helped many people get started in Linux.

I thought this book was well thought out. It has vivid pictures and screenshots of many of the Mandrake Linux gui's (Gnome, KDE, etc.). It helped me learn Linux quickly. When i started reading, i had barely an idea of what Linux was; but upon completion of this book, i have now become a (self proclaimed) guru. I would reccomend this book for the novice to intermediate Linux user.

........................It's software, a CD of the Mandrake distribution of the Linux operating system. If you believe you're ordering a book, you'll be disappointed................ I decided to use Mandrake for Linux, instead of another distribution. And I'm very happy with it. :)

Mandrake is an excellent distribution of Linux, and if you're going to run Linux, I highly recommend it. (That's why I give this review 4 stars.) Downers are the poorly written manual, and the fact that a mouse is *REQUIRED* for you to install the software. If you don't have a Linux-compatible mouse BEFORE you begin installation, you're going to be very frustrated about halfway-thru the installation.

(I understand Mandrake 7.1 solves this problem.)

Mandrake is excellent for newcomers to Linux because it has great graphical user interfaces, to make the 'migration' from Windows easier. It's also easy to set up dual-boot so that you do not need to give up your Windows stuff, and it contains software to re-partition your existing hard drive WITHOUT erasing all your data. Good thinking! :)

In summary, Mandrake is a very good Linux distribution and I recommend it. However, you will probably want a good Linux book to go with it, and I highly recommend getting O'Reilly's "Running Linux" as a companion to your new Linux adventures..........................

As author of this title, I would like to respond to the posted review which refers to the printing error. Unfortunately a portion of the first printing of my book included manufacturing errors. This has since been corrected and I can assure you currently all of the examples are readable. If you have a first printing of the book and think it may have errors, please return it to your reseller or contact the publisher at ptr_feedback@phptr.com for a corrected copy of the title. The publisher and I apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Its a printing error. For anyone who has the same problem, go to the following URL:

http://www.phptr.com/title/0131400002

It will tell you what you need to do to resolve the problem.

I recommend that, if you see the book in a book store, check it carefully before purchasing.

I have read this book and think it's great! As someone who has been working with HP Integrity (Itanium) servers from the beginning, this book will be next to me, on my desk at work. Prior to finding this book, I relied most on my own collection of notes from various sources on the web. Marty has put many of those topics in one location. This is a great reference book! Leaving much of the basic "fluff" behind, which administrators already are all too familiar, Marty cuts to the "administrator's meat" leaving other basic Linux books behind. He hits the mark in chapters detailing EFI, kernel tuning and customizing, startup and shutdown scripts, and networking are discussed. Not at the high level, for those who always wanted to be admin, and are not, but in depth, practical, working knowledge with web references, too. Marty, we need more books like this on leading edge technologies. Are you taking any new requests?

Excellent info. Really needs to be on every bookshelf. Unfortunately it's a bit dated now and needs a new edition. Why this is out of print baffles me.

This is a excellent book.It convers all the things you need to get a Linux system started and covers a lot of administration like setting up devices and setting up GOPHER, and all kinds of stuff.This book was so good it only took me 3 days to read...

Great Job Tim

I can't recommend this book enough for up-n-coming Linux system administrators. Dr.Parker starts at the low end of the technological spectrum but continues expanding, allowing you to grow with the book. I may have to buy a new copy mine is so tattered from reading and re-reading! :)

Neil Doane Indiana State University

Linux TCP/IP Network Administration is a very comprehensive book. It starts out easy talking about OSI layer models, defining crucial buzzwords, explaining various hardware options, and generally attempting to fill in possible gaps in your background. It's easy if you don't have any gaps, but by the time we get to dynamic routing protocols it gets thick and heavy for everyone.

The book did have quite a few typos. Write to me if you want my incomplete list. The best chapter (if you're new to this stuff) is chapter six. It really nails how routing tables work. Chapter 10 (covers DHCP Samba and Sendmail) is too much for one chapter and he can't get into enough depth much more than to give out some buzzwords. The later chapters go into configuring routed and gated for the various distance-vector and link-state routing protocols, and finally he ends up discussing QoS and other software that I haven't had a chance to play with yet. Ditto for IPv6. No matter how much we say it's coming it's still gonna rock things when it finally sweeps over.

This book is great if you want to hook up heterogeneous or homogeneous networks with linux servers, routers, and/or clients. As it goes along, it drops names of software you might need (both GUI and CLI based) and tells you where to get it. It tries not to focus TOO much on one Linux distro or another, though the author clearly has his favorites.

The chapters on OSPF and BGP are a great introduction to the theory of these routing protocols. However this book will not tell you how cisco does even the simplest thing and therefore will not directly help you get even your CCNA. It is useful background when studying more advanced cisco certs because sometimes when you read a cisco press book you lose the forest for the trees, and going back and forth between how you configure gated for OSPF and how Cisco does it will give you a clearer idea of what OSPF is REALLY all about (for those who care.)

If you want to learn lots of advanced protocol details, then this is a "must-have". I think the OSPF & BGP chapters alone are worth the price. [Let me (...) know if you know of any other books on gated; this might even be an idea for CCIE study!]

If you need to know about IP routing on UNIX system, this is the book. This book is appropriate for experienced system administrator and intriguing for the novice. The author started on glimpse of TCP/IP, then continuing to UNIX commands and detail explainations that appropriate for routing and the commands.

Although the book title mentioned "LINUX", this book is also applicable to any UNIX system (including BSD, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Mac OS X). Any system administrator should not have trouble adjusting command to a more-specific UNIX system (if any).

If previous reviewer commented that this book could be useful for preparing CCIE exam, I could agree with that. But I think this book is more appropriate for preparing CCNA exam since the book's content is not "too advanced" (not sophisticated enough).

If you are not preparing for the exam, you still could learning a lot. From this book at least you could get ideas of how major protocols (like RIP, OSPF, and BGP) getting around on a network without having a vendor router (such as Cisco router) installed. You could also learn about NAT and firewalls.

If you think this book is "too easy", you might try the followings. For the ARP packets, have W. Richard Steven's "TCP/IP Illustrated Vol. 1: The Protocols". Need more info on firewalls? Try "Building Internet Firewalls" by Elizabeth Zwicky, "Linux Firewalls" by Robert Ziegler, and "Intrusion Signatures and Analysis" by Mark Cooper.

Feel not enough background? Get "Internetworking with TCP/IP Vol. 1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture" by Douglas Comer for the TCP/IP part. For the system administration part, have "UNIX System Administration Handbook" by Evi Nemeth. In between? Try "TCP/IP Network Administration" by Craig Hunt.

Per the author "This is not a book that shows you how to administer and run a Linux system." He is correct I just wish he had said this on the cover. For a book that isn't going to tell you how to run Linux he spent a lot of time talking about the shells. (If you don't know what a shell is you are in the same boat with me.) There is a lot of good info in this book but you will have to look for it. He talked about shells and pipes for several pages but you still don't know how to load the software yet so you can't test/try what he is saying, something I found quite annoying. If he meant for the text to be a guide for Linux use in the business world he would have been better off describing how to implement it and then listing a selection of reference books for the installation and administration.

I have been looking for a book that explains how linux and the unices work. This book has finally provided me with the sort of information that I wanted. I am the sort of person who prefers to understand the fundamentals of the OS and then I can extrapolate enough from there to figure it out. This is not a "how-to" book, it's a book that gives you the basics, the rocks you need to stand on.

By the way, in reference to the user above, if you don't know how to use the shell and you want you run linux, you should learn right now!

If you want to understand Linux and don't just want to push a button to make things work while not understanding what the button does, this BOOK IS FOR YOU!

I read this book when I was beginning to learn Linux. I would recommend this book to anyone who has at least enough knowledge to install Linux. I found this book to be all encompassing. It includes topics I never came across in other Linux beginners books including the Linux boot process etc. The only down side to this book is the CD-ROM which sports the very little known Linux Pro Distribution.

I bought both books by these authors, but wouldn't recommend them both. Get this book if you aren't familiar with system programming, otherwise get the other book. They are good at going into the detail of the different concepts, their code samples are their class definitions, which seem to just be wrapper classes.

Maybe it is my programming style, IMHO, if you really want to write a portable, non-GUI application on Unix and Windows/NT, get "POSIX Programmer's Guide" by Donald Lewine and a POSIX envrionment (I use Mingw32[POSIX], Tk[GUI] & GNU C/C++ on Windows/XP). "Using C on the UNIX System" is also a useful text because it has very small, complete code samples. The POSIX environment will give you a platform independant layer that doesn't require C++.

When I first picked up this book I was skeptical that a topic such as this could be covered thoroughly enough to be useful. I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did I find the chapter text easy to read and to the point, but I found the source code easy to understand as well. I also found the source code sufficiently complete to use it as a basis for my own work. I hope there is going to be a second edition.

This book is for programmers. It contains a ton of C++ code that I used to drop right into my program. To say that it is strictly for Unix to NT migration sells it way short. It contains building blocks for both OS's -- classes that wrap semapores, threads, processes, etc -- that from the outside look the same for both platforms. It then goes into how to use these building blocks in programs that communicate to programs running on other Unix or NT machines on the network.