Unix Systems Books

This book stands out from the rest. It is not a book for beginners, but a solid discussion of real world solutions.

Any experienced Delphi developer needs to add this to his/her collection.

Covers topics such as Inter-process communications, semaphores, threading etc. Well written with not so bad example code.

This one contains so many useful Linux tidbits and "How to get things done" sections, it is always the Kylix reference I pick up first.

300 pages - not encyclopedic - but a rich, thorogh introduction to Linux system programming and how to go about it using Kylix. Well worth the money.

I'm a long-time Delphi programmer and relatively recent migrant to Linux. This book absolutely fills the gaps for me in the numerous places where I'm asking "Now, how the heck do I go about doing THIS on Linux?".

It's not about Kylix (although the samples and solutions are in ObjectPascal, of course) so much as about accessing the nuts and bolts of Linux through HLL calls to the OS, MMS and filesystem. Although it is primarily relevant to ObjectPascal it will be a great resource for developers using other HLLs on Linux too. It really fills in the bits that are missing from Linux books, programming books, FAQ forums and so on if your history has been with DOS and Windows and, especially, if you want to cross-plat your Delphi components.

I needed this book a year ago and I'm overjoyed to have it, now that I'm using Kylix 2.

This book mostly provides linux-specific low level operating system solutions (forking, process control, shared libraries, semaphores, pipes, signal hangling, message passing, etc). I bought it because i wanted to know how to do in Kylix things I used to do in C, and I am very satisfied with the information provided. The book is rich in code examples, logically structured, and well explained. It is written in the hands-on style, where an explanation as to how things work is followed by a specific code example. The explanations are straightforward and easy to follow, but in order to benefit from reading the book you should be familiar with operating systems programming concepts like interprocess communication, and have some knowledge of unix (target level is listed as intermediate/advanced)....

In this context, the chapter on Help does not seem to belong in this book, and the book could better benefit from being called "Linux System Programming with Kylix". Also, most of the code examples could be cut by 30-50%. For example, there's no need to list visual object declarations, since even novice can deduce these from the photograph (and they're not essential to the subject matter anyway). Since the book was published, Kylix 2 has been released, and I think the book could benefit from a 2nd edition updated with the changes Borland made in Kylix2. I don't think any essential changes would be neccessary, since operating system concepts do not change overnight. However, there are many times when authors state: "this and that is broken, and therefore you should use the code below," and such portions should be updated.

Overall, this book gets 4 stars from me:
+ 5 because it's the only position on the market with this information, and the information is adequate and presented in an organized manner;
-1 because of the criticism listed above.

This book deals with the most difficult stage of getting into UNIX: the beginning. If you at the beginning you may find this course to be helpful Linux and UNIX for a beginner training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs includes 4 Unix Academy Certifications ed.2008
UNIX as probably any other operating system is a system: it means it is complex and not easy to comprehend. This book is very nicely, didactically organized and facilitates the transition from subject to subject.

OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference. I have followed advice in someone's review and paired this book with that "UNIX Essentials" DVD I found here on Amazon and it is complete UNIX course recorded. This book and a video they contribute one another greatly. The book is very particular about the subjects that related to OS X and because there are some differences between OS X and other UNIXes it is nice to have a book that deals with it.

I was one of the people that winced when Mac made the leap from O9 to the unix based OSX. The "old" command line did nothing for me in the early 80's and I didn't truly fall in love with mac until the GUI interface and the mouse came along. Once I was forced to make the move to OSX I began to hear about all these powerful unix commands and things you could do beyond the scope of aqua from my IT friends. It intriqued me enough that I picked up Learning Unix for Mac OS Panther. It was a true eye opener. In no time at all I was using the terminal for ftp, I even had Pine (a unix email program) configured and was speedily browsing the web with Lynx (the unix text-based browser).

The book is clearly written, and a breeze to use. I usually buy about one software book a month, but this is one of the few that has become dog earred, filled with marginalia and rife with stickie notes. It is a great starting point for anyone who wantes to learn more about the unix underpinnings of Panther. It's like learning about a whole new, previously unseen, side of your mac.

As with many books, I often flip immediately to the back to look over why the publisher thinks that I should read have this book. In the case of Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther, by Dave Taylor & Brian Jepson, the statement which caught my eye was that this "compact book provides a user-friendly tour of the Mac's Unix base for the uninitiated."

As for being new to the Anchorage Apple User's Group (AAUG), allow me to introduce you to my background. I have been a fan of Apple computer's since my first computer, an Apple IIc, twenty years ago. Since then, I have stayed with Macintosh, through the SE, SE/30, IIci, and my trustworthy beige G3. Since arriving in Anchorage in October, I upgraded to a Powerbook G4 and I've been in heaven ever since.

At the same time, I've worked (reluctantly) with Unisys proprietary systems, MS-DOS systems, Windows 95-present (and I even have XP operating on my Powerbook, by way of Virtual PC), and Sun's workstations. Through working on Sun's unix based operating system (Solaris), I began to know some basics of what unix is all about.

I had heard that Apple had made OS X revolutionary through its version of unix as a basis for this new operating system. And I had even read a little about some tricks and treats available to the "everyday" user of the Mac, but I was still reluctant and hesitant to do anything with something titled (so appropriately, I thought) as the "Terminal."

And one more note prior to discussing the book itself ... this book is for the uninitiated, but be warned, I believe you need to have a serious interest in learning the unix operating system. Gratefully, for those of you who love the Mac for what you can do, not what you "have" to do, you can remain blissfully unaware of any of the unix which runs so very well hidden, out of sight, and out of mind.

But, since you've stayed with this book review thus far, I assume you have some interest in what exactly is going on "underneath it all", on what makes Panther such a great operating system. So, I recommend you read book. It is an ideal starting point for the uninitiated. I highly recommend it both as a "how to" and a "reference" book.

Dave Taylor and Brian Jepson, the authors, start off by explaining "Why unix?" This first chapter helped me a good deal, even though I had already used a version of unix on another platform (the Sun workstation.) The overview and history of how unix grew as an operating system, and how it came to be on the Mac was very interesting. Additionally, the starting point (the Terminal application) was explained succinctly; similar to how a train station is known as a terminal, the authors helped me get on the path to successful learning of this unix stuff.

As the book progressed into the file system and file management, I found myself frequently switching between having the book in hand, and the Terminal up and running on screen with the computer in my lap. And doing exactly as the title described ... I was learning unix for Mac OS X Panther.

A part of the O'Reilly series, the authors follow in a familiar pattern with just enough instruction, including practice assignments, balanced by shared experience and cautious warnings. I found myself spending about one hour on each chapter, and going back and forth practicing some of my newly acquired talents and skills.

By no means do I consider this book to have made me very smart, but it allows me just enough confidence to continue and look into other parts of how unix works in the Mac world, including using this operating system to help make life better. I even find myself wanting to get into one of the related books in the series, Mac OS X for Unix Geeks.

Ce livre donne l'occasion au nouveau utilisateur de Mac OS X de comprendre les dessous de OS X qui sont sembleble au système Unix.
Recommandé.

This is a good first book to purchase if you're getting into Linux Administration. It focuses more on common practices rather than configurations and how-to's. If you're looking to get an idea of how to build your environment (or make it better), this is a good book to start with, then purchase the specific manuals once you've decided on a course of action.

I was very suspicious of this book, because I knew it was available online for download. I thought at first, why not just print it and read it. A friend of mine told me this is something completely different. And he was right. It was worth every penny (cent).

The book is a great introduction to Linux networking theory and practices. Although it's lightweight in size, it makes it up with easy to read high quality content. I think even some experienced sysadmins might find a lot of interesting information inside.

The guide is very well written, with nice and self explaining graphics.

This is an excellent book to start with if you are considering setting up a Linux network for your home or small office. The intended audience is assumed to have some basic programming skills and understands the priority of network security. If you have never written a make file or know what make is, you might want to start with a more fundamental book; you will struggle understanding the concepts of this book. If you have never used UNIX or Linux, you will be quickly LOST!

It is important to realize that this book is a guide and not a reference. Each chapter covers a major system vital to the Linux operating system. Book(s) are written for each system, yet the author covers enough information to get you started and keep you from being dangerous.

The book also indoctrinates you to the procedures and mindsets of Linux. If a specific tool is not covered in this book, you will know how to search for it, read the configuration man pages, build it, and install it.

My background: Mixed Signal IC Design Engineer (20 years), C/C++, C#, Perl Literate. Converting from Win2K OS to Linux because of corporate directive. I have been a user of UNIX and Windows OS for 25 years, however, I never had to administer a network. I wanted to start up a Linux network at home to act as a Subversion server and a general file server.

This book fits into the space between the general everything there is to know about Linux books (which give limited space to each subject) and highly specialized books that cover only one application such as Apache or sendmail. It's a niche book intended for people aministering a Linux network. It contains what you need to know to set up a network and keep it up.

This is the third printed edition of this book. This has given time for the original work to be expanded and rewritten to satisfy the needs of readers who down through the years have sent in questions on various subjects.

This book is based on the on-line Linux documentation but bound into a convenient book, cleaned up professional illustrations, better indexing. While it costs a bit, it is probably no more than the cost of the ink cartridge it would take to print it out.

A good education in how to use the Internet, in the context of a linux network. The authors provide a nice lucid explanation of DNS, as a globally distributed database that underpins the Internet. An entire chapter is allocated to this most crucial of ideas. The sort of thing you should have down pat.

Other network aspects are covered elsewhere in the book. Notably sendmail. The most important configuration ideas and settings are shown.

Though, for an edition printed in February 2005, the book only seems to refer to version 8.12 of sendmail. Whereas 8.13 has already been out for several months, and contains much enhanced Milter capabilities for fighting spam. But perhaps the discussion about 8.12 is simply due to the realities of how long it takes for a book to be published and printed.

A very topical chapter is offered last in the book. On wireless networks. It's a decent synopsis of a hugely popular occurrence. But given the rapid hardware upgrades in this field, and the still evolving wireless standards, you may want to seek out a more extensive text.

The Linux Problem Solver is that and more. As a new Linux user, I am developing an appreciation of this book in a hurry! The organization of this book is straightforward and logical, each chapter covering an essential topic of making Linux work and how to return it to working order when it stops working right, or getting it to work right after you've made an incorrect change. The author spends a chapter discussing things such as client networking, file systems, networking with Windows and Apples, printing, kernel upgrades, backups and crash recovery, and user environments. One chapter I feel deserves special praise is Chapter 6, installing software from source code, something I haven't found in other Linux books, at least not yet. Since I'm coming from a Windows environment, I'm relieved that someone out there realized new Linux users don't all automatically know how to install software in this environment.
As far as subject coverage, the author tells you the basics of what you need to know and how it works before he starts talking about what can go wrong and how to fix it. Granted, sometimes the information can be sketchy or shallow in places, but there is still a great deal of information packed into 239 pages.
The one small complaint I have with this book is that it doesn't really talk about the initial Linux installation. In fact, I haven't found a really good book that does talk about it in detail, frustratingly enough. Other than that, I can see this book getting frequent use as I explore Linux further and start to do more with it. If you can only buy one book for Linux, this is not the book to have unless you're already conversant with Linux. If you're not, this is a great companion book to have along with a Linux primer for troubleshooting when you do something wrong.

It's no coincidence I use this book as the authoritative reference when I'm at work: I'm lucky enough to claim the author as our local unix god.

Anytime something on our network of several hundred linux boxes causes me to scratch my head, I ask Mr. Ward what to do and he replies "It's in the book." Invariably, it is, and he's already covered the specific problems I'm encountering.

The Linux Problem Solver is blunt about which programs are horrible and should be avoided, and which will really make your life easier. The advice it offers is always backed by lots of experience.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who's in charge of taking care of one or more linux machines. If you want to keep your machine(s) secure, get printing to work, or fix your X configuration, you'll find out how in The Linux Problem Solver.

Also makes a great gift for any System Administrator; I've given several myself!

I initially felt the title was a little misleading. However, it might be more an interpretation issue of what a "problem solver" is. I initially interpreted that as "trouble shooter". This books does not cover that aspect of administering a Linux system. Still, the format of "what to do when this occurs" is extremely useful, especially for Linux newbies. If you want the nuts and bolts of administering a Linux system, look elsewhere. However, this has a lot of places where I said, "Hey, what didn't I think of that?"...

Brian Ward writes a good book on Linux Problems. He writes about all the things which took time and trouble out of his own life to figure out. Since he's a good writer, and he doesn't have a burning desire to show us 2 screen shots per page, he manages to do all this in only 240 pages.

His editor and publisher don't feel they could charge 40 bucks for the book without another 40 pages of index, extended table of contents, and a cdrom. The margins get wider, and the information content goes way down...

If you were going to be stranded on a deserted island for the remainder of your pathetic existence and you were allowed only 5 books to keep -- what books would you want? For me there would be Dante's Comedy, the Bible, the Complete Works of Shakespeare, In Search of Lost Time, and.......The Linux Problem Solver by Brian Ward. I know what your thinking -- How am I going to run Linux on this island I'm staying on? Well, the great thing about Linux is that it's "Platform Indepedent." Yes many Linux machines happen to have Pentium chips under the hood, but you can run Linux on anything. I feel we need to abdicate this antiquated "LinTel" paradigm. And replace it with what, you ask? We can each decide that for ourselves. I for one installed and configured Apache Jserv for Linux on/in (unfortunately some tinkering was necessary) my cat Sparky last Tuesday night. Yeah that might not work for everybody, but so much is really possible and we all know it. I mean who hasn't done any shell programming on their toaster? The sky's the limit in this life and Brian Ward's book will take you to the limit which, as i just mentioned, is the sky at least in this life and for all of us as far as I know this is the only life we know about and that kind of goes without saying. One warning about this book though: the little part which suffocates when the sharp part which gets hurt is swallowed is contained generously. Only the person who can take responsibility by itself is to read.

I believe that this book is perfect for learning everything about linux. I know when i bought it i was a little confused...well a lot, but now i understand it much better. It takes time, you must use linux a lot and when you come up with problems, look them up in the book. The more you look up, the more you will understand about linux. Basically i'm saying the more problems you have with your linux console, the better you will be with linux (because you have used this book to help you solve your problem).

I am an intermediate Linux user, and firmly believe that if you had to buy only one Linux book, this would make a great choice. I was very happy to see the variations between the Red Hat, Cladera, and Debian distributions being discussed. This book really covers an amazing amount of topics. For example, the basics of the languages C, C++, Perl, gawk. Tcl, Python, and Java are mentioned. Of course, the material would never cover any of them in depth, but the author's attempt at including so many was surprising. I believe that if I had a year to sit down and understand all of the contents in this book (almost 1500 pages) I would truly understand how to use Linux.

....this is the book for you. It provides the locations of files and important documents. Overall coverage of just about everything you could ever want in a book. If you don't use Red Hat, Caldera, or Debian then this isn't the book for you; but if you do, it's the ultimate reference.

The book seems to contain quite a bit of information, but as a person with no prior expiereince with Linux I found it very difficult to use as a reference book. I would recommend the book to people with some Linux expierience.

I was searching for an updated reference Linux book, to consult now and then. I bought Linux Unleashed with this idea in mind. However, i have found that trying to cover so many topics had resulted in covering them superficially. For instance I have found myself trying to add a new hard drive after using linux for more than a year and all the instructions for partitioning and adding drives were referred to the initial installation of the OS, and i wouldn't like to reinstall linux just to add a drive. I still have an old book on Linux by Tim Parker that although outdated explains everything more clearly and with more detail.

FreeBSD and OpenBSD are popular server operating systems. They have a reputation for long, reliable uptimes and are considered by many to be much more unified and mature than GNU/Linux distributions. Unlike GNU/Linux, the BSDs are developed in a unified, systematic fashion. The kernel, system binaries and application packages are released together. It's not just a kernel, with a variety of file systems and shells and applications from various sources rolled-up together into a distribution. The BSDs are an entire operating system. In this regard, they are more similar to Microsoft Windows or Apple's Mac OS X.

Although both FreeBSD and OpenBSD maintain very good online documentation and manual pages, it's nice to have a book such as "Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security" as a reference.

The book is broken into three sections. The first section emphasizes the cost of security and how cost should be directly related to the value of the system(s) or data being secured. Spending $60,000 to secure data valued at less than $100 is not a good idea. It's an inefficient use of scarce resources (time and money). The book encourages implementing an appropriate level of security, no more and no less. Secure installation and install tweaks are also covered in this section.

The second section covers implementation of services in detail. DNS, mail, Web, etc. Firewalls are discussed in depth along with the particulars of PF and IPFW. Differences between FreeBSD jails and chrooted environments on OpenBSD systems are clearly explained. Traditional Unix servers such as Sendmail, BIND and Apache are covered in depth, however, alternative (and arguably more secure) servers are covered as well... using software such as djbdns, postfix, qmail and thttpd in place of the more traditional solutions are described.

The third section goes over auditing, logging and incident response. From setting-up a secure log server to responding to break-ins. How to triage and decide how many resources should be spent on responses. Again, the book emphasizes an appropriate, cost-effective response. Resources are limited and both time and money should be used wisely.

In conclusion, Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security is a worthwhile book. It covers BSD security topics (in detail) that are not often seen in books. It's a good read and a good reference written in a terse manner that gets the points across without being overly verbose... unlike many technical books on the market today.

Another tight O'Reilly work. The text is tight. The illustrations are simple but effective. And the authors obviously know there stuff and have done a thorough job documenting it.

It's an easy read that will help you far more than the crummy Unix documentation. A good introduction as well as a long term resource.

I was really hoping to see a chapter on systrace or other advanced host-based security tools (HIPS and other kernel utils). All in all, the book is a nice addition to any security library. The basic ideas of risk management and confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA), are covered throughout the book. I would say this is a good reference to use in addition to the man pages for both operating systems.

If you are looking at implementing one of the BSD distributions of Linux and want to secure your installation this book is an excellent choice. The authors cover the basic security that applies to all Linux distributions such as filesystem security and creating a sandbox, and then follows up with security options specific to BSD. The chapters cover installation, secure administration, creating a secure DNS server, secure mail servers (including Sendmail, Postfix, and qmail), secure web server, firewalls, intrusion detection, system auditing and incident response, and some forensics. However, the forensics information provides a decent overview without being detailed enough to be very useful.

The authors do a really good job of explaining not only how to do various tasks but also the reasoning behind it and how it works to resolve specific problems. I like the fact that the authors don't do this in a piecemeal approach but provide a pathway to get to the system hardened before heading off into the specifics of harding particular services link DNS and Sendmail. They actually have a step by step procedure starting from a fresh install. This alone makes this one of the better books on hardening FreeBSD and OpenBSD. Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security is highly recommended.

Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security (MFAOS) more or less delivers on its subtitle: "Building, securing, and maintaining BSD systems." The book is chock full of absolutely sound administration advice from three experts with plenty of operational experience. I am also thrilled whenever I find a new BSD title on bookshelves. However, I believe a second edition of this book should be radically altered to better deliver value to the reader.

Note: I am in a somewhat awkward position as I write this review, since I know one of the authors as a fellow local security professional. I've spoken at a conference he organizes and I even have all three authors' signatures on my copy of MFAOS! Still, I hope they will consider incorporating my ideas when O'Reilly asks for a second edition.

First, I think MFAOS:2E should address FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD. It's appropriate to read a book only about ONE of the BSDs, or all three of the BSDs. It's odd to cover FreeBSD and OpenBSD but not NetBSD. I think DragonFly BSD's miniscule userbase puts it on the fringe, and Mac OS X is not BSD.

Second, the authors should rigorously concentrate on covering BSD-specific administration and security issues. I do not need to read about generic security issues in Ch 1, or standard DNS/Mail/Web attacks in Chs 5/6/7. I definitely did not need YASD (Yet Another Snort Doc) in Ch 9 -- especially when ACID is explained as the console of choice. (BASE replaced ACID in Sep 04). I do not need the advice on incident response and forensics found in Ch 11. MFAOS should be a more of a BSD book and less of a security book.

Removing all of this generic material in a second edition would provide room to focus on BSD-specific material not found elsewhere. For example, Dru Lavigne's briefer, older, all-BSD book BSD Hacks gives more information on FreeBSD's Mandatory Access Controls than MFAOS -- and MFAOS is a BSD security book. I would have liked more details on building FreeBSD jails, especially with respect to creating a local package builder.

While reading MFAOS, I frequently felt the authors did not provide enough details on the subjects I felt were different from multi-platform Unix books. For example, why write five pages on Nagios in Ch 4 if that information really isn't enough to do anything useful?

It seemed the authors assumed many of their brief discussions of useful behavior was sufficient for the reader. In reality, I probably wouldn't be reading the book if I could get by on the information provided; I'd be implementing on my own. For example, the authors devote 3 1/2 pages in Ch 4 to using CVS to track changes to configuration files. While not BSD-specific, this is the sort of good practice not frequently covered elsewhere. Yet, when I hoped for more advanced discussions I see the phrase "beyond the scope of this book" on p 136.

I was disappointed that Qmail was ignored in Ch 6, even though Djbdns was addressed in Ch 5. Furthermore, when the authors repeatedly admit that Dan Berstein's software isn't well documented, they should recognize that as an opportunity! Say less on Apache, BIND, etc., and cover the lesser-known but potentially more secure alternatives.

I rate this book highly (four stars) because it's full of good advice. For example, I liked recommendations on using flags, secure levels, and similar topics in Ch 2. I liked the two-tiered Web server architecture in Ch 7, as well as comparisons of IPFW and Pf in Ch 8. You won't find me disagreeing with the authors of this book -- except when they configure Snort to log directly to a database. (Ouch -- that has been bad advice since Barnyard was released in Dec 02.)

A second edition should also keep in mind the binary upgrade and patching tools available since FreeBSD 5.x -- updating via source isn't necessary for many admins these days. Also, if they insist on demonstrating how to set up well-documented servers (DNS/Web/Mail), try picking one app and one BSD. Then thoroughly document setting up the entire system, from install to deployment. Consider providing templates, especially for automated and repeatable installations. Tie them to standards like CISecurity if possible. That would be exceptional.

I wish the authors had directed their talents toward BSD-specific quirks and less on topics covered elsewhere. This is still a solid BSD book, but I would be very glad to see MFAOS:2E take this advice to heart.

The book discussed the history of UNIX and its evolution. The author also talked about different flavor of UNIX. The book is good it discussed many things that are common to all flavors of UNIX. It also discussed the shell programming, the different editors, and unix networking and mail configuration. Overall it is good book you can use as reference too, I do recommend it.

Very easy reading, nice book, definately has a lot of content, basically explains everything. Enjoyed reading it, this book is good for beginners just as well as starting Unix administrators. Author of this book explains a lot of stuff and gives some helpfull links from a to z.

The book is very informative and offers much of useful knowledge!
I have used it with training DVD that found here on Amazon. It is DVD "UNIX Essentials" that nobody knows about. It is very cool one, straight to the subject, very useful. I used this book and "UNIX for dummies" with this DVD and I believe I learned more then my friend who attended $2000 class.
This book is good , but DVD is DVD, it is like you have class at home. This book is very useful though.

I have extensive experience with UNIX literature of all sorts. And the books that I pick to reference are far exceeding that level of beginners, after all I'm certified Solaris, Linux and AIX professional. This book stood up to my expectations almost perfectly: it is very well written and clearly expressed work. It does not overwhelm with technical details and does not press too much. I also followed an advise in someone review and purchased "UNIX Essentials" DVD that is complete unix course recorded. These two nicely complement one another. You watch it and you read it. If you didn't catch it from the first try you watch it again and read it again. In two months I found myself confident to that extend that gave advises to our system administrator and he accepted them because there were subjects that he wasn't completely sure. What I can say, in three month I passed my first interview and got a job! Sure it is a way to start there much of more advanced reading that will take over you with a time however these two provide you with the BASIS!
I can't overstate how much I have learned from them. Don't be naive, though. You will have to learn and memorize many things. The fact of owning neither book nor DVD will not make you knowledgeable, but if you will work it trough, there is a chance you will surprise many people around!

This book, despite its bombastic title, is an excellent introduction to the UNIX [Linux] operating system. Aimed at the beginner or beginner++, it touches on most of the salient topics a prospective sys admin might need to know about. Topics covered include: basic commands, the file system, the X Window System, environment setup, basic scripting, basic networking, and basic sys admin, among other things.

Although the book is rather hefty--nearly 900 pages--the reader never gets bogged down. The writing is clear, and topics are covered in enough detail as to promote a decent all around understanding of the material.

If I could fault the book in any way, it would be because there are perhaps too many topics covered here. The writing is very good, and I think the authors could have expanded this book into, say, 3 books without getting mired in every detail.

I used this book to teach a Beginners Linux Administration class, and found it to be a great book.

The only downfall, and this does not really matter at the beginners level, is -- this book is written with Red Hat 8 when we have had 3 oor 4 versions after that.

Beyond that this is a great book.

This is strictly a beginner's guide to Linux. The author goes to great lengths to explain only the rudimentry. For example, the author explains around 12 useful commands for the beginners and ignores the rest. Of course, there are far more commands to learn to be truly competent with Linux.

If you already know how to install and configure Linux, stay away from this book. On the other hand, if you just learned how to spell Linux, then this book is a good place to start. Just remember to buy an another more advanced reference to raise your understanding.

My only gripe about this book is that the author lacks strong understanding of Windows but criticizes it nonetheless. For example, the author claims that when a Windows GUI crashes, the entire OS crashes with it. This WAS true....about ten years ago.

I think this book accomplishes exactly what the title mentions, "A Beginner's Guide". I guess I thought myself as in the "beginner" category, but after reading this book, I realized that I was not and needed something with a bit more depth to help me. But in any case, it was a good read.

New users to Linux (Power Users or Windows Admins) will find this book a solid read. I'm not sure how it would be as a beginner's book with no previous experience. I suppose even a beginner could use it, since it covers all the important parts of administration, Linux or whatever. It contains lots of skill building exercises and projects, as well as reusable blueprints. It emphasizes basic areas small business system's administrators would use It covers topics like file systems, backups, printers, user management, security (SSH), various GUIs, task automation, etc. It covers stuff like Apache, sendmail and nameservers, talking to Windows with Samba, exceptionally well.

I've messed around with a bit of UNIX at work as a shell account user, but with this economy, it never hurts to know more tech and be a little less dispensable, so I wanted to set up my own system at home and get my hands dirty.

This book has been a miracle, helping me get through everything from setting up the basics on an old computer I had sitting in the garage (nice to get more use out of it) to implementing a GUI, setting up server daemons, even doing some troubleshooting.

I think I'd have had a slower start if I hadn't already had some basic UNIX experience (navigating, copying files, using a non-GUI text editor) but beyond that, I thought this book was really useful and quite helpful. It's going to be on my reference shelf for a while.

a complete review of the most fundamental aspects of SAS macro language, as well as the more advanced topics. Well written, clear: one can see all the efforts made to make it manageable and easy to read. Defenitively worth my money.

I am highly satified with the shipping method and the condition of the book.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!

Thanks!

Gives a fairly detailed overview of the SAS macro language. Great for users with a little bit of background. The book is not supplemented with an CD, it falls upon the reader to experiment.

It is definitely not for advanced programmers, it is not designed to train you the ability to write your own code entirely as when using C++ or R language.
The book basically tells you how to manipulate existing SAS macro functions with the framework of SAS data step. I strongly doubt that a reader who finishes this book would acquire the ability to write a simple code on his own, for example, a code to compute the sum of integers from 1 to 100 under Macro environment.

But still, this is not a very bad book for two reasons:
1, there are not many books about writing (true) code in SAS;
2, the programming under SAS macro is very limited due to its poor design.

I am not very familiar with SAS/Macro. This book show me how to
use macro language easily and I really learn a lot from this book. I recommend who does not know the macro language to buy
this book. And it contains much more than its prices.
Every SAS programmer must have one.

Handy for those who don't use sed and awk every day. I keep it in my cube.

I bought this "book" because I am writing a program that deals extensively with strings and text (natural language parsing). I was having some difficulty mastering sed, and understanding how it works. For example, "s/[^A-Za-z]//" was not working (to remove non alpha chars). After five pages in this little gem, I knew what I needed. A trailing "g".

The book is rich with examples, explanations, and really just cuts straight to the chase.

This is not a book for the casual user. It is, after all, a reference, not a tutorial. Unix users (and administrators) who already have a basic grasp of regular expressions and just what sed and awk are (and grep/egrep too) will find this most rewarding.

While I have a hard time paying this much for what amounts to less than toaster oven instructions, it is absolutely invaluable to me, and it doesnt take up space on my desk or bookshelf.

Sed and awk are the mainstay for those of you who write shell scripts on unix/linux machines that manipulate text files. It is difficult to overstate the usefulness of these two programs.

So O'Reilly and Robbins decided to help you by providing this pocketbook reference that encapsulates the online help for the programs. The book is aimed at someone who programs, but still prefers a traditional hardcopy reference as an aid to human memory. It assumes that you basically already know how to use the programs, but just need some reminder as to the exact syntax and all the possible options.

I use this pocket reference more then any other reference for sed and awk. This is mostly a syntax guide for folks who already know sed and awk. If you don't know sed and awk, get the Ellen Quigleys 'Unix Shells'(for beginners) followed by O'Reillies 'Sed and Awk' reference. (Big book.) I tend to forget exactly how to do something, so I will just quickly look at my bookmarked pocket reference, and flip quickly to an example of syntax to get that bash code going correctly. If your desk has as many papers and books on it as mine, this is nice for freeing up some elbow room, while keeping the big books on the bookshelf most of the time.

This little book is great. I've only had it for about a week. I needed to match some text today with a pattern that was a little bit more involved than my usual simple needs. I flipped through a few pages and found some examples that quickly helped me derive the search pattern I needed in a few minutes.

I have the full "sed & awk" second edition book, but I went to the pocket reference instead. I would not have been able to find what I needed in the larger book as quickly.

Some have complained about some of the pocket references lacking indexes. This one doesn't have one, but it's so easy to use that it doesn't need one. Just flip and few pages and you'll find what you need. As far as I'm concerned time is money. This little book has paid for itself in one weeks use.