Hardware Books

Passed NT Server with score of 899--first certification class I have taken. This book is not only an excellent study guide but a great introduction to NT Server. I have been maintaining Server for over a year and learned things I needed to know 12 months ago! I hope Alan Carter keeps writing technical guides.

Passed easily in conjunction with Transcenders. Excellent reference guide - perfectly explains core issues regarding NT Server 4.0 and the exam.

Studying does not get much easier than this!

Highly Recommeded!

I used this book, combined with Transcenders and my real-world experience with WinNT Server 4.0 and passed with a 900. Even with the new MCSE W2K Track (which I am pursuing) I feel the right way to do is to do the upgrade path especially if you have experience with NT 4.0. Good luck to all.

Best written book of any MCSE study guide series! It is the easiest to read, comes with great software, and does a great job of hitting each objective. I bought this book instead of the NT 4.0 guide that covers WKS, Server, and ENT because I had already taken WKS--and it is enough to get you through ENT too. Alan Carter deserves a raise or something--because he outdid himself with this series.

This book is a must have if you want to become a MCSE. It covers everything you need to pass all three NT exams with a very clear approach.

I bought this book back in April to help me learn Windows Server 2008. At first I was somewhat overwhelmed as this is a monster book at nearly 1500 pages. I hung in there and read through Chapters 1, 2 and 3. Those chapters introduce new features, provide advice for planning and give specific instructions for installing Windows Server 2008. They are so well organized and so well presented that I felt better about making the move to Windows Server 2008.

In the acknowledgements, William states he has been working with Windows Server 2008 for six years (since 2002). After reading almost every chapter and page in the book over the past 4 months, it is clear that he knows Windows inside and out --- and probably better than anyone else in IT.

With what I learned from this book, I was able to help plan the migration of our network and directory services to Windows Server 2008. My manager selected me to perform the migration in our test lab. This was such a success I was selected to lead the deployment team, and our deployment is proceeding without a hitch!

The book is so packed with useful information I feel I got my money's worth and then some. I've bought several of Stanek's books in the past and they've never let me down. His writing style is top notch --- clear, concise and no nonsense.

I like this book, but what's with the draft-mode printing? The text is so light compared to my other "Inside Out" books, I wonder if this is Microsoft's way of trying to save some money by printing in what looks like draft mode? I study late at night by a lamp, and I have to strain sometimes to continue reading hours at a time with this light print.

My other issue is the ebook, the font doesn't really resemble the book. It seems like the book is printed in Times New Roman (I could be wrong), but the ebook is printed in...something else that's not too easy on the eyes.

However, the content is excellent, and other than the printing of the book and ebook, I'm glad I made this purchase.

This manual is awesome for all your WinSvr08 needs and it's all delivered in William Stanek's extremely friendly, to-the-point prose. No stand-up routines and asides to wade through to get what you need, but with clarity and intelligence throughout that keeps you reading. Yes, even though it's a computer manual.

Throughout, you'll be rewarded with tons of practical tips and how-tos that make such a difference. For example, I've been using Windows since before WinNT, and I got a bunch of excellent tips in the very first chapters!

WinSvr08's a whole new os, and while the obviously new features are covered, there are major improvements and tweaks to almost everything, and this is a Really Great Guide for pointing out the new way of doing things (even for those things you think you know already.)

If you're going to get one book on WinSvr08, get this one. It's accessible so you can get what you need quickly if you're looking for specific help, while having substantial depth to make a more comprehensive reading of it rewarding. Certainly do recommend it.

Stanek's Windows Server 2008 Inside Out is the definitive resource for network administrators who are deploying and using Windows Server 2008. I've never found a single server book that tells you everything you will ever need to know about any edition of Windows Server, but this one comes close and it digs in much deeper into the most relevant topics than any other Windows Server 2008 book I've used.

I have my MCSE, CCNE, CompTIA Security+ certifications, and I have enjoyed reading Stanek's books for years. He writes everything in friendly easy to understand language, so that you don't get lost in computer jargon. He also has a very organized and very clear style and his details are never off topic. He truly understands Windows and his sense of what's important and what's not makes it possible to read the whole book and get the most information out of it.

I feel that Windows Server 2008 Inside Out is the greatest book for me. I have tried many others and can find more answers in this than any other.

My copy of this book has so many highlights, dog ears, and sticky notes it looks like a porcupine. I'm definitely glad I have it. You will be too.

On a different note, the book is so big it's difficult to lug around. I bought a second copy so I have one at home without having to lug my work copy home.

Stanek once again is able to take technical topics and make them understandable. I have been running WinServer08 since beta one, and this book is an excellent reference for those of us already familiar with the Windows operating systems and newcomers alike.

It's written like all Stanek's others to deliver what I needed. It's so good I read the first few chapters straight through.

I have enjoyed reading Stanek's books for years. My understanding always has increased while reading his books. He understands practical IT in the real world and writes from experience and with a goal to increase our understanding.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone upgrading from previous versions and any current administrators.

Very easy to understand. Mr Liming provides all the tools (or lets you know where they can be procured) that you need. This book fulfilled my needs perfectly where I am developing an embedded processor on a device with flash memory as the boot and disk drive.

This book, along with the online documentation at MSDN will get you up and running with your Windows XP Embedded image. And the book is applicable as a first book also. The author is a very responsive contributor on the MSDN (and, I think, other) web forums. Since the book was written the practice of importing your .pmq file into Component Designer instead of Target Designer has become the preferred practice as the author, himself, has stated in the web forums.

The CD material is now available through the author's website.

I have been asked a few times already about this book and support for XPE SP2. Windows XP Embedded advanced is still a good starting point for those getting started with XP Embedded SP2. All the XPe development basics are in this book, and the steps are good for SP1 and SP2. There is a new toolkit (Windows XP Embedded Supplemental Toolkit) available that covers the new SP2 features and other topics such as EWF API .NET programming, USB Flash boot, security, HORM, etc. There are a few new tools that also help with development. See my websites for more information: www.seanliming.com or www.sjjmicro.com

Sean Liming

I purchased this book after spending days trying to find information about Embedded XP on the web, before reading this book I was struggling to get a working XPe image. The book arrived and by the next day I had the image booting and running.

If you need to create images as I did that run on Flash memory then this book is a requirement. Everything is explained in a detailed way and the common error message section has saved me hours of work trying to find out what is wrong.

Great Book

Having been a programmer for 20 years or so, I have a solid background regarding computers, and computing systems. However when faced with using XPe, it was a matter of learning the development studio and tools ASAP. This book did just that. Within 6 hours of recieving the book, I had my first XPe OS in the target system running. This book is a "hands-on" adventure that reads well; it's not too simple that it doesn't get you where you need to be, yet not so techi intense that it puts your to sleep. My complements to Mr. Liming on a job well done!

This is really a rare book. Not stupid-funny, and so knowledgeable and pedagogic. I had bought my new iMac, the first since my Mac+ nearly 20 years ago. It looked like a modern Mac, and worked as such. Then I got Joe Kissel's book! And discovered all the stuff underneath. The holy grail of UNIX. And how smart the engineers at Apple still are! I was amazed by how many intelligent goodies they have put into the box. And really enjoyed the profound know-how of Joe Kissell, and his many step-by-step guided tours into the heart of the iMac. I learnt to install a firewall- and that I already had a firewall in my box. I was taught GIMP, and file sharing, and all about the iApp's. Backing up, booting and so on. Apache-in-the-box too. Thank you VERY much, Joe!

I've been using a spare iBook as a webserver for about 8 months now and decided to turn it into an email server as well. In just a few pages, this book explained exactly how to do it with Sendmail.

Unfortunately however, Panther ships with Postfix preinstalled (and from what I've read Postfix is a better alternative to Sendmail) so obviously the steps for configuring Postfix weren't included in the book. I emailed the author (who thoughtfully provides his email address in the book for help related questions) asking for instructions to configure Postfix, and within hours he emailed me concise details of how to configure Postfix with a shareware program called Postfix Enabler.

Just a short while later my iBook was not only an HTTP web server, but a POP/IMAP email server too. I had no idea it would be so easy, and there's 49 other wonderful techniques that are simple to follow: everything from using the command line with Terminal to installing PHP and MySQL and so much more.

The front of the book does say, "Covers Jaguar!", but I've been using it with Panther and the only trouble I had was with the Postfix issue. It's one of the most helpful OS X books I've ever read.

This is a wonderful book for all us souls who use OSX. The techniques are almost always a way to either solve a particular problem or learn a particular tool. I have only gone through about 30 of them, but each one has made my life either a little easier or a lot. A couple of examples are that I know understand how to best utilize the Finder and am no longer intimidated by Terminal. The style is breezy and very easy to understand without being condescending or dumbed-down. Strongly recommended

Joe Kissell writes for both the techie and we "normal" folk. His teaching of UNIX basics leaves you with knowledge, not boredom, and is worth the price of the book by itself. Most of the improvements he describes for both OS X and MAC are useful, and in some cases just plain fun, to any MAC user, and his ability to explain his techniques to the reader is an absolute pleasure. Can't wait for his OS 10.3 version.

I have been using a Tablet PC for a while, but haven't made full use of it's capability. This book has helped unlock some good tools and tricks to make best use of the Tablet.

I found this book to be really helpful. It has some great information on how to use the Tablet PC with all sorts of software and hardware, making it more useful than I would have guessed.

If you have a Tablet PC, or are thinking of getting one, this is the book for you!

Not only does it talk about some of the basic softwarepackages available for the Tablet PC, it also deals with some esoteric packages, as well as lots of hardware add-ons to make your Tablet PC hum.

If you want to know how to use your Tablet PC to best effect, the section on Usage Scenarios is really helpful. In this section, Mathews shows about 20 different job roles (Attorney, Technician, CEO, Engineer, Consultant, etc.), how each person uses the Tablet PC, and what applications and hardware options they can best utilize.

Since Tablet PCs are all about portable computing, there are also chapters on using wireless networking, and some of the neat new tools such as Microsoft OneNote. Speech recognition and handwriting recognition is explained and tips are given to get the best results.

And if you want to play with your Tablet PC, this book even talks about games and graphics packages that make your Tablet PC more enjoyable in Coach class.

I've read all of the Tablet PC books, and this is the best!

I am in love with my tablet pc. I am a medical student, in clinical rotations, and just love this toy. I wanted to know more about it, and therefore ordered this book. It seemed to be the best book available for my purpose. I am very happy I bought the book.

This book has all the information a new Tablet PC user needs to make the Tablet PC a powerful personal computing device.

The book starts out with the basics, then throws in Usage Scenarios, which show how different people use Tablet PCs. Then the author goes on to explain how to use the various features of the Tablet PC to the max. Finally, the book finishes with Office 2003 and OneNote coverage, then a review of various software and hardware that complement Tablet PCs.

All in all, this is a well-written book that's complete in coverage and easy to read.

Highly recommended!

This book was excellent and very informative. Mr. Young impeccably explains how to use PDFs to achieve the desired results of your product. I've often been confused on how to precisly use various PDF products, but with this book, I can now design my product the way I want it to look. This book is definitely a "must read"!

I'm one of those people who buys every software book on the market. I've looked at lots of books on PDF. This is the best yet. It's practical and tells me how to avoid making the most common mistakes in creating a PDF. I wish the rest of my colleagues would read this.

Unlike many books in this category, Carl Young's book is not a rewrite of the Acrobat Help file. He lays out the most common mistakes creators of PDFs make, and then provides step-by-step solutions. Highly recommended.

Every graphic designer should own this book! Designers constantly send PDFs
that are waaaaay to big, or have missing fonts to my small marketing/pr
firm. I may buy copies for every designer I work with.

I consider myself an advanced amature with Photoshop CS2. I knew I needed to learn about Paths/Layers/Masks but was intimidated and confused (especially paths, masks, and channels).

This book is so well written that just into page 51, so many things just started clicking into place. Understanding what these things actually do, how and why made it seem much less confusing. I can hardly wait to sit down at my computer and start experimenting!

The only "negative" thing I can think of to say is the print in the book is just a tad on the small side ;).

I agree with the other reviewer in that this book tells you the how and the why not just a here is how you do it step by step with no explainations. I have several photoshop books; if I had to get rid of all but two, this is one of the two I would keep.

Though I havent finished yet it is i can say of a good value.
Easy to understand so i can recommend it for people who want to complete their existing knowledge with something else.

I've used both online and printed tutorials for Photoshop in the past, but French's Photoshop Unmasked is easily the easiest to understand and, most important, most helpful. Practical advice on real-world solutions, offered in clear, hands-on lessons with files stored on his personal website. After years of hobbyist use for amateur photography and web design, I finally feel like I'm unlocking the full power of Photoshop. The bibles are good for reference and some of the more arcane uses of Photoshop, but if you want a solid explanation of how to perform the actions you'll need to know regardless of how you use Photoshop personally, this is the only book you should need.

Selections options often trip up the novice Photoshop user. Nigel make this look easy. His style is easy to follow for novices and masters alike. Knowing what to do when is the key to an efficient working environment. For imaging forensics, having the what to do when discussion of selection and masking techniques here in book form helps you prepare for an intense cross.

This one should be on everyone's shelf.

Jim Hoerricks
http://forensicphotoshop.blogspot.com
Author of Forensic Photoshop - a comprehensive imaging workflow for forensic professionals

This book brings together articles from all aspects of digital audio from a multitude of authors into one volume. To find the same information you would have to dig through countless journals and troll the web, thus this book's first service is saving time for the researcher. Most books on digital audio focus on one particular audience - the programmer, the signal processing professional, or the recording professional. This book has a variety of articles from all of these fields. Thus it is likely that not every article will be interesting and useful to everyone, but the book should have enough articles of value to make it worthwhile to anyone interested in this fascinating field. The author himself cites Andrew Glassner's "Graphic Gems" series as an inspiration, and you could indeed rename this series "Audio Gems" and not lose any meaning by the retitling.

Of course, there are articles on the basic science of sound that should be of interest to anyone starting out in the field such as "Understanding the Decibel" and "Sound Propagation". Those interested in signal processing and programming of algorithms will enjoy Perry Cook's "Introduction to Physical Modeling" which condenses much of the material in his book "Real Sound Synthesis for Interactive Applications" into one digestible introductory article. Included are some of Cook's programs that assist in physical modeling, but he saves his real contribution to this field, his Synthesis Toolkit in C++, for volume two of this series. Likewise Albert Bregman's extensive research on the subject of auditory scene analysis is condensed nicely in the article "Perceptual Organization of Sound" and acts as an accessible introduction. My personal interest is in synthesis and signal processing, thus from my perspective I found the article "Timbre Trees: Integrating Sounds and Images" to be the most interesting article of the bunch. It explained a fascinating concept I had never heard of before involving an integrated approach to motion and sound. The entire concept is not explained in this one article, but there are references to other sources of information if you want to learn more details. This is the whole purpose of this book and its series - to introduce the reader to a topic in digital audio via a clear article, and then refer the reader to more in depth material outside the scope of the book should you need to know more. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in the field of digital audio.

This book is a great book for anyone that works with digital audio. Audio Anecdotes introduces us to the practical side of audio. Just take a look at the Table Of Contents to see that there are papers on a wide variety of topics. Each of the 25 papers are written by experts in their respective fields, and each provides practical tips for creating great sounding audio. These tips aren't ideas that are obvious even to those with years of experience in the field- many of them come from years of research. In addition to the tips and techniques, Audio Anecdotes is filled with example code so you can play around and hear exactly what the authors are writing about. The CD-ROM comes with demos and explanations for most of the topics as well as the software to compile and run each demo. The software includes Caliper (a custom, text-based program used for controlling demo parameters), Flavor (a language, based on C++ and Java, great for multimedia applications), Octave (a language similar to MatLab), the PortAudio Library (a C library for audio I/O), and STK (Synthesis Toolkit- a set of C++ classes used for audio synthesis and processing). Whether you're going to use all this software or if you're simply looking for some practical mixing tips, I recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn more about the practical side of digital audio.

Audio Anecdotes: Tools, Tips, And Techniques For Digital Audio is an anthology of essays by a wide variety of expert authors concerning the exciting field of digital audio, lessons that can be learned from its past, discoveries directly applicable in the present, and anticipation of new changes in the future. Cutting-edge, practical, advice-filled instructionals include "Timbre Trees: Integrating Sounds and Images", "RampTest: Quantifying Audio Performance", "Designing a Movie for Sound", "Perceivable Auditory Latencies" and much more. A highly recommended supplementary educational text for anyone pursuing or involved in a career in the digital audio field, Audio Anecdotes is clearly an excellent addition to career-themed professional libraries as well as audio technology and technical reference shelves.

Ken Greenebaum, who co-edited this book with Ronen Barzel, and wrote some of the articles, indicates in the preface that his motivation for putting Audio Anecdote together was to get the book he had wished for when he was starting out in digital audio. What he came up with is a wide-ranging collection of 25 articles on various aspects of sound--what it is, how we hear it, how it affects us, how it can be produced and altered, and how it can fool us. Some of the articles are rigorously scientific and technical, while others really are anecdotal and personal. Most significantly there is a wealth of information about the manipulation of sound, and there is some history of the development of our understanding of sound.

Most of the material is aimed at people who have an intense interest in audio, and audio reproduction and development, and who already have some knowledge. However this book also works well for a rank beginner (such as myself). The articles are clear and well-presented with many black and white illustrations, tables, diagrams, and mathematical formulas, not to mention programming code! There is a glossary and there is some overlap in the "anecdotes." For example, after a brief overview of the book, Greenebaum begins with an introductory-like article on what sound is and how we measure it. This is followed by a more technical article by Hesham Fouad entitled "Understanding the Decibel." This in turn is followed by Greenebaum's essay on "Sound Propagation." His exploration of the physics involved is clear and easy to read.

One of the many things that I discovered is that "When we speak on the telephone, a portion of our voice output is intentionally played back to us through the earpiece." Derek DiFilippo and Greenebaum explain in their article, "Perceivable Auditory Latencies" that "If we didn't have a clear sense of hearing ourselves speak, we would tend to talk louder and louder because we [would] assume that the listener on the other end...[wouldn't be able to] hear us either." (pp. 74-75)

I also learned (from Oscar-winning sound director Randy Thom in his article, "Designing a Movie for Sound") that the wise film maker should make his movie with sound in mind pre-production, not as something added on afterward. As Thom points out, in the great cinematic experiences, "the visual and aural elements are working together so well that it is nearly impossible to distinguish them." (p. 406) He mentions the opening of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979) and the bird attack scene in Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), and the opening of David Fincher's Seven (1995) as examples. And I can't help adding the striking opening sequence from Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973) as another preeminent example of how sound can be as important, or even more important, than visuals in making a scene a lasting experience.

Included with the book is a CD that you can listen to with examples of sounds keyed to the discussions in the articles. The effect of latency ("the time between human input to a system...and system output," p. 65) and many other sound phenomena are demonstrated in the most effective way possible--by hearing them.

Special mention might be made of writer Adrienne Ross's personal contribution, "Understanding Hearing Losses and Hearing Gains...," which truly is an anecdote, beautifully written about her discovery of a hearing defect that she had lived with most of her life without realizing it. The fact that she had compensated for the defect by using her other senses, dramatically demonstrates how our experience of sound is not isolated from our other sensual experiences.

This little book is a wonder! I would highly recommend it to anyone who has a Mac-I would actually say it is essential. Easy to read-it's a scream. Full of what-to-do-if's and how to keep everything running ship-shape. Explains mind-boggling concepts in easy to understand terms. Great step by step instruction. Everything from RAM and ROM to System Folder conflicts to fonts and software to how to keep a lean mean machine and handling "problems-Yikes!" I actually took a class entitled "Understanding Your Mac"at a local Jr. College that used it as the textbook. I keep my copy right beside the computer. Get this book for yourself or a friend now!

Everything I know about computing I learned from this book or from its predecessor, "The Little Mac Book" (or from Williams's "Tabs and Indents on the Macintosh," evidently no longer available). All books about Macs by Robin Williams are funny, imaginative, and easy to understand. If you have a Mac and you have this book, you don't need anything else (except, of course, whatever Mac book Williams comes up with next).

I've been a Mac user for over a decade and I still loved this book! It's packed with good tips and helpful suggestions to find your way out of a Mac jam. I highly recommend it (and I love the cover!)

Broback and Williams manage to proivde you with plenty of solid information without boring you with details. Excellent for the Mac user who needs to get the most out of his/her machine and know what to do when something goes wrong. I followed a lot of their advice and my Mac runs more stable than it has in a long time.

We're a couple of seniors dragged kicking and spamming into the Computer Age. This book, Byte Me, helps to express the rage and confusion we have experienced, and produced great hiccuping gulps of laughter in between. Give it to all the computer friends you know

Byte Me! disproves the theory that computers and comedy don't go together. Just to be able to laugh at something I generally find so frustrating was a great relief--now I no longer have to take it out on random pedestrians. Robert Libbon is a very clever writer, who manages to convey real information while making you laugh. I look forward to his next work

The first time I saw the book Byte Me! I thought it was another one of those 'For Dummies...' titles that helps newbies learn whatever subject they need in complete layman's terms. Not until I picked up the book to peruse the inside contents did I find out what a very funny book it was. Byte me is one of those rare humor books that manages to walk that fine line of good humor and being totally biting sarcasm that pervades most other humor writers of this genre. The author, Robert P. Lippon somehow manages to put in enough factual information with the humor in such a way that almost anyone who has dealt with a computer and it's problems can understand. Reading through most of the book, I saw a lot of things that he wrote that seems to be ironically true about the computer industry when you think about it, stuff like how some tech support lines manage to never answer your call until you finally decide to hang up. Overall this book is a very high reccomendation for anyone who has had to deal with the ups and downs that come with computers or has yet to. Plus if you're looking for a holiday gift or something that will be enjoyed by almost anyone for a special occasion it's almost certain that they'll enjoy this book. For me, this book is just the perfect read while waiting for that tech support guy at IBM to answer my call

Comedy Central and Libbon have hit the nail on the head! Rarely will you find a book that will make you laugh out loud while reading in a room full of people. This book is full of great "bits" regarding the futile efforts to contact a human working for the Tech Support area of your favorite software company as well as a great section on how to exact your revenge from customer service. You will find yourself shaking your head in agreement while you hold your stomach with laughter. Have a good laugh at modern society as well as at yourself with this book. Kudos Libbon!!!!