Hardware Books

Build your own Pentium Processor PC is probably one of the best guides in PC asssembly I have ever read. I am a novice at building PCs, even though I've been using one for years. I learned all the fundimentals from this book and I would highly recommend it to all beginners, interested in saving a bundle.

I have been reading Aubrey Pilgrim's Save a Bundle series for some time (How to Build a PC and Save a Bundle to this one!) now... It has helped me to understand PC's, not to be "afraid" of them, and to pursue a career in working with them.. I also got his Build your Own Lan and Save a Bundle! Extremely good advice with cautions where needed! I go to his books when I want to make upgrades or even considering whether to really purchase a new PC screamer or upgrade my BABY! (smile) Aubrey-you are doing the WORLD a great service!!! Can you put out a book on how to build a Server and Save a Bundle? I would be the FIRST in LINE!!!! This review about this book comes with my HIGHEST recommendation!!!

After looking through counless books on building servers i finally found this one. This book answered all of my questions. Now i have a very profitable web services bussiness. I owe all of my success to this book.

Clear, well written and full of usefull examples are why we rated this book 9 on a scale of 10. This book is a must for any new NT user that wants the low down on NT and how it interacts with the World Wide Web. Seasoned vetrans will enjoy the advanced tips given as well as the undocumented features only Microsoft knows. This book will take you from basic concept for a working machine in less than a day ! A Must have book for your working collection

Although the title is new, this book is based on the authors' 1998 book titled "Web PErformance Metrics, Models and Methods (ISBN 0136938221). This book is more than a minor rewrite - the chapters are in a different sequence, and each has been updated. None of the information that made the older book such a valuable resource was lost in the process. For example, the material on queuing theory and analysis remains, and it among the best written tutorials in print. What has changed includes:

(1) Shifting of focus from client/server and web server environments to web services, with an emphasis on performance characteristics of SOAP and UDDI. Client server issues are still covered because these issues are still germane.

(2) An emphasis on architecture and how performance and capacity fit into a larger picture. Network and server performance characteristics are examined in detail.

What hasn't changed includes the excellent material on performance and benchmarking basics, detailed analysis techniques, and the support for this book that the authors provide on the book's web site. I especially like the Excel spreadsheets that you can download to use in conjunction with material in nearly every chapter.

Overall, this is one more of a series of books on various aspects of performance and capacity management. I also recommend reading their companion book, "Scaling for E-Business: Technologies, Models, Performance, and Capacity Planning" (ISBN 0130863289), which covers the applications level of e-commerce systems and seamlessly complements the material in this book.

As Web Services get implemented, this book can be a vital tool in planning for the deployment. The authors have a rigorous methodology to estimate the many performance issues encountered when you try to build out an actual Web Service. They discuss important ideas like content delivery networks, which cache or mirror content at different physical locations, so that the response time to a user's query is minimised. And it also adds redundancy. Think Akamai, for instance.

A crucial aspect they explain is how to develop a cost model for a data centre facing a certain expected rate of queries coming in from the net. Practical advice on what things to cost out and how to do so, as shown in various examples.

Most books on Web Services published after this book often discuss the networking together of various services. Using WSDL or BPEL to describe these configurations. BPEL may not have even existed in 2001 when the book was published. But the book is certainly not outdated. Nothing in it is tied to a specific version of a Web Services grammar. Those other books are more about explaining the syntax. Few delve into actual deployment scaling issues that cannot be avoided if you have to go live.

In networking support is a key element of what the administrators do, the same principle applies within the world of routers and to become a CCNP is one of the four exams you have to take.

This book is just over a 1000 pages and the information is written in a labs/hands-on format. There are a number of step by step examples with instructions and the book can either work in a self learn or classroom setting.

Topics like the network models or OSI, DOD, Client/server, and LAN topologies and technologies like ethernet, token ring, FDDI and ATM. Also there is coverage of the troubleshooting tools like show and debug commands, ping, tracert and telnet.

LAN Protocols like IP and IPX, router configurations, frame relay, X.25, Novell, VLANS, STP and STA, 5000 series switches, ISDN and finally routing protocol troubleshooting. I have been able to use some of the routing protocol troubleshooting already in my job.

There is a sample test and review questions in the book as well as projects. The cd included has over 100 questions and practice tests in various testing formats. Overall a good value for what you pay for.

This is a very good book for both studying CCNP Support exam and as a work reference book. The real exam covers a wide range of topics, so does this book. The included CD has a good set of review questions to find any weak areas. The book actually provides more than 'exam cram', it asks you to perform some real-life like tasks. This is also a decent reference book for people working in general network support area, especially if you don't remember all the details of many aspects of Cisco equipment, this could provide an entrance point.

This book, and these two authors, were able to explain all of the parts of windows that everybody needs to know! They also took a lot of things that other people had said and proved them to be sheep that follow the Microsoft sheppard. Keep up the good work. P.S. I recommend that you dont bother hitting this book with a hilighter, as I did originally, because after a few days youll notice that your whole book is yellow

I found "The Mother of All Windows" books to be some of the most informative 'plain english' "tech" books on the market. My job requires me to understand the underpinnings of Microsoft products such as Windows 95, and now Windows 98 at a deep technical level.

With humor and pizzaz, often missing from technical writings. Mom and her entourage lead you the reader through the often icey landscapes, and steaming jungles of jargon needed to understand a complex operating system.

I completely enjoyed the trip. I hope you will too. Remember, Mom's allways looking out for ya'.

Jerry and Elaine Heuring's E.C. Simmons Keen Kutter provides an excellent guide to identification and values of this brand's cutlery and tools, with color photos aiding in the process. This manufacturer produced a range of pocket knives, hand tools, catalogs and squares: all are surveyed and given current values here.

This volume (copyright, 2000) contains 192 pages and more than 750 full color, large, sharp photos. You'll find information about thousands of Keen Kutter items here. The book discusses Keen Kutter history, tradmarks and motto, reproductions, fakes and clubs. Price ranges are provided for each item. Major topics cover Advertising, Calendars, Catalogs, and Kitchen, Paper Goods, Saws, to Tool Boxes, Wrenches and Yard and Garden. A must have volume for collectors of this popular collectible.

This book should be packaged with the ACT 2000 software.It is a must read /purchase if you are new to ACT or have used ACT in earlier versions.This is an excellent refrence guide.Questions with easy to understand answers are just as easy to find.This book will help you get up to speed very quickly and does an excellent job with the new features in this version of ACT.

After wading through other software tomes, I found Wolf's writing easy to follow and direct. No fuzzy logic or tangents. I have used ACT! for a few versions and found the upgrades in 2000 to be fantastic, especially with the screen shots and the step-by-step guides Wolf includes. His anecdotes are particulary helpful, real-life examples. Don't waste your time with any other ACT! guide.

iMovie2 does not come with an instruction book, and the iMac booklet helps precious little, so I was pleased to find Brad Miser's Idiot Guide (which is a series I like anyway). The book is both imformative and insightful, plus a lot of fun to read. It got me going with iMovie in very short order, and when I emailed Mr. Miser to clarify a point, I got a prompt and effective answer. Highly recommended.

There are few things as satisfying and fun to the videographer as making professional movies - videos that you actually want to watch a second time or more - and Apple's iMovie software is THE tool to do just that. You get superb results from an inexpensive piece of software - IF you can use it. While the program is exceptionally simple, there is only an on screen "Help Menu," and we all know how those work: everything but the question you need answered, it seems. Into the void has rushed Brad Miser with wit and wisdom, and with all the answers and instruction you need and then some. His Idiot's Guide is a marvelous introduction to video/movie making, and he walks you through composition, editing, mixing, enhancing, titling, effects, and stuff you never thought possible when you bought that video camera (or even thought about buying it). Miser is one of those very few authors that are effectively "high tech" and "high touch," he writes with clarity, and with an obvious love of his subject. If Amazon would allow it, I'd give this six stars.

I have never read such a nice book detailing so much of multi-vendor interoperability issues. It helps you with the protocol knowledge itself and practical knowledge with router configurations. My colleague in PS, Hannes really knows what this is all about.
This book, while pours much theorectical knowledge though, doesn't put me to sleep.
Actually anyone who are interested into large-scale SP network design should read that, at least 3 times. It helps you grow in the telecom field.

Walt is one of the most prolific networking authors in the industry, and Hannes is one of the few true IS-IS experts in the world. Friends and colleagues both, I am delighted that Hannes and Walt have pooled their extensive experience to produce what is destined to be a classic volume for IP engineers. Going far beyond the basics of the protocol, Hannes details the many design touches--both subtle and not so subtle--that go into creating a real-world IS-IS implementation. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand IS-IS at a deep level, from network architects wanting to understand how to design a large-scale IS-IS network to software engineers wanting to write carrier-class IS-IS code to CCIE and JNCIE candidates who need to understand the protocol but have had little opportunity to work with it in a production environment. And despite the technical deep-dive, the book is written in a friendly, readable style with frequent flashes of humor. I cannot over-emphasize the importance of this book to anyone wanting to truly understand IS-IS.

This is a text book, complete with review questions, vocab, and labs. There is also an associated lab workbook which is available from the publisher.
I found reading this book to be extremely easy. It has a lot of diagrams, perhaps a few too many, but they illustrate the principles. Each key term is explained and also has the definition in the margin. There are highlights to know concerning the A+ exam, plus a few sample questions in each chapter.
Each chapter also has a simple "lab" section with some real computer excercise to perform.
My only question is whether this book is enough. I can't say. Likely, no single source is enough, especially without hands on experience.
I also question if it is not time for a new edition given this one was published in June 2004.
Also Roberts textbook on Networking Fundamentals is similar in format and readibility.

It has great depth, explaining everything you ever wanted to know about how your computer works, with introduction to a typical PC and its role in our lives plus laboratory activities after each chapter. The book should be used as a reference resource especially for those who enjoy tinkering with PCs.
Also, I feel that this book is very helpful to most individuals, especially those who have moderate familiarity with computer systems, computer terms and electronic parts such as transistors, resistors and capacitors.