Running Linux, Fourth Edition

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Summary: Note 3rd edition published in August 1999
Review: This page fails to account properly that a new edition is out. A lot of the links and all the reviews up to this point are for the second edition

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Summary: To "A reader from Amsterdam , July 10, 1999"
Review: There is a simple solution:
man find
man date
There is no way that they could cover usage for all commands in your /usr/bin/. This book was meant to be a nice beginner/intermediate level introduction to Linux for users, system administrators, and programmers, and I believe the authors have succeeded.

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Summary: Could not find anything on the date command
Review: First it advices to use emacs as editor. a program which made me almost smash my computer, you can't get out if you don't know the nerd level of this program.(use pico) On essential comandos like FIND it only writes a few lines. And the worst, I did not find anything on the DATE command. It is not in the index !! There is ofcourse also a lot of usefull info in this book but don't buy this one if you are a novice on linux. My conclusion, buy another book.

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Summary: This is a good book.
Review: This is a great book that gives you valueable information on linux. I used it to help me setup my first linux partition and run slackware.

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Summary: You want this one on your bookshelf!
Review: This was the first Linux book that I bought, which I found to be useful, but often a little too advanced. I therefore ended up buying several other books (Linux Secrets and Red Hat 5.2 Unleashed - these contained a lot of immediately practical info I needed). However, now that I've been using Linux for a while I find myself continually coming back to Running Linux for additional info often not found in other books. People complain about it being out of date and not having a CDROM. These are the resons this book is so good - it doesn't deal with all the distribution specific issues - these can be found in the documentation that comes with your distribution. Instead it supplies a plethora of information on a wide range of Linux topics that don't chage much over time. In addition, Matt Welsh is perhaps the best technical writer I've come across.

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Summary: Best Book Available
Review: From my brief experience with Linux, I have researched almost everybook available about this outstanding OS. I feel this one is the best, not only in price but in content. As you've probably read below, it is not up to snuff with current Linux standards which is unfortunate, but tolerable. Like all Linux books, it assumes the operator has some previous background with some OS.

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Summary: Good Linux book but a little outdated plus no CD-ROM!
Review: This book should give the Linux OS it is talking about in CD-ROM in the sense that Linux OS is free anyway ! This book is oriented towards RedHat distribution of Linux but fails to keep up with RedHat Linux 5.2 (the most current version now), although that can be tolerated, but it lags behind too far (maybe the author is still using a very old version of RedHat Linux distribution). The language and style of explanation can be easily understood by people who do not have background in Unix/Linux whatsoever, that's the high point which we can find as well as in many other O'Reilly & Associates books. The other high point, is the price is quite reasonable. A good book for someone who wants to learn about Linux from ground up.

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Summary: Very Concise and Useful
Review: I had purchased two other books as Linux references before discovering this title. It addressed the basics that the other books seem to assume that we already know. I actually whooped and did a small victory dance after getting the GUI working. Now I have a happy Linux server, a perky little in-house network, and a handy reference on keeping it all working. Like all O'Reilly books, this is a gem!

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Summary: Great Linux Starter
Review: I read this book back when the info in it was developing. I reccomend it to anyone who is trying linux as thier first UNIX experience. With the way Linux is shaping up, this book though only a few years old is slipping into a more historical vien. Orielly has to get these guys back together for an updated version covering 2.2.x. Other than that my copy still stands as a handy referance, and often reread sections for fun on account the writing style is very good and rare as far as computer books go.

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Summary: An excellent, compact Linux reference!
Review: I loved this book in that it's relatively concise. Unlike many Linux books out there, you don't need a trailer to lug it around, and in some respects it's *more* useful than those monster tomes. A previous reviewer criticized its lack of a CD-ROM. Personally, I find this to be a major-league *plus* for the book! I *already* have my Linux OS CD-ROMs, and it's refreshing to find a manual that doesn't have the ubiquituous CD or three. I don't need more Linux CD's cluttering my desktop, and I was relieved to find one good book out there w/o them. Thank you, O'Reilly! On the negative side, as others have pointed out, it really does need to be updated. I'm often shocked at how old some of O'Reilly's Linux/UNIX texts are! This one is relatively new, by comparison (their books on the X Window system are ancient!). Maybe with Linux's increasing popularity they'll get the message and update some of their books. Someone's really gotta get a *good* book out that's devoted to X.