Rating:  Summary: Teases, but offers very little detail Review: Aside from the installation sections, this is only a fair book. It isn't terrible, it gives snippets of information about many topics.Unfortunately, this is all this book gives you. It offers very little detail on almost everything the book covers, leaving you in the dark at almost every section. For example, the book describes that to disable a users account, the admin should create a tail script to do so. It then offers a few lines of text showing a tail script, and then tells you to modify the passwd file. That's great, but what EXACTLY needs to be modified? Do I stick the tail script at the end of the user's entry? Do I have to snip out some text somewhere? If you want some general instruction about the what Linux is capable of, this is a decent book. In terms of Linux implementation and administration however, it needs a lot of work.
Rating:  Summary: GET IT Review: This book is great. A definite keeper
Rating:  Summary: Marvelous Review: This is an excellent book if you want to know how to use well your Linux! =)
Rating:  Summary: Differing opinion - Excellent book Review: Granted I've been working off and on with Unix systems for a few years now, but when I decided to build a Linux box on my second PC I found the book a phenomenal resource. For a *complete* beginner to Linux it may lack too many details, but for most people who enjoy getting inside of an OS and their computer this book explains not only the 'how', but also the 'why'. Details the book outlines are ample enough so that if you aren't able to gather all the info you need to get something to work, you are informed enough to search for the remaining info you require on the online Linux resources. Granted, more details would have been beneficial in some areas, but overall I found the book not only a 'must read', but a 'must have'. For Windows users: before criticizing the book, realize first that the Linux OS is different from the Win9X platforms. Win9X was designed for beginners, and NT for advanced users; Linux should really only be considered by people with extensive interest in an OS with a very steep learning curve.
Rating:  Summary: no good for beginners, poor reference Review: This book is disorganized and essentially useless for anything except the command summaries. Even those are incomplete. The Chapters are completely out of order and the focus (especially in networking) is on the GUI tools that RedHat provides, rather than the underlying Linux system they manipulate.
Rating:  Summary: Do not buy this book! Review: I bought this book about 6 months ago when I didnt know more than a few basic *nix commands.. I hated it then and still hate it (I would like to think im an experienced linux user)The installation guide was lacking, organization was absolutely ugly, detailed information particularly and even info that you can grab on to and use simply wasnt there.
Rating:  Summary: Needs to cover setting up and installing more in depth! Review: This book I bought to use as a guide to starting my Linux experience. So far it has given me many headaches because the book only lightly skims on most areas (Like setting up the X Windows System) and redirects you to something on the CDROM, while not telling you how to open/browse it. I had to look forward a chapter to find an example on how to open up a text editor...I wish that the book would tell me how I should do something, not just what I should do ("Open up xxx.xxx in your favorite text editor" I'm a Linux newbie, how am I supposed to know what he's talking about?!). This book is worth the software bundle, though - Red Hat 5.2 is ok, I'm going to buy 6.0 ASAP because 5.2 doesnt support my TNT video card.
Rating:  Summary: Save your money and time!!! Review: Simply put: 1-Bad written 2-Bad organized 3-Chapters not in logical order 4-You will have to fill-in lots of blanks
Rating:  Summary: Slapped together Review: The authors of this book cover a lot of ground, but they just weren't that thorough -- this book bears the classic marks of a tome slapped together so a publisher would have an offering on a hot topic. For example, the installation guide on the Red Hat web site gives much better information than the book. A major complaint -- they often give command lines without explaining what they are doing -- even if you are able to follow the authors' instructions you have to do so blindly.
Rating:  Summary: Totally frustrating experience. Review: Authors can explain something well if they know well. These two authors throughout the book, in large part, tell you to do post-configuration stuff. They have clearly avoided most of the criticial configuration details on how to set up dialup networking, Internet SLIP/PPP connection, browser setup, client network configuration. Small but useful details like using FDISK for partition or setting up a modem are deliberately avoided. I have reasons to belive that these authors have no real experience on installing and configuring any Linux OS. It is a fruit of cook-book cutting-pasting job.
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