Rating: 
Summary: A Linux book you can actually use to do stuff.
Review: Linux may be cool, but the documentation is horrible. There are tons of inconsistent HOWTO files, out of date FAQs, and a bunch of programmers that don't really see the problem. Whenever you want to do anything with Linux, you usually have to read every piece of documentation out there, and basically reverse-engineer a solution.Most commercial Linux books for beginners (or at least for people who don't dig through C++ on a daily basis) are not well laid out. I should know - I wrote several chapters in one a few years back. They are usually organized by major system - a chapter on installation, one for video, one for sound, one for networking, and so on. But what if you want to write a book? Or record an album? Unless you can dig around on the web to find someone else doing the same thing, you are out of luck. I'm glad that a book like this is out there. First, it is much more theoretical and philisophical than most approaches. That means it doesn't matter if you have RedHat 7.0 or 7.1 or whatever. It's just like if you are using a cookbook to make food - it doesn't matter if you use fresh-squeezed orange juice or Minute Maid orange juice, other than the difference in taste and texture - the basic lessons still apply. I haven't seen other No Starch books, so I don't know if the look and feel is specific or part of the series, but it works. It's not a glossy, corporate taste - it's easy to flip through and fun to use. After reading a few pages to solve a problem, you're suddenly reading for hours and realizing that there are a lot of other things you could be doing with Linux - and that's the point. People don't need to be programmers to use a computer, and people can use their computer for more than email, web browsing and minesweeper. It's like you wanted a recipe to make some hamburgers, and you find a dozen new dishes you'll want to try for the next few weeks. Great approach overall, and it's also very cool that you can download the entire thing for free at dsl.org, if you want to check it out first, or just have a copy on your local hard drive. I wish more books did this. Overall, very excellent! Now I just need some more time to try out all of the things I've seen in here...
Rating:
Summary: Real GNU/Linux open source! Great book!
Review: Michael Stutz practices what he preaches. He wrote and typeset the entire book using open source GNU/Linux tools exclusively. This book is a must for users at all levels. Instead of imitating M$ Michael Stutz shows and tells how to do nearly everything using "pure" GNU/Linux tools and applications. He has organised the book very well and struck a balance between terseness and verbosity. He has correctly chosen to order the material according to the jobs to do. He deals with real everyday tasks and configuration issues without trying to isolate the user from the system. He treats the user as an educated, intelligent human being with learning skills and willingness to do some real work. Michael Stutz has added real value instead of just copying HOWTOs. His book is a MUST for every GNU/Linux user. It is for the end user and is NOT a system administrator's handbook. Thanks, Michael, for the great job! May your book be translated into some other major languages.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for command line junkies
Review: Target Audience
Command line Linux users who want practical examples of how to do things. Contents
This is a detailed book on how to accomplish a number of tasks using the command line interface of a Debian Linux distribution. The book is divided into seven parts and the following chapters: Part 1 - Working With Linux - Introduction; What Every Linux User Knows; The Shell; The X Window System
Part 2 - Files - Files and Directories; Sharing Files; Finding Files; Managing Files
Part 3 - Text - Viewing Text; Text Editing; Grammar and Reference; Analyzing Text; Formatting Text; Searching Text; Typesetting and Word Processing; Fonts
Part 4 - Images - Viewing Images; Editing Images; Importing Images; PostScript
Part 5 - Sound - Sound Files; Audio Compact Discs; Editing Sound Files
Part 6 - Productivity - Disk Storage; Printing; Cross-Platform Conversions; Reminders; Mathematics
Part 7 - Networking - Communications; Email; The World Wide Web; Other Internet Services; Appendices - Administrative Issues; Linux Resources on the Web; License Review
The true Unix geek and guru seems to be addicted to the command line interface of their system. Why use a mouse and a graphical interface if you can do it all via the keyboard and arcane system commands? If that appeals to you and describes your world, then this book will appeal to you. Now, before I say anything else, there's one thing that the reader should know. This book was written in 2001, and I'll assume that the richness of the desktop graphical interfaces was not available back then. The book seems to be written from the assumption that the command line is the only game in town. The author makes a statement in the opening where he says this book will show "everyday users - artists, designers, businessmen, scholars, or scientists" how to use the tools and applications. I'm here to tell you... the average "user" he targets isn't in this group. You show me a typical accounting supervisor who will use a command line interface, and I'll admit I'm in error. But it isn't going to happen... The book is written in "recipe" format. Each example is numbered, and any other special handling instructions are included up front (like additional packages to download). The command syntax is listed along with a "to get this type of result, do this:" list of command parameters. If you are interested in trying to accomplish a task as part of a shell script or to avoid using an interface with unnecessary features, this format will help you zero in on the specific information you're after. Another thing to keep in mind is that the author is targeting the Debian Linux distribution. You may find a few variations you'll need to accommodate if you are running something different, but overall you should find value regardless of what Linux distribution you are running. It's all solid information if this is the type of Linux work you are doing. Conclusion
A good title for Linux geeks or wanna-be geeks who want to learn how to use the command line interface to accomplish tasks. Definitely not a title for typical desktop users of Linux.
Rating:
Summary: Sorry I bought it
Review: The books is full of information, but it seems that the author forgot (or ignores the fact) that all current Linux distributions have a graphical interface. The recipies describe how to use cumbersome command line tools, although graphical tools are available. I also felt that there were often things that were missing or really did not belong under the heading of "everyday use".
Rating:
Summary: Recommended!
Review: The Linux Cookbook is exactly what I was looking
for as someone just getting into Linux. I tried
others but none showed me how to use Linux for
daily use. That is where this book excels. It's
packed with information that you can actually USE!
It wins on best value for the price, hands down.
Rating:
Summary: A complete hands-on guide and reference
Review: The Linux Cookbook: Tips And Techniques For Everyday Use is a complete hands-on guide and reference for using Linux for everyday activities ranging from working with text, images, and sound to productivity and networking. The step-by-step format makes it very easy for the novice to find what they need -- and fast! The more than 1500 {"recipes" show readers how to accomplish everyday tasks using all the free, Open Source software that comes with Linux. Readers will learn how to connect to the Internet, create posters, schedule automated reminders, archive entire Web sites, send and receive faxes, use spelling and grammar checkers, scan images, and more. If you are new to Linux and seeking to accelerate your learning curve, then get yourself a copy of Michael Stutz's The Linux Cookbook!
Rating:
Summary: OK for beginners
Review: This book didn't quite go as far as I'd wanted. I was expecting something more for the intermediate Unix user, but this was more for the beginner. People considering this book should compare it with "UNIX for the Impatient (2nd Edition)". This book spends a lot of time on simple operations (like formatting text and piping tools together), reiterating man pages (like giving command line options), or discussing in-depth tools that people aren't likely to use much (like lynx and not Netscape or Mozilla). The "Networking" section was also a joke. It spent just a few pages on PPP, and nothing on anything else. I was really interested in learning about Samba, DNS, firewalls, Web servers, etc., but I guess I'll have to find another book for that. On the plus side, I *did* learn some things (for instance, I'd never used lynx before, and find it handy now that I've been exposed to it), and the author provides many links to interesting sites full of additional information and tools to download. All in all, a mixed bag.
Rating:
Summary: The Extreme View
Review: This book offers an extremist view of Linux.
It shows you how to do your everyday computer
work using ONLY open source software - many
Linux books take a much less "pure" view of
the system. But that's not all. It can also
claim what others can't. The dirty little
secret of Linux books is most authors use M$
to write and publish them! But Stutz is a
GNU/Linux fanatic, and he wrote and produced
the whole thing with ONLY Open Source software!
This in effect means that the book itself is
an example of the kind of things you can do
with Linux. And if that wasn't enough this book
is also Open Source! If he is right that the
Open Source movement is about to transform book
publishing like it transformed software, then
this book is a glimpse at the future. And by the way, Linux Cookbook is packed with
lots great tips! It is a thorough guide for
learning how to use any Linux system, regardless
of your distro or hardware. It is refreshing to
see such an extreme view brought to the everyday
user. Dare I suggest that it may one day be
regarded as a "classic for the masses".
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating approach...
Review: When I first saw this I was like "COOK" book? but then I flipped through it and I saw the light... the whole point is that you know what YOU want to do, and then you look up the "recipe" to do that... it really seems to make sense, and I've learned a lot about Linux!
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough Coverage
Review: When this book fell out of its shipping envelope, it made quite a thunk as it hit my desk. No wonder: at almost 800 pages, this is quite a chunk of reading material.
I had been impressed by the first edition. The only real complaint I had about that was its exclusive focus on Debian Linux; that's been corrected here. The first edition was available on-line in its entirety; this is not, although you can see a sample chapter and the table of contents at (...).
Unlike the first edition, this covers a lot more basic material. Don't let that turn you off if you have outgrown the beginner books - unless you are expert at everything, you'll find helpful material here. There are pointers to esoteric utilities you probably have never heard of mixed in with the "getting started" stuff.
I was interested that Amazon reviews were luke-warm. I think it deserves better. I would have liked to see less attention to the real basics, but that does make this useful to the beginner also. One Amazon review didn't like it because it was too geeky, a complaint I can't sympathise with. Another didn't like the concentration on command line tools - I hope that isn't a sign of things to come where Linux users join their Windows brethren in disdain of character based interfaces.
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