The BeOs Bible

Interesting, technically sound, a great intro to BeOS but goes deeper, too. The addition of interviews with Be inc. employees and other interesting bits (like the part about BeBox) are the cherry on top of this masterpiece. I think bundling The BeOS Bible with BeOS was a great idea. I'm eagerly looking forward for any books on Be, written by Scot Hacker.

Usually, you have to divide the readership of a computing book into beginners vs. experienced users. Somehow Scott Hacker provides a nice balance, not an easy thing to do. If you wanted a taste of why BeOS is interesting and truly unique, this book is a must--even the sections on applications written for BeOS have lots of helpful info. (Programmers looking for technical info should find this a good companion book, but the O'Reilly books on programming the BeOS are far more appropriate for hardcore developer info.)BeOS was (is) fun to try out, and Scott's book makes it that much more so. A nearly perfect read.(By the way, I saw some other person write about being offended by the word "bible" in the book title. While I understand that perspective, I hope s/he is aware that Peachpit Press, the publisher, has countless titles in this family, e.g., Windows 98 Bible. Don't hold the title against Scott or Be, or allow it to spoil a really informative and enjoyable read--in fact, it probably helps to register your displeasure with the publisher directly.)

Coming from a Windows (95/98/NT), Macintosh and Linux background, I found BeOS extremely refreshing - a truly modern OS with best-of-breed technology.This book is rightfully called the Bible. It deals very well with the all aspects of BeOS - technical as well as social. Starting from a history of the company and the operating system, it contains interviews with key people on the team.Technically, I just couldn't find fault with it anywhere. Excellent peice on installation and configuration... In depth look at built-in as well as third-party applications... An overview of the BASH command shell and simple commands... what more could I want?I just hope that the book is updated at the same pace that the OS is evolving. It would be a shame if it doean't keep up.

I see where everyone is coming from in their reviews on this book. But.... I think the "ads" are a welcome change. There is not much out there, program wise for Be and I appreciated Hacker discussing whats available. I also didn't mind the trashing of Windows and MacOS. I've been putting up with Linux users who have been badmouthing Windows and MacOS for a few years now and I guess I have become desensitized to the bad publicity on theses 2 OS's (but were all still using them!!) Getting to the point of all of this: Its a good book!!! Even if you were expecting 800-900 pages on Be, your still getting 500-600 good quality pages about a great operating system. Not everyone is able to "figure it out on their own after a few days" and this book will especially help those people in addition to providing some usefull insight to computer veterans. I would definately recommend this book to anyone. It was money well spent for me.

I started using Be about a month before this book was published... and I managed ok. Since reading the Be OS Bible, I now use Be for about 90% of my work, booting into Windows once a day to take care of some stuff for which Be "isn't quite there yet".The Be OS Bible does a great job of going through the end-user aspects of the OS, from basic file management and including details on popular applications. A must-read for any Be user.