How Linux Works, 2nd Edition: What Every Superuser Should Know

I highly recommend "How Linux Works" to anybody who, like myself, has already dabbled in Linux and been overwhelmed by the sheer size of that mountain the name Linux encompasses. It provides a sense of order and priority which makes all those other books you have suddenly MORE useful because while those give you lots of particulars, this one tells you which ones matter.

This book teaches you everything you need to know in order to maintain and adequately use the Linux OS. However the book is only about medium build so it only able to touch on all the information and does not go into any deep excavation of knowledge. For example, the book explains how to compile a custom kernel, but it will not tell you about each of the options you check when making the custom kernel. The book is still great nonetheless because it makes you aware of all the different parts of Linux. Before you can know everything about Linux you have to be aware of every part. Whether or not you want to go find an even deeper understanding of each little section is your own perogative. How Linux Work's gives you a strong start though. The irony to this book however is that all the information in it is also avaiable free online. If you read the documentation and readme's for each of the things mentioned in this book you would get the same affect for free. This is an excellent tangible version though, I don't regret buying it at all because it saved me time from having to go to 2 dozen websites, 5 stars.

I didn't know about this book until it showed up on my doorstep courtesy of the great folks at the O'Reilly LUG program. But I was interested in it from the moment I opened the box. It's a basic guide to general Linux. It's new, fun and the author does a nice job of covering the basics. He doesn't dwell on any one distro, but covers all sorts of commands, issues, and questions that a lot of people who are switching to linux might have. He goes over basics of Networking, Printing, and touches upon more advanced options in linux. I was especially pleased with the referencing he did, if you want to know more about a subject he recommends a book to check out! Very nice. I sat down on a Saturday afternoon, and by Sunday night I had read my way through it. Even as an experienced Linux user I was interested and picked up a few tidbits from this book that I didn't know about. Although it's aimed at the new user, it was fun and interesting for me to read. I'd definately recommend this book to people wanting to get into the Linux world.

This is one of the best basic books on learning Linux and is written with the power user in mind. It takes a different approach to learning Linux than most other books. Other books typically focus on a section of Linux and go over it in detail. For example, it may cover the file system from selecting an appropriate one to how to mount disks, security, directories, links, and similar information until it has presented all the information on the file system. Instead this one divides the learning task up into basic stuff you need to know, intermediate knowledge, and more advanced levels. This is actually more consistent with the knowledge expected in the real world. While I would expect even a basic administrator to understand how to mount and unmount a drive I would not necessarily expect them to know how to interpret and change an fstab configuration file. To go over the whole file system from beginning to advanced levels leaving the student unknowledgeable in other basic tasks doesn't make as much senses. I would rather hire someone who knows the basics of the system including adding users and other administration than one who knows everything about one area. So, I really like the way it teaches basic knowledge in all areas, then intermediate knowledge in all areas, then advanced. The focus is on the user or the person who has been assigned to administer an existing Linux system. If you need to add a peripheral device, setup or change printing, mount a CD for access by Windows based machines, or pretty much anything else that an administrator of a Linux file server needs to know its covered. There are better books for other type of servers like setting up a web server, MySQL, or other items. However, if you are completely new to Linux or a fairly novice Linux user and need to be able to administer a file server type system you will enjoy this book. Designed for the person who wants to really learn about Linux from the ground up "How Linux Works" is a recommended read.

This is a good techie overview of Linux. This is not the book you hand to Grandma (unless Grandma is a system admin), but it is a very well done Linux guide/introduction. The first couple of chapters are old hat to any Unix user, being just basic overviews of how Unix in gneral works, but Brian quickly gets into the real meat of Linux with chapter 3 "How Linux Boots" and goes on from there with coverage of networking, printing and everything else you'd expect. If that were all there was, I'd be impressed and would recommend this book, but there is more. There are two excellent chapters on programming tools and compiling source code. These include troubleshooting compilation problems, an often ignored aspect of our Open Source world. A third related chapter covers kernel compilation specifically and again goes beyond the usual treatment. Throughout the book, Brian gives useful hints and suggestions. He has obviously used and administered real Linux systems and has good experience and advice to share.I like Brian's writing style and the definite techie orientation. If you are a tech person investigating Linux, this is a good book to read.