Linux Desktop Hacks

Oh I just love this book. I buy a lot of technical books and find about 1 out of 5 are books I use alot. This is one of them. pretty up to data and covers gnome and KDE though most of the Hacks are not window manager specific -- Hell some of the funnest stuff is done from the command line. Full of great stuff for getting you system running the way you want. It's not just limited the desktop but gives good info on the boot manager etc. I've been doing linux since '99. There are 100 quality hacks in the book - I find more than 80%interesting and I'll probably use half of them over the next few months. Just finding: kstart --fullscreen program_name" to start a program in full-screen kiosk mode under KDE was news to me. Also includes other things you need to know like painless ways.

First, I write software professionally. I write software, I am not a Sys Admin (which is hard work I might add; System Administration is for hardcore people.) This book saved me money by giving me answers to problems that would have taken me days to find the answers to by searching the internet. Hack #30 How to setup up VNC Virtual terminals are great. I use them to cut out using an expensive and wires of a KVM switch. I can get to my servers from anywhere in the house or securly across the Internet (with the right passwords as this books shows.) I can fix my wife's computer problems without having to go to her desk. I can run my Windows apps on a Windows machine, but control that from my Linux terminals. Or vice-a-versa, it is much easier to use a Windows laptop while sitting on the couch sipping a Martini then having to sit in a dark cold server closet trying to fix a problem with a server. It took me 3 days to search and read about VNC on the net. Then trying to find an example on a web page that worked and was edited properly. This book gave me the answers I needed in 5 pages of well written text. A simple enough hack but time is money in this business and this book save both time and money. Also the book is a "good" read. The authors write well and that keeps you reading. Not a dry manual. If you are doing Linux for fun or work you need will need to buy this book. It allows you more time to sleep at night.

This is an excellent hacks book. It's one hundred fairly short, but well explained and appropriately illustrated, hints and tips that cover the gamut of Linux issues. Don't let the Desktop word in the title fool you. Certainly there is a lot of information on Desktop tweaks, but the information is more than skin deep. There is security, networking and systems administration information. As with all of the hacks books, take a look at the table of contents and if you find ten or so that interest you, then check it out.

Linux Desktop Hacks: Tips & Tools for Customizing and Optimizing Your OS is one of the better choices among the books of this genre. Although I have worked with Linux for years there were still several tips in here that I did not know and found very useful. Each chapter focuses on a particular area of the desktop computer and how you can make it perform the way it should or look totally different. Some of the subjects covered include changing the Boot Manager, bypassing the Manager, redefining keys, using macros, switching users, using multiple desktops, using creative cursors, using Windows and Mac fonts, running the desktop over the Internet, sharing applications and monitors, viewing Microsoft Word Documents in a Terminal, displaying a PDF document in a terminal, reducing startup time, encrypting email, configure Firefox, forwarding ports, new user setup, link monitoring, tweaking the kernel without recompiling, using unsupported printers, and boosting hard-drive performance. An excellent resource for those who have moved to Linux on the desktop, Linux Desktop Hacks is highly recommended.

This book arrived on a day when my Linux wasn't cooperating. I looked in the book's table of contents to see if it had any hack I could use. I immediately found several useful ones. I was able to solve my networking problem of the day. This book has 100 hacks. You are not going to use all of them. But you will use enough to find this book worth the cost. It has some very useful shortcuts for console use that will make you look like a power Unix user in no time. I definitely recommend this book. It's a good reference tool for those days when you just need to look up something quick. And it's a good study when you have time to devote to really learning better scripting.