Mastering Linux Premium Edition [With 2 CDROM]

This is one of the few great books on linux I have ever seen. The auther does not just breeze over your head assuming you know certain things like most authors do, nor does he speak below you. Many books about linux just tell you to type commands, or do this or do that but dont tell you why you are doing it and principals behind it. This guy is a great teacher, and buy the time you are done reading this book, you will have a level of understanding of all aspects of linux, that you will feel confident enough to experiments on your own(and not get caught by the smallest snag) as well as move on to more advanced books and topics. I went from being able to do nearly nothing in Lunix, to feeling pretty confident using it. Thank You Mr. Danesh for opening up my eyes to the wounderful world of Linux!

I've got half a dozen books on linux around the house, I've read documentation online, but this was the ONLY book I'd come across that gave me the information I needed to get started using Linux. Before I got this book, I'd installed linux a couple times, but about all I could do was change directories. I use this book ALL THE TIME as a reference and I have recommended it to all my friends who are interested in Linux.

To the increasing number of us who bought our systems with Linux and X already installed, this book is (intentionally) a wonderful intro to the underlying concepts and key programs of Linux. It is not meant to be the Ultimate One Source, but is an excellent overview of This Huge Thing Called Linux and lets you realize what areas exist so that you can follow up with more specialized works on specific areas of interest. I may never need to use Samba, but at least I understand what I need to know. I can focus on Perl or Bash, and appreciate what VMWare 1.0 can do for me. No single text can possibly serve all users. This work succeeds in providing a necessary overview for those new to the UNIX and OSL universe who may have considerable experience (RAM-disking my BAT files using environmental variables back on my 8086 in 1985 etc) in the Dark Side (Darth Bill etc). As most desktop computer users are now used to GUIs and not command prompts, it makes sense to start the discussion with Gnome, KDE and the other popular GUIs for Linux. Praise this book not for what it does not try to do, but rather for what it succeeds in doing: turning the Newbie into a user who knows what he needs to learn next. Well done!

It does an excellent job on introduction of Linux. However, it missed an important X Windows configuration approach, XF86Setup, which is far more easy to use and sophisticated. There are many Linux book from Taiwan that none of the English book could compare. I learned many the tricks of the trade from partitioning and installing PO, MO and even AGP devices! If you understand Chinese, it should be a great way of having Mastering Linux and Chinese books from Taiwan at the same time.

If you're looking for a in-depth review of how to perform system administration via the Linux command line, then this definitely isn't the book for you...but that's not what it's intended for. For me, it was absolutely indispensible for getting you through the first few days as a Linux user. Installing, setting up, running X Windows, Samba, etc. It's one of those books that you never refer to again after you've read it because you're already past its knowledge level. But this book will at least get you to that point, easily and gracefully, which a lot of other books can't seem to do because they get you bogged down in the details before they walk you through how to install and operate the system. Buy this book to get you started (which is its purpose), then plan on buying a 2nd comprehensive Linux system administration book later after you're up and running. That's the perfect combination. Again, as a "get you started" book, this one was absolutely indispensible, but buy it knowing that you're going to need an industrial strength sysadmin book a few weeks later.