Suse Linux 10 Unleashed [Paperback]

After reading the prior review about transitioning from windows to linux I wanted to revew the book. I went to borders to read it for myself. The book is accurate in its claims, though I have to say I am a bit mixed.

The book states it is not for beginners. That I would agree with. It is written for someone already familiar with linux and it regular operation. So for the review regarding transitioning from windows to linux, I would agree.

Here is what I am mixed on. The book shows the basic (and I mean basic) commands needed to perform a simple task (such as listing files in a directory), then makes blanket statements such as "be sure to execute some_command or install some_file" without stating how to find the command, how to run it, or why. From that I would gather someone familiar with linux would understand, but if they understand already then why do they need the book.

The other possibility is that this book is this authors methods for doing his setup. In which case I think it provides enough overview to help someone to do the same, but once again that person would already need the basic linux skills.

As a result I don't think the book is appropriate for me (being another person who is transitioning from windows to linux). I did find another book Linux Bible 2006 Edition : Boot Up to Fedora, KNOPPIX, Debian, SUSE, Ubuntu and 7 Other Distributions (Bible). This seems to address my needs better, it does not go into more advanced topics like this book does, but it does explain the "how to" so far. I am also ordering SUSE Linux 10 Bible (Bible) since I want a desktop machine and something that is server capable. Maybe I will come back to this Unleashed book in the future.

I would certainly say it is meant for someone with more experience.

"SuSE Linux 10 Unleashed" is a clearly written book that allows for plowing at the speed of light through it, though with some bumps along the way. There are many references throughout regarding the book's CDs, but there are no CDs. It's a single DVD. There are thus examples of inconsistencies (and prior editions) here and there. And some software mentioned in the text must be loaded from the DVD first, so be aware. Chapter 14 (Creating Websites) would have been better after chapter 26 (Managing Apache). Resizing partitions (in ch.18) is in theory correct but in practice a bit lacking. In fact, attempting to shrink a reiserfs will toss a warning your way explaining that partition shrinking is not well tested. The book did not catch this, and overall glossed the partitioning subject over a bit. Also, the Apache server installation (ch.26) would have better advised users to obtain the package from YaST -> Network Services -> HTTP Server rather than going the Software Management route. Otherwise, readers might not pick up BIND (as I saw it in my experiments, anyway).

The book touches on a very wide range of technologies, so the coverage of a specific piece may be on the light side (Samba, for example, is but a page), but thankfully, this is not always the case.
4 stars.

The book appears as if it tries to cover too much too quickly, and as if it was released in haste. There are conceptual errors as well as factual errors.

Many products are never mentioned - such as AutoYaST (the auto-install tool). The "versions" of SUSE listed in the Appendix only lists the various current releases, without mentioning OpenSUSE (which is mentioned elsewhere). The description of SUSE Linux 10 in that appendix reads like a marketing piece. SUSE Linux 9, 8... are never mentioned.

PostgreSQL is mentioned as an industrial strength database contained in SUSE Linux in the beginning - and is never mentioned again, despite a complete chapter dedicated to "Databases" (should be renamed "Using MySQL" instead...)

The description of the C shell makes arbitrary (and incorrect) comparisons between "interactive" shells and "scripting" shells - the focus of the C shell was to bring C-like syntax and operations to the shell script, and to introduce new concepts like history and command-line editing to the interactive shell. The comment is made that C shell is not for scripting - with no facts to back it up.

The Korn Shell is mentioned, without mentioning that the Korn Shell is now open source. pdksh is discussed very briefly, without noting that its goal was to be completely compliant with ksh88 - and without mentioning that pdksh is *not* on the DVD included in the book.

In the section on emulators, Xen is mentioned - without mentioning that it no longer requires changes to the guest operating system. Basilisk II is mentioned as a 68k Macintosh emulator - without mentioning that the newest Macintoshes use a PowerPC processor (and now the Intel processor). It is, however, mentioned that Mac OS X is being put onto Basilisk - but I suspect that a 68k version of Mac OS X might be a real surprise to a lot of people. PearPC is never mentioned - and neither is User Mode Linux, which just happens to be in the Linux kernel.

The knowledge of ext2 v. ext3 seems to be spotty - or at least explained erroneously. ext3 does not "read" ext2 files - ext3 *is* ext2 with an additional journaling file. It is possible to convert ext2 to ext3 - and even possible to convert from ext3 to ext2 (with loss of journaling) - with no loss of data.

Some of the web editors (such as Bluefish) are described as "anti-WYSIWG" - which is not the case at all.

The Linux kernel is described as "once monolithic [...] but now uses modules" - which is completely incorrect. The Linux kernel remains monolithic to this day; a modular kernel is not the opposite of a monolithic kernel. For those who are interested, read up on microkernels v. monolithic kernels...

The author mentions the -ac (Alan Cox) kernel patches - without mentioning the -mm patches, the -dj patches, and without mentioning Andrew Morton anywhere (that I saw). He also does not mention that applying any -ac patches to a SUSE kernel would likely fail (since all distributors such as Novell have tuned and patched their kernels themselves).

There is also no mention anywhere of the SUSE PowerPC version, or the SUSE IBM zSeries version, or any other - none at all.

The author's credentials, when checked, do not list him as a system administrator, help desk administrator, professional engineer, Novell technical employee, certified CLP or CLE (Novell's certifications), or anything like that. Instead it lists him as a technical writer who's used SUSE Linux since 5.3.

All in all, the book was a disappointment - even if it did contain some decent information. Borrow the book if you like - you might learn something - then give it back and be thankful you didn't buy it.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 12 reviews  3.0 out of 5 stars