Red Hat Linux Unleashed (Paperback)

Unfortunately, this is all this book gives you. It offers very little detail on almost everything the book covers, leaving you in the dark at almost every section.

For example, the book describes that to disable a users account, the admin should create a tail script to do so. It then offers a few lines of text showing a tail script, and then tells you to modify the passwd file.

That's great, but what EXACTLY needs to be modified? Do I stick the tail script at the end of the user's entry? Do I have to snip out some text somewhere?

If you want some general instruction about the what Linux is capable of, this is a decent book. In terms of Linux implementation and administration however, it needs a lot of work.

For a *complete* beginner to Linux it may lack too many details, but for most people who enjoy getting inside of an OS and their computer this book explains not only the 'how', but also the 'why'. Details the book outlines are ample enough so that if you aren't able to gather all the info you need to get something to work, you are informed enough to search for the remaining info you require on the online Linux resources.

Granted, more details would have been beneficial in some areas, but overall I found the book not only a 'must read', but a 'must have'.

For Windows users: before criticizing the book, realize first that the Linux OS is different from the Win9X platforms. Win9X was designed for beginners, and NT for advanced users; Linux should really only be considered by people with extensive interest in an OS with a very steep learning curve.

The first was the fact that the CDE window manager was not included on the CD's even though the book made it sound like it was (Page 107). See customer comment titled "A reader from USA , April 4, 1999".

Secondly I didn't think there was enough information on partitioning. The book recommends setting up partitions (/usr, /home, /, /var) to name a few, but it doesn't recommend how much space to dedicate to each. The first time I set up the partitions and installed the packages I ran out of disk space for the targeted partition /usr. I had to go back and allocate more space to /usr and try again. The second time through it worked. No big deal. However, after using Linux for several weeks and after I had configured X windows, I discovered that I should have devoted more space to /usr and a little less to /home (since I'm running this as a workstation and not a server; I only have one user- myself). There should have been more information about what each of the partitions recommended by the book are for. The book does mention that if you wish to install the entire CD you will need x number of bytes free on your disk, but which of the partitions should have the free space?

Besides that this book is good for a technical person that is new to Linux. I was able to have my system running Linux in a short time with few headaches that I could blame the book for. Always reference more than one source. There are plenty of web sites that can help. Part of being a computer geek is just trial and error.