Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
A great reference for newbies and experts alike, 10 Jan 2003
Before I read this book I knew nothing about Linux; only knew that I wanted off the M*cr*s*ft merry go round before it gets fully up to speed. The Linux Cookbook gave me the confidence to install my first distro and use it (semi) effectively (still a newbie after all).I am not a technical person; I'm the kind of computer user who's learned to do all kinds of pointy-clicky stuff in Windows over the years, but in whom the command prompt generally instills a deep desire to scream and run. However, this book does something absolutely remarkable: it makes using the Linux OS and the command line sound reassuringly simple and practicable, and for the most part the author is right: it is far easier to get started (though not necessarily to master) than many think, and there are all kinds of things one can do without breaking one's system. And if I can use it, I reckon anyone can! So: The Linux Cookboook is an ideal introduction to doing all kinds of stuff from the linux command line, from connecting to your ISP to scanning and manipulating images. It does appropriate amounts of hand-holding for newbies, while offering a convenient reference tool for those more adept with the OS. The only reason I haven't given it five stars is that (inevitably perhaps) it is focussed upon one Linux distribution (Debian Linux) and some of the information, notably that involving APT and APT-GET commands, will not be relevant to those using RPM based distros like Mandrake or Red Hat. Also, there's precious little on the GUIs - but to many users, this will be a merit, since it's not the GUI but the command line that instills panic in the Windows-habituated breast.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent source for beginners/intermediate users, 30 Aug 2005
I thought this was an excellent book. I've been using Linux now for a few months and I decided there were a few gaps in my knowledge so I decided to buy what I thought would be a good basic reference book. This is definately that. There were a lot of very basic things I didn't know. This book guides you through many things including: The shell; The X windows system; Files and Directories; Sharing files; Finding Files; Viewing and Editing Text; etc. These cover the first few chapters and the book then goes on to cover a wide array of subjects, such as sound, fonts, images, postscript, printing, games, email etc. This is not your usual bog standard text book which tells you things you already knew a la 'Linux for Dummies'. It gives you a basic understanding of how a Linux system works and how to utilise it, and it's very thorough and well written.It also runs to about 750 pages and comes with a lot of examples and other references in the appendices. It's also worth pointing out that this book isn't specific to any one distro. Although some of the examples do refer to Debian, because the author chose it as being a truely free Linux distro, the book as a whole is for Linux, and is not distro specific. If you, like me, have been using Linux for a while and have an understanding of the basics but feel there are a lot of gaps in your knowledge, then this book will definately help you. You will feel that you have a very good grounding if you read a few chapters from here. Highly recommended.
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