Hi John! I suppose others would be interested in such a reply as well therefore i've sent this to 'debian-user' too. I hope you don't mind breakage of the netiquette regarding email in this special case, ok? ;-)
On Tue, 18 Feb 1997, John M. Rulnick wrote: > I was thinking about buying "Linux in a Nutshell" when I read your > comment. Can you summarize what you like about it? Do you also have > Welsh and Kaufman's "Running Linux"? Are they similar? > I have Welsh and Kaufman's "Running Linux" too but i don't like it very much as a reference book. "Running Linux" is good for the unexperienced newbie without any former Unix knowledge but not for those who are already there. Give it as a present to someone who needs to be convinced into using Linux and who needs basic guidance. For this it should be really great but for experienced users it is very much too superficial. I'm glad that here in Germany numerous original books for the advanced user about Linux are published which are clearly superior to "Running Linux", which BTW also exists as a translation of the first edition here by the German O'Reilly branch. "Linux in a Nutshell" is a whole other story though. Check out the table of contents for this book and it's description at the O'Reilly web site "http://www.ora.com". It is one of those rare very well organized sites and you will easily find your way to this book's description page. It is by no means suitable for the beginner but as in the tradition of the "Unix in a Nutshell" line it is a rather complete reference to most commands available in a well set up GNU/Linux environment. It covers exclusively the GNU pendants of regular Unix commands and may therefore be useable for everyone running GNU tools in other Unix environments. I'll cite some sentences from the preface and the introduction because IMHO they are describing the book very well: "[...] This book is a quick reference for the basic commands and features of the Linux operating system. As with other books in O'Reilly's "in a Nutshell" series, this book is geared toward users who know what they want to do and have some idea how to do it, but just can't remember the correct command or option." (p. iv) "[...] This book will not tell you how to install and maintain a Linux system. For that you will need 'Running Linux', (...)." (p. iv) "[...] 'UNIX in a Nutshell' doesn't teach you UNIX -- it is, after all, a quick reference -- but novices as well as highly experienced users find it of great value. [...] It is also an eye-opener: it can make you aware of options that you never knew about before." (p. 3) "[...] With 'Linux in a Nutshell', we have thoroughly updated and adapted 'UNIX in a Nutshell' for Linux. Not only that, we've produced a book that many other UNIX users will want too, because for the first time this reference work covers the tolls produced by the FSF for the GNU project. GNU tools are popular on a lot of UNIX systems, so you may be using them even if you don't run Linux." (p. 3) I've waited so much for such a book to come out that i even bought 'UNIX in a Nutshell' about one year ago although it doesn't come even close for lack of covering GNU tools. I was so fed up searching command parameters throughout various Linux books and initelligibly large man pages. 'Linux in a Nutshell' puts it all in one place. I definitely would buy it again! ;-) Regards, P. *8^) PS: I supposed the book still contains some errors which i have not detected being no Unix or Linux geek at all. Maybe someone more competent than myself could post a more in depth review? -- Paul Seelig [EMAIL PROTECTED] African Music Archive - Institute for Ethnology and Africa Studies Johannes Gutenberg-University - Forum 6 - 55099 Mainz/Germany Our AMA Homepage in the WWW at http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bender/ -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Trouble? e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]