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Linux Books Media Software Book Reviews

GNU/Linux For Dummies: A Brief Survey 102

Posted by timothy from the I'd-like-to-consider-myself-"a-dummy" dept.
chromatic is back with a mini-compendium of introductory Linux texts -- and yes, they have the famously protected "Dummies" trademark. Don't scoff at the nature of these books, though; the skill of translating the arcana of any computer topic (and boy are they all arcane to the uninitiated!) into language that mom, kids and the guy down the street can understand is not a common one. If you don't know what a root prompt (or an editor) is, or why you might want one, it's hard to do much else with your system.

[SuSE, Corel Open-, Red Hat] Linux for Dummies
author Jon Hall and [Jay Migliaccio, Nicholas Wells, himself]
pages 384
publisher IDG Books
rating 7.5
reviewer chromatic
ISBN (see each)
summary A collection of distribution-specific books aimed at beginning users, and which might make a good brush-up for advanced users.

You've decided to take the plunge -- there's an unused computer in the corner, you're looking for a way to fill that new 20 GB hard drive, or you've gone all out with a shiny new machine and Windows tax be darned! It's time to figure out this Linux thing. How do you start? If your local computer guru blanches at the thought of a command line, or if you have that stubborn "I'll figure it out if I have to stay up all night" streak that characterizes so many successful hackers, perhaps a book will come in handy.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a look at a handful of randomly selected texts from various publishers. Their scopes and intended audiences range from nascent beginner to somewhat experienced existing user. Some walk you through installation and some expect you already know what to do right after you log in. They all purport to be your guide to the sometimes confusing, occasionally maddening, and even often rewarding world of Linux. Which one, if any, is right for you? Hopefully we'll answer that question.

Linux ... for Dummies?

This week, our books come from IDG's popular "Dummies" series (but we'll skip the obvious question begging). These three books are fundamentally the same, undoubtedly due to the venerable maddog's presence as common author. Generic Linux information appears almost verbatim, and some chapters differ only in phrasing. Some information is rearranged, and the chapter on using X is different among the three (two focus on KDE, one on GNOME). A description of one book will give you a general idea of the other two. Of course, there's distribution specific information, specifically relating to installation and certain administration tasks.

Why would you buy these books? They provide detailed installation instructions and supply recent CDs of the titular distributions. They also provide decent -- if basic -- introductions to simple commands and standard tasks. The installation chapters have sufficient detail to walk nearly anyone through the process, including dual-booting techniques, tips on discovering hardware information in Windows, selecting the desired packages, and creating sane partitions. (With 5 chapters devoted to navigating the shiny installers, the only thing preventing success is hardware failure or sunspots.) If you follow the directions, you'll have a decently-equipped workstation capable of accessing the Internet through a modem.

Once your new Linux system is installed, what can you do? There's a tutorial on command-line basics, discussing the Unix file system and basic file commands. You'll meet the bash shell, with pipes and job controls and even a little shell programming. The vi editor also gets a bit of explanation -- follow the instructions and you'll know enough to edit files. (Pull out the command reference card from the front of the book just in case you forget :wq.)

It's on to X, after that. Here the books diverge again. After explaning the basics of X and whichever Desktop Environment the distribution prefers, the authors describe a few common tasks and programs and leave you to explore. Some basic system administration tasks get the spotlight -- file maintenance, adding a new disk, or installing software. (Don't expect to pull down $90,000/year on an entry-level SysAdmin job after this section. The SuSE and Caldera books do discuss building a new kernel, though.)

Appendixes include hardware compatibility lists and a description of the Linux man page format.

title SuSE Linux for Dummies [ISBN: 0764506811]
publisher IDG Books
Included Stuff SuSE 6.2 CD-ROM
Intended Audience Linux newcomers who aren't afraid to install it themselves. Little prior computing experience necessary.
Scope Installation and basic introduction to Linux.
Technical Correctness No glaring errors.
Writing style Highly informal. May be too verbose for more technical readers.
Other Focuses on KDE, where applicable. System administration tasks take place with YaST, SuSE's homebrew tool.

There's not a lot of space given to common applications beyond Netscape and vi. A quick tour of KDE will probably give users enough confidence to plumb the depths of the KDE menus themselves, but the "What Now?" feature might bite after closing the back cover.

title Caldera OpenLinux for Dummies [ISBN 076450679X]
publisher IDG Books
Included Stuff OpenLinux 2.3 CD-ROM
Intended Audience same
Scope same
Technical Correctness same
Writing style Highly informal, even a bit chatty.
Other Focuses on KDE. System administration tasks use COAS (the Caldera Open Administration System).

This book has more information on exploring and customizing KDE, but also doesn't go into detail on user applications. (Even mentioning something like KOffice, AbiWord, or StarOffice would have been nice.)

title RedHat Linux for Dummies [ISBN 0764506633]
publisher IDG Books
Included Stuff RedHat Linux 6.1 and complete source on CD-ROMs.
Intended Audience same
Scope A bit more information than the other two books, mostly on Linux applications.
Technical Correctness same
Writing style Rather informal, though less so than the other two books.
Other Focuses on GNOME. Uses Linuxconf to perform system administration.

It would appear that Paul Sery rewrote large portions of his book. While maddog's anecdotes in the other two are from the first person, the corresponding sections are in the third person perspective. Whatever the explanation, there's between 20 and 30 extra pages of information in here (including RPM and ipchains basics). There's more time spent exploring the shell and command line before diving into a tour of X applications, too, like Applixware and Wine. I preferred this book over the other two due to the extra information and the better organization of topics.

Conclusion:

Someone who's already used to the Dummies series, is comfortable with the idea of installing Linux for herself, and wants a hand to hold through the process would enjoy these books. The knowledge imparted by these books -- giving extremely detailed installation instructions (follow the screenshots) but leaving a user with basic shell knowledge and some idea of how to navigate KDE or GNOME menus -- probably needs a supplement. I'm not sure enough information is presented to allow nascent hackers to figure things out for themselves. Still, for the intended audience, you get an introduction and the CDs in a convenient package.

You can purchase these books at Fatbrain: Take your pick from [SuSE Linux, Caldera OpenLinux, Red Hat Linux] For Dummies.
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GNU/Linux For Dummies: A Brief Survey More

GNU/Linux For Dummies: A Brief Survey

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  • You do know that there's a Sex for Dummies [amazon.com] book, don't you?


    --
  • I found Overcoming Procrastination for Dummies at B&N the other day (RW store).... I'll get around to buying that... eventually...

    --
  • You can't win... if you omit female pronouns you are accused of being sexist ["Females don't matter enough to be mentioned huh?"] but if you DO include them in an innocent, if somewhat careless [these days one must be careful who one breathes in the presense of], fashion you get accused of being sexist.

    brain... hurts... PC... stupidity... gone... too ... far..

    On a related note, when did the PC police start to invade /. ? Is no place safe from Big Brother [and Sister]?

    -={(Astynax)}=-
  • I worked in retail when the original, DOS for Dummies, appeared (I believe by Chris Jamsa?) There was a type of customer that would come into the store and say stuff like this: "Just got a computer. Don't have the foggiest idea what to do. What have you got for a dummy like me?" They would use the word first, very often. I'd smile and say "As a matter of fact I have just the book!" and they would buy it, laughing, and leave the store a happy customer.

    All it takes is a willingness for the person to acknowledge "I'm buying a beginner's book on the subject, therefore it's obvious I don't know anything about the subject, so it's ok for me to call myself a dummy regarding that subject". It works for anybody. I always find myself wanting to pick up "Mutual Funds for Dummies" and "Classical Music for Dummies", but I can just never find the time to read them.

    I never had as much luck with the "Complete Idiots" series. The logic of "Ok, I call myself a dummy, so I guess it's ok for them to call me a dummy" does not extend to letting yourself be called a complete idiot.

    I had a chance to contribute to a dummies book (StarOffice). They have a very specific template that says exactly how to write such a book, and they don't like you leaving the pattern at all. The template can pretty much be summed up as "Lots of numbered bullet lists, with plenty of screen shots." :)

    Duane

    Speaking of titles, I was once asked to work on a book that the guy said would be called "Kickass J++ Game Programming." I said that I thought that was a pretty risky title that people might find offensive. I never heard back from him, but I also never saw the book on the shelves, either.


  • No sexism implied here, I think. Throughout this whole series, I've been looking at these books from the point of view of my mother. Could someone who's used a computer for simple tasks for a few years learn how to use Linux from a book?

    She's in the market for a new computer, and she wants Linux on it. (Now that Gnucash [gnucash.org] does everything she'd been using Quicken for, the only thing standing in the way is the OfficeJet.)

    I've given her the RedHat book to read, and I think she can handle it. Then it's off to another book in this series of articles, because there's so much more to learn.

    Thus, the reason for the feminine pronoun in this case is because I had a specific example in mind.

    --

  • Great, but you forgot the most important chapters!

    Chapter 5: Case studies in career timing. Knowing when to move on.

    Chapter 6: Obfuscating your reference trail, ensuring that your past doesn't haunt you.

    Temkin

  • I had a chance to contribute to a dummies book (StarOffice). They have a very specific template that says exactly how to write such a book, and they don't like you leaving the pattern at all. The template can pretty much be summed up as "Lots of numbered bullet lists, with plenty of screen shots." :)

    It sounds like you were constrained quite a bit. I had a lot more leeway in my upcoming Dummies book, a few bulleted lists, and a few screen shots, but not many.

    Then again, the subject matter is different, you were contributing to Star Office, my book should be aimed at a higher level audience.

    George

    • Connecting up to an ISP (phone, cable or xDSL)

    There is a chapter on this.

    • Reading/Writing Windows disks and files

    Accessing your FAT hard disk and mounting floppies are also covered.

    • Handling E-Mail (eg: Outlook-type apps)

    No need, as Netscape 4.7x on Linux looks just like Netscape 4.7x on Windows, which is covered in The Internet for Dummies.

    • Installing new applications

    Is the package manager in the index? If so, there's more than likely a section on installing apps.


    <O
    ( \
    XGNOME vs. KDE: the game! [8m.com]
  • I bought the Linux for Dummies book about 2 years ago, when it came bundled with RedHat 5.0. I was a relative newbie to linux. I'd installed it and played with it for about a month when I decided that I needed some help.

    That book helped me draw the necessary mental connections to relate my DOS knowledge to linux.

    The CLI's complexity faded away in a matter of a few days.

    Linux For Dummies isn't the same as "Electronic devices for Dummies". We all were linux newbies at some point, but many of us had been using computers for years before then.

    LK
  • I went through the same thing recently. I wanted to get a hunting buddy online so he could check out all the excellent information on hunting, shooting, balistics, woodcraft, etc. I gave him an old laptop with Slackware 5.0 installed. I configured the menu under Blackbox to only give him the choices he needed to get online and use the Internet (plus the command line so I could walk him through stuff if necessary). I typed up a page of detailed, but basic instructions (forgot to talk about clicking on hyperlinks-the things we take for granted...). It's been less than a month and he's hooked (it helps that he's an info junky). He's even beginning to figure out technical issues himself. This is his first exposure to computers...ever!

    He's hooked on Linux too! When people started telling him he should be using Windows (friends, the people at the ISP he started using, etc), he asked me about it. I explained the differences, each one's relative strengths and weaknesses (nonpolitical, I wanted him to decide for himself). He has since decided that he prefers Linux because it empowers the user.

    Did I mention that he's a 50 year old Harley riding biker type and ex-mechanic?

    Chris
  • > can't figure out the difference between
    > an array and a list

    Huh?

    Is there a difference between an array and a list in perl?

    I'm not trying to defend what's obviously a very poor book, but I wonder where Tom's coming from here.

    A list such as (0,1,2,3)
    and an array e.g. @a = (0,1,2,3)

    don't differ in any fundamental way in perl.
    Do they?

    Even Tom himself refers to lists as arrays in the perl documentation.

    I quote:

    "A list of lists, or an array of an array if you would, is just a regular old array..."

    Of course I haven't read the book TC is bitching about, so there is presumably something in there that's completely wrong.
  • The review indicates that there is an edition for COREL [amazon.com], why wasn't it reviewed?

    Personally, my favorite intro book was The No B.S. Guide to Red Hat Linux 6 [amazon.com]. But I actually had the First Edition [amazon.com] which came with Slackware. Ahhhh, you never forget your first distro!

  • BUT, I think anyone who would ever go so far as to say the books are for idiots are wrong.

    And that's why I don't like the title. After all, the publisher is going right out an saying that the books are for idiots. I think that it's part of a sad, but surprisingly general, confusion of ignorance and stupidity. I personally find it insulting to be told that I'm a dummy for not already knowing what the book is supposed to teach me. I think I'd personally be more inclined to buy the series if it were re-named [Blank} for Novices, rather than [Blank] for Dummies. They both get across the same idea, but one is much friendlier.

  • Ouch. It's possible you came across some dummies books that were well written, but I get the impression that as a whole, the standard of quality in dummies books is pretty low. In my experience, many aren't clear and simple, but vague, inaccurate, and wordy.

    I saw C for dummies after I already had quite a bit of experience with the language, and the book disgusted me. Besides being (I think) longer than K&R for much less content, the book tried to avoid all the vocabulary, and certainly didn't define much of it. The author, among other things, described the preprocessor as an arcane, largely useless feature, and said that he almost never used it. And much of the book was just useless blathering and lame attempts at humor. And don't even get me started on C++ for dummies.

  • Pretty sure I saw a Slackware for Dummies title just a few days ago at the local Borders. There's also a "Debian GNU'Linux for Dummies" volume. I forked out the 20 bucks to see how they treated the install. Alas, no better than the last time I installed Debian.... which is to say, ugly.
  • This kind of sounds as intelligent as the Dummies book I saw last week which upset me greatly

    Pregnancy for Dummies

    Good lord.

  • Its great to have some high quality intro books, but how about some intermediate stuff?

    The vast majority of what's available is either the "I don't know anything and want to get started" or "I'm very proficient and need a definative reference manual that lists all the possible parameters of every command". Its been my experience that the "Dummies" series has done an excellent job of the former. Now if they'd just do a "Not a dummy, not an expert...". On the other hand, O'reilly (sp?) does a great job towards the reference side. Does anyone know of something in between the two?

    This gripe of mine applies to almost every topic I can think of: unix, lasers, tv, mpeg, etc. Its either novice or phd - nothing in between

  • (I'll get to "Linux for Dummies" in a moment...)

    My biggest gripe about Red Hat is their inadequate documentation and support.

    IMHO, an install is not complete until you can/have:

    - Gotten all the ordinary peripherals working.
    - Tuned the graphic interface into comfortable usability.
    - Connected to your ISP or gotten up on your LAN, as applicable.
    - Rebuilt the equivalent of the installed kernel from source. ("Hello, kernel build world!\n")
    - Downloaded and installed any post-release patches.

    The documentation should walk you through all of that, cookbook style. "Type this. Push that button. Insert this disk." And if it doesn't, and you've paid for "instalation support", the company should bloody well SUPPORT you until you get to the equivalent point. (And cookbook patch install should be available no later than the first set of patches.)

    I've been using Unix for decades, and hacked Linux drivers on a Cobalt Qube and some company Intel boxes a few years back, so I'm not a complete newbie.

    But last winter I decided to abandon "My Three Suns" and Solaris, and switch my home net to a new OS for the millenium. (No more closed source and closed hardware designs for me!)

    So I bought my first Intel-based machine since the 8080. I picked Linux over *BSD due to the larger developer base. And I shelled out the premium for a Red Hat distribution, mainly because it promised install support.

    I'd expected problems with the Winmodem. But you can imagine my annoyance when:

    - The ethernet card didn't talk to the LAN.

    - There was no documentation (readily findable) that would tell how to adjust the resolution of the video driver (so I could take advantage of my shiny new multi-megapixel monitor).

    - There was no documentation on how to build a kernel (in the package OR on the web site).

    - Attempts to build the kernel, from the supplied sources, using what I believed to be the normal approach, crashed. ("make boot" says: "System is too big. Try using bzImage or modules.", making me suspect the supplied sources and their READMEs don't match the distribution build.)

    - Red Hat considered their prepaid support committment to end once you had "installed" sufficiently that you could boot the machine and log in. They refused to help with a kernel build. They had no clue about the ethernet card (even after I identified it for them). "Configuring a kernel is beyond install. If kernel build is necessary to drive the card it's an unsupported card."

    - Their web site (accessable through another computer, thank goodness!) was about as helpful as their phone support.

    So I had to hack it.

    - By looking through the /proc filesystem, pulling out cards and reading the numbers on the chips, and doing a bunch of web and netnews searches, I was able to identify the chip on the ethernet controller.

    - Reading the source showed that the corresponding driver recognized that the particular model of the ethernet chip also understood homenet (think 1-megabit LAN on your home phone lines), and was hardcoded to use ONLY that mode whan that model chip was installed.

    - Patching the driver to use the chip only in ethernet mode, hand-compiling the modified driver, substituting it for the module loaded by the modload distribution kernel, got me on the LAN.

    Then I hacked my old sendmail configuration into the puppy, debugged THAT, and had everything working a few hours before local midnight. And missed the newyears party.

    But that didn't deal with any of the other problems - like the sound card, the monitor resolution, or getting to where I could rebuild the kernel and hack drivers for new toys. (Not to mention the Winmodem, of course.) My brand-new multi-kilobuck box was just barely up and limping. (Eight months later I moved the printer to the Red Hat box and discovered that the printer driver module wasn't loaded - because they'd left a line out of a config file - and they STILL didn't have anything about it on their web site.)

    Can you IMAGINE a WinTel user, testing the waters on Linux, in this situation?

    And it's not like this was TOTALLY oddball hardware. It was a brand-shiny-new, top-of-the-line, Compaq Presario Athlon box. (But not SO new it should have been unsupported.) Compaq DOES like to do things their own way. But they're one of the biggest brands, and at the time they'd supposedly had an alliance with Red Hat for months.

    Needless to say, I was PISSED at Red Hat. I'd just gotten out of the hospital for pneumonia, and this was NOT how I'd intended to spend all that was left of my winter holiday.

    I do have a day job, guys! With my limited spare time chewed up by this bogosity I still, after 8 months, haven't had a chance to play with drivers for new toys, or even do a really proper job of configuring the box for everyday use.

    And now I see that the "Linux for Dummies" books cover kernel build for the SuSE and Caldera distributions, but not for Red Hat. At first I was ticked off all over again, but then I began to wonder... Do I detect a pattern? Maybe THEY had similar problems with lack of kernel build support for Red Hat, and decided to skip it.

    Needless to say, absent a major housecleaning in Red Hat's documentation and support departments, my next upgrade won't be to another Red Hat distribution.

    Or maybe it will even be to a BSD.
  • Years ago, I wanted to write a book which I had titled The complete marketting morons guide until the first "...For Dummies" book appears. At this point, I realised my book would not have any use.

  • "Don't expect..." (Score:4)

    by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Tuesday August 22, 2000 @08:18AM (#836889)
    > Don't expect to pull down $90,000/year on an entry-level SysAdmin job after this section.

    For that, you need to buy System Administration For Greedy Mothers Who Don't Want To Pay Their Dues.

    Chapter 1: Writing Your Resume
    Chapter 2: Bluffing Your Way Through The Interview
    Chapter 3: Which Books To Hide Under Your Desk
    Chapter 4: When Disaster Strikes: How To Pass The Buck
    Appendix A: Important Buzzwords To Memorize
    Appendix B: Understanding The PHB
    Appendix C: Who Can You Sue?
    Appendix D: Learning To Get By On Less When You Go Back To Flipping Burgers
    --
  • Seriously!

    Anybody who can explain what
    ls -F1 | grep /$ | xargs -n1 du -hs
    does needs some recognition.
  • Someone who's already used to the Dummies series, is comfortable with the idea of installing Linux for herself, and wants a hand to hold through the process would enjoy these books...

    I'm not sure if this was intentional, but I'm not sure I like the implications. The best spin I'm going to put on this is that women might ask for directions (thus the "hand to hold") and men would just spend hours of guesswork.



    Being with you, it's just one epiphany after another
  • I thought the 'in a nutshell' books would have been the favoured choice round these parts, but as they tend not to cover buying a house, I guess there is a requirement for something easy to pick up. Even more OT, I thought the 'for idiots' range was pretty misjudged. If Cliff Claven knows more than you on any given subject, it's time to give up.

  • I bought a For Dummies book once... (Score:3)

    by Rafael A ( 224176 ) on Tuesday August 22, 2000 @08:19AM (#836893)
    ...it was so badly written I'll never buy from IDG again. I echo the sediments of Tom Christenian review [perl.com] of Perl5 For Dummies:
    Perl5 for Dummies is not only made for dummies, it's guaranteed to keep you one. But hey, if you like to have your competence and intelligence insulted everywhere from the title to the text, then this is the book for you. This book can't figure out the difference between an array and a list, thinks there's a \v escape, screws up the CGI form decoding (why does everyone do this?), doesn't understand the difference between programs and libraries, massively screws up quoting on Win32 paths, spreads FUD about $_, omits $!, and relegates the true heart and soul of Perl, pattern matching and hashes, way to the end, in the chapters 14 and 15 respectively. So, it's technically screwed up, has hard-to-read style, does nearly everything the hard way, hides the good stuff where you won't find it, and likes to put its reader down. Even more so, it revels in showing disrespect to anyone who seems to enjoy or be good at programming. Perhaps this makes dummies feel good.
    With a publisher who screws up a book on a simple subject that much, would you really buy from them?
  • Fine, you said it. It's true, too.

    We're all dummies in our own ways. I could probably use House Cleaning for Dummies or something like that, since I'm a terrible slob. See my URL for an explanation.

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000
  • I haven't read any of these books, but my question is: Do any of these books cover hardware requirements? Before you even start the installation process? If you truely are a "Dummy", then you probably bought a prepacked computer that came with a incompatible winmodem, and maybe even a incompatible sound card. In that case, you're outta luck as far as connecting to the internet is concerned.
  • The generic 'Linux for Dummies' 2nd edition Desktop reference is one of the most useful Linux books I've found.

    It isn't really in depth, it just has a list of most of the common commands, their usage, and the most common options. As such, it has probably gotten more day-to-day use than any 600+ page manual that might be on my bookshelf.

    Short, to the point, and it gets the job done. Seems like a perfect match. =) It should definetly get included with the books reviewed above.

  • You do know that there's a Sex for Dummies book, don't you?

    That's one of my favorites.

    The life-size Dr. Ruth centerfold makes it all worthwhile.
  • Disappointing, no Slackware for Dummies.

    Slackware has everyting... No configure-everything-here you say? vi!
  • The only reason I didn't is that I'd already made the decision a long time ago to let my CPA handle my taxes. It's well worth the money to not have to pollute my mind with all the complexities, particularly when you mix together personal, business personal, and corporate taxes.

    My solution was just to marry an acountant.

    Of course I think even she will agree I'm probably paying more than I would have to just get my taxes done and learning more about about taxes then I ever wanted to know... so this might be an ideal solution for everyone.

    :)
  • RedHat Linux for Dummies had pages and pages of hardware that was tested and worked, at the end. NICs, modems, scanners, video cards, lots of stuff.

    I don't recall if the WinModem warning was in there.

    George
  • "... I echo the sediments of ..." Hmm. You also deposit mineral particles, just like Tom Christenian? Now THAT's talent! oh wait, was that supposed to be "sentiments?" maybe, before knocking books for dummies, you should make sure you aren't one yourself.
  • On the contrary, my baptism by fire occurred at about age 10 when I accidentally deleted some critical system files (um, along with wordperfect) from our brand spanking new computer. I spent long nights with my nose embedded in tomes of DOS 4.0 books to escape the ire of my parents.

    Sometimes the best thing to do is just bang the stuff into your brain with manuals. After the soreness wears off, you'll probably be left with something more substantial.
  • I agree with you. Although I think that "For Idiots" is a bit too agressive.
  • i hate those things. they are self degrading. you must really be a loser to read a book for dummies. why admit such self defeat?
  • What you say is how I feel.. but I think after they gained a certain amoutn of repoire ont he "For Dummies" name changing it would be kinda silly now.

    Jeremy
  • Everytime I'm in a bookstore and see "Microsoft Windows for Dummies", I always think "how true!"

    HH
  • Hmmn I could swear that I say a book somewhere, maybe not a 'Dummies' one, but with the Slackware 7.0 cd. On the other hand it may just be that Slackware is NOT for Dummies, LOL.
    My two bits
  • Guyz (& girlz), check this one [dummies.com] out!

    Yes, it seems to be for real.

    HH
  • I've known a number of people who would approach me at work with, "You'll think I'm stupid, but..." or "You'll think this is easy, but..." I never had a problem with anyone who asked for help before something became a crisis (which would require me to be working late on a Friday night.)

    What blew me away was how quickly these people assumed they knew all there was about system migrations, what were reasonable expectations of highly accelerated project schedules and how utterly lazy those programmers were who drag themselves in at 9:30 am and why they couldn't show up when everyone else did at 8 am (of course, not everyone else had been in the shop until 2 am)

    A useful new title could be: How to Tell When it's Time to Switch Jobs for Dummies

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000
  • Go on George, tell us....

    Or should I just know?

    Well, it's not published yet, but to spare you from going to my home page and searching Amazon on my unusual last name, it's Samba for Dummies.

    George
  • lists are the values that arrays store
  • Female pigs are sows. Male pigs are boars.

  • Hopefully the Caldera Open-Linux book will explain the difference between Caldera Open-Linux and Corel Open-Linux (?). Methinks the Slashdot authors need another proofreader.

    And where's the Slackware For Dummies book?

  • I've used Linux and other Unices quite extensively as a developer. Which means that, in general, I know how to get around, how to mind my ps's and quotas, and in general, function as an intelligent user. But system setup and configuration... well, I haven't done much of tha, and I don't know much about hardware, and I find that this is exactly the weakness that many of the books, installers, and docs don't cater to. Once the system is up and running I can generally figure things out. But getting it up has, so far, taken more than a few hours of effort. So a dummies book that holds my hand during an install but lets me fly once we're done would be just up my alley. I expect there might be a few more people out there like me....
  • I'm quote the fan of Dummie's books myself... And soon, the lead author on one.

    Well, I hope they've got a good proofreader.

    HH
  • does anyone have a suggestion for a sig?

    Yeah, just grab a copy of my book "Signatures for Dummies" and you'll be all set!

  • I'm in awe of your analysis.

    I fear for slashdot if you use your considerable powers for trolling.

    Well, maybe not.

    George
  • -n1? Why?
  • I love these books, but only if used properly: as an introduction to the basics. There has been several times that I need to take a plunge into something I've never done before (buying a house comes to mind). The for Dummies book provides a good foundation--clear and simple definitions of terms, stripped down and to-the-point examples, etc. Essentially I use the books as a way of learning the language of a particular topic so I can ask further questions in the areas I need help on.
    --

  • 'For Dummies' a surprise (Score:3)

    by ibot ( 219510 ) on Tuesday August 22, 2000 @08:04AM (#836920) Homepage
    I was surprised at the success of 'For Dummies', 'For Idiots' and the likes. I guess there aren't any dearth of people who are willing to be called Dummies.

    This isn't a reflection on the books though, just the titles.

    Founder's Camp [founderscamp.com]

  • Isn's GNU/Linux for Dummies an oxy-moron?

    Seriously though, the attraction to Linux is of the technical-minded. I still don't see too many advantages for the regular user (except for perhaps internet appliances powered by Linux).

  • Top secret technique for writing (Score:3)

    by Hairy_Potter ( 219096 ) on Tuesday August 22, 2000 @08:05AM (#836922) Homepage
    s/SuSE/RedHat/g
    s/SuSE/Caldera/g
    s/KDE/Gnome/g

    heh-heh, a neat trick at least for Maddog and Paul Sery.
  • I prefer to think of it as humility, a willingness to learn, and the willingness to admit that you don't know everything will take you farther than being foolishly self confident.

    I'm quote the fan of Dummie's books myself, having bought 4 at full price (though deductable), one at a garage sale, and one given to me by my editor. And soon, the lead author on one.

    Thanks,

    George
  • Nah, it's just some people now think that using the masculin forms of pronouns when the gender's unknown is sexist. So they mix it up. It's rather foolish if you ask me. Anyone who would take offense to something as unimportant as that really should concentrate their energies somewhere else. At least it's not as bad as those people who won't spell women with 'men' but choose another vowel, or people who talk about herstory as opposed to history...
  • While many of you will quickly scoff at the idea of linux for dummies, check out the books first.

    I have actually read through a few of the "For Dummies Books" over the years (I think there is a copy of unix for dummies somewhere in myu pile) and, in general, find them great works for those just delving into a topic. Maybe its time to pick this up so my wife can actually use my machine ;-)

    I think....therefore I am
  • and you're left with RedHat and Gnome?
    what's your 2nd regex for? .. you've already replaced SuSE w/ RedHat ..

    #!/bin/sh
    test $ur -eq "SuSE developer" && exit 1

  • well, it would actually be two separate scripts, one to generate RedHat for Dummies and one for Caldera for Dummies, but I think you get the gist.

    Wanna call IDG and get the FreeBSD for Dummies license?

    s/Linux/FreeBSD/g
    s/rpm/port/g

  • I checked fatbrain.com and there apparently is a Debian GNU/LINUX For Dummies book, looks like someone just forgot to mention it specifically in this article.

  • With a publisher who screws up a book on a simple subject that much, would you really buy from them?

    perl is a simple subject? *looks at mass of spaghetti code written over the last two months*..

    dammit. i'm just going to kill myself now.

    --
    blue
  • [Off-topic]

    This sounds like a knee-jerk reaction to me. Would the statement have been substantially better if phrased 'installing Linux for himself', or 'itself', or 'him/her/itself'? The trend now is to alternate between the pronouns to avoid singling out a particular gender, and I think it's refreshing. Put away the paranoia, and just read the review....

    Can't we all just get along?

  • I guess there aren't any dearth of people who are willing to be called Dummies.

    I used to think that too, until I saw one titled "Taxes For Dummies". I came this close to picking up that bad boy. :) The only reason I didn't is that I'd already made the decision a long time ago to let my CPA handle my taxes. It's well worth the money to not have to pollute my mind with all the complexities, particularly when you mix together personal, business personal, and corporate taxes.

    However, it gave me a new appreciation for books "for the rest of us" when faced with a subject that is 1) horrendously complex, and 2) a subject that I simply don't care enough about to become competent at it.


    --

  • I got my TRS80 back in '78. For some reason I ordered the tbug monitor software. Just sounded like something I should get. Well, the software (on tape) included a small book. I would spend lots of time looking at the pages of this little book. I decided that it must have dropped from a flying saucer. Made no sense at all. Till I got another book called "The Z80 Cookbook". Then I said, "oh, thats what it means!".

    So yeah, have pitty on newcomers!
  • To get my feet wet, I always use the Dummies books. I have always found them to be helpful when I'm first tackling a new subject. (except the perl for dummy's book) Then I get the O'Reilly books for reference and in-depth study.

    Dummies can't be all that bad, John 'maddog' Hall wrote the "Linux for Dummies [dummies.com]" book.

  • Perhaps you should read the book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"...it is a somewhat interesting perspective on that concept.

  • Retarded Haiku
    Its lines are unrelated
    Why do you write crap?

    Thanks you. Thanks you very much.

  • I completely disagree that Linux can't be easy to use. I have a female friend who has never owned a computer in her life but really needed one for school. She had used Windows in the school labs but couldn't afford to buy a copy. We found her a cheap computer and installed Mandrake 6.1 with KDE and Star Office and of course Netscape. She was right at home, uses it all the time for her school work and the Internet and even hates to go to the labs and use Windows again. The whole "Linux is to hard to use" is a complete myth that needs to be dispelled quickly by people who are more technical. How many Windows users do you know who configure their own machines... very few, Linux and Windows configure differently but the majority of users are going to get things done for them by a tech no matter what they are using. Personally I think a "For Dummies" book is a great idea because it will show users that they can in fact use Linux and it really isn't hard at all, its just different.

    Never knock on Death's door:

  • personally, i'd be more likely to buy a book called "kickass" than "for dummies"

    and kickass [fatbrain.com] must have been on somebody's shelves
  • Why do people persist in insisting that GNU/Linux is only useful for the technically-oriented? I'm not even sure that the phrase "regular user" has any meaning, since there are so many kinds of regular users who are not necessarily techies. Once the install is over (and that seems to be the focus of these books, according to the review), the "regular user" is no less likely to be productive/satisfied using a Linux-based desktop than any other desktop platform-- unless they were looking to use a specific software package that doesn't exist for Linux.

    I think the attraction of Linux is that it's Free (as in speech)-- meaning that a competitive market decides how much my next upgrade is going to cost and what features it will have. And even so, the market may be able to bear several distributions equally well so that there is always an option. Now if computers coming home from [large electronics store] were pre-installed with Linux and configured to start up in Gnome or KDE, the main complaint would be that I couldn't bring MS Office work home and work on it there (Oh, wait, that's not a complaint, that's a good reason to NOT have MS at home).
  • In this series we will examine a poorly constructed troll in order to learn what makes a good troll.

    First, lets start by examining a poorly constructed troll:

    i hate those things. they are self degrading. you must really be a loser to read a book for dummies. why admit such self defeat?

    The preceding is a troll for two reasons. First, it is placed in a discussion about dummies books. Rather than having something constructive to say, this inexperienced troller tries to invalidate the entire discussion. Secondly, it is a troll because it attempts to insult the intelligence of those seriously engaged in the discussion. The troller is saying, "Not only are dummies books lame, but you are lame for reading them.

    What distinguishes a good troll from a bad troll is its obviousness. A really good troll should not only be completely ludicrous like the above statement, it should not appear completely ludicrous, but rather appear to be an intelligent argument against whatever prevailing wisdom the majority of those in the discussion hold. It should stir heated discussion about the merits or the pros and cons of the topic being discussed. Unfortunately, the above troll can only inspire a knee-jerk reaction(I am NOT stupid...), something that only the most clueless newbie would fall for.

    So there you have it. You can learn good trolling by looking at bad trolling.

    This message brought to you as a public service by Pinball Wizard(a fan of the good kind of troll.)

  • The reason calls start off like that is because too many "geeks" make people feel stupid for not knowing something. Users start to believe it's their fault they aren't all knowing.

    Chris
  • Indeed. Here's a link to an online version [vt.edu]
    ---
  • Yeah, that surprises me, too. Until recently, I thought product names such as "Extremely high-fat potato chips for fat slobs like you" or "If You Believe Any of the Stories in this Magazine You Should Fuck Off and Get a Life Magazine" wouldn't sell very well. I guess I was wrong.

    In ten years, we'll see "BSD for fucking idiots like YOU who can barely tie their fucking shoes and shouldn't even be using a computer in the first place"
  • Go on George, tell us....

    Or should I just know?

  • Followed by the even more unnerving "Parenting for Dummies."
  • This [octapod.org.au] is still my favorite "dummies" book.

    Hmm, how quickly we all forget [slashdot.org]


    --------
  • It interests me that this latest round of IDG books receives such a favorable slashdot response, after the previous hullabaloo (e.g. see this article [slashdot.org], there are more). For a clientel that is so concerned about world corporate domination and such (or are we), it seems like tauting the greatness of these books is a little hypocritical. Just a thought.
  • I always wanted to write "The Idiot's Guide to Writing Books for Dummies"
  • If they were "for the ignorant", yeah, I'll freely admit to being ignorant about many things. But being stupid?

  • What is it about people and technology... (Score:3)

    by TobyWong ( 168498 ) on Tuesday August 22, 2000 @08:11AM (#836949)
    How many support calls start out like this:

    "This is probably REALLY simple but..."
    "I'm a complete moron when it comes to these things, so how do I..."
    "You'll have to excuse my ignorance but I've never done this before,"
    "I just did this the other day and I've already forgotten how, can you tell me how to...."

    Now try saying the same thing to a sex therapist.... HAH faaaaantastic!

  • Texts yet to be released, following the insinuation of diminutive intellect:

    Linux for Natalie Portman [natalieportman.com]

    Linux for Evil Geniuses

    Linux for the Expecting Mother

    Linux for Children

    Linux for People Who Can't Read

    Linux for Executives

    Linux for Morons

    Linux for Miscreants

    Linux for Bloated Sacks of Proto Plasm

    Linux for People So Stupid They Don't Deserve to Live

    and lastly

    Linux for Packs of Dobermans Clamped Onto Lawyers

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000

  • As someone who started out with a Dummies book (Unix for Dummies), I think I can say that these books are what you make them. I had a sysadmin buddy to bounce things off of, so the book was more like a study aide, and not a book. It just helped me solidify what he was "teaching" and didn't stray too far into advanced topics.

    I can't help but think it would have been a useful resource in the absence of my buddy. Kudos to IDG for publishing the books, and hopefully attracting some fence-sitters to join the party.

  • Re:'For Dummies' a surprise (Score:3)

    by Chaswell ( 222452 ) on Tuesday August 22, 2000 @08:11AM (#836952)
    Have you ever actually read one? I buy them for my Mom anytime I am having problems describing something in terms she can understand. 'Dummie' books are amazing at using metaphor to get a point across to someone who doesn't have the slightest grasp on the topic.

    They also come in handy if you just need to be able talk intelligently about a subject but not really know it, like to interview someone for a job in a dicipline you are not expert in.

    does anyone have a suggestion for a sig?
  • 7 years ago when I was around 13, I found C a perplexing langauge until I found C For dummies Vol1, and 2. I didnt ever need a dummies book about programming, but the gentle introduction helped me learn period versus being in some gray haze with my friends K&R, Book on C.

    Now I program for a living and dont have but those two For dummies books..

    BUT, I think anyone who would ever go so far as to say the books are for idiots are wrong.

    These kind of books can help people who may otherwise lose intrest become very knowledgeable.

    And go on.. to become sucessful in a Techie type career. So Dont knock emm not everyone learns the same.

    Jeremy
  • I seem to remember they had a UNIX for dummies book. I got it from the library when i got my first real shell account so i could refresh myself to the level of being able to navigate around and all that good stuff.
    I wonder how much the Linux one differes from the UNIX one...
  • Best Perl book I found was the O'Reilly one by Randal Shwartz, pretty good and kinda fun to read. I went from scratch to writing a small search [delta.edu] cgi in 1.5 weeks. Seems like the book did the job, can't argue with that.

    Vote [dragonswest.com] Naked 2000
  • As a linux newb I bought and read several books to help guide me. Some of you may only touch How-Tos but many of us less l33t need a good old fashioned reference book to assist learning.

    The No BS Guide to Linux [fatbrain.com] - This book is a great introduction to the commandline interface. Nothing much on X, but everything you need to find your way around a shell.

    Idiot's Guide to Linux [fatbrain.com] My favorite book. Manuel Ricart wrote this excellent guide to running X on linux with emphasis on KDE. Good tips on backing up, security, and other basics that many books take for granted.

    Teach Yourself KDE 1.1 [fatbrain.com] Simply a good guide to learning how to fully use KDE. Each lesson is simple and focused, allowing those that need to learn in short amounts of time a concise lesson.

    Apache Server for Dummies [fatbrain.com] A straightforward book on configuring Apache. It's not meant as a handbook for a business, more as a way for someone to understand and configure Apache for the first time to understand the concepts behind the software. It allowed me to get a server up and running and even running CGI scripts for intranet use.

    If you are already a GNUGod, you won't need these books. But if you are like me and trying to learn these things without the benefit of live human tutor, these books are handy.

    Also, the two of the books deal mainly with KDE. If you like Gnome, bewarned that Idiot's Guide to Linux [fatbrain.com] deals mainly with KDE and not Gnome.


  • New books for dummies,

    My mom will be so happy,
    Free software for all!

  • IHMO... (Score:2)

    by jd ( 1658 )
    The books, as reviewed, sound excellent. At least as far as they go.

    IMHO, I'd like to see chapters on the following, if anyone's writing other Linux Newbie guides:

    • Reading/Writing Windows disks and files
    • Editing Word/Excel/Powerpoint/Access files
    • Connecting up to an ISP (phone, cable or xDSL)
    • Installing new applications
    • Playing^H^H^H^H^H^H^HRunning Windows Applications
    • Adding desktop icons
    • Handling E-Mail (eg: Outlook-type apps)
    • Home Networking for TOTAL Beginners
  • Any book with 'Linux' in the title is a mistake to purchase. I've accumulated a lot of really good reference books by focusing on the Unix books by O'Reilly and a few other high quality publishers. 'Linux' books are 'it's the latest thing' books, whereas Unix books are durable, and useful even when you shift to using a BSD variant. 'Essential System Administration' published by O'Reilly should be on any serious Freenix enthusiast's shelf. So should the blue-spined networking books (the BIND, NFS, PPP, etc. series).

    The books I've regretted buying in the past have been the ones with a Linux CD glued into the spine, that spend the first three chapters on 'how to install distro xxx'. That material should be included with the distribution itself.

    The Matt Welsh 'Running Linux' book is the one exception. In fact, that's probably the first book a beginner should buy in the first place.

    I remember when the only book at all for Linux was Yggdrasil's 'Linux Bible,' which I ordered for $50, and which turned out to just be a bound up copy of all the HOWTO documents that I already had.
  • Any book with 'Linux' in the title is a mistake to purchase. I've accumulated a lot of really good reference books by focusing on the Unix books by O'Reilly and a few other high quality publishers. 'Linux' books are 'it's the latest thing' books, whereas Unix books are durable, and useful even when you shift to using a BSD variant. 'Essential System Administration' published by O'Reilly should be on any serious Freenix enthusiast's shelf. So should the blue-spined networking books (the BIND, NFS, PPP, etc. series).

    The books I've regretted buying in the past have been the ones with a Linux CD glued into the spine, that spend the first three chapters on 'how to install distro xxx'. That material should be included with the distribution itself.

    The Matt Welsh 'Running Linux' book is the one exception. In fact, that's probably the first book a beginner should buy.

    I remember when the only book at all for Linux was Yggdrasil's 'Linux Bible,' which I ordered for $50, and which turned out to just be a bound up copy of all the HOWTO documents that I already had.
  • Tbug rocks! It's the only real way to hack the TRS-80 if you don't have the Expansion Interface.

    I made the mistake of buying the Cassette version of the Editor/Assembler, thinking it would be so much more powerful. But who wants to do a 20 minute load from Cassette every time you want to run the Assembler?

    The Tbug monitor and hand coded machine language was the way to go back then.
  • I'm realy sick and tired of people jugding Linux distributions by the ease of install.

    True, most people don't get a working Linux OS on their machines, so they have to get through it. But really, how many times do you install a Linux system?


    A book called 'Linux for Dummies' should begin with: look at the Linux distributions you know, look at their HCL, if your hardware maches the specs: BUY. Then, follow the installation manual and start reading this book.


    No (I repeat _NO_) Linux for dummies book should waste valuable trees on installation. Of all distributions that come in boxes I know, I encountered none with bad installation manuals (SuSE, Red Hat, Mandrake).


    Now a book that tells you how to _use_ Linux, how to get used to sometimes actually have to _type_ commands, a book that explains there are choices in how your OS looks, that's a book I'm going to recommend to my friends.

    It should start with: read the {Gnome,KDE} users guide, then do ... (insert chapters here).


    All of the above applies to desktop users. There should also be a Linux Server for dummies book as well. LCSE certification Vol. 1. :-)


    Yay.

    --

  • Unfortunately I have no moderator access, else I would moderate you up (moderators: hint hint). It is indeed a very interesting book, certainly considering the difference between classic/romantic people.

    'Romantical' people just use technology, but don't want to know how it works. It's not that they *could* not understand, it's more like, they just don't *want* to.

    'Classical' people use technology, wanting to understand it. These people would -for example- build their own computers, rather than buying one at the local retailer (with Win98 pre-installed)

    The book is an interesting read, note however that it does not have anything to do with computers :-)

    FYI, the author is Robert Pirsig.
  • ls -F1 | grep /$ | xargs -n1 du -hs

    Looks like it prints how much space is used in each directory under the current one.

    I didn't run the command or do any man page referencing so I may be a bit off with the particular switches though.

  • What I want, really, is a series called "for people who earnestly believe that they could figgure this out if it was just writtend down somewhere by someone who doesn't use excessive numbers of sentence fragments or un-tranlated TLA's(1) and sells for under $30"

    No really. My biggest complaint about most books is that they cover the easy stuff in excessive detail an shorten up the paragraphs dramatically when it gets harder. Here's an excerpt from "Upgrading PC's for Hebephrenics"

    1. Remove the upper casing of the computer. To do this, find the two screws at the back of the case first. Make sure you have a screwdriver whose head matches the pattern of the screws (see chpts 12-27 on how to use a screwdriver). Turn the screws clockwise until completely removed from case. Place the screws in a safe place and keep the screwsriver handy. Remove the upper case by lifting it gently until it is completely removed and the inner workings are exposed.
    2. Remove the CPU with a pistol hot soldering iron and a can of compressed air. Don't forget the masking tape! Insert new CPU, soldering the appropriate pins to the appropriate places.
    3. Put the case back on the top of the computer, lowering it at about the rate of 1.2 km/h in a downward motion. If you put the case on backwards, you will have diffiuclty re-inserting the screws so be careful (see chapters 1 - 9 "telling back from front" and appendix B "Up or Down. How to tell the difference") When inserting the screws this time, you may want to try the "continental grip" on the screwdriver (Appendix L "Placement of Feet and Hands during screw-driving"). Study the diagram frist though.....

    (1)Trecherously Long Adjectives

  • It would seem to me that, while a guide to installation and basic command line info would be useful, complete newbies to Linux would probably begin by wondering how they can do the same things under Linux that they do under Windows. And for most people, this does not mean using an editor like vi or writing shell scripts. It means connecting to the Internet, using e-mail, web browsing, and word processing. From this review, it appears that these books do not explain how to do all of this under Linux. If not, I would thinkk that the average newbie Linux user would find these books disappointing, or, even worse, they may decide that these tasks cannot be done in Linux without resorting to the CLI. A good introduction to Linux, in my opinion, should cover installation and the use of a user-friendly GUI (like KDE or Gnome). It should explain how to set up an Internet connection, how to run Mozilla or Netscape, and the use of StarOffice or KOffice (when it becomes stable, that is) or some other office suite. Someone who buys "Linux for dummies" probably won't be using the command line very soon. Leave that for a later book, once they know how to do what they need to and they're interested in learning more.
  • It never ceases to amaze me how many otherwise intelligent people allow themselves to seize up when confronted with unfamiliar technology. The same people who can get a medical degree just don't want to even give technology a try. Funny.

    It's not just that people don't know about technology, it's that they gloat about their ignorance. The only other field I've noticed receiving such "attention" is math. Normal course of nature, or frightening trend?

    " Oh, I don't know anything about *that*..."
  • Not surprising. My first exposure to Linux was through a Linux for dummies book written by Jon 'Maddog' Hall himself. It gave me the foundation I needed to go on to more advanced stuff. I ended up using the command shell far more than KDE or GNOME. The books are very nice for gently easing you into an operating system that has a pretty steep learning curve.

  • I believe that the true benefit of these books is more of an eye-opener for many individuals who would not normally open a book that says 'linux' on the cover. If they see 'dummies' associated with 'linux', some people might recognize that the OS is not quite as complex as some of the common news sources report it is. It won't hurt the linux community to have some more publicity by the sale of these books.

    -=MeMpHiStO=-

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