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Books Software Media Book Reviews Linux

Linux Power Tools 144

Posted by timothy from the bzzzzzzzz dept.
Dan Clough writes "I found Linux Power Tools to be a useful book, although it does have some shortcomings. It's a 644-page, well-written book that covers almost all aspects of managing, administering, and optimizing a working Linux system. The book's cover claims the target audience as intermediate to advanced users, but I think that beginner to intermediate would be more accurate. More advanced users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level." Read on for the rest of Dan's review.
Linux Power Tools
author Roderick W. Smith
pages 644
publisher Sybex
rating 8 of 10
reviewer Dan Clough
ISBN 0782142265
summary Well-written introductory and intermediate material; a useful jumping off point for many tasks though not the definitive source for specialized ones.

The text doesn't cover installing a Linux system, but does point out some of the differences among the major distributions in common use today, specifically Debian, Mandrake, RedHat, Slackware, and SUSE. Much of the distro-specific information is contained in a chapter on package management (RPM, deb, tar.gz, and the GUI tools for the aforementioned distros). I found this book a good reference for a new user (and especially someone self-administering their Linux box for the first time), but most "expert" users will not find much here that they don't already know.

The author covers a wide range of software that is frequently used. This includes the major desktop environments KDE and Gnome (with a brief discussion of alternate window and file managers which can be used to create your own custom environment), and office application suites (fairly simple overviews of OpenOffice.org, KOffice, and Gnome Office). Also covered are the two most common bootloaders (LILO and GRUB), printer configuration options (LPRng and CUPS), and a pretty basic section on command-line shells and scripting. There are a couple of chapters that touch on the basics of doing backups (using tar), and some general methods of improving the security of a Linux system (such as using proper passwords and stopping unnecessary services). These topics are followed up by several sections on basic networking configuration (TCP/IP, DHCP, and DNS), and controlling network access with firewalls, TCP wrappers, and xinetd service restrictions.

The last few chapters cover setup and operation of various common server applications, including Apache, FTP, Sendmail, Postfix, SSH, and VNC. All of these server descriptions are of the "general overview" variety, and additional resources will be required by someone trying to configure them for the first time. The book includes a basic glossary aimed at beginners, and an excellent index. The inside front and back covers contain a nice list of essential Linux configuration files, with their default locations, although distro-specific variations are not included.

The two sections that I found the most useful are the kernel customization chapter, and the one on optimizing the X Window System configuration.

Although the kernel chapter contains information that can be found elsewhere, it offers a very understandable explanation, and should make the process of compiling a custom kernel (for performance optimization) achievable for someone who hasn't done it before. In short, everything I needed to know about was right there in one place, and eliminated the need to bounce back and forth between the numerous how-to documents available online. By following this book's guidelines, I was able to successfully compile a kernel optimized for my AthlonXP CPU, containing only the drivers I need, which resulted in noticeable improvements in bootup time, application loading times, and desktop responsiveness.

In the X Window System chapter, the use of options in the XF86Config(-4) config file was well explained, including how to set custom modelines useful for a non-standard screen resolution and/or refresh rate. Font configuration was very clearly discussed, and included directions for adding additional fonts, and enabling smoothing (anti-aliasing) in applications.

Linux Power Tools is an excellent reference book, well suited to assisting in specific tasks related to Linux system administration. There is no real new information here, but this book does better than most at having many things you want to know very accessible in one reference volume. I would compare it favorably with another of my favorite books -- O'Reilly's Running Linux. In fact I've found it to be even more valuable for some specific tasks. It is very complete and recent (copyright 2003), and I highly recommend it to other intermediate level system administrators.

You can purchase Linux Power Tools from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit a review for consideration, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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Linux Power Tools

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  • 644 ? (Score:5, Funny)

    by EnderWiggnz ( 39214 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:06PM (#7681080)
    well, at least everyone can read it....

  • Strange (Score:3, Funny)

    by tds67 ( 670584 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:10PM (#7681122)
    More advanced users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level.

    How ironic! I am rather short in height, and I sit on this very book at home when I use my computer.

    • >users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level

      >I sit on this very book at home

      Then it's not exactly beneath your level, is it?

      If it's not Consolidated Lint, it's just fuzz!

  • Power Tools? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nairnr ( 314138 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:11PM (#7681130)
    Does anyone else other than me seem to think that "Power Tools" is an ill-suited title for a book that sounds more like an introductory book, then one detailing tools for a "Power User"?

    • Re:Power Tools? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by linuxci ( 3530 )
      But they did say the target audience is intermediate to advanced, although the reviewer disagrees with that.

      So it's a good title for their target audience.

      However, the most likely effect is beginners feeling they're advanced users a bit too early!

    • Re:Power Tools? (Score:3, Interesting)

      by einhverfr ( 238914 )
      Define power tools and define power user.

      I tend to think that there are a few different kinds of users:

      1: Basic users (knowing just enough to get their job done).

      2: Basic admins/Power Users. Have enough knowledge to know how to do basic administration. May have SOME in-depth knowledge of a system.

      3: System engineers (NOT MCSE's). the system engineer as I define the term here is the person who has combined the mastery of the power user with an indepth understanding of a large number of useful packa
    • I remember there was a book once called "UNIX Power Tools" which seemed to achieve near-Bible status for anyone doing a significant amount of programming on the job. This book obviously follows the theme.

      Besides, who would buy a book called "Linux Hand Tools" or "Linux For Poets?"
    • Does anyone else other than me seem to think that "Power Tools" is an ill-suited title for a book that sounds more like an introductory book, then one detailing tools for a "Power User"?

      Sounds like "title inflation" to me...

      Next thing you know there will be a "Linux Power tools for dummies".

    • True. It evokes images of using rotary saws and drills to [dis]assemble Linux boxen. :D

      -b
    • Does anyone else other than me seem to think that "Power Tools" is an ill-suited title for a book that sounds more like an introductory book, then one detailing tools for a "Power User"?

      "Power User" is a concept that makes no sense in Unix land. When everything is open, when anyone can dig down to the metal if s/he so desires, then the boundary between "User" and "Programmer" becomes blurred and replaced by a continuous spectrum. Wherever you stand, you can always keep learning, and everything reminds yo

    • It's not an introductory book. The title, while not very helpful or decscriptive, is in keeping with a long line of 'power tools' titles targetting DOS and Windows users.

      That quiblle aside, the book occupies a middle ground between the abundant "how to install Linux" books on one side of the spectrum and the myriad books for trained and wannabe admins on the other side of the spectrum. There's a market in that middle ground for books targetting Linux users who are neither newbies or admins, but simply peop

  • Actualy it's not a bad book (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:12PM (#7681149)
    I've had the book for sometime, and I open it up every now and again, it brings up some good points here and there and its nice to have a hard copy to fall back on, but all in all its nothing you cant find in a man page.

    • Re:Actually it's not a bad book (Score:5, Insightful)

      by jeffehobbs ( 419930 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:13PM (#7681785) Homepage

      Man pages, schman pages. Yes, I'll go so far as to say: schman pages.

      The deep, inherent flaw with man pages is that you need to know what you need to know before you can even access the relevant piece of documentation. For instance, maybe I want help with setting schedules system events. How am I supposed to know to type

      man cron

      if I have never heard of cron before? That's why sometimes it's very useful to have this stuff in a book that you can thumb through, learning new stuff as you go.

      ~jeff

      • Re:Actually it's not a bad book (Score:5, Informative)

        by transient ( 232842 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:34PM (#7681962)
        Try apropos:
        % apropos schedule
        cron (8) - daemon to execute scheduled commands (Vixie Cron)
        cron [crond] (8) - daemon to execute scheduled commands (Vixie Cron)
      • Try man -k.

        To continue with your example:

        % man -k schedule

        cron(8) - daemon to execute scheduled commands (Vixie Cron)
        ualarm(3) - schedule signal after specified time
        %
      • Not only is there no reason to expect people to type "man cron", there's no reason for them to know that they can schedule tasks to run automatically at certain times. I suppose you might stumble upon cron after repeated use of apropos, but why not have the chance to read about it in a book?

        Man pages are written for developers. Developers are the mechanics of the computer world.
      • Man pages, schman pages. Yes, I'll go so far as to say: schman pages.

        Yeah, I'd always wished all man pages had a section heading like DESCRIPTION and SYNOPSIS called TUTORIAL. ;)

        I also wanted the EXAMPLES section to be mandatory in all man pages, instead of optional. A good page that has an EXAMPLES section is route(8). Many other commands really need it, like tar(1), sed(1) and tr(1). And sorry, but I really dislike info(1); I find it awkward and totally unfamiliar. You might as well use HTML pages an

      • For instance, maybe I want help with setting schedules system events. How am I supposed to know to type man cron if I have never heard of cron before?

        apropos schedule ?

      • For instance, maybe I want help with setting schedules system events. How am I supposed to know to type man cron if I have never heard of cron before?

        Well, you could really take a risk and type:

        man -k schedule

        or even more snazzily:

        apropos schedule

        and watch in joy as the results pop out at you:

        [worm@hole loser]# apropos manual
        man (1) - format and display the on-line manual pages
        man2html (1) - format a manual page in html
        man [manpath] (1) - format and display the on-line manual pages
        per

        • Or even more relevantly ;-)
          [worm@hole loser]# apropos schedule
          cron (8) - daemon to execute scheduled commands (Vixie Cron)
          cron [crond] (8) - daemon to execute scheduled commands (Vixie Cron)
          gpilot-install-file (1) - gnome-pilot file conduit scheduler

  • The Point is? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by FraggleMI ( 117868 )
    I don't see the point of these books for linux anymore. You have better, more up to date resources on the web, and if you are still stuck, you have irc. Why would you waste your money on a book?

    • Re:The Point is? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by linuxci ( 3530 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:17PM (#7681201)
      Because some of us like to have material we can read on the train [slashdot.org] if there's a problem with the on board net access ;)

      Being able to get info in whatever form you prefer is a good thing.

    • Yes.. lets have all of the newbies go directly to irc. I'm so easily entertained

    • Re:The Point is? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dev0n ( 313063 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:25PM (#7681282) Homepage
      The web and IRC work best if you know the questions you want to ask. Books are better for introducing people to new concepts and giving them the right questions to ask of the wonderful folks on IRC and the right terms to search for in Google, IMHO.

      • Re:The Point is? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by fireboy1919 ( 257783 )
        Look, he doesn't mean that you should randomly go out and search google. If you're a newbie and don't even know the question, you can read the guides [tldp.org].

        If you have a straightforward problem that has been solved MANY, MANY times, like how to set up a mail,web, or ftp server, you can check the howtos [tldp.org].

        In my experience (and I do the IRC thing a lot), you can't expect to have esoteric/advanced questions answered on IRC. If people don't know the answer immediately, they don't want to put in the work to figuring

        • Re:The Point is? (Score:4, Informative)

          by dev0n ( 313063 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:17PM (#7681833) Homepage
          Perhaps in my original point I should have said "books are better FOR SOME PEOPLE" instead of just "books are better" .. because there ARE a lot of people out there who learn best from books, and who feel more confident about tackling new problems if they have a reference to refer to.

          I personally use a combo of books/web references whenever I do *anything* new. I learn best that way.
    • And, of course, there is that rare occasion when, for whatever reason, there is no web connection for whatever reason. I have been frequently thankful for the archaic "book" at times like these.
    • Sure, if your machine is up and running and does everything you need to be able to access the web, fine, but if you're trying to mess with the boot loader, or you're trying to reconfigure X Windows, or you're doing Stupid Firewall Tricks, you might not be able to read the documentation.

      Also, books are nice objects, and you can get much more perspective while reading a book than reading on screen, and you've got a reasonable subset of everything you want at once.

    • Because the console in the server room only has a 15 inch (800 x 600) screen that prevents one from having the browser and the shell window visible at the same time. This of course assumes your production server is running x-windows and you are not using lynx and viewing green fluorescent text.
    • Because a book is more convenient, more permanent, and more trustworthy than the web. Before a book reaches the market, it is fact-checked, edited, rewritten, and revised. Most verbiage on the web, in contrast, isn't fact-checked, isn't edited, isn't rewritten, and isn't revised when it ought to be.

      People get pad to write books; the web is full of ranting amateurs.

  • No such thing as a Linux beginner? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RobertB-DC ( 622190 ) * on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:13PM (#7681162) Homepage Journal
    The book's cover claims the target audience as intermediate to advanced users, but I think that beginner to intermediate would be more accurate. More advanced users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level.

    I think this might be considered fair marketing. If you're using Linux, you're probably not a "beginner" -- you've probably an expert on other OS's and have decided to take the next step.

    I just got a $35 PII [retrobox.com] and installed Knoppix 3.3. It's my first Linux box after 15+ years in the DOS/Windows world, and I'm finding out just how little I know. But I can at least make some educated guesses about "hda5" and "eth0", and when the screen displays 4 penguins instead of 1 I know that it's a screen resolution problem, not a "it doesn't work" problem.

    So I'm not sure there's such a thing as a "Linux Beginner"... at least not until Wal-Mart's Lindows PCs outsell the Windows/AOL equipped models. Those buyers are the true "beginners".
    • Fair marketing? When I look at that kind of rating I assume it is more domain specific. So just because I am an expert at Linux doesn't necessarily mean that I shouldn't pick up a Beginner book in Oracle or Cisco!

      If you don't think there is anything such as a Linux Beginner you don't hang out on enough IRC channels or newsgroups.

    • So I'm not sure there's such a thing as a "Linux Beginner"

      Here where I live, there's a "Linux in the schools" program going on. So yes, there is such a thing as a "Linux Beginner." Little schoolkids can hardly be called experts on other OS's ;-)

      Here's a link to the project with a brief explanation in English: http://www.skolelinux.no/index.php.en

      They also have this program in other countries, but I don't have a list of where at the moment. If you read Scandinavian, you'll probably find them in "links"

    • I would like to thank you for the link to that used computer site.

      I was yelling out the prices "Oh my god look at this, a p2 400 for $40, that's twice as fast as our file server!"
      My wife rolled her eyes and denied knowing the whereabouts of the credit card.

      At this rate I'll have several more computers to do *ahem*, "testing and development".
      On behalf of myself and Visa, I thank you.

      • I would like to thank you for the link to that used computer site.

        No problem! I found the joint thanks to a Slashdot article [slashdot.org], myself. Their $70 laptops were pretty appealing, but we went for the $35 desktop instead.

        Customer service was excellent -- I couldn't find the shipping costs, so I included a note asking them to contact me if the shipping was above $20. They called the next morning, less than an hour after they opened. It's $27.50 shipping, BTW, which seems to be a standard rate -- but it incl
      • It's funny - just before I checked slashdot today, I got an email from a friend with a link to retrobox.

        hmmm, I wonder where he got it...

        Anyway, my response to him was almost word-for-word the same as yours - '20 bucks would buy me a server/firewall twice as fast as the one I'm using, with twice the memory!!...'

        A few years ago, I would have laughed at the idea of drooling over ridiculously old hardware...but then a few years ago, I was running windows.

    • and when the screen displays 4 penguins instead of 1 I know that it's a screen resolution problem, not a "it doesn't work" problem.

      Depends. When the console is configured to use a framebuffer a penguin for each CPU is printed above the boot messages, so if you have 4 CPUs you'd have 4 penguins.
    • you've probably an expert on other OS's and have decided to take the next step.

      Nah, that would be the audience for this book [amazon.com].

  • Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:14PM (#7681173)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Beneath? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:15PM (#7681184)
    More advanced users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level.

    Don't most advanced Linux users find "Multi-Dimensional Calculus for Astrophysicists" beneath their level? Much the same way showering and deodorant use are beneath them...

  • UNIX Power Tools (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Coryoth ( 254751 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:18PM (#7681207) Homepage Journal
    It's a shame that the book is perhaps a little basic - when I heard the title I was hoping for something along the lines of UNIX Power Tools specialised to Linux. UNIX Power Toolsreally is one of the best books out there on using UNIX. No matter how experienced a user you are you're likely to find some little gem of information buried in it - and that's all it really is, simply a collection of little gems of information about everything UNIX. It would be nice to see a book along those lines that covered Linux more specifically.

    Jedidiah

    • Re:UNIX Power Tools (Score:3, Interesting)

      by linuxci ( 3530 )
      Yeah the first time I read the review I never paid attention to what it said the publisher was so it thought it was an O'Reilly book based on UNX Power Tools, presumably the publisher named theirs similarly so people would think it was connected to this popular oreilly unix book.
    • UNIX Power Tools really is one of the best books out there on using UNIX.

      That's really true. But it's also a really good book on using Linux. Unix Power Tools is my favorite Linux book right now.
    • I agree, UNIX Power Tools is one of the best Unix books ever written. For a new user this should be in the top two or three books (maybe after "Running Linux" and "Essential System Administration"), and almost everyone who uses Unix tools should have it.

      It covers hundreds of tips for using a wide variety of command line tools, such as bash, sed, awk, even lowly ed, as well as editors like vi and Emacs. It covers all these tools while talking about what makes Unix special (flexibly combining tools). It's a

    • Re:UNIX Power Tools (Score:3, Informative)

      by rk_nh ( 725637 )
      The updated third edition has been revised to include updated information on Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, etc. I use it constantly and have never been stuck with a problem I couldn't solve.
      • That's good to know. I only have the second edition, and it tends to refer to bash as something new and different, and doesn't spend as much time with it as would be useful for someone not working on Solaris or AIX.

        Jedidiah

  • Misleading / questionable title (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Florian ( 2471 ) <cantsin@zedat.fu-berlin.de> on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:21PM (#7681250) Homepage
    The title "Linux Power Tools" falsely suggests that the book is a sequel or update to O'Reilly's "Unix Power Tools". Unlike the book reviewed here, "Unix Power Tools" is not about configuring KDE and such stuff, but a wizard's guide to & treasury of classical shell tools, arguably the best Unix user book ever written, the bible of the commandline, the ultimate celebration of design philosophy genius behind Unix. In that light, calling the reviewed book "Linux Power Tools" is pure blasphemy.

  • looking for a good windows to linux book. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Deathlizard ( 115856 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:22PM (#7681257) Homepage Journal
    currently, I'm a windows XP user. I've used Microsoft from DOS 6.22 to NT to 2000 to XP and I'm very proficient in how to use these os'es to the point where I'm confortable in how they work and what to do if something goes wrong.

    One of the reasons why I don't use Linux is because of this. It's not about fearing change as much as I know how windows works to the point I can set in up in under an hour rather than mess with linux for days.

    What I'm looking for is a Linux book that doesn't walk you through a liunx distro step by step from installiation to installing apps, etc, but more along the lines of "this is how it's done in windows, and this is how linux does the same thing. Or a straght reference manual.

    So far the only book I've seen that is close to what I want is "Linux in a Nutshell", primarialy becuase it has a great reference to all the commands and doesn't focus on one distro, which seems that all of the books do, but I would like to find a book more suited to transitioning from windows to Linux to the point where if I'm a windows and MSDOS Expert and know what I'm doing then if I follow this book I should have no trouble finding my way through linux based on the examples they give.

    Does such a book exist?

    • I just bought (Score:2, Informative)

      by Dynamic Ranger ( 725268 )
      "Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!" by Marcel Gagne.

      It comes with a bootable CD so you can try out Linux without wiping your computer. I haven't tried it yeat, but the book is very readable and got great reviews on Amazon.

    • Re:looking for a good windows to linux book. (Score:5, Informative)

      by RobertB-DC ( 622190 ) * on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:45PM (#7681473) Homepage Journal
      I would like to find a book more suited to transitioning from windows to Linux

      While looking for Knoppix hints, I ran across a page by the author of something called Moving to Linux [marcelgagne.com] , subtitled "Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye." It purports to do what you're asking for, but I haven't bought it and don't know anyone who has, so YMMV.

    • Re:looking for a good windows to linux book. (Score:5, Informative)

      by irc.goatse.cx troll ( 593289 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:02PM (#7681672) Journal
      Can't help you on the book, but I'd advise you to aim for O'Rielly rather than the 'Learn $X in 24 hrs' type books.

      I did want to reply to a sepcific comment, though,
      "One of the reasons why I don't use Linux is because of this. It's not about fearing change as much as I know how windows works to the point I can set in up in under an hour rather than mess with linux for days."

      This really depends on your definition of 'set up'. You could pop in a knoppix cd and be done with knx-hdinstall in about 20minutes and have a fully working linux system, but thats not really set up as to my definition. When I setup a linux box, I configure it exactly how I want, everything from login configs to disable local passwords, shell configs to setup everything how I want, IP QoS configs so my downloads don't kill my ping in quake or SSH, SSH public keys so I don't need to retype a password everywhere, /etc/hosts so I can login to my servers without typing the full hostname, and plenty more. Its a process that takes the lifespan of your install, but generally you're satisfied after a week or so, but when I recently tried windows 2003 I found that it was the same experience -- a week or so to have things how you want it, but still a while longer to fine tune everything (each little apps preferences, installing all of the third party software you need, hunting down serial numbers, the relative[to linux] mess that is drivers/hardware) All of this stuff is optional configuration, but I feel its a required step for setting up your machine.

      One thing I can suggest though is if you're going to dual boot, use ext2 or ext3fs, and look into the 'ext2fsd' project. Mounts an ext2 filesystem in windows, defaults to ReadOnly but can be setup to write also. Very useful.
    • It's kindof hard to say this is how you do it in windows and then this is how you do it in linux.

      In windows, you click a lot of "ok"s and reboot a lot. In linux, you: ./configure; make; sudo make install

      In windows, you install buggy drivers that conflict with other drivers and crash your system. In linux, you either compile support directly into the kernel or compile a loadable module.

      In windows, you endlessly navigate through menu's to try and find a preference. In linux, it's usually one config file ha
    • currently, I'm a windows XP user. I've used Microsoft from DOS 6.22 to NT to 2000 to XP and I'm very proficient in how to use these os'es to the point where I'm confortable in how they work and what to do if something goes wrong.

      Would that be reinstall, or reboot? ;-)

      What I'm looking for is a Linux book that doesn't walk you through a liunx distro step by step from installiation to installing apps, etc, but more along the lines of "this is how it's done in windows, and this is how linux does the same th

    • Take my advice:
      1. Find an old, unwanted machine.
      2. Install Linux. At least with Redhat, it's as easy as Windows. Only consufing part to you might be the partition setup, but any installer today will do this for you
      3. Have a Windows machine on the internet so you can Google your way out of problems in case you zorch something and until you use your Linux machine for web browsing
      4. Get it on the network, and get a samba share drive going. Now, you can download files the way you always have with Windows (for now)
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • hahah... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by pb ( 1020 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:41PM (#7682017)
      So tell me, what do you do when something goes wrong in Windows? Reinstall? Windows update? Run defrag? Look on the web for an answer?

      Anyhow, there are HOWTOs [tldp.org] on this sort of thing, and books as well, although I must say that "Linux in a Nutshell" is a very good introductory Linux book.

      However, if you're a Windows and MS-DOS Expert and you Know What You're Doing(tm), then you should have no problems learning Linux. First, familiarize yourself with the commands and software packages that you have available; then, run from there! Most distributions have decent graphical help systems and package managers nowadays, and even if they don't, there's always man and man -k. :)

      As to the rest, there's really no replacement for some good old Unix books, or for having a Unix wizard around. They can explain to you why "echo *" doesn't work the same way in Unix (the shell expands the *), and how you'd go about performing tasks by stringing commands together...

      How many reboots have there been:
      last | grep ^"reboot " | wc -l

      Who logs in the most:
      last | cut -d ' ' -f 1 | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head

      On what day of the week have you logged in the most:
      last | grep ^`whoami` | cut -c 40-43 | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

      What file types are the most common:
      find -type f -exec file -i {} \; | cut -d : -f 2- | cut -d , -f 1 | sort -n | uniq -c | sort -rn | head

      etc., etc.
    • ... I know how windows works to the point I can set in up in under an hour rather than mess with linux for days.
      Good for you. I can set up 60 linux machines in an hour.
      (I'd get someone else to screw them into the racks though - that takes a while.)

  • Books? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by sirReal.83. ( 671912 )
    OK. I love books. For things like Philosophy, literature, Physics.. blah blah. But when I want to learn about something computer-related, I... uh... use a computer. Linux, and free software in general is a pretty fast-moving target to try and hit with a book. By the time it's even submitted to the print house there are parts that are already obselete. Imagine the most complete Linux book ever written, and your joy in having secured a copy. Now imagine how pissed you'd be when 2.6 came out and you realize th
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Books? (Score:2, Informative)

      by MoronBob ( 574671 )
      I find most of the resources and how-to's on the web refering to linux already outdated when I try to use them but you have to start somewhere. For beginners books are a good place to start. With linux and computers in general one needs to be persistant and get good at adapting to an infinite number of variables. I use books as an convenient way to get a good overview of the subject before diving in and getting my hands dirty. No resource is perfect or a replacement for experience.
  • I THINK that the book is a waste if only named to resemble Unix Power Tools. Hey, wait a minute. If you already have Unix Power Tools....
  • That went through all the details of implementing single sign on for a variety of operating systems and applications using Linux and LDAP. In principle I know it can be done, I just don't have the time or the staff to dedicate the weeks it would take to track all the details down. I've gone so far as to get PAM and LDAP working together, the problem is I need to delegate this to people who need a better user interface than editing LDIF files and using ldapsearch.

    I've never got to the point of figuring ou

  • More advanced Linux users? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    More advanced users may find Linux Power Tools a little beneath their level.

    I thought that advanced Linux users thought that [u]everything[/u] was beneath their level.

  • Linux power tools?! (Score:3, Funny)

    by psyconaut ( 228947 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @01:49PM (#7681504)
    You mean they've got drills and saws and stuff running Linux now?! Man, it'll be toasters next... ;-)

    -psy
  • You mention that this book is good for beginners, but also that it compares favourably with O'Reilly's 'Running Linux'. Should I assume that 'Linux Power Tools' is best for the beginner?
  • ...to running Mandrake Linux, 3rd Edition.

    For five reasons:

    1) It's an excellent book and well written.
    2) A big spolight is onto multimedia and office tasks, which is not common in books related to Linux.
    3) It gets into Mandrake Linux in depth.
    4) It doesn't gets only into Mandrake Linux, because it teaches you how to use a Linux system in general, how to use the command-line, recompile a kernel and so on, so even users of other distributions will enjoy this book.
    5) It's just been released so it provides ve
    • can someone please write an intermediate/advanced book that doesn't cover recompiling the kernel. I mean there are so many resources that cover this and I think it's been beaten to death. The majority of the linux books I own cover this and it takes up too much space and they all tell you basically the same thing.

      If you are going to cover recompiling the kernel, write one book on one kernel. Then discuss what all the options mean. That might be useful! I think recompiling the kernel belongs in a beginner b

  • Advanced Admins? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hesiod ( 111176 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:27PM (#7681917)
    I think the reason they claimed it is for beginners thru advanced users is because of arrogance, and not necessarily on their part. How many Linux users have you met who call themselves "experts," just to find out they barely have enough knowledge to be a common user? They think that just because they can figure out some shell commands and edit some .conf files, they must be experts. Those are the kind of "advanced" users that need a book like this.
    • Beginner,Intermediate, and Advanced are very subjective terms. I started playing with Linux in the mid-ninties with redhat 4.2 and have been using unix since 89. I am a unix/linux sysadmin of 7 years and I consider myself an intermediate user. I look at some of the stuff written in linux journal and it makes me feel like a beginner. However looking at some of the linux books out there make me feel like an expert. I really have never seen a book that I would consider a book for expert linux users. By the tim

  • What about Debian books? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ngunton ( 460215 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @02:36PM (#7681990) Homepage
    I've asked this question before, but it is still bugging me, since I am about to switch my server and workstation from RedHat 7.3 (RIP) to Debian (just as soon as I'm clear about what I'll be losing by going back to Debian "stable" from RH 7.3, or what I'll be risking by going to "testing" or "unstable")... I'm afraid RedHat has used up all my trust by disenfranchising *paying* customers like me. So, good-bye Red Hat, hello ... what? At present, Debian looks like the most viable candidate. Everyone seems to think it'll be around for the duration, apt-get rocks, etc etc.

    But for a while now I've been noticing that all the books on Debian seem to be out of print or else rather poorly rated. Why is this? Why does nobody seem to think it's worth writing new books on Debian, while there are tons on Red Hat? Is Debian becoming sidelined, or do people think that it has a really solid future alongside the "mainstream" distros such as RH, SuSe et al? Changing distros is a pain in the ass, all those little small tiny differences that eat up days when trying to get your box back to working the way it did before... I don't want to have to change again in a hurry. Debian sounds great, but I am at the same time a little disturbed by how long it seems to be taking to (e.g.) get a better installation program working. If I go with Debian, am I doomed to choosing between either extremely out-of-date packages (stable) or a newer-but-might-crash setup (testing), or spending a lot of time cobbling together a mishmash of my own from both?

    I've already heard the arguments about "everything you need to know is somewhere online", but the simple fact is it's often *convenient* to just have a reference all in one place for the common stuff you might want to do with a particular distro. Yes, of course everything is out there and Google is my friend etc, but I know from experience that it can take days to get together the right search query that comes up with the relevant posting or doc for a particular issue. Sometimes the thing you want to do is maddeningly simple, and yet it takes forever to track down. A good book on any distro can only help. Also, when new users are looking at switching to a distro (even relatively intermediate-level ones like me), they often look for a book that will put everything together on paper. It's just human nature. A lack of decent books on a particular distro only hurts that distro, imho.

    Is it because a new release of Debian is relatively close? Is anyone aware of anyone else working on a new Debian book that is more specific to the new stuff in Sarge (the upcoming next "stable" version, I think)?

    TIA, sorry if this is a little off-topic.
    • don't forget make-kpkg!!!!!

      I love debian mostly for the dpkg and related tools. I tried the latest red hat recently just for kicks and I really missed dpkg. I get great download speeds and it's easy to use.

      For a really good debian resource check out http://www.debianplanet.org/ [debianplanet.org]
    • There is a section on their website [debian.org] called Documentation with some good material in it. There is also a link to various books about Debian (I haven't read any of them though).

      If you don't want to change things around a lot, Debian is good for you. While the initial install can be a bit difficult, you will only need to install it once in your life (upgrades are seamless; especially compared to Red Hat's). Also, they are doing significant work on Sarge's installer right now so it should be much improved whe

  • Want to get good at Linux? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Enonu ( 129798 ) on Wednesday December 10, 2003 @03:03PM (#7682222)
    Learn shell script and PERL, and then you are 50% of the way there. IMHO, The important distinction between distros is not the software that's included, but rather how the software is integrated. This integration is facilitated by the collection of scripts and configuration files that are littered throughout your installation. Thus, by learning the scripting languages used, you can then feel comfortable customizing your system. Otherwise, you might as well be a car mechanic who doesn't know how to use a wrench.

    From there, learning how to combine all the small tools to automate your work as much as possible will put in a positition where you feel like you are in control. Nothing feels better than knowing you've setup a system perfectly so that it gets the job done exactly the way you want it.

    A book or two may prove convenient in this learning process, but honestly 100% of the material is on the web, and you can always print out your dead tree copy for your reading leisure. Good luck.
    • I agree. Postfix is not a tool - it's a server software. Gnome is not a tool either - it's a windowing/desktop environment.

      Tools is what you use to fix someting or to build something.

      Here is my list of Linux Power Tools:

      • bash - in Linux you really need it to choose other CLI tools;
      • find - you need it to find what to fix;
      • awk, sed - you need to filter what you found;
      • emacs - you need it to edit config files in order to fix them;
      • cvs - you need it to keep track of a history of your changes;
      • lynx -

  • ok... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Does this book cover MPlayer, mlnet and Mozilla? Or does it not?
  • I think people find it hard to estimate what actualy is intermediate or advanced. The linux version means a different thing to Windows and also it means something different when you combine all OS's into the one category. "computing" and even then, everyone has his/her different opinions on what is a begginer/intermediate/advance... For example, linus might consider myself a beginer, but my mother will most likly consider me an expert, where as i would prolly describe my self as intermediate.

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