Book details of 'Running Linux'

Title	Running Linux
Author(s)	Matt Welsh, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer, Lar Kaufman, Matthew Welsh
ISBN	156592469X
Language	English
Published	August 1999
Publisher	O'Reilly & Associates

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Reviewer amazon.com wrote:
Earlier editions of O'Reilly's Running Linux served as central guides on installing, configuring, and using the OS. The third edition of this guide covers the kernel through version 2.2.1 and will prove especially useful to those with high technical aptitudes and a well-tested willingness to experiment with their computing environments. The explanation of how to rebuild the kernel--a particularly daunting task for many--deserves special praise, as do the sections on configuring network links and servers. Users will find that the informative, prose-heavy style packs maximum information into this book's pages. For example, the purpose of a Linux element is described and then the reader is shown various ways of using it, complete with explicit statements of what you type and what you get in response. Back this book up with a good command reference (Linux in a Nutshell is solid), and you'll be well on your way to Linux mastery.
Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
The Intel/BIOS platform has long been the machine of choice for cheap, desktop computing. Among those who want "real" operating system performance but are limited to inexpensive hardware, Linux has become the UNIX of choice. (So much so, in fact, that Linux is now starting to reach not only into workstation platforms, but direct computer marketers, and even small computer shops.) Therefore, a basic overview, and guide to installation, is a very much-wanted item. The Linux Documentation Project, and the Linux HOWTO and FAQ files, provide a lot of this information, and one of the authors has contributed much to those resources. When the first edition of this book came out, it was followed closely by a number of other Linux books. Some seemed to be following the text of "Running Linux" *very* closely. I soon realized what was happening: the authors of the other books were sticking as closely as possible to Matt Welsh's excellent HOWTO documents. So why not get it from the source? More recently, other authors have fallen back on the old "walk readers through the programs" style, which is remarkably unhelpful. "Running Linux" has retained the careful, expository style that explains to the user what is happening, rather than merely telling the reader to press certain buttons. Linux having originally been written for the Intel (386 and up) family of processors, some familiarity with that hardware is assumed. Not much, though. You don't have to be an MS-DOS wizard or a technical support guru to follow this book. If you've installed a few programs and ever added any hardware to your computer, that is probably background enough. Given the variety of hardware choices, and the range of distributions of Linux, itself, you may need to get additional information at some point, but this book will tell you what to get (and, usually, where to get it). However, in this third edition, there is more material on specific features to be found in commercial distributions, as well as discussion of utilities like Samba, which aids connection to Windows networks. However, the available Linux material can help you with installation, too. While the work walks you clearly through the tripwires of partitions, IRQs, DMAs and SCSIs, you may want more of a justification to buy it. And you shall have it. Once you've *got* Linux, what are you going to do with it? You need to be a UNIX wizard to find out. Or, you follow this book on into UNIX commands and concepts, system management, editors, and the X Window System, programming and networking. The Internet section includes an introduction to the World Wide Web that would likely let anyone put up a Web server and HTML pages (on your own Linux system, of course). If you have been wanting to get on the Linux (or UNIX) bandwagon and have been wondering how, here is your guide. If you have gotten into Linux via an InstallFest, purchase, or some other book, and are wondering what to do next, this book can help you there, as well. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995
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