A Practical Guide to Red Hat® Linux® 8 provides everyone--new users to experienced programmers--with the knowledge and skills they need to master Linux. Written by best-selling author Mark Sobell, this book is a clear, thorough, and logically organized tutorial and reference.

Part I is a comprehensive tutorial that introduces the basics of GNU/Linux. It explains how to use the basic utilities, the filesystem, and many features of the shell command interpreter. Illustrations and step-by-step examples demonstrate how each command works. Part II covers more advanced topics, such as graphical user interfaces (GUIs), networking, text editors, programming tools, system administration, the new features of Red Hat Linux version 8, and the three major shells, including shell scripts. Part III is a detailed reference to more than 85 GNU/Linux utilities.

This authoritative guide includes:

• Instructions for users and administrators covering security and RH features, including Red Hat Network (RHN), Red Hat system administration tools, and Red Hat Package Manager (RPM).

• A full chapter on the use and customization of the Red Hat default GNOME 2 desktop manager and the new Metacity window manager

• A full chapter on how to use and customize the KDE 3 desktop environment

• Lucid descriptions of utilities illustrated by many

• practical examples

• Detailed coverage of the Linux programming environment and tools, including the C compiler, make, and source code management

• In-depth discussion of networking and the Internet, including types of networks, secure network utilities, and distributed computing

• An emphasis on security issues throughout, including highlighted warnings and a dedicated appendix

• Extensive information and full-length examples about using shells interactively and as programming tools, with chapters on the Bourne Again Shell (bash), the TC Shell (tcsh), and the Z Shell (zsh)

• Appendixes covering regular expressions, online resources, security, and POSIX standards

• A comprehensive glossary of more than five hundred words and phrases

Helpful features such as tips, cautions, and security alerts supplement the lessons of the text. The companion Web site (http://www.sobell.com) provides useful links, downloadable examples and illustrations, answers to selected review exercises, additional exercises and programs, and updates to the book.

The accompanying CD-ROMs contain Red Hat Linux version 8.0.

0201703130B11262002

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 10 Ratings

Terrific - 2003-03-18
Reviewer Rating:
For the past several years, I have been using Mark Sobell's previous Linux book for an introductory UNIX class I teach, but it was getting out of date. So I'm very excited to have this new edition. But he has done more than just update it, he has added several new chapters and somewhat reorganized it.

The first section, GNU/Linux Basics, is a perfect introduction to UNIX, everything you need to begin using it. Mark doesn't waste a lot of time getting started, but after a useful historical chapter to "set the stage" and give some idea why one would want UNIX rather than alternatives, he jumps right in with logging in, changing passwords, and getting documentation. Installation is left to way later (and mostly referring to web documentation, which will stay more up-to-date.) Pico is used to be able to do simple editing, without taking a lot of time learning vi(m) or emacs too soon (but he has references to the chapters on both those editors, if the reader already knows them.) Then the book covers many basic commands (I'd probably leave out gzip and tar this early, as well as write, talk, and mesg. I'd also choose one of who, finger, or w, so as to concentrate on more critical commands.) He introduces pipes very early, which I think is necessary (many books don't introduce them until a late chapter on shells). I'd also introduce redirection before he does, but it doesn't mean much without understanding files and the filesystem, which he covers next. These first 5 chapters really cover all one needs to get started.

Each chapter also has a summary and some exercises, both basic and more advanced. The answers are (or will be) on Mark's web site. He includes sidebars with tips, warnings, security suggestions, and other things that would be missed if they were buried in the main text (or, sometimes, should be skipped.) He's good at defining terms, and there is a glossary in the back.

The next chapters cover various topics, and cover them well. In my UNIX II class, I cover the Bash shell, how it works and how to write scripts, both covered in separate chapters here. The book also has a good chapter on Networking and the Internet, and a very complete chapter on System Administration (almost 200 pages!) Rather than taking up time with vi or emacs in class, I let my students choose which they want and read the appropriate chapter themselves. There are also three chapters, on X Windows, GNOME, and KDE which seem to be a complete coverage of three very useful items not usually covered in UNIX books, and which I don't like to cover directly in my class (not enough time), but think students should have access to.

The final section of the book is a command reference manual in itself, with lots of examples. Due to the size of this book, I would have preferred it to be published separately, but this way allows Mark refer to details later instead of taking up space in the main text.

In summary, I really like his previous "Practical Guide to Linux", and think this new version is even better. I wish it could be smaller (carrying this back and forth to classes will be backbreaking), but it is nice to have so much packed into a single book. Real value for the money!

Finally, I'm enjoying Linux - 2003-06-06
Reviewer Rating:
Having just worked through a class that used another book as text, and having "picked through" Sobell's chapters to supplement that material, I'm now going through chapter by chapter. I can only say that I'm enjoying Linux for the first time. Finally, a text that's well written (as well as having other virtues); an author who responds to questions sent via email.

There's no one-size-fits-all in the textbook world (this from a former academic), but I give Sobell high praise from the student's point of view. There are other places to learn more advanced techniques and Perl programming.

Overall, excellent! - 2003-09-08
Reviewer Rating:
For my purposes, as a tech writer and intermediate-level user of Linux, this book has been very helpful. Certainly, some of the topics have been covered in other books I've purchased, and other books go more deeply into some of the topics. But overall, this has been the best of the bunch. The same goes for his Solaris book. I was especially pleased that he maintains a web site with answers to some of the exercises, posts errata, and actually answers users' questions via email!!

AND--Marc Sobell writes grammatically correct English, which is a virtue not found in many computer books.

Remarkable - 2003-03-11
Reviewer Rating:
Thank you (to the author) very much because of your new book "Practical Guide To Red Hat Linux 8", my path of migrating from Windows to GNU/Linux (as you (the author) mentioned, GNU/Linux instead of Linux) has become a far less bumpy ride. I've bought two copies of the book, one left in office and another at home (the big tome is not easy to carry around and I'm afraid it will fall apart).

It does not look like a practical guide - 2003-06-06
Reviewer Rating:
I read half of the book, but I realized that it is NOT really a practical guide as he titled, rather boring textbook. He spent a lot of space as describing the topics with many tables, and it made me boring to read this book continuously. What is a practical guide? It might be different from a reader to a reader, but what I am thinking is that he should have provided more practical examples instead of providing tables of describing menus or options. We can know them by reading manuals or man command.
If you are a beginner and are looking for a practical book, then you need to be careful to choose this book.

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