Beginning the Linux Command Line

by Sander van Vugt

Book Overview

This book is for anyone who wants to master Linux from the command line. When writing it, I had in mind system administrators, software developers, and enthusiastic users who want to get things going from the Linux command line. For beginning users, this may be a daunting task, as Linux commands often have many options documented only in pages that are not that easy to understand. This book is distribution agnostic. That is, while writing it, I've...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1430218894
• ISBN13: 9781430218890
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding

I enjoyed reading every line of it. I read many technical books and this is one of those books that really makes me feel I am getting smarter as I am reading it. I am learning so many tips from this book. I am now a much more efficient Linux system admin than I have ever been. I would like to thank the author and please keep writing about Linux and other open source projects. I love your writing style

Close to outstanding, but omissions hurt

Some day learning Linux will be painless. Truly painless dentistry is like to arrive first. Linux is an extravagantly rich environment. The more I penetrate its mysteries, the more I comprehend why Linux fanatics are fanatics: Linux is beautiful, Linux is stable, Linux is overflowing with useful features and tools, Linux is stable, Linux is free. But for the newcomer, Linux is overwhelming, especially at the command line. "Linux In A Nutshell", the bible of all Linux commands, runs to hundreds of pages, each filled with arcane language. Many authors have attempted to make Linux more readily accessible for the beginner. Often such books are merely lists of the commands needed to get started, accompanied by brief explanations. Some, on the other hand, attempt to be encyclopedias of Linux. Others, like "Beginning the Linux Command Line" try to convey what the beginner most needs - just enough information to make them comfortable in a Linux environment, just enough commands to get them started on various tasks and just enough explanation so the reader understands what they are doing and, more importantly, why. "Beginning the Linux Command Line" is one of the more successful entries in this genre. It begins with a concise, but substantial history of the development of Linux, what he command line environment is and why it is often better, what the shell is, how commands entered at the command line are executed, what MAN pages are and how to use them. That last point about MAN pages becomes the Achilles heel of the book, but more on that later. Par for the course, "Beginning the Linux Command Line" presumes that the user will be administering a system, which I guess is true even for a desktop environment. The progression of topics is logical, though some might disagree with the precise order. Performing essential command-line tasks; administering the Linux File System; working with text files, managing partitions and logical volumes; managing users and groups; managing permissions; managing software; process and system management; sysem logging; configuring the network; configuring a file server; working with the kernel (which is an excellent chapter) and an introduction to Bash Shell scripting. This is a lot more information than the very new, very basic user needs at the outset and can be intimidating just by a perusal of the table of the contents. I would suggest that the authors would have been better served by breaking the book into sections, i.e. "for the beginner", "intermediate users" and so on. The writing is excellent. Technical issues are dissembled in clear English with few diversions or distractions. Straight-forward examples are abundant. The author has a touch and seems aware of when less will do and where more is needed. Sander van Vught is an outstanding technical writer. However, the book has a failing, a significant one in my eyes, but definitely not a showstopper. The author sometimes omits information that I feel should