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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
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Great for the ubuntu enthusiast
This book is a great book. I didn't buy it from Amazon but I felt I needed to give it some credit.
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Just found this one.
I just picked this book up at a local Borders (cheaper here, btw). After looking through their entire section trying to find an up-to-date book on Linux commands for the purposes I wanted, I chose this one.
Although Ubuntu is often called "Linux for Human Beings" or "Linux for non-geeks", I wanted to get geekier with the command line and have better control over my Ubuntu PCs. This book is perfect for someone who isn't afraid to tinker a little to get a lot in return. The section on multimedia is excellent.
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Fantastic Book!
There are good books, and then there are fantastic ones. "Ubuntu Linux Toolbox" is the latter! You will be pleased to find that this book covers a vast amount of usable content in an easy to follow format, all the while sparing the reader from useless history and installation filler content that many other books seem to regurgitate over and over again. I mean, how many times do you really need to read about how to install Ubuntu? The content is clear, concise, and useful for day to day tasks and objectives, no matter if you are an experienced GNU/Linux administrator, or simply eager to learn how to become one. This book gets a well deserved 5 star rating.
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Perfect Book for Power Users Wanting to Extend Their Skills
Hey folks... I've been an RHCE since 2000, training RHCEs since 2003, and "doing Linux" since 1996.
What I like:
The three big things that I like about Linux Toolbox are:
1) It concisely shows you how to use the Linux command line to solve many of the most common personal and administrative tasks.
2) It uses the proven "learn by doing" method to show the reader how to just "get stuff done" from the Linux command line.
3) What really sets this book apart from other "next level" type books is its well thought layout and how they organized the content in a quickly accessible way. Negus & Caen split the content out by Shell stuff, Working w/Files, Text Manipulation, Multimedia, Administration, Backups, Networking, etc.. . Well thought out and quickly useful as an on-hand reference.
So who should buy this book?
I see it being a "best fit" for two groups of people:
1) Technical users and admins who want to become more competent on the command line and be able to do ten times more work thought automation (scripting).
2) Windows power users who want to become more savvy on the Linux side (Linux power user wannabes). Especially those who need to get Linux CLI/shell proficient quickly (such as Windows sys-admins who have had Linux forced on them)
Old Timers Too:
The cool thing is that even if you've been using Linux for years (as I have), there are still useful "Oooo.. cool!" moments peppered throughout the book. Do you know how to properly (and quickly) get the most out of classic power tools like find, sed, awk, case, and tr? Are you armed with experience in all the newer über tools such as screen, dmidecode, growisofs? Do you know how to do software RAID from the command line (mdadm) or know how to build & control LVM via its command line tools? If you answered "no" to any of these.. you should check check out Linux Toolbox.
Negus and Caen have a winner here. Good job guys.
Tweeks
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Ubuntu user must read
"Ubuntu Linux Toolbox" by Christopher Negus and Francois Caen is a uniquely well organized reference book. In general I find the organization of reference books very random from a task point of view which makes this book stand out all the more. The organization is complemented by information that is both complete and understandable. I put a reference book to the test before purchase. I see how well it handles my latest problem. If it's an understandable and usable solution I buy it. Having been an Ubuntu user for a long time I find few new issues. I put "toolbox" to an even harder test. I checked on how well all my past problems were handled. They were all well solved. If I'd come across "Ubuntu Linux Toolbox" early on there would be fewer books on my shelf. My personal test was passed with flying colors.
Linux distributions are all built from the same collection of components. The open source world offers lots of choice and the mix of components in any particular distribution will defer. I can't begin to count the number of text editors or libraries that provide similar functions. Individual distributions pick from these similar components and combine them to create a more cohesive set of tools which they then further refine to operate as a total set of computing tools. As a result the instructions for using these systems varies. A GUI like Gnome masks some of these differences but at the command level the differences become apparent again. Most references that illustrate commands try to be distribution agnostic. What's lost are the all important examples that help a user apply these commands to their specific distributions. The "Ubuntu Linux Toolbox" is written for Ubuntu specifically and the authors made sure that the applicable examples are all there. Further these examples were tested by the authors to insure their accuracy. Given Ubuntu's roots in Debian, Debian power users are also well served by this book.
The authors took the time to point where Ubuntu and other distributions differ. This makes it very easy for users familiar with other Linux distributions to transfer their knowledge. I found the concise and exampled descriptions very clear and complete. I must say I was able to clear a number of areas where my knowledge wasn't as complete as I would like. This book is so well written that I was compelled to read it cover to cover to get every last bit of knowledge out of it.
I recommend this book not only to command line aficionados but also to advanced GUI users who need to go past what GUIs like Gnome and KDE provide to them. I will admit to favoring the Gnome GUI myself. There are still those times when the command line is almost necessary. When it comes to diagnosing problems the command line offers more information and tools than that available with a GUI. "Ubuntu Linux Toolbox" does an excellent job of organizing commands into groups that provide complete configuration and analysis for specific tasks or situations. I've been an Ubuntu user since Dapper and this wonderful book now has a permanent place next to my desktop PC ready for frequent reference. This is a book that I will go back to many times. Ubuntu Linux Toolbox: 1000+ Commands for Ubuntu and Debian Power Users
