“Well, out of all the books I’ve reviewed for Linux Journal,
this is the one with which I was least satisfied. As a writer
myself, I take no great pleasure in having to criticize another’s
work. But in this instance, I must. This is not a fat book–and
there’s nothing wrong with that, too many computer books are padded
out–but, unfortunately in this instance, the lean has been cut
away with the fat.”
“After the first chapter, on installing Red Hat, we move to
chapter 2, “Navigating Linux”, a straightforward although somewhat
brief introduction to the shell. It is brief at least partly
because, to quote the authors, “this book relies heavily on the use
of the graphical X interface”. This is an unwise dependence. The
command line is not an optional alternative. There is no unified
graphical interface to administering a Linux box; it’s command line
or bust. Sugaring the pill in the way our authors attempt to do
simply does not work.”
“In conclusion, this book is unsatisfactory. It is too
sketchy, tries to cover too much ground, and is short on detailed,
hands-on demonstrations of what to do. There is no clear focus
and, as a result, the book fails to be either a detailed technical
resource for system administrators or a decent introduction to
Linux as a server OS for the less experienced.”