User Feedback :: The DSL book



I ordered the book Fiday evening and it was in my mailbox Monday after work.

The book is a product of work with grade school kids.  I missed alot in grade school I guess.  A lot of linux details have been filled in for me.

The how to of DSL core applications got me productive quickly.

There is a line of switches next to XMMS display I never saw before on my 24 inch monitor.  Seeing them on a laptop would probably be impossible.  One of them doubles the size of XMMS, Thank you.

emelfm is much more sophisticated than I imagined and efficient too.

How to basics of networking and security are welcome topics.

With SuSe I got alot of things running without really knowing what was going on.  That makes it hard to troubleshoot problems.  DSL is running on my newest hardware and oldest.  

I am just delighted.

Mort

So on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the book and would you recommend people actually "purchase" the book for say a "quick referrence" guide?

I along with many others would like an honest oppinion on this...perhaps it would make me actually take that leap and get the book

Brian
AwPhuch

I give the book and 8/10 easily as a get the os up and running.
If you have been into Linux and computers in general,  you forget how much other people don't know.  Technology makes idiots out of all of us at times.  The DSL book will remind you of the basics needed to teach others.  
For example: dot files are hidden in linux.  They need to be edited. How do you find them?  I could find them at the CLI because I am framiliar with old DOS swithces. In the GUI filemanager I didn't see the button to reveal hidden files.  I still haven't figured out how to open them directly with Beaver.  But the book showed me how to open them quickly with Beaver from the filemanager.  
Where to look for script files helped me.
The explaination of make and make install clarified a few things.
The secure shell is very helpfull.
Rootkit discussion is educational.
Even if you know all the material the method of teaching to others is worth the price.
mort

Quote (mort @ Jan. 12 2006,22:54)
I still haven't figured out how to open them directly with Beaver.

Quick tip, browse to the directory that the file is in, type "." (minus commas), and hit tab - this will bring up the hidden files and directories.
I ordered the DSL 2.1 Book and I am absolutely blown away...

Yes it does look like the front cover and website was made by amateurs..however the book itself is freeking absolutely brilliant!

It covers damn near everything..let me give you its table of contents:
1.  Using the Live CD
2.  Hardware Evalutation
3.  Hard Drive Installation
4.  The Desktop
5.  History of Linux
6.  File System
7.  Applications
8.  Networking
9.  Wireless Networking
10.  Secure Shell (SSH)
11.  Shells
12.  Setting up a web server
13.  Commands
14.  vi Editor
15.  Backups
16.  Printing
17.  Security Evaluation
and some pretty neat Projects With DSL (Backup Server, Firewall, Building an Embedded System, Build a Mini-ITX, Creating a USB boot drive)

I must say this is the book to get if you need/want to get one hell of a jumpstart on using DSL and Linux in general, 350 pages of pure knowledge (DSL for dummies +1  :D  )

I give it a 9.5/10.

The book came with a copy of DSL on CD (not the purdy business card cd..but a copy of the distro, and another one with numerous flash video "HOWTOs"

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone/everyone that truly wants to learn DSL and linux! Two thumbs up totally.

The website and book should also be referred to as "The Transformer" because its more than meets the eye!

P.S.  This is an excellent way to support DSL and get almost all the knowledge you need at your fingertips for less than 25 bucks

Brian
AwPhuch

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