The Offical Damn Small Linux Book Review!!!!

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: The Offical Damn Small Linux Book Review!!!!
started by: NewDude

Posted by NewDude on Sep. 01 2007,04:14

Robert and John,
Just wanted to tell you guys I just got home off a business trip with work, I come walking in the house and my wife hands me a little package I ordered off Amazon back in June. It is "The Offical Damn Small Linux Book".

This is great. I have been using DSL for almost 2 years as my desktop and my web server. The book is awesome and look forward to really going through it.

Thanks for the book and thanks for spending so much dedicated time to DSL. DSL is my favorite flavor of Linux and probably always will be.

Thanks again.

Posted by roberts on Sep. 01 2007,15:57

Writing this book was a real adventure. Finally forced to really document what has been created. It took just over one year to write. The challenge was to keep the book current, while I was still producing new releases of DSL. The book is very current, covers DSL v3.3. The sections start out simple and cover more advanced topics, so everyone can benefit.

Posted by jpeters on Sep. 02 2007,07:15

Quote (roberts @ Sep. 01 2007,11:57)

Thanks, Robert. I just picked up a copy; free shipping at Amazon until Wednesday.

I'll be happy to sign a copy of Robert's book for an extra $5 :laugh:

Posted by Juanito on Sep. 02 2007,07:22

...Just got my copy via Amazon this morning (advance order placed in April).

Looks good and I like the fact that the extensions are listed at the back - even a few that I submitted

Posted by NewDude on Sep. 08 2007,03:52

For all the new people using Damn Small Linux or just new to Linux, this book is a must have.

I have read the whole book and I learned a ton of stuff. I broke out my highlighter and started marking up my book.

For all the new people that want to run a web server from home, chapter 16 alone is priceless. I use XAMPP also, if I would have had this book before I setup my system, I would have had a better understanding of XAMPP and all the software the comes with it. That chapter will give you a total head start on setting up a web server. I am very happy Robert and John included XAMPP in their book. XAMPP (Like DSL) is a awesome and makes Apache, MySQL and PHP easy to setup and start development work quickly.

Chapter 13 "Making an Edna Music Server in DSL" is what I want to do with my Dual PII 350mhz, I think my dual 350 would be a great system for this since I have a 320GB USB HD hanging off it. It has the power and the HD space to be a awesome music and file server.

Awesome stuff... I even brought the book to work to show the Red Hat geeks what they are missing...

Posted by Juanito on Sep. 08 2007,05:12

Would it make sense to set up an errata thread for the book if we see any typos, etc - I believe I might have found one.

Posted by jpeters on Sep. 08 2007,06:23

Quote (Juanito @ Sep. 08 2007,01:12)

Would it make sense to set up an errata thread for the book if we see any typos, etc - I believe I might have found one.

If theirs won think I cant stand, its typose!

Posted by adssse on Sep. 09 2007,04:09

I have been away from DSL for quite a while and didnt realize that this book had been done. I still have the DSL book that Mike Weber did back in 2005, but will definitely have to buy this one. Thanks to all involved.

Posted by Nigadoo on Sep. 19 2007,16:39

Got my copy about three weeks ago, and just finished reading it cover to cover.

Congratulations! Great book, a pleasure (i.e. fun) to read; well organized and very informative; an excellent complement to an excellent distro!

Posted by fuzzybud on Oct. 10 2007,18:39

Yesterday I got your book so I haven't read much. What I see though is far better than I expected. You guys have done a great job putting out a book that will hold up for years. I live in Guatemala where most of my friends don't have Internet in their home or apartment. They have to use cybercafes for email. With all the extras on the disk that comes with the book they can enjoy a rich computing experience without going online. I am going to buy two more books to share with my friends.

Thank you very much for writing this book.

Posted by kuky on Oct. 10 2007,19:18

I have also the book by amazon in England , i am from Spain, i hve to paid in pounds no in euros(the latest simbol of u.k empire)....

goob book to pass the newbee to linuxman....Robert and Jhon are the shamans of the dsl tribe

only a question ...ndiswrapper is updated and its necessary to put lpci card address or lsub address ?...

Posted by LeSanglier on Oct. 12 2007,10:52

Hello !

I buy your book in France thanks to Amazon.fr.
It is a good book for Damn Small Linux users and developpers, I appreciate these chapters :
- DSL Embedded (chapter 7) because I use DSL on my usb key
- and the chapter 11 for setting up a remastering environnement.

I make some tutos for this distro on my website :
< http://sitelibre.free.fr/forum7/viewforum.php?f=23 >
< http://sitelibre.free.fr/forum6/viewforum.php?f=71 >

Posted by Paul.E.T on Oct. 26 2007,01:08

Quote (roberts @ Sep. 01 2007,10:57)

I got your book and it's a great write for sure. I used the CD and installed DSL on a WIN XP using the DSL-appliance on top of VM-player. It works great except I cannot get on the i-net since it keeps looking for eth0 which I disconnected ( had ISDN there) after I got DSL installed and working of eth1.
I'm having a hard time finding network stuff to solve the problem. Of course, normal frustration and burnt out brain cells don't help for sure.
Anyway, I hope it sells well.
Good Luck
Paul T

Posted by Onyarian on Oct. 26 2007,07:18

Congratulations,

Finally I have recive my book from Powells.
I work with DSL for a few years, now I am on page 56 and I have soon learn little thinks that before I have no idea. Thats good. It's useful despite I have read only a few pages.

Thanks!

Posted by faroutscience on Oct. 28 2007,20:02

I didn't know there was a book! You should advertise or maybe I just missed it with my low vision.

I'm off to Amazon.

Jeff

Posted by jpeters on Oct. 29 2007,06:32

Quote (faroutscience @ Oct. 28 2007,15:02)

I didn't know there was a book! You should advertise or maybe I just missed it with my low vision.

I'm off to Amazon.

Jeff

..no doubt you missed the last Linux convention in San Francisco as well :laugh:

Posted by curaga on Oct. 29 2007,17:51

..speaking of that, we were promised pics, where's kent?

Posted by jaapz on Oct. 30 2007,15:22

maybe im going to buy the book too, is it also sold in Holland, or do i have to buy it at amazon too.

Posted by pipedope on Dec. 05 2007,20:53

I ordered the book as soon as I saw it was available, but I am a little slow so I'm waiting for it to get here.

I have had trouble in the past understanding online docs and howtos so hadn't been able to get a DSL system quite working the way I want.

With a reference/instruction book it is much easier for me.

thanks

Posted by pipedope on Dec. 16 2007,06:59

The book arrived.
Looks like just what I need.

Now to work through the book and a frugal install on my laptop.

Posted by florian on Jan. 01 2008,22:11

Hi!
I found this mini review of the DSL book while surfing:
< http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/article....ux_book >

Posted by vikigal on Jan. 26 2008,16:53

I am a completly new user of Linux. I have been checking it out using various sources because I wanted a different system than what I was used to. I found this book mentioned on linux.org, clicked through and ordered it along with another book w/cd.

At first glance the book looked too technical for a beginner but thanks to the cd I am happy to report it is not. Although I was nervous about it I loaded the DSL cd in my old Presario and it booted right up! I am totally thrilled because I was afraid I would blow something up. I most likely won't be doing any of the projects anytime soon but I am up and running, and posting...

I would, and will, recomend this book and liveCD for beginners. Thank you to all who made it possible.

Posted by clivesay on Jan. 26 2008,22:18

Quote (vikigal @ Jan. 26 2008,10:53)

At first glance the book looked too technical for a beginner but thanks to the cd I am happy to report it is not. Although I was nervous about it I loaded the DSL cd in my old Presario and it booted right up! I am totally thrilled because I was afraid I would blow something up. I most likely won't be doing any of the projects anytime soon but I am up and running, and posting...

I would, and will, recomend this book and liveCD for beginners. Thank you to all who made it possible.

Welcome. I'm sure your comments will make Robert smile.

Chris

Posted by TravMan1963 on Feb. 23 2008,02:56

Hello...

It's been over a year since I've posted on this board.

I've used DSL - wow - for at least 2-3-4? years (just downloaded another ISO of 2.0x tonight) - it's come in very handy for system rescues. (recovering files from XP crashes - or when attempting to upgrade with incorrect repos in ubuntu...) - setting up mini webservers inside a vm - sending and receiving email inside the same vm.... - remote desktops - this little distro has all the power tools..

I received (requested) the book this past year for Christmas - finally took it to work to read over lunch - just started - but it's a great read so far!

Thanks for making the distro !

Best wishes for success

Posted by pipedope on Mar. 09 2008,19:21

I love DSL for my old computers, no bloat = fast and works great.

The book is a great resource and is really helping me learn DSL and expand my capabilities.

THANKS!

Posted by DmSmLxRep on April 10 2008,15:03

Quote (Juanito @ Sep. 08 2007,01:12)

Would it make sense to set up an errata thread for the book if we see any typos, etc - I believe I might have found one.

I definitely think it would make sense to have some place to report errata, because I definitely have found some definite grammatical errors.

I think O'Reilly shows good sense in having such a facility for all their books (at least I haven't bought an O'Reilly book for which I haven't found a URL to use to report errata).

Posted by jpeters on April 10 2008,15:34

There was one posted a while ago; probably most have been reported by this time.

Posted by DmSmLxRep on April 10 2008,21:50

Quote (jpeters @ April 10 2008,11:34)

There was one posted a while ago; probably most have been reported by this time.

Is this the "one" you saw, " Damn Small Linux Board » Damn Small Linux » User Feedback » Book Errata "?

Posted by pcdoctor on Aug. 08 2008,01:36

Here is chapter 1 from the book.
I have this book also.

< http://www.informit.com/content....H01.pdf >

Informit is a publisher for Prentice Hall, Que, Sams, etc.

Posted by seevee on Dec. 16 2008,14:44

I bought the book about a month ago on Amazon. It has been my introduction to Linux, and in that sense it has been an excellent. I have worked through a few of the projects that the book suggests.

I built a stainless steel digital picture frame from a laptop that someone left for dead. It's running well, it shows the slideshow on booting, and I plan to give it as a Christmas present.

I installed and configured the xampp server, but I that project is still very much in progress.

The other project I took from the book was to build a silent computer similar to "John's toy". I have been using it as my work computer for the last couple of weeks. It is a VIA board with a 60W power supply. It's fanless, and I am running on a thumb drive. The case is plexiglass.

My only caveat for anyone who might buy the book is not to think of it as a manual. Most of the step-by-steps in the book cannot be used verbatim, but they do very well to point the user in the right direction. The true resource for knowledge and solutions is in the forums and the wiki.

I'm glad I bought the book, and I'm glad that I am running DSL. I still have volumes to learn, and I am eager to learn enough so that I can begin to contribute to the community.

Posted by vhangell on Feb. 16 2009,11:29

Wow nice to see that DSL has now an official book. I used to teach linux when I was in college, and most of the resource I got was from this forum. And now that its really been a long time since Im back here, DSL is still getting stronger. Ive better get a copy and do some catchin up.

-forum member #2
Vhangell