Book Review: Running Linux (5th Edition)

With its tremendous growth, Linux has seen over the years, there have been a lot of books published on the subject. O'Reilly's Running Linux was first published in 1995 and it has grown both in popularity and size ever since. The 5th Edition (December 2005) spans 972 pages and I must say that it comes across as an excellent reading material for Linux enthusiasts, and wannabe Linux Gurus.

The book starts out with an introduction to the Linux philosophy, and describes its origins, even managing to briefly cover the SCO controversy. From there, the book assumes a business-like manner and instructs you on different aspects of the operating system, including installation procedures, troubleshooting, and popular applications on different desktop environments. There really is no easy to difficult progression, as far as different chapters are concerned; and the first part of the book could be read in any order. The portion I especially loved was about basic Unix concepts, shells, virtual consoles, and a rather superficial tour through shell scripts, which manages to interest the reader enough to go out and explore shell programming.

That said, I must state that Part 1 is interesting only in parts (pardon the pun). Going through Part 1 will definitely help a newbie to get a good overview on the way Linux works, but may not be of much use to a Pro. Part 1 is meant for users, and generally covers using different applications on Linux: Web Browsers, Mail Clients, Instant Messaging Software, Gaming Office Software, etc. Like every reference book, there are, of course certain chapters exclusively reserved for the uber-newbies. I found the chapters, which dealt with How to use gaim, or How to use an email client, quite tame. The chapter on gaming, I firmly believe, was not within the scope of the book. I'm sure people who are seriously interested in the topic of Linux, would be more interested in learning about resolving graphics issues and troubleshooting (they are, of course, handled later in the book), rather than read detailed descriptions of weapons available in Quake III Arena or RTCW.

The chapter on OpenOffice.org, however, proved to be very informative. Most Windows users take Office software for granted, but I'm sure, after reading RL5E's take on OOo, anyone could gain a good insight into the nifty features of Office Software available for Linux. Part 1 ends with a walkthrough on multimedia programs available on Linux, and then the book takes you straight to the good stuff: Linux System Administration.

In case frivolity doesn't interest you, I'd suggest you start with Part 2 itself, and that, arguably, should be the clincher, which would make RL5E good value for money. For, a host of issues are covered Part 2 onwards, including a more detailed look at shell programming, file permissions, compiling and installing programs, user and group administration, network configuration, building the kernel, installing drivers, configuring X, running Linux as a server for a host of applications, etc There is a large, detailed chapter dedicated to each and every concept. There is even a section devoted to administering LAMP configurations (installing and running Apache, configuring MySQL and PHP to work with your Linux web server); and scripting with Perl (I'm not sure whether I've missed something here). An excellent read, overall.

From what I feel after reading the book in its entirety (all 972 Pages, yes), RL5E has been written in a very friendly, engaging and a dedicated manner. The software described is up-to-date and concepts are explained in a distribution neutral manner, as a result of which the book should not be outdated for a very long time to come. In most cases, the descriptions are very lucid and easy-to-grasp. The degree of detail should be more than enough, unless your appetite is insatiable. On the flip side, owing to the fact that there are several contributors to the book, a few chapters are slightly out of sync, but not so much that it would actually matter. I must disclose that I discovered some typos in the course of reading, exactly two instances of inadvertent grammar error, to be precise. If you aren't a Language Nazi, there is nothing to worry. I can wager half my kingdom, that 98% of the readers simply won't notice them.

To its credit, the book clearly states that it is not meant for uber-newbies. It definitely isn't. I wouldn't recommend this book to you if you have absolutely no Linux experience whatsoever, but wake up one morning and decide that you want to 'learn Linux'. Or, for that matter, I would also not recommend this book to you if you were an uber-geek, who dreams about shell scripts. For you, there are definitely better resources on Advanced Linux, some of them published by O'Reilly itself.

This book is very clearly meant for people who have acquired some basic end-user hands-on experience on Linux. I'm talking about serious computing enthusiasts, who are generally power-users for any Windows Application, and have actually dared to install Linux on their boxes, to see what it feels like (and I must say that I started the same way). Or, for that matter, people who are at an intermediate stage with respect to Linux, but not quite "there" yet. If you are somewhere close to this stage, this book should benefit you the most - Go ahead and purchase it, by all means. It would definitely enrich your knowledge

My Rating: 4/5