Debian GNU/Linux 2.1 Unleashed

by Aaron Van Couwenberghe, John Goerzen, Mario Camou

Shows the reader how to install, configure and manage the latest version of Debian Linux at the time of pubication. The book covers the most important topics to the Debian Linux intermediate/advanced... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0672317001
• ISBN13: 9780672317002
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: Sams
• Length: 1119 Pages
• Weight: 4.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 2.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Debian "is" Dpkg

I loved the history and run through of commands. It's a book worthy of the old pale red "Unleashed" style.. which means.. very good, well thought out, and excellent editing. Unlike some other book series I've always found the "Unleashed" series very worthy. They rarely make mistakes, and always try to liven up the material with pleasant gray scale graphics. There's a nice section on System Administration, Security, and Programming, each broken down into lengthy sections and divided into chapters with an intelligent choice of content. Most important it does not start out thinking this is your "first" computer. It assume you know the subject, to a degree and just treats this book like its for New "Debian" users. There are great chapters on Vi and Emacs, DocBook and LaTex, groff, and then the most excellent chapters on Debian management I've ever seen. Dselect, Apt, and Dpkg. The chapters on Kernel 2.2 building couldn't help but be out of date since Debian now has a Kernel "Team" but all the rest on GNU tools is dead on current. The Programming content should be broken out into a book all its own and reissued. Covers C/C++, Java, TCL/TK, Python, Scheme and Expect.. and to top it all off it covers the AutoTools too. Very little dating.. though most people don't use AWT for Java GUI programming anymore. CVS and bugzilla versus bug tracking system were very nice. And finally in "In the Appendices" mind you.. they cover "installing Debian", the Kernel section in the appendices is actually quite good cover more of the options in detail. I'm a big fan of the Older Unleashed books, the editors and people who put them together made them really of great quality.. and fortunately this one did not disappoint. I wish we could recapture that genie in a bottle and or the current Unleashed books were as spot on target and topical. It's hard to not pander towards the newbies of the market and give great content to people who have mastered the simplicities but ready to take it to the next level. Unleashed "always" did that. How I miss the days of the "matte" finish pale red "Unleashed" books. Well at least they're still available here.

not bad

I don't even use debian myself ... but I'm a "collector" of various technical manuals and this one actually impressed me with the last 1/3 of the book actually going into C/C++ Python, Java, and even had a section in the 1st 1/3 on perl ...... not BAD!

A must have for beginners and intermediate users

The book is excelent for beginners to intermediate users, but more oriented to the sysadmins. It covers all importante aspects of installing, configuring and maintaining Debian. If it were a little bit more broader it would cover everything needed.The only disapointing aspect it's the ortographic errors and the mislabeled pictures.

A decent intro to Debian

I came into this as a Unix user, never having administered anything a day in my life. I thought it was an execllent introduction for a new user - one book can't be all things to all people. But the installation guide was great for someone who has never touched a Linux install before. I'll agree with one of the above reviewers... it could stand to be a little more in-depth with core Linux daemons like apache and sendmail. I did think the section on Samba was outstanding, but was a little confused when it came the entire section on networking and BIND. A little less on programming with TCL and Python, and a little more on the common tasks the administrator takes on every day.Still, I think it's a great primer, and it was certainly enough that I got a box up and running without too much of a headache.