I ordered the book the same day I picked up the boxed set of SuSE 8 at CompUSA. I figured if I was going to learn Linux then I should start with the basics and this is the perfect book for it. The book should first be read from beginning to end before applying too many of the tutorials on a live machine. The book starts with very, and I mean very basic information about Linux in general and moves you along to teach you how to install a distro and covers most of the basic things you will need to setup your computer for the first time, like internet, gui's, bootloaders and covers most of the commands that you will need along the way and how to utilize them.

Like I said, the book starts out very basic and moves along at a slow pace but this, I found to be actually good for a beginner just starting out. I didn't have any problems with getting the version of Red Hat 8 that comes included on 2 CD's in a pouch inside the book up and running.

My only complaints about the book are that it doesn't really help with troubleshooting areas in any depth and my other complaint, while very minimal, is that the book covers alot of topics regarding Linux but I felt it just skimmed the surface on alot of them without going into depth to really "teach" me how to do stuff but basically "told" me how to do stuff. This is normally fine if you just want to get something accomplished and move on but when you're learning I find it useful to learn why I'm doing different things along the way.

Overall I thought the book was good for a fresh beginner that wants to start from the ground up but a novice or 2-3 month user might want to look for a more in-depth book.

rberry88

The second edition is the one I'm typing about. It was done by Jon "maddog" Hall, the guy that Linus chose to be a godfather to his daughters. So, check out your library, or your used book stores...