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8.75 actually. This is a reference book rather than a lengthy discussion on basic topics. Roughly half is comprised of "man page" explanation of linux commands. The second half covers shells, editors and gui interfaces.

This is a great addition to your library, especially if you are new to linux or unix. But if you need a broad discussion on various topics you'd be better off with one of the "bible" style books.

Genesee

a handy collection of commands and options. like all the O'Reilly books, the structure, writing, etc. is excellent.

if a physical desk reference is needed this is great - however, this offers more a listing of available commands than an explanation or rationale for their use or problem-solving.

most (if not all) of the content seems to be available already between man pages, standard documentation, and manuals available at application homepages.

rberry88

I bought the book along with the Red Hat Bible shortly after I started in Linux about 8 months ago (8/03). The edition I received is the 4th edition published by oreilly.com. I got it basically for its extensive listing of Linux commands so I could have them sitting on my desk without having to search the web if I got stuck on something. Boy am I glad I made this purchase, after the first two months the binder has a permanent crease in it from the constant use during my early days with Linux.

The book is divided by the following tabs: Linux Commands, Boot Methods, Package Managers, Bash, TCSH and then branches off to explain the different text editors in Linux (vi, emacs etc) and then covers the two major graphical window managers, KDE and Gnome.

The linux commands section(s) are all divided alphabetically which makes it a snap to find what you are looking for with ease. If you really can't find what you need quickly there is also the wonderful index at the back of the book noting page numbers to help you. This is the heart of the book and then you get into the details about booting, package management, text editors and window managers which comes in really handy since each distro takes it upon themselves to use a different default application for these areas and a newbie could get lost very quickly, but not with the trusty Linux In A Nutshell close by.

rberry88

XavierP

As described by the title, this is an excellent Desktop Reference. There is a comprehensive list of command line commands, an explanation of vi, CVS, BASH and others. If you are delving in to the CLI and need assistance, you could do much worse than have this book by your side.

Unfortunately, many distros are focussing more on the GUI than on the CLI. A number of them try actively to keep you in the GUI. For this reason I would have to advise against having this as your only reference - it has to be backed up with other books. Although there are sections on Gnome and KDE, these are short and at the back of the book.

It's a shame that this book can't come with a distro specific book - it would fill a large number of holes. Linux, by it's nature, is too big to easily fill one book and so 2 or more books together would really be useful.

As well, without the large "Linux Commands" section, this book would be half the size. I would find it more useful if the commands were grouped somehow - an alphabetical list is only really helpful if you know the command you are looking for.

Don't let that put you off it though. Despite these (small) shortcomings, this tome will provide you with lots of help.

TGWDNGHN

This book was worth every penny I had invested.

Much of the bulk of this book is dedicated to a command refference. These resemble the man pages, but outline only the most useful, common, and popular options. Despite what others call "redundency" (in terms that you can find all this and more in the man/info pages), I find this useful because it helps you when you are "new" to a command. For example: When I first used GCC, I was guided by other books and guides; however, there came a point I needed more control- gcc contains THOUSANDS of command line options and I had no idea how to discern useful from the rest. The command-reference quickly outlineded what I needed, and what I needed to know



Other glorious aspects of this book is a very nice and detailed reference to bash, csh/tcsh, vi(m) (That is, basic vi commands AND vim features), emacs, and more


Concerning bash and tcsh, this book outlines the important files, options, builtins, ect.

When it comes to vi and emacs, this book is loaded with key-strokes and commands to use these commands


The beginning of this book even has a brief overview of internet concepts, a "Beginners Guide" and an "Administrator's Guide". What this "guides" do is outline commands, categorized by functionality, that you should more-or-less know to make full use of the system.


Depite a section lacking X, and weak sections of GNOME, KDE, and fvwm2, This book is a GO GO GO


From Newbie to Pro- this is an essential to your Linux Library

tp11235

Excellent desk reference with everything I have needed so far.
It is no substitute for the set-up guides and bibles - but it is an essential companion to them.