Hello Everybody. The other day I was browsing by Barnes & Noble for my usual browse through the books, order off Amazon approach (heh heh... well, at least I actually bought something there this time )

Then I noticed they stocked on some REALLY NICE Unix/Linux books... amongst one that really cought my attention was "Essential System Administration" by O' Reilly. This book is a general book covering quite a couple Unix distros and Linux itself.

Very impressed, I went on Amazon to see the reviews. It has a 4.5/5 star rating, but when I read all the negative reviews (even some of the neutrals and positive ones), everyone said that the "UNIX System Administration Handbook" was much better.

So I went off to see the reviews on that book. It has the same 4.5/5 star rating, but it was reviewed by 30 more people. None of them said that the O' Reilly book was better. Although 200 pages smaller, this book has to be worth SOMETHING (no kidding, it is $20 more than the O'Reilly one... $60!!!)


In addition... I just happened to find "Linux Administration Handbook" as well, from the company as the UNIX book.

i'm looking for something that is NOT distro-specific, NOT proprietary (in terms that distros have their "own ways" of doing things), and something Standard amongst all distros

All you guys here on LinuxQuestions are wicked awsome and you guys really know your stuff. So, although I haven't actually seen the book, you guys pick: which one do you suggest?

Thanks, I would really Appreciate it

PS. Of course, if you suggest any other book... fine with me . I'm just looking for a book that REALLY outlines the core system, specifically configuration files and "minimal requirements".

I've used the O'Reilly book and flipped through the System Administration Handbook. They're both pretty good IMO, and you'd be fine with either one. You're not tied to any distro (and the 3rd edition of the O'Reilly book deals with Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, HPUX, Tru64, and AIX -- not sure of the Handbook).

i would apreciate this aswell, i need a book to learn linux (its to hard to understand without any prior knowledge on linux)

In my experience the O'Reilly books have always been quite good. They have covered for a long time. If have a choice go for an O'Reilly book.