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How Linux Works
reviewed by Akbar Pasha, June 2005
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| This book is about the inner workings of Linux. Whether you are a novice (suits perfectly), programmer, Sys Admin, home user or a researcher - if you are one of a kind who is always curious about the inner workings of the things, then this book is for you. Me being a programmer, I was drawn towards it as to better my understanding of Linux which I learned basically by reading online tutorials. The book is divided in three parts. 1. Part 1: Explains the basic layout & workings of Linux. 2. Part 2: Explains the programming tools available in Linux. 3. Part 3: Explains specialized information, such as Kernel, printing etc. |
| Part 1: The basics are covered in pretty much detailed. Even though I found that at some places I could use a man or info command to get a more detailed information about certain command, I can understand that this book has no intention of doing it. But for the reference, the author explores all the basic commands of Linux and gives a brief intro about them. The book explains a in a lot simple way of why and how of Linux file systems. I have always had some confusion about them. But this book clearly explained them for me. Along the path of explaining of basics of Linux, we venture into Linux boot loaders -- LILO & GRUB. The book also has some excellent writeup on Networking in Linux. I couldn't verify the ppp part of it, but the parts on Ethernet, iptables & NAT are dealt well. What more, you also get a stern warning about how to manage your wireless network security. |
| Part 2: The second part starts with a priemer on Shell scripting. I would suggest any other Oreilly's book on Shell scripting for this. But again, looking at the target audience of the book -- not everything in shell scripting can be taught in such a small book. The explanation on GCC, Make (I never got this till I read this book) are explained well. What more, Python gets a nod as scripting language! The most interesting part or could also be most annonying part of any linux system is compiling of the Kernel. A wholesome chapter is devoted to it and now I feel pretty confident about how I can recompile my system. |
| Part 3: This part can be read independent of the book order. It has all the special topics which can be dealt independently. Like how do you setup network printer? How can I run CUPSd? How do I use Ghostscript to convert from Postscript to PDF? All these questions are answered here. I had a perfect need to read and study SAMBA. My home network consists of windows machines and I used to use them when I need to access specific files on those windows machines. Now no more! I can very nicely browse all my files right here from my laptop with wireless connection. One constant complain about people who use Linux is about buggy hardware. This book has a whole chapter devoted on how to buy linux compatible hardware. It will come to you of immense help especially if you are trying to build your own machine with all the latest technologies. I can also see how it can be of immensely helpful to System admins in corporate environments. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious enough to learn the inner workings of Linux. If you can maintain that curiosity for 330+ pages, you can get accustomed to inner workings of Linux. This book will not make you an Linux expert. It will give you a meaning as to how things work in Linux. You would have to gain the mastery built on top of that foundation though. |