BEWARE: Many of these customer reviews are dated. For example, the best and worst cited by Amazon are from 1999 and 2001, respectively. This is the 5th edition, published in late 2005/early 2006. FYI...

I gave it four stars simply because what I did read was very helpful, but I have much more to go. I may give it five later.

I love this book; I recommend it to people at least twice a day when I visit [...]. This book covers every aspect of installing and booting a GNU/Linux operating system, from choosing a distribution, to running specific pieces of software. It includes tangible and detailed, though introductory, material on hardware, networking, software installation, using Emacs and Vi, desktop environments, security, and package management. Many of the topics, such as Samba and networking, focus on making your GNU/Linux installation part of a wider network with a variety of operating systems. Some of it, for example the chapter on TCP/IP is not even GNU/Linux-specific, but is highly educational.

The best quality of this book that makes it my goto book is that it is a good introduction to thinking about things in the Unix tradition, and firmly keeps encouraging the reader to use the command-line instead of steering him or her to GUI tools. That's why I suggest reading the entire book (not necessarily comprehending, but reading) before trying to install a GNU/Linux distribution.

The back of the book says "widely recognized in the linux community as the ultimate getting started and problem-solving book", "will provide expert advice when you need it" and "one of the ultimate linux manuals". I haven't yet had a problem that this book helped me solve. I understand that it can't and isn't meant to cover everything. But I was annoyed that it's "in case of an emergency" section basically said that users should have a rescue cd with enough tools to recover -- but not much on how to recover. Now, whenever I break something, my recovery is 1) check Running Linux and find nothing helpful, then 2) throw the book into a corner and search the web for people with similar problems.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is new to Linux and attempting to figure their way around. It's not a great book for those who just want the how-do-I-do-this-without-having-to-understand-anything-under-the-covers approach. If you want that I would recommend going with a book like Spring Into Linux (Valade), which is much more of a get you up to speed as fast as possible without teaching you much.

I like so far how much detail this book gives you, though the reason I haven't given it 5 out of 5 is simply because I feel like it's lacking detail in some key areas (most notably so far for me would be its sparse offerings in the NFS section). However, the book itself does not claim to be exhaustive. In fact, it claims to be just the opposite and admits early on that its goal is only to give you enough information to be dangerous and then point you towards better maps if you so choose. That in itself is one of the reasons I like the book. They really do, for the most part, give you tremendous little intros to topics that help you understand not only how to do something, but also why you're doing it that way, why linux may have been designed in that way, etc. etc.

So, in short, great book for an in-depth intro to linux. However, if you're looking to spend your money for a book that treats any topic very in depth, I would recommend going with any of the other books in this series from O'Reilly, because this book was not designed for that. Good luck with Linux!

I was in a urgent need of some fairly serious Linux bootcamp. This book worked, and this is how:

I hadn't had any significant Linux experience prior to buying this book. Sure, I knew a few basic UNIX commands, who doesn't?

After installing Ubuntu it became clear that I simply will have to spend too much time googling solutions for every problem. I went ahead and bought this book, read it cover to cover in about two days, and my fluentness in Linux administration/programming has increased dramatically. I still have to google some specifics (like Postfix/MySQL integration issues), but most of what I needed for my work, was in this fairly thin book.

Note that it is not focused on any particular distribution, and most of the tasks are explained with several major distros in mind. I kind of appreciated that also, since it only reassured my decision to go with a Debian-based Ubuntu.

I haven't used Unix/Linux for about ten years. I know there is a command that will tell me how full the disk drives are. I tried to find the answer in this book. I looked up every possibility I could think of in the index (no entries for disk, or drive by the way--you need to look for "hard drive"), and waded through the section of filesystems with no luck.

When I found elsewhere that I was looking for the DU command. I looked that up. It's in the book but as a digression in a section explaining redirection on the command line. The related DF command is not mentioned at all, at least in the index.

These are basic commands that should be well referenced.

I bought this book because I am switching from Windows to Linux on my home network. I thought it might be quicker to learn the ins and outs with the book vs. surfing from place-to-place on the web. My experience with the book is not that great--it never provides enough information on any subject to answer the question I have. I always have to resort to the internet for enough information to solve the problem of the day. It might be o-k for general Linux information, but it won't get you up and running as a system administrator on a home network.

I bought this book because I am switching from Windows to Linux on my home network. I thought it might be quicker to learn the ins and outs with the book vs. surfing from place-to-place on the web. My experience with the book is not that great--it never provides enough information on any subject to answer the question I have. I always have to resort to the internet for enough information to solve the problem of the day. It might be o-k for general Linux information, but it won't get you up and running as a system administrator on a home network.

I am a very new user to Linux, this book has helped me out a lot. There is tons of useful info on how to use all the important aspects of Linux. Read through some of the other reviews to get a better run down on this book, then go buy it. This is a book I refer to frequently.

I am a very new user to Linux, this book has helped me out a lot. There is tons of useful info on how to use all the important aspects of Linux. Read through some of the other reviews to get a better run down on this book, then go buy it. This is a book I refer to frequently.

I bought this book for a programing class, because we used linux in the class, and I had very little experience with it. I'm very glad I did, because this book is a great introduction to all the things you need to be productive on a linux system. I enjoyed it so much, I'm thinking about installing linux on one of my home computers.

I bought this book for a programing class, because we used linux in the class, and I had very little experience with it. I'm very glad I did, because this book is a great introduction to all the things you need to be productive on a linux system. I enjoyed it so much, I'm thinking about installing linux on one of my home computers.

The Running Linux book is expanded and updated regularly and is designed to bring the casual and new user up to speed with using Linux as well as updated information. This is all done is a distribution-neutral context which makes it one of the better guides available. Of course that also presents problems when a particular distribution does something a little bit different from the norm. If you are a serious Linux enthusiast and have been for some time you will find the book too elementary for your needs but those new to Linux will find it a great introduction. The one real problem that I have with the book is that at times leaves out too much detail and as a result you can't really understand how to use something. An example is the entire section on MySQL and PHP. Then again, there are many excellent books available on these subjects and this is still more of an introductory guide so letting the reader know what can be done and then letting them seek out an appropriate text for the details is appropriate. Not to mention if it included all the details on all the subjects discussed then this would be a multi-volume work.

The book is laid out in a logical patter and after some preliminary background information the authors start the reader on the details of the installation process and fixing installation problems. From there they move to the desktop environment including both the KDE and GNOME environments as well as basic console based commands and concepts.

Once you have those basics covered they then introduce the most common applications including web browsers, instant messaging, email clients, games, office suites, groupware, and multimedia applications. Once you are comfortable with these they lead the reader into the field of system administration. While it is still just the basics, it does include the every day maintenance skills needed to administer a Linux system. These include an excellent introduction to the filesystems, device files, cron, controlling processes, managing users, groups, and permissions, installing, updating and compiling programs, networking, printing, file sharing, startup and shutdown, and configuring a webserver, email server, or ftp server. They then finish up this section with the basics of securing your system, backup and recovery, and running Windows programs on Linux.

Freshly updated for the new or beginning user, the Running Linux, Fifth Edition is one of the best introductions to Linux for the person who really wants to learn the operating system but need a book that starts from the very beginning.

This book is pitched, at least in part, to Linux beginners. But it fails in small, maddening ways when speaking to this audience. After a lot of discussion of disk partitioning and install, page 65 tells you to run the "man" command in a shell session. It offers no clue that the only way to terminate a "man" command is the letter Q - a completely unintuitive action. So a new user can flounder forever, or at least until they get frustrated and reboot. But I don't mean to slam just this book. That same problem exists in most other beginning Linux books, even O'Reilly's pocket guide. All these knowledgeable authors seem to think that noephytes will somehow magically gain access to information that the authors have in their heads, but haven't committed to paper.

Except for that, it's a very good book.

Are you a programmer who is increasingly using Linux because of its extensibility and low cost? If you are, then this book is for you! Authors Matthias Kalle Dalheimer and Matt Welsh, have done an outstanding job of writing this 5th edition of a practical guide that provides you with an overview to Linux as a desktop and a back-office system.

Dalheimer and Welsh, begin by introducing you to Linux, and bring you to the point where you can do all the standard activities people do on other systems: emailing , web surfing, playing games, watching videos, and so on. Then, the authors show you how to set up your Linux system and its environment for such tasks as printing and sharing files with other systems. They also show you how to take care of your system in other ways. Next, they explore interesting advanced topics that make Linux a powerful asset, such as programming. Finally, they introduce several services and other advanced networking activities.

In this most excellent book, the authors show you how you can completely change the way you work with computers by exploring a powerful and free operating system. More importantly, this book gives you some of the behind-the-scenes views, so you have an understanding of the workings of a system, even if it's not strictly necessary for casual Linux use.

Before I state my thoughts on this book, at over 950 pages this is one of the biggest books you will find on a computer shelf, so it's worth providing a list of the content within:

01. Intro to Linux
02. Installation
03. Desktop Environments
04. Basic Unix commands
05. Web Browsers & IMs
06. E-Mail Clients
07. Games
08. Office Applications
09. Multimedia
10. System Administration Basics
11. Managing Users, Groups, Permissions
12. Installing/Compiling Programs
13. Networking
14. Printing
15. File Sharing
16. X Windows
17. System start & shutdown
18. Configuring the Kernel
19. Text Editing
20. Text Processing (XML, TeX, etc)
21. Programming Tools
22. Running a Web Server
23. Handling E-Mail
24. Running an FTP Server
25. Running Web Applications with MySQL & PHP
26. Securing the System
27. Backup & Recovery
28. Running Windows Programs

As you can see, this is one INVOLVED book. With a massive amount of page, this is not for someone that is looking for a quick how-to guide, or someone that is looking for a teaching tool for Linux. First and foremost, this is a REFERENCE book, and it's a darn good one at that.

Ideally if I wanted a guide that explained to me the ins and outs of setting up Linux and getting things up and running, I would want a lot of content, and a lot of explanation contained within. For the relatively low price of this text, that is EXACTLY what you are going to get and it's no wonder this is in its 5th Edition.

Fantastic material that is in-depth and T-H-O-R-O-U-G-H as it examines one of the hottest operating systems out there in the world today.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

For most of my adult life, I've been a one operating system man. The first PC my wife and I got ran Windows 95. The one I'm using now has Windows XP. So all I've known is Windows.

This has had a detrimental impact on my geek cred. Every time I take one of those online nerd tests, I'm rolling until I get to the Linux questions. My 100% quickly becomes a 90, or even 80. I feel like Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer - all of the other geeks mock my lack of Linux.

And I find myself now with an ancient laptop (Pentium I, 166 MHz, 2GB hard drive), and I've been thinking about using it to play with a bit of Linux. Which is where this book comes in.

Many of the other Linux books I've looked at have assumed that I've got more experience with operating systems (UNIX in particular) than I do. My mind quickly went numb with them, and I put them back on the shelf, deciding that I really didn't need to hit 100% after all. But then I got hold of this book.

Running Linux is in its 5th edition, and is widely regarded as the Linux book. Before now, I was intimidated by its sheer size; it weighs in at 906 pages before the Appendix and index. But inside is everything I didn't know about Linux.

The book starts with the basics - finding a Linux distro and getting it installed. GUI desktops are covered, with no partiality given to either KDE or GNOME. In fact, the book goes out of its way to be "distribution-neutral" throughout, which is valuable for a noob like me.

I especially liked chapter 4 - the crash course on UNIX commands. Not enough to confuse someone, but enough that you know what's going on. There is also a valuable overview of programs available for Linux, including games and office productivity packages like OpenOffice (which I already use). And there are several chapters on systems administration, including "heterogeneous networking" - combining Linux boxes with Windows systems. At least at first, that's what I'll be running - a Windows XP desktop is the main hub of my wireless network. There's also a section on emulation (Wine and VMware).

I'm still not sure if I'm going to totally switch to Linux; peripheral compatability is an issue I need to look into more thoroughly. But this book is an outstanding resource for anyone who is thinking about Linux, and for anyone who has already decided to take the leap.

[This is a review of the 5th edition]

Matthias Kalle Dalheimer and Matt Welsh have done an excellent job with Running Linux (5th Edition). It's one of the few Linux books that strikes a nice balance between overview and in-depth, novice and guru...

Contents:
Part 1 - Enjoying and Being Productive on Linux: Introduction to Linux; Preinstallation and Installation; Desktop Environments; Basic Unix Commands and Concepts; Web Browsers and Instant Messaging; Electronic Mail Clients; Games; Office Suites and Personal Productivity; Multimedia
Part 2 - System Administration: System Administration Basics; Managing Users, Groups, and Permissions; Installing, Updating, and Compiling Programs; Networking; Printing; File Sharing; The X Window System; System Start and Shutdown; Configuring and Building the Kernel; Text Editing; Text Processing
Part 3 - Programming: Programming Tools; Running a Web Server; Transporting and Handling Email Messages; Running an FTP Server
Part 4 - Network Services: Running Web Applications with MySQL and PHP; Running a Secure System; Backup and Recovery; Heterogeneous Networking and Running Windows Programs
Appendix: Sources of Linux Information; Index

There are a couple of things that I really like in this book. First is the "distribution-neutral" approach. It's easy to get hung up in the Fedora/Ubuntu/SuSE/etc wars, and there are definitely books that cater to each specific distro. But often you really just want to understand Linux as a whole (or perhaps you use a variety of distros). Running Linux covers the core material common to all Linux installations, so you won't find yourself dealing with large chunks of the book that are irrelevant to you. The other feature I liked is their balance of coverage, and that's hard to do. You can either go for in-depth coverage and end up with a 2000 page book, or you can try to breeze through everything, and it's worthless once you use the feature. Dalheimer and Welsh were able to keep it under 1000 pages, touch on both desktop and server, and do it in such a way that both newbies and experienced Linux users can get something out of the book. It's not a highly graphical, handholding approach to the subject matter, so there tends to be more words packed in to the pages. But the flow and content is such that even someone brand new to Linux, if motivated, can go a long, long way with nothing more than their computer and this book...

Definitely one of the better "single volume" Linux books that can get you started down that road, as well as hang around on the bookshelf and be useful during the entire journey.

I consider the Fourth Edition one of the best Linux books
available. O'Reilly managed to keep it down to 672 pages. Aside from updating those pages, the new edition has another 300 pages of excellent material. That's how much increased capability Linux has acquired over a two and a half year period.

When I heard the rumors that Adam Oram had started pulling the team together for the latest edition, I wondered about that. I had just read a review of the Fourth edition lauding its relevance to Linux users.

A little History

O'Reilly & Associates began publishing Linux books early. Andy joined the company back in 1992. One of his first projects involved publishing The Linux Network Administrator's Guide which Olaf Kirche began writing for the Linux Documentation Project in 1992.

Looking back, one has to admit that printing a book that anyone could read or download from the Internet seems somewhat bold. But, the good people at O'Reilly & Associates published The Linux Network Administrator's Guide back in 1993 and released the Third edition this year. I have always considered such moves remarkable considering how other publishers
operate.

Running Linux came out in May 1995 and got another update in August 1996. I thought the Third edition published in August 1999 provided some major insights. I had just started a pay-per-incident Linux call center and finding Linux books at that time was not that easy. Most of the books people published seemed like compilations of materials already on the Internet.

The Fourth Edition seemed like a fitting culmination of the
previous work. It continues to sell and people continue to use it. So,preparing a Fifth edition seems like another O'Reilly commitment to excellence and Linux to me. I think they could lay back and let the book continue to just sell.

Writing a book for O'Reilly requires more than a monetary
commitment. The editors, production staff, reviewers and contributors work hard. Sometimes I feel like a kid in a factory watching people build complex machinery when I observe Andy Oram putting a book together. Writing an O'Reilly book requires a team effort and lots and
lots of work, especially by the editor.

Knowing the magnitude of effort required in writing any O'Reilly book allows me to know that their commitment to Running Linux means people will get a great book.

f you have a passing interesting Linux or if you're a seasoned veteran, you like Running Linux Fifth Edition . It's not only a good book to read, it's an excellent reference. Linux
will continue to grow at exponential rates. If you work for a company that wants you to have Linux experience, I suggest you pick Running Linux as your guide.

Although I use Linux for a variety of things (usually Apache/Tomcat or SAMBA), I don't use the OS enough to really attain expert status and stay there. I've found that this and many of the other O'Reilly Linux books have been invaluable references for me to keep my network straight.

Another good one is the O'Reilly "Linux Security Cookbook", although if you currently use ipchains and iptables all day you won't get much out of it; it's more for the admin that doesn't have to mess with their config too much.

This told me all the important stuff I needed to get going and understand how linux works.

The world of Linux is pretty deep and rather disorganized, so as a newbie I was overwhelmed by the amount of resources that will sure help me in the end but did not give me a clue where to start. After all, Linux is not Windows, which all the dummies in the world use.

Running Linux was a very helpful resource for me to get started with almost anything that I know about Linux today. Of course it is impossible for a book like this to be truely comprehensive, and nobody should expect that. It is very hard to go for breadth and depth at the same time when there are hundreds of distributions that are different enough that they have their own how-to's.

What really helped me in this book were rather shallow yet to-the-point references to more in-depth resources about a vast array of essential subjects on how to maintain a Linux box. In the end, you *have* to read distribution- or tool-specific README's or how-to's, so getting the pointers to where I *should* look for really made it easy for me to explore more.

I recommend this book if you wish to go into Linux and already know a bit about how computers work.

This book is supposed to serve as a reference, something you keep on your desk and refer to when you want to tweak the desktop settings, make an adjustment to your sound setup, change your boot manager, etc, etc.

It's not. Avoid this book. It is incomplete and shallow. If you need help with your Linux installation, get "Linux in a Nutshell" from the same publisher. It is a vastly superior book. Or just Google for a solution to your question/problem - your chances of success are much better.

The money that I spent on this book was pretty much wasted.

I bought this along with "Linux in a Nutshell" when I decided to look into Linux. I've got a 20+ year background with Unix. I'm sorry to say I never found this book useful! Between my experience and the modern Linux installers (I've got Mandrake) this book is redundant. That hasn't been true for the Nutshell book.

I gave this book two stars because for beginners it offers a decent introduction to Linux.

If you already know a little bit of Unix or Linux or other Unix-variants, this book is way too "introductory" for you. It covers stuff like how to login and run ls, cp and mv. As another example, see the section on backing your computer. It talks about using find and tar, but nothing about dump and restore and backup strategies.

Overall, too much scratching the surface and not enough in depth information for real Unix users.

Not good at all. This book will teach you to do things but not figure out anything, it will teach you to do the most basic tasks but leave you dry when it comes to actually doing anything not covered in the book. Consider this book giving a man a fish instead of teaching him to fish.

I read this book through when I started with Linux 6 months ago. Since then I've installed RedHat, Mandrake and Lycoris, tried a Suze LiveCD and had a look at Debian, while I developed my own website and started to use signed/encrypted email. I'll stick to my convenient Mandrake distro, to which I hope switching everything what I've got left on Win2k (I keep reading and want to know more about Debian, a fascinating world indeed). I've also used Linux very successfully to recover my Win2K station and now feel more and more comfo with Linux.
But THAT book did not help me much! The author himself says in the intro that he'll have no pity with Unix newbies!! Appart from good chapter intros, you'll find 80% of the book useless if you have a modern distro or impossible to understand and apply if you are new to Unix.
Paul Sheer's tutorial, Brian Ward's problem solver and Michael Stutz's Linux Cookbook are on my wish list, they sound much more accessible and useful.
By the way, O'Reilly's "Linux in a Nutshell" is a good reference book to have, although I haven't needed it much yet.
Conclusion: don't waste money on this book if you are new to the Unix world!

Running Linux covers everything from the history and philosophy of Linux to installation and running applications on Linux. After the introduction, the first few chapters cover the different versions of Linux and how to install it on different hardware platforms. This is very helpful to anyone who has never installed Linux. The step-by-step tutorial to setup and configure Linux is very detailed and explains many of the common problems that could be encountered. The setup and configuration sections are generic to cover all versions of Linux, but differences of diverse vendors are covered when it varies from the generic tutorial.

A short introduction to UNIX commands and concepts is provided for users who have never used a Unix based operating system. This section applies to not just Linux, but any Unix based operating system. Common applications that are installed are each given a small tutorial. The applications covered are vi, EMACS, GIMP, etc. Linux programming tools are also each covered in a short tutorial section on several tools.

The last sections of the book cover Linux administration. Setting up new users and file premissions are discussed. Also, networking aspects of Linux and covered in various chapters about TCP/IP and e-mail. This book is a comprehensive book covering all aspects of Linux and should be required reading for anyone new to Linux.

This is a general book on Linux and with a general guide to installing Linux. With 2 chapters and 43 pages on installation, its general procedures are next to useless. There is no specific distribution and hardware so at least your installation can be modelled from it.

At least there is a few hints like using Fdisk with /MBR (p88) for dual boot Win/Linux machines.

Almost all of the book is oriented to the command line within a terminal window. The book shows a Windows GUI, Xfree86, Chap 10-11, and Gnome in Appendix B.

I have yet to find a book that makes it straightforward to fully configure a Linux machine with SCSI, sound, network, modem or router, tape backup, CD-RW, USB, FireWire, scanner, photo, HP printer etc so that some real work can be done with StarOffice, Netscape web & email. (Doing things that can be done on Win98SE without breaking a sweat.)

However, I still recommend finding a local Linux User Group and going to an InstallFest (Twin Cities, Minn has a group supported by the Univ of Minn, EE/CS Dept). I have attended one but still didn't have a fully configured RedHat Linux 9 Server up and running yet. After the 2nd InstallFest, I got my TR-4 tape backup functional and Palm sync'd. I read this book at the local library.

well written with worthwhile info contained, which is typical of an o'reilly book. This book isn't a system administration book, it is more of a "beginner linux" book that explains much of how the various linux components function and work.

This is the type of book that bodes well for all users of the Linux operating system. As most people know the O'Reilly books are always easy reading books. This one is no exception. Being one that has not jumped into Linux with both feet this book was still easy to follow and includes some aspects of Linux administration that were not covered in the previous releases.

Running Linux is a not only an excellent reference, but a guide upgrades that will aide in staying current. The content is excellent for beginners and for those who have been at Linux for a while.

My personal favorite in this release is the coverage of the GNOME desktop. There aren't many books available that cover so much of the environment, and also provide assistance in understanding the GUI for it. Simply put this books is a must have.

I could see this book saving new users a few months of finding out on their own and is a good reference book as well. It covers a lot of the need-to-know type of things. I've been using Linux for many years and still reference it sometimes.

Gives a fair and balanced account of the administration of a Red Hat linux system. I have found it to be of good use for some other distributions as well. Red Hat and SuSE users should definitely consider getting this book.

These authors share a passion for LINUX and share that passion though great detail about how this freeware operating system is put together. This book is NOT a "LINUX in 21-days" or "LINUX for Dummies" quick read. What this book is however, is a must add to your library as a great LINUX reference. Like the title indicates - it covers everything you need to understand if you want to run the LINUX operating system.
While the core of the book hasn't changed, this edition has updated installation, configuration and security material. Not a UNIX guru or need to brush up? The book covers all the basic UNIX commands and concepts in a simple and clear manner. I found the chapter on upgrading and building a new Kernel one of the best parts as the authors explain not just what to do but how to get a variety of hardware devices to work.
Want to run X Windows, KDE or GNOME? They cover it! While the book tries to cover programming languages just enough to help a reader understand how gcc, makefiles, perl, and java fit into the LINUX puzzle, to the authors' credit, they quickly point out there are many books covering these subjects and don't try to get into too much detail. They do get into detail about a subject anyone playing with LINUX must know - security.
There is no wonder why this book is in it's 4th Edition. It's complete. There will likely be more editions to follow in the coming years as the LINUX wave keeps growing. But best to get the book now and learn LINUX, before the lawyers take over this OS.

These authors share a passion for LINUX and share that passion though great detail about how this freeware operating system is put together. This book is NOT a "LINUX in 21-days" or "LINUX for Dummies" quick read. What this book is however, is a must add to your library as a LINUX reference. Like the title indicates - it covers everything you need to understand if you want to run the LINUX operating system.
While the core of the book hasn't changed, this edition has updated installation, configuration and security material. Not a UNIX guru or need to brush up? The book covers all the basic UNIX commands and concepts in a simple and clear manner. I found the chapter on upgrading and building a new Kernel one of the best parts as the authors explain not just what to do but how to get a variety of hardware devices to work.
Want to play with X Windows, KDE or GNOME - they cover it. While the book tries to cover programming languages enough to help one understand how gcc, makefiles, perl, and java fit into the LINUX puzzle, to the authors' credit, they quickly point out there are many books covering these subjects and don't try to get into too much detail. They do get into detail about a subject anyone playing with LINUX must learn - security.
There is no wonder why this book is in it's 4th Edition. It's complete. There will likely be more editions to follow in the coming years as the LINUX wave keeps growing. But best to get the book now and learn LINUX, before the lawyers take over this OS.

I remember the good ol' days before Linux, when I was using CP/M, oh those were the good old days. Then came along DOS, with was also good. Does anybody even remember the command line interfaces. Well, that's what I like about Linux, I can run a command line interface or a GUI like Gnome or KDE.

When I read this book, my first impression was that I was reading a work of fiction. Then I read it again, and I realized it was a technical book. I had to read it again, to make sure, this time I found theological material, so I read it again, and got sick to my stomach.

My son, age 7 read this book and he is now in a mental hospital being treated for severe depression. My dog took it with him to dinner last night and hasn't returned it.

School teachers around the world will be recommending this book to frogs.

I own the 3rd edition of this book and liked it so much that I ordered the 4th edition as soon as it came out. If you are interested in learning how to become a power linux user, this is the book for you. The book does a nice job teaching you the fundamentals of linux and system administration. And the best thing about the book is that it is distrobution independant. Unlike other linux guides that are focused toward a single distrobution this one covers the core of linux. What you learn here you can use regardless of what distro you run. The book also has some nice sections on programming tools that are availble on linux and how to use them efficiently. For example it goes into how to use CVS, and how to create linux libraries for your programs, and much more. It also does a good job covering how to set up and use basic unix/linux services like ssh, apache, and email to name just a few. And it has a great section on how to compile your own kernel, which is often a stumbling block to newbies. In order to get the fullest advantage of linux performance you must know how to compile kernels. This is really one of few truely great books on linux. It it well written, and explained in a clear and concise manner. After you have finished reading it you will find yourself picking this book up again and again as a handy reference. I recommend this book as the first linux book to read to everyone i meet that expresses interest in Linux and is new to it.

Just the fact that this is the fourth edition should tell you how good this is. I never owned the first edition, and skipped the third. By page count, this is only 42 pages longer then that second edition, and yet it immediately seemed to me that there is much more here.

There is. Obviously there have been cuts too - warnings and workarounds for problems and situations that no longer exist, reduction of some tables and listings that probably never were really necessary. There are new chapters (I don't know if they are new from the 3rd edition), and new sections.

I like that the book provides a fair amount of troubleshooting information along with its basic introductions. Of course, that does mean that it will quickly become outdated, just as previous editions have. Some Amazon reviews complain about this sort of thing, but I still think it's better to include it.

Other reviews have complained that this isn't a beginners book. Perhaps it is not - I hesitated before including it in that category, but ultimately decided that it still belongs there even though it may be a little more advanced than a rank beginner might desire. Actually, I'm not even sure that's fair: a rank beginner will find this useful; it's just that they may find it a bit overwhelming too. This isn't "Linux for Dummies", it is very comprehensive and has more than sufficient detail in every area it covers.

Not too many of us will be able to dismiss this as "just stuff I already know", either. I picked up things in just a casual skimming, and even more when I went back to read carefully. Of course that is hard to do when you already have a fair amount of experience, but it's worth the effort.

From installation to operation, "Running Linux", provides all the essential information any 'Linux' user would need in order to maintain a hitch-free ride on the software. There are new topics on both multimedia and mobile computing. PHP, ADSL, MySQL, GNOME and NFS updates have been included. Overall, there are improved networking solutions.
Each chapter is covered in detail. They are comprehensive. This latest edition delved deeper into configuration and administration. But, one complaint is that it is less detailed and much more expensive, when compared to another sound book, the Sybex's "Linux Complete"

This edition was published in 1999 and is far too outdated for current use.

A huge chunk of it is to do with installation and initial configuration of a Linux system and in these days where installers are much much better than they were in 1999 it's really not needed at all.

I'm afraid this book will sit on my shelf and won't be looked at much.

I just bought this book, and I have to say that I was a LITTLE dissapointed. First, some of the content in this book may not work with your distribution of Linux, which can be a real dissapointment. Secondly, this book isn't real good for an absolute beginner to Linux. It's more for someone who has more of a background in Linux.

It's still a good book, but you'd be better off buying a book specifically for your distribution of Linux.

The book speaks in terms a mother can understand.

I bought the first edition of this when it forst came
out. I bought the update because I'd come back to
Linux after a gap and KDE/GNOME etc were now the norm.
It filled in the gaps and the general quality of the
information was as good as ever.

There is no CD with this book but Linux is available
everywhere these days so I prefer keeping the price low.
Every new Linux user should get this book.

I run Slackware 7.1. Although Slackware was the first distribution, it has not been as popular as Red Hat, Suse or Mandrake. But while other books seem to assume that you are running one of the popular distributions, I never felt excluded by Running Linux. Every time I hit a roadblock, Running Linux gave me concrete answers. It was especially good when I had problems installing X-Windows, a sound card, and Samba. It also gave me a good starting point in understanding what tools were available to me as a programmer under Linux. I wish that I had had this book from the very beginning-- much better, for example, than "Slackware Linux Unleashed".

Matt Welsh's "Running Linux" is part of that breed of O'Reilly books that made them famous. Too bad O'Reilly seems to be going downhill in the quality of their books.

The book is gentle in introducing free software movement, the unix culture and other things that are difficult for the GNU/Linux beginner coming from a Microsoft world to grasp at first, but that give him/her the necessary understanding of why things are the way they are on GNU/Linux.

The book also covers a wealth of related topics (like shell and scripting programming) a little bit, which I think is a plus. My first "Running Linux" was the second edition, that I bought way back in 1998. It still serves me and has served several friends who I lent it to. The second edition is a nice refreshing and update.

While I do agree with some other reviews that an absolute beginner would probably find this a little overwhelming, someone who has spent a few weeks playing with Linux and is ready to start getting serious will find this a good place to start. If you can't locate a really good book on your specific flavor of Linux (best, because each distribution has its quirks), this is a solid and well-organized substitute.

This book is not for newbies and most certainly not for home users. All through the book the author keeps saying " see your system administrator"! Hey guy, thats me, not a lot of help. Also, I found no help in it for two minor(?) problems I had with my installation of Redhat Linux 7.2 - no sound and no printing capability. I'm sure that when I become accustomed to Linux - if I haven't thrown it out before that - this may become a good reference book. But a guide for newbies it aint!!

This is the first and only book I bought so far on Linux.
While I have now a good overview of what Linux can do and how he can do it, I have no true knowledge and no practical knowledge on Linux works.
Thats why I am disapointed about this book. U cant learn anything only from this book...It's just about an overview.
So I think its a good book for someone who dont know if he wants Linux or not and wanna see how it is or for someone with very good knowledge in OS and not at all with Linux(rare I suppose)
If u are a newbie like me dont buy this book untill u will learn a lot from the net too or/and u plan to buy other books in the same time.
If u are a more advanced user don't even look at it.

I still give him 3 stars cuz he is well written and in making an overiew of Linux its the best possible book around. I just cant see the purpose of an overview ;)

Typical of O'Reilly books, Running Linux was written with the intelligent reader in mind. This is not a book "for dummies"; it is a thorough and respectful introduction to the Linux operating system.

With that said, the authors use their seven hundred pages wisely, covering nearly every aspect of Linux in some level of detail. Despite its breadth, Running Linux does not gloss over the details, but rather, to use the authors' words, looks at "what goes on under the hood" and "behind the scenes". Their step-by-step coverage of the boot process is particularly detailed and precise.

As with any introductory text, individual readers with their differing backgrounds will have contradictory opinions as to what degree each topic should be covered. In my opinion, the authors used excellent judgment and showed remarkable restraint in their writing. Furthermore, readers with an appetite for detail will find solice in the categorized and selective bibliography

Quite simply, Running Linux is both a definitive guide and an excellent reference.

tpm
December 26, 2001

If I could only have one Linux book, this would easily be the one I would keep. I have a shelf full of them, and this is the one that sits dog-earred on my desk.