SUSE Linux 10.0 Unleashed (Unleashed)

Master the newest version of SUSE Linux with SUSE Linux 10 Unleashed. This comprehensive guide to SUSE Linux includes a DVD with the full version of SUSE Linux 10.0 and provides you with intermediate and advanced information to guide you through the installation, management and maintenance of your SUSE Linux 10.0 system. You will gain expert insight into the most important topics, including:

Configuring with YaST2 and SaX2 Launching your desktop Productivity tools Using the Internet and creating websites Secure file transfer Managing users and data Keeping your system current Setting up networks and Samba Managing databases Learn how to make the most of your SUSE Linux 10.0 system with the help of SUSE Linux 10 Unleashed.

User review
Another Linux bigot
As you can see, I am not exactly a prolific book reviewer. I am compelled to respond to garbage when I see it however.

I found this book on a colleagues desk and thumbed through it for a few minutes to see if it was worth reading. Like may Linux related books, the author is a Linux bigot and says things like `In Windows, you have the capability to create, delete, and rename as many top-level directories and subdirectories as you want, and very few bad things can happen to you as a result`. That laughable statement sealed this books fate for me, renaming a system folder would have catastrophic results on any Operating System and making it sound like Linux would not is absolute drivel!

BYW, as a whole this book is pretty poor. Much of it is cursory info that could have been written by anyone that spent a short time playing with SUSE 10. Spend your cash on something more in depth and unbiased.


User review
Good book
This is a solid overall introduction and the DVD with the OS is worth more than the book alone. I've used the DVD to install SUSE on three boxes now. The book does tend to be very beginner friendly. There are some advanced topics that are discussed but usually only at an introduction level. With the wealth of good online references sometimes a clearly layed out intro is all you need to point you in the right direction. I'm somewhat experienced with Linux, and use Unix at work daily as a simple user, so the book was a bit below my proficency, but its well, done, has a good index, and did I mention that the DVD would cost more to buy seaperate? I'd really strongly recommend this book to a complete newbie wanting to check out just how far Linux has come. SUSE 10 is as userfriendly as windows, and you can do 90% of what you do in windows in Linux.

User review
Horrible!
I bought this book to learn about SUSE Linux 10 (as opposed to 9 or any other version). While I realize there is a significant amount of similarity between the versions, a book titled `SUSE Linux 10` should explain the differences.

However, this is REALLY a SUSE Linux 9 book with 10 written on the cover. Don't buy it, unless you're looking for a SUSE Linux 9 book.

I also purchased the `SUSE Linux10 Bible (Bible) by Justin Davies, Roger Whittaker, and William von Hagen` and is REALLY IS a SUSE Linux 10 book. I know because I owned the prior version and this one contains nearly 10 new chapters and even the content of each chapter has been rewritten.

Bottom line: If you're thinking of buying this book, don't waste your $. Instead buy the SUE Linux 10 Bible.

User review
Disappointing
The book appears as if it tries to cover too much too quickly, and as if it was released in haste. There are conceptual errors as well as factual errors.

Many products are never mentioned - such as AutoYaST (the auto-install tool). The `versions` of SUSE listed in the Appendix only lists the various current releases, without mentioning OpenSUSE (which is mentioned elsewhere). The description of SUSE Linux 10 in that appendix reads like a marketing piece. SUSE Linux 9, 8,,. are never mentioned.

PostgreSQL is mentioned as an industrial strength database contained in SUSE Linux in the beginning - and is never mentioned again, despite a complete chapter dedicated to `Databases` (should be renamed `Using MySQL` instead,,.)

The description of the C shell makes arbitrary (and incorrect) comparisons between `interactive` shells and `scripting` shells - the focus of the C shell was to bring C-like syntax and operations to the shell script, and to introduce new concepts like history and command-line editing to the interactive shell. The comment is made that C shell is not for scripting - with no facts to back it up.

The Korn Shell is mentioned, without mentioning that the Korn Shell is now open source. pdksh is discussed very briefly, without noting that its goal was to be completely compliant with ksh88 - and without mentioning that pdksh is *not* on the DVD included in the book.

In the section on emulators, Xen is mentioned - without mentioning that it no longer requires changes to the guest operating system. Basilisk II is mentioned as a 68k Macintosh emulator - without mentioning that the newest Macintoshes use a PowerPC processor (and now the Intel processor). It is, however, mentioned that Mac OS X is being put onto Basilisk - but I suspect that a 68k version of Mac OS X might be a real surprise to a lot of people. PearPC is never mentioned - and neither is User Mode Linux, which just happens to be in the Linux kernel.

The knowledge of ext2 v. ext3 seems to be spotty - or at least explained erroneously. ext3 does not `read` ext2 files - ext3 *is* ext2 with an additional journaling file. It is possible to convert ext2 to ext3 - and even possible to convert from ext3 to ext2 (with loss of journaling) - with no loss of data.

Some of the web editors (such as Bluefish) are described as `anti-WYSIWG` - which is not the case at all.

The Linux kernel is described as `once monolithic [,,.] but now uses modules` - which is completely incorrect. The Linux kernel remains monolithic to this day; a modular kernel is not the opposite of a monolithic kernel. For those who are interested, read up on microkernels v. monolithic kernels,,.

The author mentions the -ac (Alan Cox) kernel patches - without mentioning the -mm patches, the -dj patches, and without mentioning Andrew Morton anywhere (that I saw). He also does not mention that applying any -ac patches to a SUSE kernel would likely fail (since all distributors such as Novell have tuned and patched their kernels themselves).

There is also no mention anywhere of the SUSE PowerPC version, or the SUSE IBM zSeries version, or any other - none at all.

The author's credentials, when checked, do not list him as a system administrator, help desk administrator, professional engineer, Novell technical employee, certified CLP or CLE (Novell's certifications), or anything like that. Instead it lists him as a technical writer who's used SUSE Linux since 5.3.

All in all, the book was a disappointment - even if it did contain some decent information. Borrow the book if you like - you might learn something - then give it back and be thankful you didn't buy it.

User review
Not enough information
The information presented in this book seem to have been written in haste. The topics come to an abrupt end without much explanation. At many places, it merely points to other resources without even presenting some brief discussion. The section on kernel compilation is very short. No information is provided on selection of options under `make xconfig` command. It seems to be a very basic introduction to SuSe Linux.