Re: Allow myself to introduce...myself

[Stan Reichardt <stan@mail.sluug.org>]

"James L. Burke" wrote:
> 
> If someone was planning to use Red Hat, I would highly recommend the book:
> 
> "Using Red Hat Linux"
> by Alan Simpson and John Ray
> published by QUE
> 
> It is very basic and walks you through a number of important issues.  My
> only complaint is that it relies to heavily on the Red Hat GUI interface ...
> I think even beginners should learn to do things at the command line, but
> that's just my opinion.
> 
> Nevertheless, that book is the best "beginners" book I've run across.
> (Note: I suppose "beginners" is a relative term.)
> 


I read that book in May, didn't think it was all that good
for a beginner.

    TITLE: Special Edition, Using Red Hat Linux
  AUTHOR1: Alan Simpson
  AUTHOR2: John Ray
PUBLISHER: QUE
PUBLISHED: 2000
     ISBN: 0-7897-2258-5
     STLC: 005.4469/S613U
     NOTE: CD-ROM with RH 6.2

Yes, "beginners" is a relative term.  Getting behind all the GUI stuff
is the elegance and power of Linux.  Maybe I can no longer see which is
the best beginner book, but, I have definite ideas about what a new user
should learn to use.

I think there are a number of better "beginner" books.
I would recommend (if you can find it):

    TITLE: Linux for Dummies Quick Reference (/2nd Edition)
  AUTHOR1: Phil Hughes (publisher of Linux Journal)
PUBLISHER: IDG - International Data Group Books Worldwide Inc.
PUBLISHED: 1997 / 1998
    PRICE: $14.99
     ISBN: 0-7645-0302-2 / 0-7645-0422-3
     STLC: 0054.469
     NOTE: 005.4469/H894L ? -

The regular "Linux for Dummies" book, first edition by Whitherspoon
was IMHO an embarrassment,  look for Second or (new) Third Edition:  

    TITLE: Linux for Dummies 2nd Edition
  AUTHOR1: Jon "maddog" Hall
PUBLISHER: IDG - International Data Group Books Worldwide Inc.
PUBLISHED: 1999
PURCHASED: 990412
    PRICE: $24.99
     ISBN: 0-7645-0421-5
     STLC: N/A
     NOTE: RedHat 5.2 on CD-ROM included. Much better than 1st edition.
    NOTE2: The third edition should be available soon.  New primary
           author is Dee-Ann LeBlanc, the author of "General Linux I
           Exam Prep" published by Coriolis.  The St. Louis County
           Library has about 8 copies ordered.

Best book for a beginner that I've seen in the last six months doesn't
even have "Linux" in the title:

    TITLE: Think Unix
  AUTHOR1: Jon Lasser
PUBLISHER: Que
PUBLISHED: 2000
PURCHASED: N/A
     ISBN: 0-7897-2376-x
     STLC: 005.432/L347T
     NOTE: Uses Linux examples.  Has good coverage of X Windows System,
           fonts & colors.

Stan R.

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