One thing I have really come to appreciate Linux for - the wealth of information sources out there, both printed and on the web. I'm a real glutton for information, especially printed information, even in today's web-based world, as my groaning bookshelves can attest. And this even after throwing away 3 boxes of books during the great office move! And moving to Linux has opened up a whole brave new world of hernia-inducing books and magazines.
As I mentioned before, I've been checking out the plethora of Linux magazines. My most recent purchase was Linux Format, a UK import. Wow, what a great magazine! Jam packed with excellent articles,including short blurbs, solid reviews, in-depth explorations of things like source code control software, and tutorials for both the beginner and expert. The layout is splashy without being annoying, the editing is tight, with no annoying typos or other graphical glitches (hello, Linux+, are you listening?). The included DVD is a triple boot DVD, with openSUSE 10.2, Mandriva One Metisse and GNewSense 1.0, plus a bunch of eBoooks and 500 HTML pages of documentation. I am tempted to subscribe, but US$180 for 13 issues is a little steep, especially as I feel most of the cost is for two things I won't get full use out of - the tran-Atlantic postage and the DVD. I'm just not sure I need a DVD, as any distro I'm interested in I would just download and any packages I want to use I would prefer to get from an "official" openSUSE source. But I am sorely tempted.
They also have a couple of book reviews, including one for a recent purchase that has really wowed me. They give Linux Administration Handbook, 2nd Edition a 9 out 10, but personally I would go to 11 for it. Every page is densely packed with information and new stuff shows up so often I had to run out and pick up a three pack of highlight markers with page Post-its just to save the information for later! Really clever writing and solid information - a winning combination. Glad I scarfed this up at 50% off. Run, don't walk, to pick this book up.
Linux Administration Handbook, Second Edition, reflects the current versions
of these leading distributions:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- Fedora Core
- SUSE Linux Enterprise
- Debian GNU/Linux
- Ubuntu Linux
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