Comments about O'Reilly Media Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition:

This is a great book, but I also only have a 2nd edition I bought years ago. Now 7th edition will come out- when? I want to take advantage of the buy 2 get 1 free offer since I am in a low budget and desperately trying to get back in the job market. Same for Running Linux! where is a new edition?

Comments about O'Reilly Media Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition:

Although I'm not an advanced user, I do work in Linux everyday. In spite of that repetition and daily reinforcement, this is the one book I use daily.

Frankly, it's just not possible for me to remember all of the Linux commands. This is a user's guide that is more than useful; it's clearly written and all of the commands are covered in alphabetical order. I prefer having a handy reference volume versus sifting through Google search results. If you already have a basic understanding of using Linux and want a good book for looking up how specific commands work, then this is your reference manual. It's useful for beginner, intermediate, and the experienced user AND there's a comprehensive index of both topics and commands. Should you need more, you will have to refer to man pages!

I found the chapter on virtualization a little light but that's probably best, given their complexity and depth. The chapters on Shells, Boot Methods and networking are great and offer enough detail to most folks off and running. The chapter on the various editors is well done and contains excellent detail; certainly enough to get you going with any of them. Package management was also presented well and helped me understand a good bit more about yum, after having used aptitude for years. I don't do much with sed, gawk or version control but the chapters on those technologies were understandable and will prove useful in the future.

Overall, I find this book extremely valuable and it is one of those that I keep handy at all times. It is my essential Linux reference book.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Linux in a Nutshell, 6th Edition:

The first thing that impresses you about Linux in a Nutshell, A Desktop Quick Reference is it's sheer bulk. Weighing in at more than nine hundred pages, this book is an amazing compilation of Gnu/Linux information.

An alphabetical listing of commands with description of use and options is provided to enable fast lookup of commands when you can't remember the proper syntax and options for a particular command. This is the major feature of this reference and is encyclopedic in its coverage.

I especially appreciate the additional sections that grouped commands used for specific functions or common programs. Just knowing the commands available for an system administration operation or a specific program can be a real time saver. Beginners will find this feature handy when they don't know what command they need.

The chapter covering package managers will be helpful for those who use one package manager routinely and need to refresh their knowledge of the the one they seldom use. For instance, I use Debian distributions most of the the time these days and when I do use a RPM based distribution this section will come in handy.

There are chapters that cover just about every aspect of system administration and development including boot loaders, the bash shell, different editors, gawk programming , version control and virtualization. In short something for everyone in a desktop reference!