Re: Debian books

["ramsubs" <ramsubs@pd.jaring.my>]

> > > Does anyone have suggestions of helpful books that are more directly
for
> > > Debian instead of just general linux?
> > >
> > >
> > I have a book called Debian Unleashed that is excellent. Although, I
> > bought it some time ago and it came with 2.1. See if there is a new
edition
> > for 2.2. This book covers programming, sysadmin, networking, and a lot
more.
> > Definitely worth checking out.
> >
> > Ian
> >
>
>
> I recently picked up Debian GNU/Linux Bible by Steve Hunger ... Hunger
Publishings
>
> it came with 2.2r2 its rated Beginer to Advanced.. I would say ... closer
to moderate users... most Advanced Debian users would be well beyond what
this book covers.
>
> But, if you want to get a good base for Debian its a good solid book, the
other one I own is O'Reilly's but its out of date.
>
> Emerson
>

I bought the book as well.

If you ask me, it didn't help me very much. I think the book is missing the
most important thing that a newbie needs to know in Debian: dSelect, apt,
deb packages. Steve Hunger covers dSelect, and apt, but it's not good
enough. He tells you things about it
that you can already figure out when using dSelect. In my opinion, a good
debian book should cover details of dSelect, apt, debian packages. A newbie
is going to have trouble navigating/understanding dSelect, or even figuring
it out easily. He should have covered that in great detail in the book.
Steve doesn't do enough justice to Debian. I guess his idea is to leave you
hungry.

Also, he talked of installing KDE using task-KDE. But there is no Task-KDE!!
KDE was never included in Debian > 2.0 (if I remember correctly), and the
accompanying CD
is at 2.2R2. He's really out-of-whack. So you can see how screwed up the
book is. It led me astray because I was looking for KDE when I ventured into
Debian.

What's worse is the forward by Debian founder Ian Murdock who comments that
this book is the one (my words). I bought the book partly because of that.
But what bull!

Don't bother buying Debian/GNU Linux Bible. You're better off downloading
stuff over debian.org.

Though I'm using Debian, I refer to books by 2 good authors (in my opinion)
and I recommend them:
1. Secrets of Red Hat Linux by Naba Barkakati
2. Red Hat Linux Administrator's Guide by Mohammed J Kabir

I think for a newbie, understanding Debian packages is the most important.
These can be found in Debian.org.

Ram
Linux newbie