Product Description
Harley Hahn's Guide to Unix and Linux is a modern, comprehensive text for anyone who wants to learn how to use Unix or Linux. The book is suitable as a primary or secondary textbook for classroom use, as well as for readers who want to teach themselves.The text covers all the basic concepts and tools Unix/Linux users need to master: Unix vs Linux, GUIs, the command line interface, the online manual, syntax, the shell, standard I/O and redirection, pipes and filters, vi, the Unix file system, and job control.

Hahn offers a thoroughly readable approach to teaching Unix & Linux by emphasizing core ideas and carefully explaining unfamiliar terminology.The book walks readers through Unix & Linux systems from the very beginning, assuming no prior knowledge and laying out material in a logical, straightforward manner.An experienced author, Hahn writes in a clear, engaging, and student-friendly style, resulting in a text that is both easy and entertaining to read.Motivating pedagogy, such as “What’s in a Name?” boxes and highlighted Hints provide readers with interesting background and helpful tips. For additional resources, readers can visit the author’s website at www.mhhe.com/harleyhahn ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An exceptional down-to-Earth, easy, fun read
A sample copy of this book arrived in my mailbox at the university (UofM-Dearborn) where I teach.I began reading it to brush up and enhance my understanding of Unix- and Linux- based systems.

I receive several "sample books" every year, and sometimes I give them a once over and shelve them until they may (or may not) be needed in the future.THIS book was an exception.It was written in a very professional, but often humorous fashion.

I have read a lot on Unix, and some on Linux, and I must say that without a doubt, this is the BEST book I've ever read on the subject(s), period.It has a lot of footnote "Computer Nerd" humor.

So whether you're well-versed in computer science and/or related topics, or you are new to the field(s), this book is a must-have.I strongly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
UNIX end-users desperately need an up-to-date reference guide with real depth: one that teaches UNIX commands rather than just listing them. In UNIX User's Guide, Second Edition, best-selling UNIX author Marty Poniatowski covers every topic UNIX users need to master, with clarity and real-world examples. This thoroughly updated book will serve the needs of any UNIX user -- whether they are working with Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, or any other leading platform. In this Second Edition, Poniatowski provides even faster, easier access to information, while adding extensive coverage of key UNIX tasks and tools. This book covers virtually every skill end-users need to have. Coverage includes: login, mail, file management, end-user system administration commands, the Common Desktop Environment (CDE), built-in tools, and much more. Poniatowski reviews key options for UNIX/Windows interoperability, including NFS, Samba, X Windows, and POSIX commands. He presents the fundamentals of shell programming with Bash, Korn, and C; introductions to powerful Unix tools such as grep, sed, and awk; key vi skills; and the basics of development with C, C++, and Java.The book's accompanying CD-ROM includes GlancePlus performance management trialware, X Window-based CBT software, and a new UNIX CBT training module.Amazon.com Review
Applications come and applications go, but Unix remains a constant force. Knowledge of this reliable, eminently scalable operating system will never go out of style, and you'll never regret having a high-quality Unix reference like Unix User's Handbook around. This supersized, hardback volume contains (in a logical structure) everything you need to know in order to become a Unix guru. Which means that by having this book around, you can do a reasonable job of faking your guru status until you absorb the body of Unix knowledge. Marty Poniatowski has done a great job of integrating straight type-this-to-get-that tutorial material with more holistic text about Unix's design.

A typical chapter begins with a command you can issue at the command prompt. The text then explains the command's output, what it means, and how it fits into the larger Unix scheme. The chapter then expands individual points of its explanation with further digressions into other commands, with tables that explain alternate syntax and switches as appropriate (the book includes some helpful diagrams, too, but its screen shots of graphical interfaces are of poor quality). You can learn a lot by reading the chapters straight through, or in most cases you can rely on the index to steer you right to the explanation you want. This book doesn't attempt to rebuild Rome, by the way. Each chapter concludes with the HP-UX man pages for commands discussed there (the contents of the man pages, however, aren't indexed). The chapter on the fundamentals of software development with C and the one on TCP/IP networking are both particularly strong, making this a great buy. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Unix operating system (generically, with perhaps a slight tint of HP-UX), treated comprehensively for the benefit of new users in need of introductions and more accomplished users who need a reference. Chapters deal with the file system, several shells (bash, korn, and c), the vi text editor, network setup and management, and graphical user interfaces. A couple of excellent chapters introduce the reader to Windows NT integration (with Samba, among other tools) and Unix software development. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

A good UNIX book
I also used this book to prepare for the HP-UX CSA exam. The book is broken down into 3 parts.

1)UNIX Section
This section covers UNIX/LINUX in general and shows some differences between some of the flavors of UNIX
2)Programming Section
This section introduces you to the various programming language you will see on UNIX/LINUX Platforms. Programming languages such as C/C++, Java, Perl were shown
3)UNIX and Windows Interoperability Section
This section shows how to work and share files with both operating systems.
Overall the book is good and very useful for someone coming from windows background and going to UNIX world. I recommend this book.

For unix users 5 stars
This book deserves five stars for unix users. For administrators it is neccesary to read more. Great book.

5 stars all the way
Let me pay my respects to this beautiful beautiful book. There are a lot of pages, but the print is big and 90% of it is examples.

The book has tremendous scope - make this your first Unix book,
it is all you really need.

I will certainly target this author, when I move onto sys admin.

Awesome!
I'm surprised how much content was put in this book. They did an excellent job on covering a wide array of topics: Unix commands, XWindow System, File/Dir System, tools, Shell Programming, KornShell, C, and Bash environment, Samba, and Internet Programming. It also dedicates some time with C++, Perl, and Java, which made me happy. A plus for man documantion listings.

My only grudge is the index, which could've been bigger and more detailed when searching specific topics on the fly.

Great Book!
Perfect for pointing my junior SA's in the right direction! The shell chapters let them get more detail on the user environment, the administration and performance sections provide them a taste of real SA work, and the introductory chapters on programming give them a solid foothold on the way to deep unix.

I'm particularly happy with the included man pages. Too many books just give a short blurb on a command; reading the man page can open greater opportunities.

I recommend this book for any low-mid level unix admin. If you'rea supervisor or manager, get one for all your SA's! ... Read more

Product Description
An authoritative, in-depth description of the contemporary 4.4BSD operating syste, the latest release of what previously was know as the Berkeley version of UNIX. This "insider's look" presents both philosophical and design issues as well as details of actual implementation of 4.4BSD. Covers virtual-memory system used in 4.4BSD including a key section on the functions needed to port it to a new architecture.Amazon.com Review
This book describes the design and implementation of the BSD operatingsystem--previously known as the Berkeley version of UNIX. Today, BSDis found in nearly every variant of UNIX, and is widely used forInternet services and firewalls, timesharing, and multiprocessingsystems. Readers involved in technical and sales support can learn thecapabilities and limitations of the system; applications developerscan learn effectively and efficiently how to interface to the system;systems programmers can learn how to maintain, tune, and extend thesystem.

Highlights:

• Details major changes in process and memory management
• Describes the new extensible and stackable file system interface
• Includes an invaluable chapter on the new network file system
• Updates information on networking and interprocess communication

Customer Reviews (10)

Not bad.
This really filled the void between the amazing hands-on "Lions Book" and Maurice Bach's "The Design of the UNIX Operating System", introducing the reader to some more modern implementation of the UNIX operating system.
There is some bad in the good though, the text varies in quality, not having code anywhere in the book is sometimes a big miss, you can get pretty exhausted reading this, I meant to get this book as bed time reading, it ended up being more of a reference, with only a few chapters being useful, if you're curious about the internals of the actual system get it, but if you need some more theoretical grasp or a "toy problem" book to truly understand the basics, then get Lions book.
Conclusion, I dont regret having it on my shelf, maybe it just could have been better.

Enjoy.

packed with facts, however there is little joy
If you are already a BSD kernel expert you might use this as a reference. If you're an advanced "userland" programmer who wants to start learning about kernel internels, this is one way to proceed but, it is very, very difficult.

I wish Kirk had decided to show us more of the joy of programming the kernel. If he had, the book would have been worth at least twice it's current price.

Great book on BSD 4.4, but make sure you've read Bach first
While this book has been written by some of the best in the UNIX arena, their strong focus on packing a lot of content into these pages at times can prove a burden to the reader.

Reading through the chapters, it appears that the book could have been rendered more readable if a knowledgeable technical editor had put the finishing touches on it.

Nevertheless, even though it takes a bit of time to get used to the different writing styles and differences in quality of several chapters, this books is a well of insights into the internal workings of BSD 4.4 and its derivatives (like Mac OS X).

In order to gain the most from this title, I strongly urge interested readers to already have worked their way through Maurice J. Bach's "The Design of the UNIX Operating System".

Don't get confused by the cover, it's not a comix book :)
Seriously, despite of the funny little daemon on the cover, this book is quite difficult.

First, it's a technical book about the BSD kernel. The only reason why you would want to read it is that you really want to know How It Works(tm). It's all about kernel. The drivers are only slightly touched, the API is touched even less. Rather than that, this book shows you the fields and flags of internal structures and the ways they are handled. Therefore I'd only recommend it to the system programmers and may be to the enthusiastic admins.

Second, certain chapters are written much worse than the others. The language in chapters 4 (Process Management) and 5 (Memory Management) is sort of a tangled making reading a challenge and it's really a pity because these two topics would better be covered best.

Also note that this book does not include sample code AT ALL. All the principles and algorithms are described using plain English and I'd say it's great, because it's much easier to follow, rather than making your way through somebody else's C scribbling.

Anyway, 5 stars, because it gives you 500 pages of pure distilled info. And it's info from the authors of BSD !

I'm definetely looking forward to read this book again and this is one of the books that are worth it.

What a wonderful book.
This book is perfect. During the past summer I began to learn about UNIX filesystems and this book came in handy. It explains what a vnode is in a easy to understand way. The explanations on the VFS API is great too. Now that MacOSX has a BSD 4.4 foundation this book will be good to have for macintosh developers. ... Read more

Product Description
Offers a jambalaya of UNIX tips, tricks, and shortcuts, employing a topically arranged, indexed collection that covers installation and system configuration, shells, multitasking, interoperability and networking, and more. Original. (Intermediate). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Tries to be cute
By now looking at the published date you can tell this book is a tad dated. However the information in it is sound and still applicable to today's environment.

I am afraid that this is one of those books that nobody likes because if you already know the information them the book is too basic. If you do not know the information the book is too confusing. Voodoo is a prefect title for the book as it tells you a lot of tips and tricks without the bother to tell you the theory or the extension of what you have learned.

I have to admit that I learned a couple of things from the book. However it is not worth spending the time and money on those items that I would have probably found eventually.
... Read more

Product Description
This work shows users how to access the UNIX system, build applications and boost the potential of workstations. It spells out the UNIX terminology and includes examples of real-time use of UNIX commands and procedures. ... Read more

Product Description
* Mac OS X combines the Unix power developers need with Mac's ease of use, offering a unique combination of technical elements with enhanced performance, compatibility, and usability
* Shows readers how to use the Terminal application and the command interface, and explores the many Unix applications using step-by-step screen shots
* Readers will learn how to manage, create, edit, and transfer files; configure the Unix environment; navigate permissions, directories and files; run Unix utilities; and configure and run the Apache Web server ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Very useful bookand really easy to read!
OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference.
Try Linux and UNIX for a beginner complete training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs ed.2008
The book is unfortunately contains some mistakes that undermine the trust to the text.

Horrible, horrible, horrible
A horrible horrible shovelware book. Riddled with poor explanations, typos,
blatantly wrong explanations, and incorporating zero "big picture"
descriptions of how everything fits together. I borrowed it from the
library under the assumption that it might be a good quick description
of some Unix tools of which I'm not aware, and it failed miserably in
that role. Moreover I'm hard pressed to think of a role in which it would not
fail miserably --- perhaps the "swatting cockroaches dead" role.

Crystal clear, detailed, comprehensive. As-good-as-it-gets!
If you want to use the "Terminal" and play around with your unix capabilities, just get this book and go! It comes with a CD rom containing an e-version of itself, which is very convenient.

The crystal clarity comes from the presence of examples - **as they would appear on your terminal - below the actual text, and also the organization:
each concept is covered within two facing pages.

Much more detail appears here than in the O'Reilly book, which is mainly just a quick run-through based on their old unix-intro book. O"Reilly book does not even cover something as basic as text editing(!).

THe book is also superior to the "Visual Quick Start", whose author seems to have done very little work to make himself/herself clear and simple. In the very first chapter of Visual QS, there is a sidebar "explaining" the difference between
a "filesystem" and a "Filesystem" - and nothing could be more muddy than that
sidebar!

Get this book!!! I feel very strongly.

Okay but...
The book is targeted at UNIX users working on the Mac OS X.More than 2/3rd's of this book covers basic UNIX commands & tools that any basic UNIX user should know; things like cp, mv, ln, pine email reader, vi editor, etc.The only somewhat useful information for a UNIX user is the last third of the book which covers things like fink and X Server integration.Throughout, some minor OS X differences are mentioned, like file placement in the directory structure.This is really a UNIX book for Mac users.So the titlefits, but the "Who is this book for" section is definitely wrong.

Great intro to working with Unix in OS X
Unix for Mac introduces itself with a succinct history of BSD (Unix), the meaning of Open Source, and the role GNU plays in Open Source programming. It avoids bogging the reader down with excessive information while, at the same time, providing a very good introduction. My typical response to the historical and explanatory information was: "Oh, okay. That makes sense." This response was consistent through the entire book. Following the short historical introduction, the book continues with instruction on the Terminal application (the Unix interface in OS X - also known as the terminal shell), proceeds through basic Unix commands, and then describes some of the more intermediate-level activities that can be accomplished on the Mac via Unix.

Unix for Mac is very easy to read and rather personable - if such a thing can be said about a book. Its target audience is the user with some or no Unix knowledge, so it fit quite well with my ability level. The book covers a very broad assortment of topics yet provides easy and useful instructions complete with screen examples, helpful hints, and concise historical explanations. I found this approach to be extremely helpful in removing the intimidation I felt of working with a command prompt interface. Additionally, having read some rather esoteric computer manuals, I was pleased to note that when the text provides a command or a command set that is particularly helpful, such as pushd / popd (which causes switching between directories in a single shell), it draws attention of the command's usefulness to the reader. This prevents readers who are unfamiliar with Unix, and perhaps feeling a little overwhelmed, from missing the advantages that a particularly useful but unanticipated command can provide. (An anticipated command being either the move or copy command - one the reader would expect and look for.)

Another aspect of Unix for Mac that I like is its emphasis and re-emphasis on referring to the Manual (Man) Pages. This, even from my limited experience, is the hallmark of good instruction concerning Unix. The reason being, as the text points out, that while Unix commands do have their own logic, they are not necessarily intuitive nor are the command options consistent from command to command.

Concerning any possible negatives, for better or worse, Unix for Mac never seeks to explain or question why one might wish to access the Unix underpinnings of OS X. It merely presumes you wish to do so for your own reasons and provides instruction on just about every conceivable activity one might wish to perform in a Unix environment - whether it is easier in Aqua or not. While I actually liked this feature because I believe this approach helped preserve the book's conciseness, some people, particularly new Mac users in general, may not appreciate the lack of interface comparisons.

In conclusion, Unix for Mac is the first published book I have read that specifically addresses working with Unix on the Macintosh via the Terminal application so I do not know how others compare; that said, I liked the book very much. It was certainly a much easier read than most of the cryptic resources I have found on-line. In fact, as I progressed through the book, I found myself thinking it was very much like having an extremely knowledgeable friend looking over my shoulder who could give me the operational basics with some advanced insights into the inner workings of Unix. Questions that I had were answered as they occurred to me. Background information was presented so that I had a good understanding of what I was attempting to do and how I was accomplishing it. In my estimation, Unix for Mac won't be last reference book one uses if serious about working with Unix in OS X, but it should be the first. ... Read more

Product Description
Because the UNIX system was originally designed by programmers for use by other programmers, it was used in an environment of open cooperation where security was of minimal concern. Now that its use has spread to universities, businesses, and government, the confidential and sensitive nature of the data stored on UNIX systems has made the security of these systems of paramount importance.

Despite all the technical papers and workshops on UNIX security, this book is unique. "UNIX System Security" is the first up-to-date source to provide the UNIX system user or administrator with the information needed to protect the data and system from unauthorized use. By following the procedures described in this book and making use of the C programs and shell scripts provided as examples, you can protect your UNIX system from most attackers.

The author begins by examining four high-profile breaches of UNIX security as illustrations of how a UNIX system can be attacked. He then provides the information necessary to protect against these forms of attack, and offers the tools that can be used to do so. Focusing on the most recent release of Berkeley and System V UNIX, and such vendor derivatives as SunOS and ULTRIX, the book gives information that can be applied to any version of UNIX since Seventh Edition.

Issues discussed include account and password security, securing the file system, encryption and authentication systems, TCP/IP network security, the Network Information Service (NIS), NFS, RFS, workstation security, terminals and modems, and UUCP. Other chapters describe how to respond if your system is attacked and how to develop a comprehensive security policy for your organization. The book also gives comprehensive lists of freely available security software, and publications and mailing lists dealing with UNIX security. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

My thought on Unix System Security
This book provides an outstanding and comprehensive reference of Unix security and I hightly recommend it. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was written for the UNIX professional that must learn to work and manage in an AIX system environment. The author uses both AT&T and Berkeley UNIX as the basis for the book.Amazon.com Review
IBM's AIX (Advanced Interactive Executive) is close enough toother popular flavors of Unix, but the differences can beconfounding. Unix users tackling the AIX operating system for thefirst time can turn toward this guide to make the transition as smoothas possible.

AIX for Unix Professionals starts quitenaturally on the boot-up process of AIX and then discusses the detailsof Object Data Manager (ODM), its object-oriented repository forsystem data. Next, the book covers the System Management InterfaceTools (SMIT)--the basic system-configuration and management tools thatadministrators use to set up the operating system. Just like Unix,these small and discrete utilities require command-line arguments,which are illustrated here with small, effective sample commands.

The text covers the basics of configuring hardware devices, includingdisk drives, printers, and serial ports and offers a quick tour of theAIX file system. Material on networking and adding new users to asystem follows. The book concludes with some tips for gauging andimproving system performance in AIX, as well as a troubleshootingguide.

Written in a no-nonsense style and filled with some usefultips, this title provides all the basics of the AIX operating systemin a concise format. This title is ideal for the reasonablyexperienced Unix administrator. --Richard Dragan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

RETITLE to AIX for UNIX beginners
This book is not advanced enough to even have "professionals" in the title. Seriously though - weak index, limited depth of AIX Unix system. I have referenced 4 times so far regarding "semi" advanced subjects and found nothing useful. Not a good tool

Only get if you want to buy every book on AIX ever published
There is not much useful information in the book, it's more of a reference/appendix than a useful, informative guide. I would recommend getting the AIX survival guide or the DeRoest system administration guide instead.

not for starters
Not for starters.It's like student-notes, printed.It has some good information, but very high-level & complex. I would give 1.5 stars, if available. There is much much better AIX books around...

Killed a tree for what????
Being a relative newcomer to the world for AIX I thought that this book would be an answer to a few of my question. All that it left me with is more questions unanswered and lighter in the wallet. It claims to be a "Fast AIX answer book for the experienced UNIX pro" but all I found it to be is a fast waste of time and money. Shame on me for buying it and shame on Bonnie for writing it. Thats my opinion and I am sticking to it.....

Too many mistakes
I am only to page 50 and this book has already completely disappointed me.I cannot even count the number of spelling, grammar, and layout mistakes.The book frequently refers to the incorrect figures, and even when onefinds the correct figure, often the command shown in the figure will bedifferent than the text describes!I believe the book is also using thewrong acronyms in some places, so the information may not even be reliable! For someone that does not know AIX well - which should be everyone readingthis book - they will be thoroughly confused.Without an AIX machine infront of you, there really is no way to tell when the book is wrong.Thisis definitely only for the UNIX savvy that can figure the mistakes out. ... Read more

Product Description
A Quarter Century of UNIX presents the history of UNIX. Based on interviews with the key software engineers who invented and built this powerful operating system, this book provides unique insight into the most important operating system in the modern computing environment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

More of a collection of anecdotes than a history
This isn't really a big-picture history of Unix, it's more a collection of excerpts of interviews with a bunch of people, arranged in roughly chronological order.Between each excerpt is a few paragraphs or pages that gives the context for the next excerpt.It covers the period from 1969 to 1994, although it seems like everything after 1980 is breezed through in the last part of the book.Things like the various window systems or the workstation wars of the '80s and early '90s are alluded to if they're mentioned at all.

It felt like the author was too close to his subject matter, as this book leans heavily towards people he knew personally or events he was involved with.Anything else is barely mentioned.The end result is, you have a book where the vast majority of the page count is covering the period from 1969-1980, and a really surprising number of the pages are just retellings of a similar story told over and over again:

"Professor X at University Y heard about Unix from Z, so he called up Ken Thompson personally to get ahold of a V4 tape, but then when he got the tape, his department didn't want to shell out for another minicomputer to run it on, so Professor X hacked the software so he could boot it on some old/unused/novel machine that he already had.Everyone in the CS department fell in love with Unix afterwards, and soon were using troff to write all of their papers."

Seriously, I don't know what the actual page count is, but I could swear that like half of this book is a variation on that story told over and over again for various faculty members or scientists at various universities or research facilities.And it feels like that's 90% of the book.Although I'm being harsh, I'm still giving it three stars, because the subject matter is inherently fascinating to me, and it does contain a lot of anecdotes and personal perspectives that you simply will not find anywhere else.I just wish it were more of a focused, researched history that hit the important points and dropped some of the minutiae.Instead it feels like quite a bit of minutiae that doesn't really try to identify any big picture narrative in the history of the OS.It's a short book and a quick read to begin with, so it was surprising and frustrating that the author didn't try to make it more concise and balanced given the low page count.

Pricey but well worth it
This book is the first one I read about the history on Unix and I really appreciate the author's for the taking the time trying to preserve the history about Unix before it is lost. The book starts with a very early mention of computers, from 1870s and then ends with around the year 1994. Of course keep in mind that this is a Unix history and not Linux. And because it is published in 1994 do not expect it to tell you the history of Unix of the past decade. The book, however, cover the Unix history from 1969 till 1994 extensively.
The one thing that I did not like about the book - and it is very minor - was that the quoted text should have been italicized. Sometimes during the reading I would get confused as to whether the author is talking or he is quoting someone else. Other than that minor inconvenience the book is worth to look at.

Expensive short chronology; most material is availble online
This is an expensive short book with mainly trivial chronological information, 90% of which are freely available on the Internet. As for the history of the first 25 year of Unix it is both incomplete and superficial. Salus is reasonably good as a facts collector (although for a person with his level of access to the Unix pioneers he looks extremely lazy and he essentially missed an opportunity to write a real history, setting for a glossy superficial chronology instead). He probably just felt the market need for such a book and decided to fill the niche.

In my humble opinion Salus lucks real understanding of the technical and social dynamics of Unix development, understanding that can be found, say, in chapter "Twenty Years of Berkeley Unix from AT&T-Owned to Freely Redistributable" in the book "Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution (O'Reilly, 1999)" (available online). The extended version of this chapter will be published in the second edition of "The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System (Unix and Open Systems Series)" which I highly recommend(I read a preprint at Usenix.)

In any case Kirk McKusick is a real insider, not a former Usenix bureaucrat like Salus. Salus was definitely close to the center of the events; but it is unclear to what extent he understood the events he was close to.

Unix history is a very interesting example how interests of military (DAPRA) shape modern technical projects (not always to the detriment of technical quality, quite opposite in case of Unix) and how DAPRA investment in Unix created completely unforeseen side effect: BSD Unix that later became the first free/open Unix ever (Net2 tape and then Free/Open/NetBSD distributions).Another interesting side of Unix history is that AT&T brass never understood what a jewel they have in hands.

Salus's Usenix position prevented him from touching many bitter conflicts that litter the first 25 years of Unix, including personal conflicts. The reader should be advised that the book represents "official" version of history, and that Salus is, in essence, a court historian, a person whose main task is to put gloss on the events, he is writing about. As far as I understand, Salus never strays from this very safe position.

Actually Unix created a new style of computing, a new way of thinking of how to attack a problem with a computer. This style was essentially the first successful component model in programming. As Frederick P. Brooks Jr (another computer pioneer who early recognized the importance of pipes) noted, the creators of Unix "...attacked the accidental difficulties that result from using individual programs together, by providing integrated libraries, unified file formats, and pipes and filters.". As a non-programmer, in no way Salus is in the position to touch this important side of Unix. The book contains standard and trivial praise for pipes, without understanding of full scope and limitations of this component programming model...

I can also attest that as a historian, Peter Salus can be extremely boring: this July I was unfortunate enough to sit on one of his talks, when he essentially stole from Kirk McKusick more then an hour (out of two scheduled for BSD history section at this year Usenix Technical Conference ) with some paternalistic trivia insulting the intelligence of the Usenix audience, instead of a short 10 min introduction he was expected to give; only after he eventually managed to finish, Kirk McKusick made a really interesting, but necessarily short (he had only 50 minutes left :-) presentation about history of BSD project, which was what this session was about.

Overview of the Unix World
In 1969 the Unix operating system was born. The main developers were Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, two programmers at Bell Telephone Labs. Unix was born because of the cancellation of another operating system developed at BTL, Multics. Learning from the experience they gained from Multics, Thompson and Ritchie began working on Unix, which would later prove to be a good choice. At first they used the PDP-7 machine, assembler language, and the programming language B (by Dennis Ritchie). Only later did BTL upgrade to PDP-11. Because of the upgrade and because of the development of the C programming language, Unix could mature.

The book has six parts: Genesis, Birth of a System, What makes UNIX Unix?, Unix Spreads and Blossoms, The Unix Industry, and The Currents of Change. In the first part, Peter Salus introduces us to Thompson and Ritchie; there's also a chapter on computers in general. Part two, Birth of a System, tells the story about how Unix came to be with what today is seen as much outdated hardware. Later parts give information on the many companies and groups involved in the Unix history, most notably the development of the BSD systems.

Peter Salus has been involved in the Unix history himself, and therefore he writes about it with sympathetic understanding. That means that we don't get introduced properly to the persons. And it means that the pages are full of acronyms. The writing is very compact and full of quotes from interviews, magazines, books and other sources, and that makes the book difficult to read. The book also has some minor errors.

But if you can live with these flaws, "A Quarter Century of Unix" is a good read. It gives an overview of the Unix world, and shows that Linux is just a small part of the whole operating system landscape, and that there are alternatives.

The birth of UNIX from an insider
A lively and impeccably well informed history of the birth of UNIX. It's not perfect, but it's still the best source around. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed as an introduction to UNIX system crashdump analysis, this is the first book to discuss in detail UNIX system panics, crashes andhangs, their causes, what to do when they occur, how to collect information about them,how to analyze that information, and how to get the problem resolved.KEYTOPICS:Part One covers theory and tools.Part Two looks inside UNIX, from theheader files to hardware tape drives.Part Three provides actual case studies of software,hardware, data, and system fault problems. For systems and networkadministrators and technical support engineers responsible for maintaining UNIXcomputer systems and networks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A simple easy way to theSolaris Abyss
A real easy book to read, and very nice. My only take on the book is that it's old, So, no 2.6 or up versions. It's all about SunOS. It's one of the very very few books about crash dump analysis. As a matter of fact, I am not aware of any other book about that. If you are, please let me know. It's one of the easiest books that you can lay your hands on, to get started in adb.

Great book!
I believe this book is not only an exceptional tutorial on crash dump debugging techniques but also a good review of the Solaris kernel architecture and data structures. The authors have done a great job explaining such highly technical and complicated topics like processor architecuture, stacks, file system data structures, adb, assembly code, etc. Not exactly bed-time reading!

Although some of the examples are a little bit out of date (Sparc V9 and Solaris 8 are the industry norm more or less) and a second edition is becoming more and more a necessity, I will still give this book 5+ stars.

The excellent presentation and exemplary technical make Crash! (relatively) very easy to read but several years of strong Solaris experience, a good understanding of computer architecure, OS fundamentals, data structures, and some knowledge of C are still required for full comprehension of the content.

Before diving into this book I would strongly encourage the potential reader to at least review "UNIX Internals: The New Frontiers" by Uresh Vahalia, "Design of the Unix Operating System" by Marice J. Bach, Maurice Bach or "Solaris Internals: Core Kernel Architecture" by Jim Mauro, Richard McDougall.

A Book This Good Should Be Kept Up-To-Date
What the other reviewers have said in consensus, I'll just stipulate: this book is a gentle but comprehensive introduction to core file analysis; it's also an excellent reference on kernel architecture. For its clarity of technical writing, it deserve some kind of award, considering how deathly-dull the subject matter can be. I couldn't stay awake through one pass of the assembly code illustrations, but I don't think the writers could have helped that. This book is a nonetheless a triumph, albeit a dated one.

Now, c'mon, Prentice-Hall, help the audience out! This book was written in 1995. It uses Solaris 2.3 and sun4d architecture as its latest and greatest. Solaris (2.)8 has been out for a while and 9 is on the way; sparcv9/64-bit architecture is here; mdb, the modular debugger, is going to replace adb; the book *must* be updated. It would be a crime to let it die now -- there's still no competitive title on the market.

The book is non-technical enough that I couldn't make all the changes needed to get the older examples to work. If I ever do, though, maybe I'll be good enough to write a competitive title myself...

That said, even if the next edition were to out in three months, I'd still buy this one now to get started; it's that good.

Mundane yet fun
Okay, I'll admit that the topic of debugging kernel panics is one that will give most sysadmins fits and put others to sleep.However, the ability to dig up just exactly what caused your kernel to panic is a skill that can be mastered with this book.The authors do an excellent job of explaining SPARC architecture in a non-engineer oriented way.I have found this book to be very helpful in my work.Please note that this book is specific to Sun Solaris only (I would like see a 2nd edition that covers everything up to Solaris 8).

Note, the iscda script provided in the cdrom does not work with Solaris 2.6 and up.You can get the updated version at:http://www.piaffe.org/panic/macros/iscda-2X

Good book - bad CD examples
Very good book- every one who want to know more about kernel engineering should buy it - but do not expect that will you find there only examples - loots of coments relating system devices and services . But if you are not3+ years expiriences Solaris admin , don't buy it - there is loots ofassembler languige suplements etc .. ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
How many Unix gurus does it take to write the definitive UnixWeb server guide? In this case, it took five members of the SunSitedevelopment team to compile a guide on creating and running a Unix Webserver. The Unix Web Server Book assumes some experience withUnix, but even a cursory familiarity should be ample. (The firstchapter is entitled "What Is the Web?") The authors walk you step bystep through the server setup process, the addition of images andother files to your site, and some important security issues. Thesections on multimedia tools and file types are exhaustive andespecially helpful. On the programming side, everything from HTMLbasics to forms and Java is covered. The included CD-ROM contains RedHat Linux; both Apache and Jigsaw server software programs; and dozensof utilities for file conversion, management, and display. ... Read more

Product Description
You may have seen UNIX quick-reference guides, but you've never seen anything like UNIX in a Nutshell. Not a scaled-down quick reference of common commands, UNIX in a Nutshell is a complete reference containing all commands and options, along with generous descriptions and examples that put the commands in context. For all but the thorniest UNIX problems, this one reference should be all the documentation you need.The second edition of UNIX in a Nutshell thoroughly covers System VRelease 3, including commands that were added to Release 4 and additionalcommands that were added to Solaris 2.0. If you currently use either SVR3 orSVR4 or are planning to in the future, or if you're a Sun user facing thetransition to Solaris, you'll want this book. UNIX in a Nutshell is themost comprehensive quickref on the market, a must for any UNIX user.Amazon.com Review
Simply the best System V and Solaris reference on the markettoday, Unix in a Nutshell won't steer you wrong. The book'sconcise style delivers the essential information on Unix, shell, andutility commands. Its command documentation is clear and complete andits examples are relevant and easy to follow.

Gilly starts with acomplete, alphabetized listing of core Unix commands. Each entryincludes a syntax summary, a clear statement of what the command does,and a full list of options, each with commentary on its function. Theauthor then covers shell documentation, supplying details on theBourne, Korn, and C shells and documenting each shell's commands inthe standard format. Gilly also includes a section on regularexpressions as they apply to grep, egrep, text editors, and variousscripting languages.

Next, the book offers complete documentationof Emacs, ex, and vi, the powerful editors whose command structureproves perennially difficult to learn. The commands, once again,appear alphabetically with statements of their respectivepurposes. Other popular utilities--sed, awk, nroff, troff, tbl, andseveral macro languages--follow. Code managers SCCS and RCS, rarelydocumented in Unix books, bring up the rear.

Users need to knowwhat they're looking up or they won't find this bookuseful. Otherwise, Unix in a Nutshell's documentation is thebest. --David Wall ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Concise UNIX reference
There isn't much I can add about this gem. My copy, from 1993, is starting to really show its age - physically. I still use it regularly because so much of the information in it is still relevant and applicable, even to Linux. I have UNIX inNutshell (4th Ed.) and Linux in a Nutshell (5th Ed.), and while both of those are powerful tomes containing more and newer information than the 2nd Edition, neither can match the 2nd's conciseness.

None of these books is designed as a tutorial, but I think it's worth noting that when I first started using the 2nd Edition in 1993, I knew little of UNIX (although I was not a noob to computing). In any case, almost sixteen years later, this edition is still serving me quite well for probably ~90% of the *nix info I need. I am delighted to see that it is still available!

How did I get in this Nutshell?
There's no better reference book for Unix. Recommended to me by all my programming pals.

Less is More
If you understand what "in a nutshell" means, then you shall be pleased with this book. It is not a tutorial, it is not a beginners' guide, it is not a theory book... it is a reference book, featuring entries that are succinct, to the point, sparse in many places, but complete in breadth and indispensable for the serious UNIX administrator. Compared to its companion book, Linux in a Nutshell, it is thinner and the entries parsimonious. But, well, if you are using UNIX, then you will be accustomed to this... indeed, it may be why you are using UNIX.

Very useful bookand really easy to read!
It one of the best books for someone who makes first steps into UNIX. This book gives you the start very descriptively. If you have never touched UNIX before you should consider the "UNIX Essentials" DVD also. I paired them and I learned that much that in two month I engaged myself into discussion with our UNIX "guru" and kept it up to the point that my opinion has prevailed.

The best reference for experienced users
If you are an experienced user, this is a great reference to keep close by.Better than the man pages because it doesn't scroll off the screen, you can make notes on the pages, and bookmark with Post-it notes.Jam packed with the key knowledge you use all the time.

The command summary is great, with no fluff like those big, useless books you use as a platform for your monitor.I have manuals on awk and sed, but I rarely need to look at them because I can find what I need here.The same is true of the shells, emacs, and vi.It covers the territory well.

Of course, this is not a tutorial book, so you need to know what you are doing to begin with.But if I was stuck on a desert island with a Unix box and only one book, this would be it! ... Read more

Product Description
The only book on UNIX for experienced VMS users making the transition between the two systems.


This unique book is for any computer professional making _the transition from VMS to UNIX. Each concept is illustrated with one or more examples comparing the way a task is performed in VMS and in UNIX. You move in a logical sequence, progressing from
fundamental concepts to advanced programming and networking. Based on the Berkeley 4.2 version of UNIX, the text includes more than 150 interactive examples as well as appendices providing command summaries and useful cross-reference tables, as well as a
glossary.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Useful migration guide
This book is for VAX users who are making the transition from the VMS to the UNIX operating system. It follows a logical sequence from discussion of fundamental concepts and basic command procedures
through the use of high-level languages, programming the operating system, text processing, and networked communications. Appendixes provide command and file summaries and crossreference tables.
Emphasis is on Berkeley UNIX and the C shell, although most of the features discussed are pertinent to any version of UNIX-ULTRIX, AT&T System V, System III, Xenix, and others.

The book is intended to help you mold the interactive computing skills that you learned using VMS into the skills necessary for computing in the UNIX framework. It is not meant to be a UNIX user's manual,
nor is it designed to teach UNIX from first principles. The book draws upon the experience of observing professionals with varying degrees of VMS expertise grapple with the concrete and philosophical issues
of UNIX. This book emphasizes Berkeley UNIX (or BSD, Berkeley Software Distribution) and the C shell, although many of the features discussed are pertinent to any version of UNIX. Thus, this text should
also be useful to those "migrating" from VMS to ULTRIX, AT&T System V, System III, Xenix, Version 7, or any other version of UNIX.

Offers clear and concise help for learning UNIX after VMS.
After the ease of learning VMS, the horror known as "UNIX" can be very intimidating.This book takes you step by step through the new operating system, and explains the cryptic new commands with very simple and direct comparisons to the familiar commands of VMS.After a short time with this book by your side, the unfamiliar waters will become crystal clear. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn UNIX--the Easy Way!Use the power of Linux and UNIX like a pro--from basic jobs such as creating and editing files and connecting to the Internet to customizing the user environment, using advanced tools, and shell programming. The easy-to-follow format coupled with in-depth coverage of complex utilities and features makes it perfect for beginning and advanced users alike. Filled with expert tips for maximizing efficiency, conceptual images, handy reference tables, and much more, this is the ultimate instructional guide.Amazon.com Review
Some software publishers endeavor to make their operating systems as easy to learn as possible. Not so for the (various) developers of Unix and Linux. They've optimized the Unix-style environments to ensure maximum productivity for users who know what they're doing, and top performance for the processes those users work with. The flip side of this design decision is a steep learning curve. Unix and its variants can seem highly obtuse to the uninitiated, which is where the third edition of Unix Made Easy comes in. It's a remarkable book, not because it teaches novices how to get around in Unix--plenty of books teach you that ls in Unix is like dir in MS-DOS, and that the vi editor has a million weird commands--but because it teaches its readers how Unix works and why it's more powerful than easier-to-learn environments.

For example, this book devotes a full chapter (one of significant size) to the subject of file permissions. Rather than just spew forth a series of "do this for this, do that for that" steps, the author takes time to explain what happens when you issue a chmod command with a series of parameters. Nicely rendered conceptual diagrams help a lot with this potentially confusing subject. Scores of examples, with instructions explicitly stated, also help the cause. Chapters conclude with exercises you can try in order to prove you know what you're doing. Author John Muster focuses on the Bourne, Korn, and C shells. More coverage of bash, the most popular Linux shell, would make this book better. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to get around in Linux and Unix, mainly at the command line interface. Sections deal with file management, the vi editor, shell scripting, working with users and processes, and doing editing work with sed, and to a lesser extent, awk. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Great Hands on Learning aid f/UNIX
This book was recommended to me by my coworker who knew Unix pretty well that didn't come from a Unix background.After having taken a couple CBTs and owning some reference manuals, I still wasn't all "THAT" savvy with Unix.I'm nearly finished with the book and I can say that now while I don't completely understand all the inner workings of Unix. This book DEFINITELY succeeded where all the other resources I mentined above failed.

The strength in this book are the exercises that reinforce whats being discussed.If you're looking for a "hand-on" way to learn Unix, this is the book you need.

A Excellent Tutorial-Based Approach to Learning UNIX
This is an excellent book for anyone wanting to get comfortable with the UNIX commandline environment.The book is primarily geared toward the novice.And as such, it will show you the ropes -- by first explaining something, then having you actually perform a series of steps that demonstrate and reinforce what you've just learned.In a nutshell, this is a tutorial-based approach to learning UNIX.And I've long been an advocate of this approach to learning computers, especially when learning something unfamiliar.In my opinion, it is simply the very best approach to getting you up to speed quickly.

Most other books on the subject of UNIX seem to be references, rather than tutorials.While the reference books are essential for an intermediate to advanced user, a good tutorial-based book is much better for the novice student.In that regard, this book is perfect.

Lastly, the text printed on the pages is larger than you'll find in other books, but it's essential to how you will work with this book.You'll be looking back-and-forth between the book and the computer monitor, and the larger text will help you easily find where you last left the page.

Unix Truly Made Easy
Being an absolute novice at UNIX/Linux I can work my way around vi, the directory system, permissions, basic utilities, shell programming and be comfortable discussing issues in the office with the Unix staff after using this book. After reading some of the other reviews it became evident that these people were looking for a reference book, well this isn't that book and the "About This Book" clearly states this, "If you are looking for a quick reference text, put this book back on the shelf." And to the people that felt that you were not able to learn from this book, you probably did not do all the exercises in the book. This book is not organized as a reference book, it is a text book. I for one benefited greatly from this book and higly recommend it to anyone that is intent on learning the UNIX/Linux system.

A Teacher's Experience
I have been teaching with this book for many years, over 700 students. Class evaluations always rate the book very highly with comments about how clear explanations are. Students learn so much doing the exercises that class discussions are at a much higher level.We use this text in classroom and internet distance learning with great success. The few students over the years who had trouble in the class were trying to avoid doing the work by just looking up answers.That approach isnot effective because the book is built skill upon skill. Students must start at the beginning and actually do the work at the terminal.At first a few students tried to just read it. That approach did not work either. Now I make it very clear that the book is a detailed, hands-on, guide coupled with exact explanations. It must be worked through carefully, at the terminal.When students are willing to put in the effort and do that, they are well rewarded with knowledge and the ability to really do UNIX.I suspect the two reviewers who found the book difficult were not using it properly.My students love it.

This should be titled Unix Made Difficult
I used this book for a Unix class in my local community college. This is the worst text book ever written, I got lost many times. It was difficult to find related text and difficult to keep pace throughout the course. I am a seasoned Linux user and Linux certified, but I recieved no help through this book. If you want to learn Linux, I would reccommend any book by Michael Jang. He writes in an easy and detailed manner. John Muster may teach Unix, but he is a terrible author, go back to english prep John or take a lesson from Michael Jang. ... Read more

Product Description
The ultimate UNIX reference--now revised and updated! Through real-life examples, readers learn to build and manage a peak-performance UNIX system, configure Internet and intranet connectivity, lock in security, and more. The two CD-ROMs contain a full Linux distribution as well as programming and administration tools.

"Novice and power users alike will appreciate this comprehensive reference." —InfoWorld Analyst ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Disappointing
I bought this book with the impression that it would be a good book for system administration of a generalized UNIX system. I knew that it would not cover every scenario for every flavor of UNIX, but it should at least be a great foundation.

The title is quite misleading. "Bible" implies that this is an authoritative and complete tome on UNIX issues. It is definitely neither of these. The cover even says it is 100% accurate and "what you need". Perhaps if one was looking for general guidelines, this would be true, but then the book's title would still be misleading.

This book is by no means an exhaustive work on even the generalized issues. One case in point is the section on system security. It goes into great depth on describing one scenario where a hacker broke into a system and mucked around. It gives log listings, printouts, and descriptions of what was going on - in this specific scenario. This is all well and good, but it only goes far enough to show one single possibility.

The authors are adept at making sweeping generalizations without too much elaboration. They pull in one or two very specific examples on certain topics, and then move on. This is just enough to make the reader hungry for more, but never delivering.

The CDs that come with this book have an old, light copy of Slackware. Sure, it's a system that will work, but an update would be of much more use.

What the book tends to avoid, and this is in my opinion the biggest problem I've encountered, is elaboration as to the differences between the different flavors of UNIX -- Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, BDS, IRIX, etc. It's all generalizations. Perhaps this makes the book more helpful to some people, by giving the bare necessities. But, that does not make it "what you need" as the cover says.

Granted, this book is not a complete waste. There are some interesting sections that give nice discussion, such as organization of file systems and so forth. But these pockets of usefulness do not make up for the rest of the problems.

There are better UNIX tomes out there, even available for download. Check those out before you seriously consider buying this book.

Not too Great
This book starts off with an advanced discussion of the basics of a Unix filesystem. It moves on to breifly cover shell scripts, networking, PPP, and administration. The ONLY subject this book covers in any extent is system administration, and if that's your topic of choice, you'd be best to look in more specific books.

The main problem with this book is its not specific enough or easy enough for a new reader, and its too simplistic and, again, not specific enough for an advanced reader. The only type of reader who might get good information out of it is a broad-spectrum intermediate reader.

In general, I would reccomend that anyone looking for a good *nix book look elsewhere.

Basic system administration introduction
The book does a good job of introducing the main UNIX concepts such as filesystems, shells, processes, inodes, etc. It also covers TCP/IP basics, network security, a little bit of everything. The book's focus is mainly on system administration (although an introduction to shell script programming is given), so if you are looking for programming information, you won't find much here. And if you are looking for advanced topics, you would likely be better off getting a specialized book on whatever subject you are looking for: on many subjects the coverage in this book ends just "when it gets interesting". ... Read more

Product Description
Fully documents Curses library and provides a detailed explanation of UNIX Curses. Contains a full alphabetical reference section and many clear examples using Curses, Windows, color manipulation, alternative character sets, pads, and terminals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

the CONIO.H library in UNIX
where are the libraryes that can I program like conio.h in MS-DOS , but for for UNIX. ... Read more

Product Description
UNIX Complete is a one-of-a-kind computer book -- valuable both for its broad content and its low price. This book contains the essentials you need to know about using the popular operating system of universities and research centers, as well as at many Fortune 500 companies. Enormously powerful, UNIX is also complex enough to require that users first read a tutorial and then keep a reference handy for specialized commands.

With UNIX Complete, you'll learn how to get the most out of UNIX System V -- from building file systems to connecting to remote computers and the Internet, and using mainstream programs.

As you become more proficient with UNIX, you'll find the UNIX System V Desk Reference to be an invaluable daily tool. This comprehensive reference quickly puts every command, option, and concept at your fingertips.

UNIX Complete introduces you to the work of some of Sybex's finest authors, so you'll know where to go to learn even more about what's possible with UNIX.

Inside:

Getting Started
* Gaining access to the Internet
* Learning the SCO Unix GUI
* Using simple commands

File Systems
Understanding directories, trees, and hierarchies
Creating your own files
Establishing home rule and permissions
Setting up electronic mail

Your Own Personalized Unix
Changing your password
Choosing your shell
Creating login profiles

Exploiting the Shell
Shell and Subshell Variables
More on Metacharacters
Advanced Shell Scripts

Reaching Out to Remote Computers
UUCP & UUCP security
Unix and Networking: Reaching the Promised LAN
Accessing the Internet

Basic System Administration
Essential administration
Backing Up

X Windows Exposed
X Windows Managers: Open Look and Motif Using X
X Marks the Spot: The Future of X

Windows Inside Windows -- Opening the Door to Mainstream Applications
Unix Applications... Get 'em Now!
Vision and Merge

Reference Guide
The Complete UNIX Desk Reference: an A-Z listing of UNIX commands and concepts ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

For a Unix Beginner
This book explains more in layman's terms to get the hang of the Unix lingos.Highly recommended.

Good book and worth reading but there are more options, today!
It is well done UNIX book and one can pick much of useful info out of it. It offers good insight into many important issues and teaches proper terminology. I wish this book would be on the list in my college days. For more practical, down to the earth approach I recommend Linux and UNIX for a beginner training suite, 4DVDs + 2CDs includes 4 Unix Academy Certifications ed.2008. Igive the book 4 starts because it is also little stale on some subjects but in general this book flies high.

Good for Beginners, but...
This book is a great book if you're starting out UNIX, which it was for me. However, it doesn't show you much in the way of UNIX's programming enviroments for other languages (C, C++, etc.). But because of the really nice reference that this book supplies, it'll most likely stay on my shelf for a very long time.

And one more note - the author tends to be biased towards SCO Unix (now part of Caldera) and will, from time to time, incorporate SCO-only commands.

Good Reference Book
This book, I have found, is not especially conducive to reading straight through. However it serves my purposes as a refence tool quite well. The last 500 pages are nothing but explanations of the [most] commands available in UNIX. There are very few examples in this area of the book though. Overall, page for page, I think you'll find this book gives you the most quantitative and qualitative information for your buck.

An indispensible book for Linux novices
This is the first computer book ever to make me cheerful reading it.The book proceeds slowly and carefully through the essentials of Unix.No flummery, no witchcraft.

Everyone with a MS-DOS background who is starting out into Linux , as I am, should start with this book. ... Read more

Product Description
With its easy-to-read, coaching style and well-designed plan, A Student's Guide to Unix, 2/e is the best way to introduce students to the complex world of Unix. This edition is a comprehensive revision of the first Unix textbook specifically developed for the university environment. Designed to be a reference and an educational resource, the book describes all the basic skills involved, as well as countless tips, hints and techniques. This edition includes chapters on the Emacs editor, Job Control and the Korn Shell. It has also been improved as a reference text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Harley Hahn's Student Guide To Unix
I liked it and it is easy to understand.

Perfect for someone who never even knew what UNIX was
Having been using the UNIX system for six years, I'm still referencing from this absolute beginner book from time to time because the language is so non-technical, yet the information contained within is more than enough to get you started on using UNIX operating system and learn to love it.

The author did a very good job particularly in describing and tutoring the reader how to do common tasks such as using email systems, doing text editing, issuing commands from the CLI, etc. Not very in-depth but the point is, it is enough to get you interested to look for MORE, which is the most important thing. There is no point in explaining something in-depth only to discourage the reader to look for more information, and only to leave the subject untouched because it looks "hard". If you are a UNIX veteran/advanced user/system administrator, this book is not for you, as you have probably known way more than what this book contains.

I highly recommend this book as the very first book on UNIX to read on, if you have never even heard of UNIX before, and only experienced in Windows/MacOS environments.

Ideal book for getting started
I found this book to be excellent. I feel it teaches you all that you need to be a comfortable UNIX user. This may not be the ideal book if you are looking for a quick reference for commands etc. Great job by the author.

Detailed, understandable, thorough and fun!
I think this must be one of the best UNIX-manuals ever written. Mr. Hahn shows skills and knows how to teach even a beginner everything from basics to the more advanced. I would highly recommend this book to everybody whowould like to learn a bit or eight about Unix- The most interesting andpowerful MUOS there is!

As said, a student's guide
For a Windows 95 user like myself, Unix looked liked a dark and mysterious night, unpenetrable and unfathomable. This book came like a guiding light and saw me through. ... Read more

Product Description
The desktop reference to SCO UNIX and Open Desktop(R), this version ofUNIX in a Nutshell shows you what's under the hood of your SCO system. It isn't a scaled-down quick reference of common commands, but a complete reference containing all user, programming, administration, and networking commands.Contents include:

• All commands and options
• Shell syntax for the Bourne, Korn, C, and SCO shells
• Pattern matching, with vi, ex, sed, and awk commands
• Compiler and debugging commands for software development
• Networking with email, TCP/IP, NFS, and UUCP
• System administration commands and the SCO sysadmsh shell

Customer Reviews (4)

Another Winner from O'Reilly
O'Reilly books are always excellent sources. I'm a technician and work on UNIX systems with the SCO interface, so I use this book a lot. Any time I can't remember a command, I can thumb through the book or look in the index for what the command does and have it at my fingertips. Thanks, O'Reilly for all your great books of which I have many.

Top Quality Reference, But a Little Dated
I would recommend this book for ANY user of SCO Unix, from the novice to the sys admin.It nearly every command and option from SCO System V Release 3.2, Version 4.0.In addition, this book also covers several important Unix utilities such as the vi editor, sed, awk, etc.

I would give this book 5 stars except SCO OpenServer has advanced well beyond this level (this edition is from 1993).Most of the information remains accurate, but there are some issues that exist.Keep in mind that there are some additional commands and additional options to existing commands that are not listed.Also, but more rare, there are commands or options that have been removed or changed in the OS.This is not as serious as it may sound as these issues will probably only be noticed by the more advanced users in rare circumstances.

The best book available for users new to SCO.
This book contains all the basic commands needed by system analysts in an easy to find format.I recommend this book to all SCO Unix technicians and system analysts of SCO Unix systems.

Best SCO Unix reference money can buy.
O'Reilly has done it again, bringing Unix users a priceless reference book. The book is well organize into different shells and is easy to read. This book list all the commands with options and an example for it. Noviceto SCO Unix should add this to their bookshelves. ... Read more