This Paperback Book item from Course Technology was reviewed on 18-Oct-2008.
Search ISBN:1418837210 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification Reference Book. Classifications : Networking Computer Science New & Used Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AAS Computer Science New & Used Textbooks Custom Stores Specialty Stores Books General AAS New & Used Text . Related topics: Networking. Computer Science. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores. Books. General AAS. Computer Science. Custom Stores. Specialty Stores. Books. requestid: ec2ae062-9558-49c6-bdcc-25117876f414
requestprocessingtime: 0.1573030000000000
salesrank: 4257999
edition: 3rd
numberofitems: 1
1) Paperback Book Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification by Course Technology. I bought this book to study for the certification exam and now have to get rid of it after one chapter and find another. This is not my first certification exam and not my first experience with a certification book. I was shocked when I saw that the book had no answers to any of the questions in it, not one! The answers are only available to instructors. What? So the book is really not much use if you aren´t taking a class and have an instructor to correct your mistakes. I´d like to ask the authors who decided not to put the answers as every other certification book I´ve ever used, are certification exams usually taken by ten year olds who don´t have enough self control to not look on the answers until after completing the questions? If you just want a book to learn Linux then it might very well be a fine book but to study for and pass the certification exam it´s a fat zero unless you like combing through chapters to find the answers to end of chapter questions.¤ 2) Paperback Book Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification by Course Technology. First, I have to say that I am not usually fond of computer books in the Thompson Course Technology series -- too many of them are NOT really written by knowledgeable people, and it shows in the errors and misguided opinions passed on to students and professors charged using these books.
So, I was pleasantly surprised at the content (of a Linux book in particular) by Thompson. Most of the information is relevant, useful, and introduces students to important skills and management practices when using Linux in a business environment.
I do have some issues with the orders of the chapters -- for example, file and folder permissions vs. users and groups chapters should be back-to-back, and there are a couple errors in laboratory exercises. For example, a couple of the exercises, done in order, are intended to demonstrate the effect of one user assuming another´s UID. But the point to be demonstrated doesn´t actually happen. New Linux users won´t realize there was an error in the thought process of the text, and will think they "just missed the point" due to their own imagined ineptness. There are a few typos but they are minor -- if teachers (and even casual users Linux users) don´t catch them outright, shame on them, they are so simple.
I actually have a *couple* of not-so-minor gripes, and struggled with whether to give the book 3 or 4 stars, but then it is so much better than other Linux books in some areas that I couldn´t give it a 3.
My first big gripe is that the chapter on so-called "X Configuration" is *NOT* about *configuring* *X*! It is actually about *customizing* the *desktop*, using the desktop utilities, for personal use/preferences (the way you change your desktop properties in Windows). The topic of *X CONFIGURATION* -- one of the first tasks most new Linux users must learn, usually necessary since Linux is not OEM (preinstalled) on most computers -- is actually NOT COVERED AT ALL!
Along the same lines, the *obvious* flow of post-install activities in the book should include taking a Linux distro that boots non-GUI by default, an introduction to the format of an X configuration file, how to research your computer hardware, and how to edit the default X configuration file for all users per hardware requirements and to start the login manager and desktop of choice.
Even in network environments, this is a common task because X can be run as a network application, or for other reasons. Unlike Windows, the OS is more modular; the underlying kernel, the "window server" (X) and the "desktop" (GUI look-and-feel and utilities) are 3 very seperate things and allow freedom of choice.
My second gripe is there is no coverage of package installation! Very, very bad! How can you be certified in Linux without learning to install software on it? One or two chapters need to be added here, covering RPM and TGZ installs at a minimum. Users need background on what is done when software is installed on Linux, the most common ways in which software install locations and config tend to differ among distros, and the most popular package managers out there (brief contrast of strengths and weaknesses).
Ideally, students would actually perform both RPM and TGZ installs, would uninstall them afterwards, would use one or more command-line tools to update a package or two, would use a popular package manager to install a new package and look for updates, and would download source code manually and compile at least one package from scratch, just to get a feel for it. An example is OpenOffice.org, because it is easy to install (few steps needed), and new OO versions tend to change folder names and locataions, (students must deal with this and uninstall the old version and delete remnant folders to avoid confusion before installing the new, then edit desktop shortcuts to point to new executable in new location).
My third gripe is the use of an outdated OS, and one with such a poor installer. I think the author was thinking that Red Hat is popular with commercial enterprises (certainly) and so it would be a good choice. But Fedora Core 3??? C´mon, that´s the stone age (at least in PC years)! Plus, this OS boots to a GUI (not a good for newbies to Linux sysadmin who need to learn to manually configure X). Most books will make a better choice of distro or at least customize their own "release" of the distro to match the purpose of the book.
Also, the menu-based installer on Fedora Core 3 is really crap. Though I am a seasoned Linux user who habitually changes partition schemes and multi-boot environments, the menu logic and layout/alignment of selections was so poor that I became confused and had to backtrack/start over several times during my install.
However, complaints aside, this is generally an excellent book. It gives some excellent lessons and examples on using the "vi" editor and using various text-manipulation, file-manipulation, and search tools. The vast majority of non-newbies in this book´s audience will learn new tricks for example, grep, dmesg, cat, top. The chapter on boot loaders is excellent, contrasting the functionality of LILO and GRUB, and the optional parameters which can be used in their config files. While this book assumes no Linux knowledge at all on the part of the user, it is in some ways almost a "power users" cookbook. I learned much from this book and use it as a reference.
Some of this book´s major strengths are the clarity of the writing, the usefulness of the lessons, and the extensive number of exercises which can be used both in a college course and on your own.
I strongly feel this text is overdue for a revision -- below are some recommendations summing the above points and adding some things that need less explanation:
1) X CONFIGURATION NEEDS A CHAPTER, and soon after install and intro to the file system. (Desktop customization should just be deleted because it´s not an administration topic and anyone who´s used any OS before can figure it out all by themselves.)
2)PACKAGE INSTALLATION, COMPILATION, AND UPDATING NEEDS A CHAPTER OR TWO.
3) CHAPTERS ON USERS/GROUPS AND FILE/FOLDER PERMISSIONS NEED TO BE CONSECUTIVE. (Chapter 11 is too late to be giving this info.)
4) THE BOOK NEEDS TO USE AN RPM/TGZ-COMPATIBLE DISTRO WITH A DECENT INSTALLER AND MORE APPROPRIATE CONFIG -- either switch distros or customize it for the book, and definitely use something newer. (Why not switch to kernel 2.6 while they´re at it?)
5) IDEALLY, THE BOOK AND THE DISTRO WOULD INCLUDE TWO DESKTOPS. At least introduce students to two, even if the majority of the book will use one in particular. I don´t even necessarily mean KDE vs. GNOME, could be one of those vs. a much more stripped-down desktop to really contrast. Assuming the text already taught basic X config, including login manager and desktop loading, now teach them the main benefit -- users can tweak their own config, and the first way to do so is choose a desktop other than the default for all users. Which brings us to #6...
6) GIVE A USEFUL EXAMPLE OF WHAT THE "SKELETON DIRECTORY" IS USED FOR, NOT JUST A VAGUE EXPLANATION. Have an exercise where users place a couple default folders and organizational document in here and a copy of the X config, create a new user, log in as that user and view the doc, customize X to start a different desktop, copy the edited config to the correct location, reboot, log in as that new user again -- tada! Skeleton directories are even useful on a home system, but they are mostly used in organizations with many users.¤ 3) Paperback Book Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification by Course Technology. I couldn´t get more than a dozen pages into this book. The writing is dense and entirely colorless, as if the author wants to punish you for daring to read it. There are serious misstatements about licensing and other subjects. I wouldn´t recommend this book to someone unless I *wanted* them to fail.¤ 4) Paperback Book Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification by Course Technology. I hated this class. But the book is good.¤ 5) Paperback Book Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification by Course Technology. Book came after a few days, was in reasonable condition, I would buy from them again.¤ 6) Paperback Book Linux+ Guide to Linux Certification by Course Technology. Designed to prepare individuals to successfully pass the exam, this guide maps completely to CompTIA&s Linux+ certification objectives.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 15-Nov-2008, 14188372109781418837211, 090-660-040-991-101-901-221-8 |
