Linux Utilities Cookbook Paperback – October 25, 2013

I have used Linux in the past on and off but never to the extent of Microsoft Windows but my new job requires some knowledge of Linux so using this book has made my job so much easier. When I need to look up how to do something, the answer is easily found. Being able to read it on the Kindle app for my Android phone in our server room is priceless!

A disappointing book. A pity, because the title was very promising, instead. The preface literally states this book is intended for somewhat experienced computer users who want to know more about Linux. I find this misleading or, at least, somewhat tricky. Many people would probably interpret the above sentence as if they were holding in their hands something for Linux users that want to get to the next level. That was also my guess. It is, instead, a collection of very basic tips for new Linux users.There isn't really much to say about Linux Utilities Cookbook. It covers basic things such as copying and removing directories or compressing files. The most advanced topics are probably those teaching the reader how to do the same from one machine to another, through scp.When I was reading the third chapter, with a rather perplexed face already, I was thinking within myself... James has over 30 years of experience in the industry. This book... is he keeping all the good tricks for himself?This says it all.A final note: I think that the best part of Linux Utilities Cookbook is Appendix A, where the author groups some best practices.I do not really suggest the title, unless the reader is absolutely new to the penguin.Suggested book(s):Linux Shell Scripting CookbookAs usual, you can find more reviews on my personal blog: books.lostinmalloc.com Feel free to pass by and share your thoughts!

I have used Linux at home as my primary OS for the last 10 years or so, having tried just about all of the mainstream distributions; I also use it regularly for my job. I would not call this book what I am used to when it comes to the average technical "cookbook". It is more like an basic guide to Linux, for someone who has never used it before. Unfortunately, it feels more like a collection of quickly cobbled together notes, and misses the mark in a number of areas.The books does not flow well in its coverage, and will leave a beginning Linux user with far more questions than it answers. How you can explore bash and Linux commands without mentioning case sensitivity? An unnecessarily convoluted procedure is given for having a new user set their password, after root has already created the account. There are also a number of typographical errors which should have been caught during proofreading.If you want to get up and running quickly with Linux, there are better guides to be found.Note: I received a review copy of this book.

The Book covers a wide range of skillsets. It starts with the introduction to people, which never used a Linux system before and ends with an introduction how you can make a custom Kernel. Dependingon your experience with Linux you can skip a few of the early chapters or stick to the first few chapters. But even if you are familiar withthe various Linux systems a quick look at all the "beginner" chapters got me a few easy tricks for my daily work, which I never knew.The style of the author is very pleasing and it is obvious, that he knows what he is talking about. After the half of the book the complexitsincreases and the beginner section ends.  The advanced Process and Filesystem utilities get explained and a brief introduciton into thescripting ability of the best operating System ever and also a short perl script introduction (but if you have no experience with scripting I guess thePerl part is a bit to vague). The Cron chapter is nice, but due to the nature of the crontab, there is nothing spectacular to explain. TheKernel Chapter, which is the last one, was the most interesting for me. I use now Linux for several years but but every chapter had at least asmall information or tipp which was usefull. So I can fully recommend this book to anyone, but as a summary:- If you have no experience you will enjoy the first few chapters and will probably get a bit lost in the last few chapters (don't worry youwill enjoy them after you used Linux for a while) - intermediate user will enjoy every chapter (maybe not the Desktop chapter ;D )- experienced user will have the most benefit from the last few chaptersSo if you are interested in learning Linux or increase your knowledge, than this book is ideal for you. If compiling a Kernel is your every daywork, then you will be bored and should get something else. A good addition is a book about Zsh, though it is not very spread, Zshis the more powerfull shell.

While my Linux class provided this book from Packt Publishing free of charge I decided to just pay for it, and while that wouldn't influence the quality of the review I will say that the book is definitely excellent. As a Linux noob, I've gone through most of the chapters and can quickly familiarize myself with various commands that make work a lot easier... The glossary is very will written and the examples are very practical so it makes execution easy. I do have a slight gripe with some of the command options but manning the commands is sufficient to cover whatever I might have missed. Good book.

If the title of the book was "the very beginner's linux utilities cookbook" I would have give it 5 stars....

I do most of my work in Windows but occasionally I do need to do some in Unix.Since this happens quite infrequently I don't get enough Unix time to rememberwhat I need when many, many months later I have to do some Unix work again.I love this book because I can quickly find the information that I need to dosome realistic work on the Linux OS.His straight-forward examples and relaxed style make the whole experience a lot less intimidating.