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Debian GNU/Linux Bible Review by J van Smythe
Lacks sufficient depth/detail, title is misleading
Author does an "okay" job of presenting a Linux overview, but if he aims to write a tight, well-indexed, comprehensive compendium of GNU/Debian, he has sorely missed the mark. This is unfortunate, since it is very difficult to find good-quality Debian documentation.
The book seems to have been rushed to market, complete with spelling mistakes and, rather than dish the goods on Debian details, the chapters appear to be little more than overviews, each one ending with a short summary and a small number of URLs, most typically pointers to the linux HOW-TO documents on the web.
The author, like too many others, discusses hardware setup during initial install, but no discussion of what to do if you add something after Debian is installed. (Hint: you'll need 'modconf' for this, and no, it's not in the book). Chapter 5 includes manual file configuration for networking, but the author passes on the opportunity to mention resolv.conf in this discussion.
A couple dozen chapters in similar style are guaranteed to instill a profound sense of resentment in the reader who was hoping for a true Debian-specific volume. All of this is capped by 85 pages of "filler" masquerading as Appendices. Yes, we all know where to find lists of linux commands, and giving us a tedious description of the Debian packages does nothing more than reiterate information we get from running 'dselect'.
.... Save your money for the real Debian "bible"... if it ever gets written.