The first problem you face when reviewing a Linux reference title is that you know youre on to a loser. The Linux evangelists are the most demanding audience, who wont have a bad thing said about anything that features TuX the penguin. An issue when buying such a book is that the aforementioned Linux congregation have almost certainly published everything you need to know about installing, configuring, using and troubleshooting the OS online already. Unfortunately, the latter makes the chances of this reviewer getting away without a bashing due to the former, pretty remote really.

So lets start with the good points: you get a copy of Red Hat Linux 6.2 on a CD-ROM included with the book. However, what you get is the Publishers Edition of the CD-ROM, which is the same as the version freely downloadable form the Internet. Mind you, the Standard Edition of Red Hat 6.2 is available online for around $80. The advantages of spending the cash in this case are abundant, and important for the Linux virgins out there. Advantages like the 90-days Web-based installation support, 30-days access to the priority Red Hat Web site, 1,000 pages of really good user documentation, a source code CD enabling you to modify C++ code, as well as a handy boot disk. Therefore, Id be tempted to buy the fully-boxed retail product, and turn to the Web with all those Linux advocates for the advice in getting it going.

So why buy this book instead? Well, it has some well-written installation and configuration advice. Youll learn how to share Linux and Windows resources using Samba and it will also help you to configure and use X Windows, GNOME and KDE. It covers using Linux as a print, file and Internet server well, and you get the advantage of having all this information neatly bound up in one volume. So if you want a step-by-step instruction manual on your desk rather than your Desktop, its a valuable investment. If youre a user who likes rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty, I doubt youll find much of interest. Which makes me wonder why the user level recommendation is intermediate to advanced, when Id have thought it was definitely targeted at Linux newbies.