Reviews for SUSE Linux 10 Bible

1. Brilliant

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2008

   I got this book exactly one year ago, for my birthday. Admittedly I had quite a lot of experience with computers and had already spent about 6 months playing fairly seriously with the SuSE 10.1 and 10.2 versions.
   
   This is one of the best books I have ever come across. In fact, it is the best computer book I have ever read. They explain everything so you understand why things are done in a certain way and they show you, with examples, exactly how to do everything.
   
   If you are a complete beginner you can still use this book. You don't have to be a linux expert to use it but a little background always helps. One key thing they do in the book is refer to specialist forums on-line (always a great source of expertise and up to date information).
   
   If you are thinking about linux and the SuSE disto I strongly advise you to buy this book. If you are a total beginner, not overly confident with windows but want to dip your toe in the linux waters, you might also consider the Ubuntu disto. Allegedly it is the most user friendly distro for those first timers coming from windows.
   
   My money stays on SuSE though...

2. Great for budding admins & home networking geeks

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, March 12th, 2006

   This is not a book for complete beginners. The reason is that applications are not covered, and the book is sorely lacking the step-by-step guides to enable multimedia features, nvidia drivers, java, flash, etc - you know, the first things you need to do anyway. So don't buy this to your grandma. This is why I give 4, not 5 stars.

   Instead, this is a great book for someone with some Linux experience. The emphasis of the book is on the Command Line, Network services (servers) and some small enterprise needs. With each topic, the authors always first explain how it is done from the command line, and after that, with Yast (SUSE's 'Control Center'). They also explain technical concepts quite well - for example when discussing DHCP, they take several pages to explain what is really happening in the network, then start with configuration examples.

   I loved this book, I actually read all of it. After 3 years of Mandrake/Mandriva desktop use, I think this is a perfect book for my SUSE transition. I have learned a load of concepts and tricks from it. And a surprisingly large proportion of the material is applicable to any Linux distribution. With it's price and 800 pages, it's good bang for the buck!

   PS. The DVD included is SUSE Professional, not OpenSUSE.