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Old 1st May 2008
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Default Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition

Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition
by Michael W. Lucas

From the product description:
Quote:
Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition is your complete guide to FreeBSD, written by FreeBSD committer Michael W. Lucas. Lucas considers this completely revised and rewritten second edition of his landmark work to be his best work ever; a true product of his love for FreeBSD and the support of the FreeBSD community. Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition covers installation, networking, security, network services, system performance, kernel tweaking, filesystems, SMP, upgrading, crash debugging, and much more...
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Old 1st May 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anomie View Post
Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition
by Michael W. Lucas

From the product description:
I actually have this book on order right now, I'll let you know how it is.
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Old 1st May 2008
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My personal opinion:

As of this writing, this book is one of the best FreeBSD 6/7 paper resources available to users/sysadmins.

Unlike most technical books, it doesn't put me to sleep, thanks to a dry sense of humor frequently injected by Lucas.

There is a ton of fundamental FreeBSD OS information covering a lot of areas (identified in the product description, obviously). There are also several terse but useful primers for common protocols and services such as: TCP/IP, DNS, Apache httpd, MTAs, etc.

Worth the $$. Enjoy.
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Old 1st May 2008
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The first edition was excellent, so unless he's been spoiled by success, it should be worthwhile.
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Old 1st May 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scottro View Post
The first edition was excellent, so unless he's been spoiled by success, it should be worthwhile.
Lucas has been quoted (& I am paraphrasing...) saying that due to delays, he was able to put more time into editing than with other editions, so the quality should be even better. From what I have read in his second edition, it is a great improvement. For what FreeBSD specific titles which are available today, I would say this is the best.

Hopefully, Michael will migrate to this site. He had been a regular visitor over at BSDForums for the last four months or so, although he didn't post often.
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Old 1st May 2008
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i wish i had time to read some of these texts, i know there's some great ones out there.....

Can someone read it for me and give me the basic gist?
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Old 14th May 2008
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I found this book as a good introduction for semi advanced users to be honest. He covers a lot of subjects from ports management to kernel panics. With that said it is a great reference. Has most everything one would want to get a understanding of FBSD from a user perspective.
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Old 17th May 2008
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The best resource I've ever read! It is very good as complementing the Handbook. The contents are very practice oriented and touches many aspects of FreeBSD user life. Either desktop or servers environments. It is really worth the $$$.
If somebody is interested in talk about this book, we can discuss it when you send the private message.
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Old 20th May 2008
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I've learned about jails on the previous book but does the 2nd edition go in depth?
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Old 17th June 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anomie View Post
Unlike most technical books, it doesn't put me to sleep, thanks to a dry sense of humor frequently injected by Lucas.
lol isnt that the truth. i just started reading this last week.

This is one my favorite passages so far:
Quote:
Typical leaf ports include text editors, oversized office suites, web browsers, chat clients, and so on.
lol oversized office suites. so many dry and slight jokes laced throughout. Great read so far. Mainly focused on FreeBSD in a server environment but still really good even for a desktop user like me.

P.S. sorry to bump old threads
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Old 17th June 2008
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It's expensive, at least in Germany, but it's worth the money
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Old 17th June 2008
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Oliver: order books (english language) on amazon.com the shipping costs are nothing to speak of.

.de: 41,95€ (without shipping costs inside germany)
.com: $37.77 + $7.98 shipping = 29,52€
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Old 17th June 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by revzalot
I've learned about jails on the previous book but does the 2nd edition go in depth?
Not really. It gives a solid jail overview, but it's not super in depth. For that I'd recommend the FreeBSD Handbook, the jail(8) manpages, the book Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security, the FreeBSD Diary jail walkthru, and lots of practice and experimentation.
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Old 17th June 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chill
so many dry and slight jokes laced throughout. Great read so far.
I agree -- and that's an accomplishment for a tech book.
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Old 17th June 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tuck View Post
Oliver: order books (english language) on amazon.com the shipping costs are nothing to speak of.

.de: 41,95€ (without shipping costs inside germany)
.com: $37.77 + $7.98 shipping = 29,52€

Yes something to consider, thanks
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Old 12th July 2008
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I just ordered this book, so I'll post my opinion once I'm done. FreeBSD is a different animal than Linux.
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Old 13th July 2008
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Does anyone have an opinion on which book to recommend to a FreeBSD newcomer: this one, or the Complete FreeBSD by Lehey?
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Old 13th July 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomAmundsen View Post
Does anyone have an opinion on which book to recommend to a FreeBSD newcomer...
Note that Lehey's book is available free in electronic format:

http://www.lemis.com/grog/Documentation/CFBSD/

Personally, I would go with Lucas' book.
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Old 14th July 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomAmundsen View Post
Does anyone have an opinion on which book to recommend to a FreeBSD newcomer: this one, or the Complete FreeBSD by Lehey?
I'd also reccomend Lucas' book. It's just excellent
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Old 14th July 2008
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Personally, I would buy both if I was new ;-)

Then read'em cover to cover.
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