Absolute OpenBSD to be rewritten/updated

[nilsgecko]

From the Author's personal blog:

http://blather.michaelwlucas.com/archives/846

[BSDfan666]

This is kind of old news, but it reaffirms the obsession people have with "soon-to-be-outdated-3rd-party-material".

Read the fine manuals, the FAQ, and source, it's all the documentation you need.

[jggimi]

The first edition was an excellent tool for many, many releases, as it was written with the foreknowledge that the underlying OS was a moving target. I still find it of value.

[denta]

I remember ordering Absolute OpenBSD along with a pair of 3.5 cd's. As a newcomer to BSD at the time (transitioning from linux), I think it helped quite a bit.

I'm curious what the 2nd edition will contain

[thirdm]

Originally Posted by BSDfan666

This is kind of old news, but it reaffirms the obsession people have with "soon-to-be-outdated-3rd-party-material".

Read the fine manuals, the FAQ, and source, it's all the documentation you need.

I'll be buying it. I read a lot of Absolute FreeBSD and found it enjoyable and helpful. For me it will likely complement the man pages and FAQ. Perhaps between source, man pages, and FAQ all the information I need is actually available without the book, but the form documentation takes is not irrelevant. The man pages are mostly very good, as is the FAQ, but Michael Lucas is a better writer than any of those who created either. Perhaps it's a closer race between him and Nick Holland, but still, it's not simply "third party material" but third party material by a gifted technical writer who knows BSD well.

The staleness factor isn't that relevant. You don't use a book like this as your reference so much as a one time tutorial or something to fall back on when you want to step back to understand the purpose for which a program exists, high level introductory material, that sort of thing. The FAQ has some of that, the man pages don't and shouldn't.

[Oko]

Originally Posted by BSDfan666

This is kind of old news, but it reaffirms the obsession people have with "soon-to-be-outdated-3rd-party-material".

Read the fine manuals, the FAQ, and source, it's all the documentation you need.

I respectfully disagree with you. I think that the previous poster (thirdm) got it right. There is a place for man pages, for FAQ but there is also a need for another edition of Absolute OpenBSD book. I have first edition of that book and even though I read it probably have dozen of times I always keep it close much like The Book of PF(2nd edition), Secure Architectures with OpenBSD and Building Firewalls with OpenBSD and PF (2nd edition). The information might be slightly outdated but it gives you bird eye view on the whole system and puts the thing into the context.

I do not consider myself lazy and timid OpenBSD user. I do not shy even from reading source code but I would be buying another edition of Absolute OpenBSD.

[passthejoe]

The first "Absolute OpenBSD" is a classic among tech books, and I am proud to own it.

Lucas' explanation of how to use sudo is so good that it doesn't matter how out of date much of the book might be. There are lots of these nuggets in there, and MWL is an excellent writer, making it an enjoyable read.

I will definitely be buying the new version when it is released.

[agshekeloh]

I'm happy to hear that if I spend two years writing a book, some of you would read it. :-)

If you're one of those folks who doesn't need any explanations beyond the official docs, I readily concede your innate intellectual superiority.

[shep]

In my Humble Opinion this thread needs to be cast in Bronze and preserved

[divadgnol67]

Per usual I am late to the scene but would like to chime in anyway. I too own a copy of the first edition and find it an ABSOLUTE necessity. Chapter 15 - Disk and file system management is my favorite.

divadgnol

[angryfirelord]

I just contacted someone from No Starch about it and they said while there is no official release date, they are looking to release it sometime between February or March of 2013.

After reading Absolute FreeBSD, I have no reason to believe why Absolute OpenBSD won't be as well written.

[Skinny]

I know reading a book can be enjoyable. But does/will Absolute OpenBSD contain information that's not covered in the official documentation?

[vermaden]

@Skinny

Take a look at FreeBSD's Handbook Storage section:
http://freebsd.org/handbook/disks.html

... and compare it to Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition example Chapter 8: Disks and Filesystems:
http://www.tinker.tv/download/afreebsd2_ch8.pdf (this is officially available chapter, link is from http://nostarch.com/abs_bsd2.htm site)

That should give You the idea what are the differences.

Of course its a FreeBSD example, not OpenBSD one, but as author of both of these books is the same proposed comparison should be valid.

[jggimi]

No Starch Press has a sample chapter from the first edition here.

http://nostarch.com/openbsd.htm

[Skinny]

@vermaden, jggimi,
thank You for the answers and taking the time to lookup the appropriate links.
I was suspicious of something better than the official docs.

[agshekeloh]

For those who still watch this thread: you can now pre-order the new Absolute OpenBSD. http://blather.michaelwlucas.com/archives/1492

[Mako_Elite]

Can't wait to get the book, thanks

[mechanic]

...but is it at a sensible price?

[thirdm]

What's the price again, around $60? That seems normal for computer books. Some are even more. I bet you when the next edition of The C++ Programming Language comes out it tops $100. Honestly though, for the amount of work that must have gone into that (not to mention the time to create and maintain a language) and how long I'll use it, I have no problem with that.

I preordered with a code I saw on M. Lucas's blog and got $20 off the top too, which is a very reasonable price I think. What do No Starch books on operating systems usually go for?

[agshekeloh]

Book prices are set based on physical size and the time to produce them. And guesswork, and seeing what similar books are going for, and the Amazon Discount Effect. But $100 books are not uncommon.

I find $100 books outrageous.

I push for my books to be relatively inexpensive, compared to most other computer books. I firmly believe that the best piracy defense is to charge a modest price, but write a sufficiently good book that you make it up on volume. If a sysadmin or company won't cough up ~$40 for a book on how to work more efficiently and save tens of thousands of dollars (compared to commercial software), well, to heck with them.

If you use the ILUVMICHAEL coupon code from my page and buy from http://www.nostarch.com/openbsd2e, you'll get the physical book and the ebook for about $40, including shipping. I think that's a decent deal for a doorstop of professional knowledge. (Plus, the coupon code puts a couple extra bucks in my pocket, which I greatly appreciate.)