Humble Book Bundle: Unix(humblebundle.com)
humblebundle.com
Humble Book Bundle: Unix
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/unix-book-bundle
130 comments
Totally agree, DNS and Bind and Essential System Administration alone are completely worth it if you're at all interested in (using) Unix-like systems.
As for being dated, I think simply reading (and understanding) Essential System Administration and then spending an afternoon looking at grub and systemd could get you pretty far in the RHEL certification cycle.
As for being dated, I think simply reading (and understanding) Essential System Administration and then spending an afternoon looking at grub and systemd could get you pretty far in the RHEL certification cycle.
I have to mention DJB whenever there's a mention of DNS. Thank you PRJ, JdeBP, smarden, skarnet. You have done a shitload for me and my close (and distant) ones.
https://cr.yp.to/donations.html
PS In case you've been wondering, djbdns+curvedns is a very capable implementation of DNS servers and client-side utilities. Both authoritative server and recursive cache; each independent of the other. Plus wonderful commandline utilities for various kinds of DNS queries.
https://cr.yp.to/donations.html
PS In case you've been wondering, djbdns+curvedns is a very capable implementation of DNS servers and client-side utilities. Both authoritative server and recursive cache; each independent of the other. Plus wonderful commandline utilities for various kinds of DNS queries.
Sure, there are somewhat simpler DNS servers than BIND, of which djbdns is a good example, but realistically speaking, the reasons to avoid BIND are historic and no longer relevant. BIND has seen multiple major overhauls since the bad old BIND 4 days, and its security has been fine for more than a decade. In the past I would talk about other DNS servers as reasonable things to spend time on (and have contributed to alternative DNS servers in a variety of ways in the distant past), but these days, I tend to say "just use BIND."
All of the docs you're going to find on the web are about BIND. BIND gets new standards first, because that's the implementation that the standards authors use and work on. BIND gets more real world testing than all other DNS servers combined. In short: It's fast enough, secure enough, and has more features than anything else. The only downside may be that it is somewhat intimidating, but BIND configuration maps more closely to the standards docs than anything else...so, if you understand BIND you understand DNS and vice versa, which is not as true of some of the others that try to be simpler to configure. BIND is DNS in more ways than any other server so clearly is the service it provides.
DJB software is/was great, but there's rarely a reason to go that route for most users most of the time, today.
All of the docs you're going to find on the web are about BIND. BIND gets new standards first, because that's the implementation that the standards authors use and work on. BIND gets more real world testing than all other DNS servers combined. In short: It's fast enough, secure enough, and has more features than anything else. The only downside may be that it is somewhat intimidating, but BIND configuration maps more closely to the standards docs than anything else...so, if you understand BIND you understand DNS and vice versa, which is not as true of some of the others that try to be simpler to configure. BIND is DNS in more ways than any other server so clearly is the service it provides.
DJB software is/was great, but there's rarely a reason to go that route for most users most of the time, today.
DJB software is/was great, but there's rarely a reason to go that route for most users most of the time, today.
You may very well be right, most people at any period of time are in way above their level of knowledge and consequently have no sense of quality. Let me just say that I never met a BIND person who would have an idea about the distinctions between the delegation tree, the on-the-wire protocol, and the BIND zone file format. (Not that i can blame them.)
You may very well be right, most people at any period of time are in way above their level of knowledge and consequently have no sense of quality. Let me just say that I never met a BIND person who would have an idea about the distinctions between the delegation tree, the on-the-wire protocol, and the BIND zone file format. (Not that i can blame them.)
Bind is a total disaster. bind 4, of course. Bind 8 was also a major disaster. Bind 9 has security problems as well. It is huge and, due in part to DNSSEC it is way too complicated. It is more sensible to use more compact services like nsd for authoritative dns and unbound for a caching server. Or Dan Bernstein tools, even
BIND has seen multiple major overhauls since the bad old BIND 4 days
Yes, thanks for supporting my argument in such a forceful way. As you say, BIND has needed multiple major overhauls over the same period that has seen djbdns simple be there, finished.
Yes, thanks for supporting my argument in such a forceful way. As you say, BIND has needed multiple major overhauls over the same period that has seen djbdns simple be there, finished.
I didn't know we were arguing. I'm not trying to dissuade you from using djbdns.
Capable how? Does it support IPv6 queries? IPv6 records? SRV records?
How about a syntax for defining a TXT record that doesn't involve octal?
How about a syntax for defining a TXT record that doesn't involve octal?
IPv6 records and SRV records were supported from the start, Bernstein himself explaining that the generic binary record format covered that. The syntax wasn't pretty, but the support was there. Extensions to the database source form that are prettier have been around for many years. I have a DNS database with this record in it, for example:
+jdebp.info:2001_41d0_2_aa92_0_ff_fe23_8e7a
S_sip._udp.jdebp.info::sip.jdebp.info:5060:10:20
Capable more than enough in all the ways that mattered to me, my employers and their customers throughout this millenium.
IPv6 records require a patch. Any records defined for IPv4 are supported out-of-the-box (your last question gives away you know this and the encoding used in the tinydns database).
What was your point?
IPv6 records require a patch. Any records defined for IPv4 are supported out-of-the-box (your last question gives away you know this and the encoding used in the tinydns database).
What was your point?
My point is that it's feature set is not from this millennium.
It was rather spoiled by the fact that your knowledge of djbdns is not from this millennium. Felix von Leitner's work dates from back at the turn of the century, and it went into things like the NetBSD packaged djbdns very quickly.
bash actually has a pretty good man page, too. Not quite OpenBSD quality, but far superior to most GNU man pages ("The actual documentation is maintained as a TeXinfo manual. If the `info` command is properly installed, as it should be on any installation of the GNU operating system (of which Linux is only a very small and insignificant part), then the real documentation is available via the following command: `info`. Otherwise, you're stuck with this sorry excuse of a man page.").
I pretty much learned bash from the man page (and OpenBSD's ksh(1), which has enough overlap with bash to be mostly applicable), enough to get by, at first, and getting more and more advanced by checking man recurrently as I encountered problems that demanded solutions beyond my skills.
I pretty much learned bash from the man page (and OpenBSD's ksh(1), which has enough overlap with bash to be mostly applicable), enough to get by, at first, and getting more and more advanced by checking man recurrently as I encountered problems that demanded solutions beyond my skills.
Oh, gods, the smug info message. That, more than anything anyone ever said or did, gave me negative feelings about GNU. I mean, I still love GNU for the good it's done in the world, but that broken-by-design man page for every GNU project is hateful and nearly undoes all of my good feelings about GNU.
Thankfully, I don't see that message anymore. I'm not sure if GNU fixed it, or if downstream distros fixed it, but sometime several years ago I stopped experiencing those moments of info rage, and man pages actually started working correctly.
And, you're right. The bash docs are really good. bash, in general, is such a well-managed Free software project; I have such warm fuzzy feelings about it. bash just quietly gets better every couple of years without me ever thinking about it or realizing that it's gotten better. bash-completion is lovely, and when it's not present I feel ragey (not info level of rage, but still it sucks not having completion). It's just such a solid workhorse. And, it even works well on Windows (both the WSL version and the standalone git or Cygwin versions). It's one of those projects that I never think about because it always Just Works. I can't remember the last time I ran into a bash bug; it has to have been over a decade ago (and I do quite a bit of shell scripting, though I mostly have to code to POSIX rather than bash, because of Ubuntu).
Thankfully, I don't see that message anymore. I'm not sure if GNU fixed it, or if downstream distros fixed it, but sometime several years ago I stopped experiencing those moments of info rage, and man pages actually started working correctly.
And, you're right. The bash docs are really good. bash, in general, is such a well-managed Free software project; I have such warm fuzzy feelings about it. bash just quietly gets better every couple of years without me ever thinking about it or realizing that it's gotten better. bash-completion is lovely, and when it's not present I feel ragey (not info level of rage, but still it sucks not having completion). It's just such a solid workhorse. And, it even works well on Windows (both the WSL version and the standalone git or Cygwin versions). It's one of those projects that I never think about because it always Just Works. I can't remember the last time I ran into a bash bug; it has to have been over a decade ago (and I do quite a bit of shell scripting, though I mostly have to code to POSIX rather than bash, because of Ubuntu).
I'm willing to bet that Debian fleshes out the man pages. At the very least, they tend to write man pages for software that doesn't have them, so I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same for GNU software.
a bit dated the last time I looked at it
I was going to ask about that. A lot of these books are a little old, published a decade ago. How well did they age?
I was going to ask about that. A lot of these books are a little old, published a decade ago. How well did they age?
Many of the topics haven't changed much in a decade. BIND is the same as it ever was. Sure, there's relatively new stuff, like DNSSEC, but I suspect it's actually covered in the latest edition of DNS & BIND; for whatever reason, DNSSEC adoption has been very, very slow, so the spec was formalized like a decade ago. BIND is the reference implementation for new DNS features, so it was probably in there and probably in the book ten years ago. But, I dunno. The last edition I had was probably one or two revisions before this one.
Essential System Administration is kinda out of date on several fronts. I looked at the most recent edition a year or so ago when I was thinking about writing a book on sysadmin topics, just to see what the current state of the market is. I'd probably toss about half of it, if I were charged with producing a new edition, and add several new chapters about containers (across all of the various unices), systemd, more modern interop topics (LDAP and AD, in particular), and just general updates to standard practices. But, still, it's probably in the top five books about UNIX/Linux system administration, since it is well-written and does cover a lot of ground. You could just skip what you don't need, and double check with the google for whether the material is up to date for the stuff you do.
Most of the other stuff will be accurate but missing a few things. bash and vim and emacs have improved a lot in the past decade, but core competency with any of them looks about the same as it did a decade ago. New things will take some additional research, but you won't waste your time learning from an old book, because a bash script written 10 years ago is 95% of the time going to run unmodified today. Likewise, a vim user who time-traveled from ten years ago to today won't, at all, be confused by modern vim.
So...they're cheap because they're old. And, you probably don't get tremendously more than you're paying for. But, they were good books ten years ago, and they're still pretty good books today.
Essential System Administration is kinda out of date on several fronts. I looked at the most recent edition a year or so ago when I was thinking about writing a book on sysadmin topics, just to see what the current state of the market is. I'd probably toss about half of it, if I were charged with producing a new edition, and add several new chapters about containers (across all of the various unices), systemd, more modern interop topics (LDAP and AD, in particular), and just general updates to standard practices. But, still, it's probably in the top five books about UNIX/Linux system administration, since it is well-written and does cover a lot of ground. You could just skip what you don't need, and double check with the google for whether the material is up to date for the stuff you do.
Most of the other stuff will be accurate but missing a few things. bash and vim and emacs have improved a lot in the past decade, but core competency with any of them looks about the same as it did a decade ago. New things will take some additional research, but you won't waste your time learning from an old book, because a bash script written 10 years ago is 95% of the time going to run unmodified today. Likewise, a vim user who time-traveled from ten years ago to today won't, at all, be confused by modern vim.
So...they're cheap because they're old. And, you probably don't get tremendously more than you're paying for. But, they were good books ten years ago, and they're still pretty good books today.
My biggest gripe with this bundle is that they are all digital. I'd rather have less books but then in a printed format. I have noticed that I can't concentrate on reading books when they are presented to me on my computer screen. I do have a kindle (1st or 2nd generation) and that device doesn't support PDF well, furthermore it is rather slow. It works fine for regular books though, where I don't have to flip through chapters back and forth often.
I purchase a bunch of technical books in digital format, but I always skip books which are not DRM-free and don't deliver at least PDF and EPUB formats.
It is true that code examples look broken at times, but most of the times turning the kindle to landscape orientation does the trick.
You should avoid feeding PDFs to your Kindle, since they only look good on a PC or on a 4:3 tablet (ex. iPad or Galaxy Tab S2), although, after reading a chapter on your Kindle, it is positive to skim through the PDF to get a grasp of the details you might have missed.
As a Kindle owner, the format you really want is .MOBI (or .EPUB converted with kindlegen[1] and trimmed down with kindlestrip[2]).
Most .MOBIs you'll encounter are actually conversions from .EPUB with kindlegen, so you should trim them down with kindlestrip too.
Finally, if you're a Kindle power user, then you should give Calibre[3] a try to convert other formats to .MOBI, but be warned that the conversion is a hit-or-miss.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000765211
[2] https://pypi.python.org/pypi/kindlestrip/
[3] https://calibre-ebook.com/
It is true that code examples look broken at times, but most of the times turning the kindle to landscape orientation does the trick.
You should avoid feeding PDFs to your Kindle, since they only look good on a PC or on a 4:3 tablet (ex. iPad or Galaxy Tab S2), although, after reading a chapter on your Kindle, it is positive to skim through the PDF to get a grasp of the details you might have missed.
As a Kindle owner, the format you really want is .MOBI (or .EPUB converted with kindlegen[1] and trimmed down with kindlestrip[2]).
Most .MOBIs you'll encounter are actually conversions from .EPUB with kindlegen, so you should trim them down with kindlestrip too.
Finally, if you're a Kindle power user, then you should give Calibre[3] a try to convert other formats to .MOBI, but be warned that the conversion is a hit-or-miss.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1000765211
[2] https://pypi.python.org/pypi/kindlestrip/
[3] https://calibre-ebook.com/
My problem with PDF technical books is that they are typically formatted for 8.5x11 or A4 paper, typically with a really huge margin. I wish that there was something in the PDF spec to allow for multiple sizes to be specified in a single file, so that the same file can be used for printing as well as viewing on a 6 inch reader.
It sounds like what you're really asking for is a proper e-book format, like EPUB. PDF is not an e-book format, it's a presentation format, for print-equivalent documents. They aren't interchangeable.
Right, but the problem with EPUB and Mobi is that I haven't really seen technical books done well with them, with various tables, diagrams, charts, etc. These are presented much better when they have a human eye lay them out on the page.
That's where a multi-format PDF would come in handy -- you could still have a human editor lay out the pages for 2 or 3 different page sizes, and then the reader would pick the appropriate one (given the constraints of the reader device and font size).
That's where a multi-format PDF would come in handy -- you could still have a human editor lay out the pages for 2 or 3 different page sizes, and then the reader would pick the appropriate one (given the constraints of the reader device and font size).
Have you looked at many O'reilly, Pragmatic Programmers, or Apress books? I own a library of over a thousand titles from those publishers and generally any ePub created in the past 3-4yrs from them is top notch.
I just bought this bundle, which is all O'reilly, so I'm assuming the ePub's are from them. Was looking at the Emacs one, and so far not too bad. But there are still issues, such as I came across a table that had the headers line at the bottom of one page, and the rest of the table on the next page. Things like this, you can probably put hits / rules in the ePub file for, but it still benefits more from having a human do the layout.
I already own that ePub so I'll check it on my end to see if it's specific to the Humble Bumble version. Which table should I check? Also, which reader are you using out of curiosity?
I tried it using Google play books, and also FBreader. The specific table depends on the screen size, font, orientation, etc. In my case, it was one of the tables in the preface, when viewing portrait mode on my phone. When bringing it up on my tablet, the same effect could be seen on any other table that happens to start at the end of the page.
You could get close to this by just using multiple PDFs. However, no one seems to do this (@haskellbook is the only exception I can think of), so perhaps editors feel it's not worth the extra time and effort.
I looked at a few technical books I have and none of them are in 8.5x11 or A4 sizes. Most books I have are much smaller than that, and more easily handled.
PDF spec actually supports different page sizes (crop box, trim box, bleed box, media box, etc) for different pages. But it seems like what you what is essentially two separate PDFs with different page sizes combined together, and the reader picks one based on the viewport. I'm not sure PDF spec natively supports that, but PDF does support JavaScript and I can imagine JavaScript querying the viewport and then hiding/showing pages.
PDF spec actually supports different page sizes (crop box, trim box, bleed box, media box, etc) for different pages. But it seems like what you what is essentially two separate PDFs with different page sizes combined together, and the reader picks one based on the viewport. I'm not sure PDF spec natively supports that, but PDF does support JavaScript and I can imagine JavaScript querying the viewport and then hiding/showing pages.
While not really related to specifying multiple sizes, PDFs do have the concept of an artbox, which could be used by the PDF author to indicate the area of the page that actually contains content.
A useful feature of a PDF reader on these devices could be to display only this area with a smaller, perhaps user defined, margin.
This at least would fix the 'huge margin' problem.
A useful feature of a PDF reader on these devices could be to display only this area with a smaller, perhaps user defined, margin.
This at least would fix the 'huge margin' problem.
On Android I use Orion Viewer that handles margins effortlessly, and columns decently.
I suspect you are asking for them to be written in HTML.
It'd be hard to get even one physical book online for $1, let alone several of them.
As long as I have two screens, I've learned to like digital textbooks. It's hard to ctrl+f on a piece of paper.
As long as I have two screens, I've learned to like digital textbooks. It's hard to ctrl+f on a piece of paper.
In the past, they've offered bundles with print copies if you pay at least $xx (40-50, IIRC). Not all the books though, usually some subset of the books available.
Just a third (or fourth) tier in the scheme they already use.
Just a third (or fourth) tier in the scheme they already use.
There are several problems with ebook textbooks. I have problems concentrating with them too. But also, I need to use my computer while I read the textbook. I find it much easier to have the book on the desk and the thing I'm doing on the screen.
The typesetting and layout of textbooks is also very important. It's not just free flowing text. This means they are simple not compatible with the screen sizes of computers or ebook readers.
The ability to flip through a book is surely one of the best features of the format. When I'm familiar with a textbook I can find the page I want in seconds based on some vague intuition about where it will be (for some textbooks I can do this with my eyes closed). I'm not aware of any electronic formats that offers such fast random access.
The typesetting and layout of textbooks is also very important. It's not just free flowing text. This means they are simple not compatible with the screen sizes of computers or ebook readers.
The ability to flip through a book is surely one of the best features of the format. When I'm familiar with a textbook I can find the page I want in seconds based on some vague intuition about where it will be (for some textbooks I can do this with my eyes closed). I'm not aware of any electronic formats that offers such fast random access.
Would a tablet with the PDF on your desk be an acceptable compromise? That's what I tend to do. You can 'flip through' in iBooks by either using the text search, or just hopping over to the contents/notes/bookmarks. It can be pretty effective once you get used to it.
You could also pay a relatively small amount to get the PDFs printed and spiral-bound at a print shop. That solves your problem of free-flowing text, plus they lay flat, which is a godsend.
You could also pay a relatively small amount to get the PDFs printed and spiral-bound at a print shop. That solves your problem of free-flowing text, plus they lay flat, which is a godsend.
I've gone back and forth. I wanted digital books, but frankly they're terrible on Kindle--especially languages like Python because of word-wrapping. Kindles are also awful at skimming or thumbing through. But physical books I don't always have with me at work/home and it's hard to dig them out when you need them.
I've found that I really like buying digital books, but using my iPad or Kindle computer app to read coding books because the formatting is better. Even if you don't copy/paste, it's easier to type in code if it's in the window next to you instead of looking down (yeah, I can type without looking at the keyboard, but I have more trouble in an IDE when I have to match parens and quotes, deal with autocomplete and other syntax things like semicolons).
I've found that I really like buying digital books, but using my iPad or Kindle computer app to read coding books because the formatting is better. Even if you don't copy/paste, it's easier to type in code if it's in the window next to you instead of looking down (yeah, I can type without looking at the keyboard, but I have more trouble in an IDE when I have to match parens and quotes, deal with autocomplete and other syntax things like semicolons).
It's a humble bundle so it would have been unusual for print books. The manufacturing cost is quite high for print on demand vs essentially free for digital download.
But I am with you on the print books. I've spend many thousands of dollars building up my home CS library. Nothing helps me learn better than stepping away from the screens and reading paper in a comfortable chair!
But I am with you on the print books. I've spend many thousands of dollars building up my home CS library. Nothing helps me learn better than stepping away from the screens and reading paper in a comfortable chair!
I bought an ipad mini for safari testing (grrr) and it turned out to be my favourite way to read computer books.
Screen is adequately large and the DPI is so high that they look great, it turned out to be a useful device.
Screen is adequately large and the DPI is so high that they look great, it turned out to be a useful device.
How is the backlight affecting your eyes? I ended up buying a Kindle because reading on an iPad was straining my eyes too much, specially at bedtime.
These are all offered in PDF, EPUB, and MOBI formats. The MOBI should work fine on your older Kindle, and EPUB works great on third-party ebook apps. PDF should look good on a modern tablet.
This bundle includes the books in .mobi format which might be supported better on your kindle than pdfs.
For me, digital is absolutely necessary for any technical or academic book. I have to be able to search in it. However, I am not a fan of PDF because it is very inflexible in its presentation, and it is hard to transform into other formats. I prefer a web document or even just plain text.
I'm the kind of guy who used to print out articles from the web to read and now I can't concentrate while reading a physical book. I think the constant visual reminder of how much I have left to read bothers me for some reason.
Slightly on-topic: so what ebook readers (kindle, nook, bookeen, icarus, boox, kobo, sony, etc) can be used to _comfortably_ browse a PDF?
I would have liked a way to register them with my existing O'Reilly account so they showed up there, but PDF is OK.
I agree for small screens -- reading anything on my laptop is painful -- but reading on a 32"-40" 4K screen, where you can have two pages shown in full at a larger-than-life size, makes a huge difference. I still prefer paper overall, but I no longer mind digital.
I would prefer digital but in a way where I downloaded just one pdf file. Searching across multiple pdfs is pretty broken for me. If people have any tips to share that work on Windows / Linux I would appreciate it.
You could join the Pdf files, but honestly, one file of different books containing several hundred pages each sounds impractical.
That's some serious nostalgia value. UNIX Power Tools came out before GNU had a dedicated website (was still hanging off MIT IIRC), pretty sure I used the CD that came with it to install some software.
Think I've owned 1/3rd of these at some point in time. O'Reilly used to be head and shoulders above everyone else in open source/UNIX books.
(I still remember the first time I ever saw a Linux book on a shelf at a bookstore. I feel old.)
Think I've owned 1/3rd of these at some point in time. O'Reilly used to be head and shoulders above everyone else in open source/UNIX books.
(I still remember the first time I ever saw a Linux book on a shelf at a bookstore. I feel old.)
Power Tools is a really great book though
I bought it, got frustrated that I can't download them all at one, downloaded awk/sed one to refresh my skills, wrote script to download them all: https://gist.github.com/lukaszx0/0044aeb9ce86a7859a235093986...
Thanks! you just made my life so much easier.
$15 is almost inconsequential if you're smart enough to have a programming or 'ops' job in the Western Hemisphere. What is far more scarce is the time to read and apply the knowledge from those books. So while I dutifully purchased the package, I doubt that I will spend enough time with the material, beyond some wicked awk recipes for parsing logs, which I suspect, you can also google for.
I just bought these. My only complaint is the same one I had last time I bought one of these bundles: I had to download each of the 51 files (17 books, 3 formats each) manually, one at a time. An option to download a zip file or tarball would have been very helpful.
If you prefer downloading the files the good old fashioned way. ;)
In the browser console:
In the browser console:
$('.js-start-download > a').each(function(a, b) {
console.log($(b).attr('href'))
})
wget --content-disposition --trust-server-names -i list.txtI have a good load of OReilly and other publishers books in dead tree format and I find them immensely more practical compared to digital ones. DRM (which would be a stopper for me anyway) is not the only problem but finding a good reader which doesn't require ages to draw a page if contains diagrams, is readable even with multi column pages with graphics (therefore 10" minimum) and doesn't cost a fortune.
Last time I attempted to read The Art Of Electronics on a eink reader it required like 10 seconds for each page, so I gave the reader to a relative of mine who reads text only novels and stuck with the paper version of TAoE. Wake me up when technology is there.
Last time I attempted to read The Art Of Electronics on a eink reader it required like 10 seconds for each page, so I gave the reader to a relative of mine who reads text only novels and stuck with the paper version of TAoE. Wake me up when technology is there.
The $1 tier is great for anyone just starting out with bash or Unix. The $8 is amazing value, that's beginner through intermediate Unix skills, basically as much as most anyone would need. The $15 tier, IMO, is completely optional unless you know that you need those books. And at that point, you probably already have them.
Good sale!
Good sale!
I disagree. Of all of these DNS & BIND is the one I've recommended the most over the years. So many people have no idea how DNS works, and so many of the online references are wrong or incomplete. I've worked in three major fields of IT over the past 20 years, and in all of them, DNS has been the cause of more problems than any other single category.
And, in this case, DNS & BIND is one of the great O'Reilly books from the era when it meant something for a book to be from O'Reilly.
And, in this case, DNS & BIND is one of the great O'Reilly books from the era when it meant something for a book to be from O'Reilly.
I'm asking myself how relevant they are today? Tcp/Ip 3rd is from 2002, as well as Essential Sysadmin 3rd.
with possibly some sadness, probably still very relevant. The best book I have ever owned on TCP/IP was published ~1982....and when I read it last year, not much has changed.
One of the nicer things about Unix is that it tends not to change. There's a lot of inertia to overcome in Unix, which is why Ubuntu made (and continues to make) such a big splash, for being willing to change things quickly (and not always for the better).
What I would appreciate from fellow HN commenters, is their opinion if these books are actually the best ones (or amongst the very best ones) in their particular areas.
That's something I always struggle when it comes to IT/programming. There are just so many written materials about a particular subject that it becomes very difficult to find which ones are those that I should actually read.
That's something I always struggle when it comes to IT/programming. There are just so many written materials about a particular subject that it becomes very difficult to find which ones are those that I should actually read.
UNIX Power Tools would be relevant and a great resource even today. When I read the paperback version long ago I was impressed by the book and by what's possible.
Just to be clear the prices are not per book. I don't know if anyone else here stood dangerously long in that misunderstanding, almost preventing them from pulling the trigger. It's $1 for all the books on the first tier, $8 for all the books on the first and second tiers, or $15 for all of the books on the page. At first I was like, well maybe I'll get this book, this book, and that book. But then it was a no-brainer. In fact on the recommendation of a couple of posts here for DNS & Bind, I bought the whole hog.
---
---
$1:
Unix in a Nutshell (4th ed.)
sed & awk (2nd ed.)
lex and yacc (2nd ed.)
Learning the bash Shell (3rd ed.)
Linux Pocket Guide (3rd ed.)
$8: (all of the above, plus)
bash Cookbook
Classic Shell Scripting
Learning GNU Emacs (3rd ed.)
Unix Power Tools
Learning the vi and Vim Editors (7th ed.)
Bash Pocket Reference (2nd ed.)
Learning Unix for OS X (2nd ed.)
$15: (all of the above, plus)
Essential System Administration (3rd ed.)
TCP/IP Network Administration (3rd ed.)
DNS and BIND (5th ed.)
Network Troubleshooting ToolsIt's missing the Unix Haters Handbook.
http://web.mit.edu/~simsong/www/ugh.pdf
http://web.mit.edu/~simsong/www/ugh.pdf
I've got most of these already (from owning the "CD Bookshelf" products ORA put out years ago) but $15 for everything is just too good a deal to pass up, especially since it has a copy of ESA in there (one of my well-worn dog-eared owned-multiple-copies titles).
I upload Humbles to Google Play Books, not for primary reading but easy accessibility.
I just wish that downloading a 2MB pdf from Google Books wouldn't take 450MB of local storage.
I've also experienced issues with Humbles not uploading properly to Google. It usually takes Humble about four or five weeks to rectify the issue with the PDF.
I just wish that downloading a 2MB pdf from Google Books wouldn't take 450MB of local storage.
I've also experienced issues with Humbles not uploading properly to Google. It usually takes Humble about four or five weeks to rectify the issue with the PDF.
How does it take up so much space? What if you just download the epubs to your Google Drive?
No idea. It's always the first couple files that seem to grow the data used by the app to it's monstrous size. After four or five PDFs it levels out. Another 2MB will only take a couple MB.
Internal server error after the payment appeared to be accepted. I wonder if I was actually charged or not...
My favourite is "The Linux Programming Interface".
It's a fantastic book... very thick too.
This is not part of the bundle - or did I miss something?
"Pay what you want" is a false statement. When I wanted to pay 1 cent they demanded a minimum of one dollar.
I may be a cheap ass for wanting these things for a cent but that doesn't change the fact that "Pay what you want" is a total and utter lie.
I may be a cheap ass for wanting these things for a cent but that doesn't change the fact that "Pay what you want" is a total and utter lie.
You can actually pay $0.01, you just don't get anything for it. So "pay what you want" is true, you can pay $0.01. But if you want to get the books, you have to pay at least $1.
I just got "10 Steps to Unix Survival" by paying $0.00.
1. Click "Pay what you want"
2. Choose the "Free Stuff" tier
3. Go through the rest of the wizard ("I'm not a robot" and such)
1. Click "Pay what you want"
2. Choose the "Free Stuff" tier
3. Go through the rest of the wizard ("I'm not a robot" and such)
Let's assume you are right. So what? Why did you feel compelled to share this here? To me it signals I should avoid hiring you or working with you, because you get hung up on pedantic, irrelevant, details.
1 cent wouldn't cover a credit transaction fee, they'd be losing money if they let you do that.
While it is true, they have minimum pricing, if you want the items without compensating the publisher for them, you CAN stiff them. For instance, you can change the sliders so 100% of your money goes to charity, and then you didn't pay them for the books at all.
Sure, not what you want, but worth noting. Particularly useful if you want something on offer, but don't like the company selling them and don't want to support them. For instance, I can imagine a lot of people stiff EA when EA has a bundle available, and go 100% charity. :)
Sure, not what you want, but worth noting. Particularly useful if you want something on offer, but don't like the company selling them and don't want to support them. For instance, I can imagine a lot of people stiff EA when EA has a bundle available, and go 100% charity. :)
This model blows my mind - I just cannot quite work it out. Have the companies involved - O'Reilly and Humble Bundle Inc - just decided that they're OK with potentially making nothing at all from this, so long as lots of money goes to charity? I mean, it's wonderfully altruistic, and I suppose it could be a lot more complicated than I'm giving credit for (does the goodwill gained by them outweigh the financial hit?) but it's certainly fascinating. How do people decide how they allocate the money? Is it wrong if I feel bad if I don't give all the money to charity?
It's because they are selling digital items that have no intrinsic value. The likelihood that everyone will do this is low. Most people will just leave the sliders at their default values. And it's good marketing.
Depends on the author agreement. With the age of these books, possibly not, but there could easily be a royalty payment involved. Either way, let's assume they sell 100,000 copies, that's still not that much money and would be in line with their typical CSR giving (very likely, these authors might have waived royalty for charity too).
Humble Bundle is an extremely profitable operation that preys on the altruism of people. They secured roughly 5 million in venture capital funding from sequoia capital.
15% of whatever money you pay doesn't go to a charity, it goes to them. This is not explicitly stated. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Bundle (search for 15%)
15% of whatever money you pay doesn't go to a charity, it goes to them. This is not explicitly stated. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Bundle (search for 15%)
This is false, at least, in how you present it. It is clearly stated, and configurable, where your money goes.
When you make a purchase on Humble Bundle, it by default has a divide between the developer or publisher, the charity being supported, and Humble Bundle. You can modify this percentage at purchase time, for instance, by sending 100% of your proceeds to charity, or stiffing the developers if you despise them.
Arguably, Humble Bundle bears a large chunk of the operating cost here, since they have to provide download bandwidth for things like the eBooks and non-Steam-based games. But only asks for 20% by default, from what I can tell. Of course, I'm sure Humble Bundle has done the math on how many people pay the default cuts, and how much they need to stay profitable as a business.
So, no, it's not that Humble Bundle is a charity, but yes, you can get games and books really cheap while supporting a charity.
When you make a purchase on Humble Bundle, it by default has a divide between the developer or publisher, the charity being supported, and Humble Bundle. You can modify this percentage at purchase time, for instance, by sending 100% of your proceeds to charity, or stiffing the developers if you despise them.
Arguably, Humble Bundle bears a large chunk of the operating cost here, since they have to provide download bandwidth for things like the eBooks and non-Steam-based games. But only asks for 20% by default, from what I can tell. Of course, I'm sure Humble Bundle has done the math on how many people pay the default cuts, and how much they need to stay profitable as a business.
So, no, it's not that Humble Bundle is a charity, but yes, you can get games and books really cheap while supporting a charity.
They say "name your price of $1 or more."
Yes, they do, but they also say, "Pay what you want"
I think it is reasonably obvious that "pay what you want" can never be 100% literal. Can I pay π dollars? Obviously not. Can I pay negative one trillion? Of course I can't. Can I pay 'what I want' for all reasonable values of 'what'? Yes.
I have encountered pay what you want deals that included zero dollars, just never at Humble Bundle.
When HB was new, they did exactly this. The minimum $1 has presumably come about because the people who buy at $0.01 are only there fore free stuff - they don't actually want the content, so why make a loss for them?
Edit: In fact, they still do this, and you can get the Mobile or Games bundles for $0.01.
Edit: In fact, they still do this, and you can get the Mobile or Games bundles for $0.01.
They used to have a 1$ minimum for Steam keys when all their games bundle where also DRM-free. Now that most of the games in the bundles require Steam, I guess 1$ is the de facto minimum.
I guess you can pay nothing but it does seem a little mean considering how cheap the suggested minimum prices are for the bundles and that it's all for charity.
I say thanks O'Reilly, promotions like this are why you're still so great after all these years.
I say thanks O'Reilly, promotions like this are why you're still so great after all these years.
I don't mean to be glib, but this is a pretty Sheldon-esque line of reasoning.
No it's not. "Pay what you want" is the most prominent statement on the whole page. The one dollar minimum for content is obscure.
edit: why do people vote me down when what I say is true? I'm sorry but I'm not willing to pay for tutorials on open source applications that I can otherwise legally get for free. Humble Bundle isn't even a non-profit corporation. They are a private for-profit corporation where profit is the bottom line and donations to charity are more of a marketing gimmick used to reach that bottom line. Humble Bundle is a highly, highly profitable middle man operation that banks on the altruism of people.
edit: why do people vote me down when what I say is true? I'm sorry but I'm not willing to pay for tutorials on open source applications that I can otherwise legally get for free. Humble Bundle isn't even a non-profit corporation. They are a private for-profit corporation where profit is the bottom line and donations to charity are more of a marketing gimmick used to reach that bottom line. Humble Bundle is a highly, highly profitable middle man operation that banks on the altruism of people.
I didn't down vote you, but was tempted, so I'll explain.
Yes, you are stating a true fact. However, I'm pretty sure that the vast number of people who see these things do not consider the distinction you draw vastly more deceptive than, well, any other advertising out there, and much less so than most. Compare with, say, Comcast, and this is a model of clarity.
An additional reason is that it is somewhat derailing to rant about what many would think to be trivial quibbles about advertising copy in the middle of what is otherwise a discussion about the usefulness of the books, ORA, etc.
Yes, you are stating a true fact. However, I'm pretty sure that the vast number of people who see these things do not consider the distinction you draw vastly more deceptive than, well, any other advertising out there, and much less so than most. Compare with, say, Comcast, and this is a model of clarity.
An additional reason is that it is somewhat derailing to rant about what many would think to be trivial quibbles about advertising copy in the middle of what is otherwise a discussion about the usefulness of the books, ORA, etc.
Nothing was derailed, I think my comment was the first.
Additionally, I believe it is more deceptive then your traditional advertisement. How much "Pay what you want" deals are out there? It is a very unique marketing strategy.
Additionally, I believe it is more deceptive then your traditional advertisement. How much "Pay what you want" deals are out there? It is a very unique marketing strategy.
I didn't down vote you, but it seems like you're being intentionally literal to the point of being a bit obtuse.
Technically you are correct, I understand that. The majority of people can look past the technicality but you, for some reason, won't.
It's like complaining about an all you can eat restaurant being falsely named because technically, I can eat more at home. Technically, they made a false claim, it's really only all I can eat in one visit, but nobody would be so petty as to complain about that. Would they?
Technically you are correct, I understand that. The majority of people can look past the technicality but you, for some reason, won't.
It's like complaining about an all you can eat restaurant being falsely named because technically, I can eat more at home. Technically, they made a false claim, it's really only all I can eat in one visit, but nobody would be so petty as to complain about that. Would they?
Otherwise known as; a lack of common sense/understanding
Woah there, did you just say I lack common sense? Is that a personal attack? We all know everyone on HN loves personal attacks.
In a buffet common sense reigns because everybody knows what a buffet is: an all you can eat deal in a single meal. Everyone knows this because buffets are numerous and have existed long before you or I have existed.
A humble bundle is not common sense. There is only one company currently doing this and therefore there is no intrinsic knowledge of the nature of what I am purchasing, in fact the humble bundle was invented within the last decade meaning most of you existed before humble bundle existed. There is nothing "obvious" about this.
You cannot equate this to a buffet. It's a ludicrous analogy similar to equating linux books to atomic bombs because both involve software of some sort. Honestly how many of you knew there was a one dollar minimum without reading about it? Or did you even know about the "free tier" without reading about it? Nothing on that page is obvious.
A humble bundle is not common sense. There is only one company currently doing this and therefore there is no intrinsic knowledge of the nature of what I am purchasing, in fact the humble bundle was invented within the last decade meaning most of you existed before humble bundle existed. There is nothing "obvious" about this.
You cannot equate this to a buffet. It's a ludicrous analogy similar to equating linux books to atomic bombs because both involve software of some sort. Honestly how many of you knew there was a one dollar minimum without reading about it? Or did you even know about the "free tier" without reading about it? Nothing on that page is obvious.
I must admit. I am stumped. I feel like I'm engaged in a debate to which I do not understand the rules.
I simply do not understand the motivation behind your arguments. I recognize that you are arguing, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why. You are talking about something that is clearly on the screen. There are 3 distinct blocks of books. They have a dollar value shown above them.
I would say that requires a bit of common sense, or perhaps hovering over the text "Pay what you want" and reading for a second. In fact, in order to get to the custom amount input box at the bottom of the screen, I count no less than 3 times you had to ignore the stipulation that the price was $1 for that tier of books.
Pay what you want is not a lie. It has a stipulation.
I simply do not understand the motivation behind your arguments. I recognize that you are arguing, but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why. You are talking about something that is clearly on the screen. There are 3 distinct blocks of books. They have a dollar value shown above them.
I would say that requires a bit of common sense, or perhaps hovering over the text "Pay what you want" and reading for a second. In fact, in order to get to the custom amount input box at the bottom of the screen, I count no less than 3 times you had to ignore the stipulation that the price was $1 for that tier of books.
Pay what you want is not a lie. It has a stipulation.
There is a german word for your behaviour.
i-Tüpferl-Reiter http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/i_Tuepferl_Reiter
Which roughly translates to: The need to make something better even if it is already as good as it gets
i-Tüpferl-Reiter http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/i_Tuepferl_Reiter
Which roughly translates to: The need to make something better even if it is already as good as it gets
I never mentioned such a need. What I mentioned was deception conducted by the company. Perhaps it is just misguided perception. People can't take a statement at face value, they must always make an assumption.
It may be imprecise, but "deceptive" is a bit harsh.
Deceptive is a bit harsh, but is it not the truth? One can be deceptive by being imprecise.
I wouldn't say it is. Look at the Games or Mobile sections, and it says "Pay what you want" for the cheapest tier. At those tiers, you can pay $0.01 and have them make a loss to provide the content, if you're OK with doing that. It's very clear at the top of every section exactly how much you have to pay to unlock each tier of content.
The books don't have a $0.01 tier. When you look at the page, the first line of content that isn't a headline makes it clear that it's a $1 minimum. When you hover over the "Pay what you want" text, it clarifies that, on this page, it's "Name your price of $1 or more." When you attempt to pay less than $1, it displays a warning that you won't get any content if you pay less than $1. The fact that you're here moaning about it makes it clear that you understand that it's a $1 minimum. So where's the deception?
The books don't have a $0.01 tier. When you look at the page, the first line of content that isn't a headline makes it clear that it's a $1 minimum. When you hover over the "Pay what you want" text, it clarifies that, on this page, it's "Name your price of $1 or more." When you attempt to pay less than $1, it displays a warning that you won't get any content if you pay less than $1. The fact that you're here moaning about it makes it clear that you understand that it's a $1 minimum. So where's the deception?
So let's cut to the chase: is that what they're doing here?
They are being imprecise by your own admission. Yes.
One can be deceptive by being imprecise
The question is whether this imprecision qualifies as deception.
The question is whether this imprecision qualifies as deception.
The $1 minimum is above the particular tier. Along with the marking for the $8 and $15 tiers.
And when you enter in the amount you want to pay, they tell you exactly what you will (or will not) get.
And when you enter in the amount you want to pay, they tell you exactly what you will (or will not) get.
Even less prominent is the "free" tier. You'll get one book for it.
There are many reasons why they do this, not least of which is that they handle Steam keys, and by imposing a minimum cost, it means bad actors can't as easily get tonnes of Steam keys for resale or using their purchases to game Steam and other services in other ways. They now apply this policy across the board.
Read more here: http://www.gamesradar.com/humble-indie-bundle-responds-steam...
Read more here: http://www.gamesradar.com/humble-indie-bundle-responds-steam...
Does anyone know the legality of putting the DRM free pdf files into a public Dropbox folder? Not sure what copyrights or licenses still apply if I decide to buy these and share this with other people.
http://support.oreilly.com/oreilly/topics/if_i_buy_pdf_versi...
This is O'Reilly's take on it. You can lend it, but you can't have access to it while it's lent out. Really, really hard to enforce. But I believe PDFs are watermarked (don't know how they'll do it with this bundle), so if you lend it out and the copy gets into the wild, so to speak, they can trace it back to your account.
This is O'Reilly's take on it. You can lend it, but you can't have access to it while it's lent out. Really, really hard to enforce. But I believe PDFs are watermarked (don't know how they'll do it with this bundle), so if you lend it out and the copy gets into the wild, so to speak, they can trace it back to your account.
> But I believe PDFs are watermarked (don't know how they'll do it with this bundle), so if you lend it out and the copy gets into the wild, so to speak, they can trace it back to your account.
The thing that distinguishes Humble Bundle from the rest of the "book sellers" for me (I know you can't really call them "book sellers") is that they offer no DRM what so ever, and, by purchasing a pack for a ridiculously low price, you're contributing to a usually pretty good NGO/foundation in the process.
I usually share the hell out of a current bundle that looks interesting to me to everyone that I think might be interested in it while the offer lasts.
Me personally, I could never provide a copy of the bundle in public (however, I would share a book or two with someone I personally trust in case they missed the offer) because Humble Bundle is doing something that I don't see anyone else doing: providing awesome things for cheap and supporting some awesome organization in the process.
The thing that distinguishes Humble Bundle from the rest of the "book sellers" for me (I know you can't really call them "book sellers") is that they offer no DRM what so ever, and, by purchasing a pack for a ridiculously low price, you're contributing to a usually pretty good NGO/foundation in the process.
I usually share the hell out of a current bundle that looks interesting to me to everyone that I think might be interested in it while the offer lasts.
Me personally, I could never provide a copy of the bundle in public (however, I would share a book or two with someone I personally trust in case they missed the offer) because Humble Bundle is doing something that I don't see anyone else doing: providing awesome things for cheap and supporting some awesome organization in the process.
Every ebook I bought (which is over a thousand now) from O'reilly, Pragmatic Programmers, Manning, and Apress in the past ten years or so has been DRM free.
O'Reilly, NoStarch, Packt and Leanpub books are fine since they're completely clean. But books from Pragmatic Programmers, Manning, Apress, Addison Wesley, Pearson and Sams are watermarked which I consider just as bad as DRM. I never buy digital books from publishers who watermark.
It's rather easy to remove watermarks from PDFs with just UNIX tools, btw. (Of course it involves regular expressions.)
Why is watermarking "just as bad"? It doesn't interfere with me using the files, so I personally don't care.
Watermarking puts the liability (maybe not legally) on the customer to protect the files from any third party access because there's always the risk that someone who gains access to them puts the files on the net with your name/email or user id on it. This is something no customer can realistically ensure and to me this is a huge restriction to the usage of the books. Second it's ugly as hell to have the watermark on every page. Third it sends the message to me as a customer that I'm not trusted. WTF dear publisher. I want to buy your ebook although I could find 90% of all ebooks for free on the net. Why do you think would I do that if I didn't want to support your business? You watermarking publishers need to realize that by watermarking you create a defective product. The people who pirate your books get a better product, one without a disgracing watermark. Whenever something like that happens, where the pirated product is better than the legally purchased one, it is a clear indication that the anti-piracy mechanism should be dropped. Big respect to Tim O'Reilly and Bill Pollock who are two of the few people who have fully understood that.
Ditto! This might be an unfair stance for me to take, but my thought is anyone opposed to them adding your name inside the book isn't using the book for a legitimate authorized use case most likely. It most certainly isn't a DRM to me in any normal sense and I'm perfectly ok with it.
I am not a lawyer, and I don't intend this to be legal advice. That said, having done a somewhat more than cursory amount of study when it comes to intellectual property issues, I'm 100% confident that this would be unlawful in the United States, and 95% confident that it would be unlawful in whatever country you're residing in right now, if it's not the US.
And frankly, I think a more than cursory study is overkill.
And frankly, I think a more than cursory study is overkill.
And just so we are clear, DRM is independent of copyright and license. the lack of DRM does not mean the author/publisher relinquishes claims over distribution channels, but here they are saying "we trust you not to share it". Your argument reads like "if its easy it must be legal".
DNS & BIND is one I recommend to anyone who ever has to touch anything related to networks, because so many problems I have seen in my 20 years of troubleshooting network problems have come down to someone not understanding DNS. It's well-written, covers the how and why, and covers everything from "I have one website" to "I run a dozen data centers with thousands of zones and thousands of queries per second" (and the authors have significant experience at all of those levels).
And Essential System Administration is a classic, though a bit dated the last time I looked at it (I mean, the core services and concepts it covers are relatively timeless, but it's missing a lot of modern cloud and service-based concepts).
That said, nearly all of these were first written (their first editions) when O'Reilly was publishing incredibly high quality books; well above anyone else in the industry, particularly for OSS and Free Software topics. So, probably a good value, if you haven't already read them and don't have a good foundation of knowledge of these topics.