August 2006
Peter SalusBecker's work, as its subtitle claims, is both "Tutorial and Reference." It is very successful at each level.
Peter SalusGranneman's Linux Phrasebook is really useful. Were it not for the final chapter (see below), I'd recommend it unreservedly.
Ed SchaeferIn my opinion, if Randall Hyde had his way everybody would know assembly language. In the latest volume of his Write Great Code series, Thinking Low-level, Writing High-Level, Hyde claims this is not the case. In fact, his stated goal is "to teach you what you need to know to write great code without becoming an expert assembly language programmer".
Cameron LairdAs fond as we are of Web development, plenty of situations deserve a richer user interface. This month's Regular Expressions demonstrates that GUI programming with wxPython can be simple and fun.
Kristy WestphalFirst and foremost, Bastille Linux is an operating system lockdown tool. It goes through many default settings on a Linux system and recommends settings that are more secure. Bastille Linux currently works on the major flavors of Linux (Red Hat, Gentoo, Debian, Fedora Core, SUSE), as well as HP-UX and Mac OS X (for developers only right now; a more complete user version is to be released soon). However, the team has only tested the assessment mode on the Red Hat and SUSE Linux platforms.
Cameron LairdIt's much different from almost any other software you've encountered, though. It's likely to feel very much like a program from a parallel universe.
Cameron Laird"Nagios is an open source host, service and network monitoring program." That's how the Nagios home page accurately begins. While systems administration remains a domain immature enough to support a broad variety of processes and products for managing computer systems, Nagios is probably as widely used now as any of its Unix-oriented competitors (early adopters will want to keep an eye on Zabbix, though). Note that you might have first encountered Nagios as "Netsaint", an earlier name whose development has now been entirely subsumed by the Nagios project.
Emmett DulaneyAs reviewed earlier this month and last, one of the latest certifications to get a major overhaul is A+ from CompTIA. It now consists of four exams — one that you must take (Essentials), and three from which you can choose an elective. The following questions are intended to allow you to test your knowledge of topics tested upon on the elective exams — specifically 220-602 (since all other electives are a subset of it) — and make certain you are ready for this certification before you begin considering it or preparing for it.
Emmett DulaneyFedora Core is a free, open-community, version of Red Hat. Not only does this book walk you through every major aspect of the operating system from installation to game playing, but it also includes a DVD that that has the full distribution on it as well as OpenOffice.org and a number of the other more common Linux programs.
Emmett DulaneyLast month, I introduced the changes that have been announced to the A+ certification, which is one of the most popular certifications currently in the IT industry. After a quick glimpse of the existing two-exam certification, the new path was presented. Although this certification also requires passing two exams, there are now three electives from which to choose after passing the one required test. For all practical purposes, the 220-602 exam (IT/Enterprise Technician) is the most comprehensive elective and the other two — 220-603 (Remote Technician) and 220-604 (Depot Technician) — are just subsets of that one.
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