Question regarding "Humble Bundle: Linux by Apress"

Arts & Media
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Hey all,

hope I’m not breaking any rules for creating a new topic - looked for older ones, but it didn’t seem like there was an appropriate one to ask around.

HB Link

Would anyone mind sharing their thoughts on the quality of the content, which is part of this HB pack? Is it actually good to use as an entry point to learning Linux, or would you skip for some other publisher/courses?

I’d really appreciate some opinions.

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I think there’s already tons of good tutorials on YouTube that are free. :penguin:

2 Likes
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It depends on how you best learn and what you plan to do with Linux.

I cannot speak for the quality but for 15 euro it is a lot of knowledge being shared for a lot of different areas. That said, what is your plan? Server admin? Development? Just learn more about Linux in general? These books seem to be mostly for sysadmins, but there are a few other good ones in there.

Is it worth the investment? Probably, but I would complement it with a course or two on skillshare or other similar site.

If you really wish to learn, start using Linux. You can read a thousand books on the subject but nothing beats some experience. :slight_smile:

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I’m currently working as…hm, hard to tell actually. It’s called internally “Software Distribution”, and is based upon SCCM (and similar types of tools) administration of deployments, troubleshooting, patch management etc. - obviously, it’s all Windows based though.

I also develop some powershell/python scripts/tools to automate or reduce the manual workload - though I don’t think I can consider myself a developer. Not sure how much of 2 years (started somewhere around August 2018 with Powershell, and March 2019 with Python) of that type of “side-work” amounts to experience, as we’re not a Dev team, so I can rely only on myself.

I’d like to switch over to a full time developer job, though I see some of the openings have something like “knowledge of Unix, Linux (command line) and Virtualization” - I assume it’s meant about overall being able to develop for/in microservice-type of environment, as it often lists Kubernetes and Docker knowledge alongside.

It’s really hard to say, how much of it I’d need to know, but I assume the deeper the knowledge, the better the chance I won’t be omitted over some other person with a deeper knowledge. :slight_smile:

In regards to Linux, I’ve had Red Hat at work for the first 5-6 months, but it was used only to launch a Win VM, so that amounts to 0 practical knowledge.

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This set should be useful for you then. :slight_smile:

Terminal Basics (Bash)

There’s also a lot on the FreeCodeCamp channel:

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I haven’t read any of the HB books but my experience with Apress has been positive in general. What I can vouch for is How Linux Works published by No Starch Press. It isn’t a step by step introduction but answers most questions you could have and then some plus it is distro agnostic. I’d get that and then start running my own Linux stuff and getting involved in forums like this. There’s some decent content on YT as well. You could get that book and then setup Arch. It wouldn’t be easy but you’d be far ahead of most people by the time you had a running system. The stuff that sticks in my head best is things I had to go figure out to solve a problem so for me there’s no substitute for running Linux.

I can’t vouch for everything on the site but there are some good classes on Linux Academy (now A Cloud Guru), especially on Linux basics, BASH and Python. Some of the lessons are free and they run good specials from time to time. If you get a subscription to a service like Linux Academy you get everything they have so you can sample a wide variety until you narrow your interests/needs. I’m not a LA shill, it is simply the one I’ve used. There are others out there. There are some all-you-can-eat book places too if you’re more into reading.

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for 18 bucks US id get the whole shebang never know when you will need to use a book to reference some obscure shit.

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For your plans, it seems like these books might give some help - I have not read any of them myself, mind you, so just working from titles and descriptions here:

  • Learn Windows Subsystem for Linux - Should be a good book for getting your feet wet in a corporate environment. Start here, then go with
  • Beginning Ubuntu for Windows and Mac Users - This should explain what the first book did not, and give you more “meat” on your Linux legs, so to speak. After that, I recommend:
  • Practical System Programming with C - Teaches you quite a few good things, one of them being the C programming language, and another being POSIX and how to work with a POSIX environment. Great to learn git or other version control software while getting into this, too! Then, it’s onwards to…
  • Linux Containers and Virtualization - The final piece of the puzzle to get you to become a functioning Linux developer. Teaches you about virtualization and how to think about containers more generally. After that, Kubernetes, Docker or other such technologies will be much easier to pick up.

Next one is up to you. If you want to avoid sysadmin work, you might want to wait with these:

  • Migrating from MariaDB
  • Pro SQL Server on Linux
  • Pro Linux System Administration
  • The Linux Philosophy for Sysadmins
  • Using and administering Linux vol 2
  • Using and administering Linux vol 3

For $20, it’s a decent price to get your feet wet. Good luck!

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Thanks to you all, for your insight. Indeed, for that cost - it seems a rather good deal even if some positions in it won’t be useful. :slight_smile: