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Book Reviews:

1.Red Hat Linux and Fedora Unleashed: by B Ball and H Duff ISBN 0672326299 (Sams Publishing 2004)


This book provides a comprehensive coverage of the open-community version of Redhat Linux know as Fedora Core. The book provides detailed information on installing, using and administering Fedora Core.


This is a big book 1045 pages 27 chapters and 2CDTOMS/1DVDROM of Fedora Core version 1). The major areas covered include:


  • installing and getting started with Fedora core,

  • managing Linux services and users,

  • configuring printers for use in Linux,

  • connecting to a network and the Internet,

  • setting up the Apache web-server,

  • setting up of an FTP server,

  • using Linux-based multimedia programs,

  • rebuilding and installing a new Linux kernel,

  • making Fedora more secure,

  • running other operating system with Fedora,

  • using a a database with Fedora,

  • setting-up a firewall,

  • using samba for file sharing.

This book is NOW bundled with versions of our Introduction-to-Linux course.

For Information on pricing please consult IT-minds and to buy this book please consult Basis Volume.


TT

2.Linux Kernel Programming:

(Algorithms and Structures for version 2.4- updated and extended 3rd edition)

by

M Beck, H Bihme, M Dziadzka, U Kunitz, R Magnus, C Schroter and D Verworder ISBN 0-201-71975-4 published by Addison Wesley ~June 2002 .





This book is a leading book on the Linux kernel. It a first authoritative book on programming the Linux 2.4 kernel. The book covers 469 pages and 10 chapters. The chapters include:-



  1. The Operating System. (The topics include Main characteristics, and Linux distributions.)

  2. Compiling the kernel. (Topics include Compiling, and Additional configuration facilities.)

  3. Introduction to the kernel (The topics include important Data structures, Main algorithm, and Implementation and system calls.)

  4. Memory management. (The topics include The architecture-independent memory model, The virtual address space of a process, Block device caching and Memory paging under Linux.)

  5. Interprocess Communication or IPC ( The topics include Synchronisation in the kernel, Communications via files, Pipes, Debugging using ptrace, System V IPC, and IPC with sockets.)

  6. The Linux file system. (The topics include The representation of the file systems in the kernel, The ext2 file system, and The Proc file system.)

  7. Device drivers under Linux. (The topics include Character and block device, Hardware, polling, Interrupts and waiting queues, Implementing a driver, Dynamic and Static Drivers.)

  8. Network Implementation. ( The topics include Important structures and Network devices under Linux).

  9. Modules and debugging.( The topics include Modules, Implementation in the kernel, The meaning of object sections for modules and kernel, Parameter transfer and examples, What can be implemented as a module, The kernel daemon, Simple data-swapping between modules, An example module and Debugging.)

  10. Multiprocessing. (The topics include The multi processor specifications, Problems with multiprocessor systems, Changes in the kernel, Atomic operations and Spin locks.)


Appendix A:System calls. (The topics include process management, the file system, Communication, and memory management.)

Appendix B: Kernel related Commands

Appendix C: The Proc filesystem

Appendix D:The Booting Process

Appendix E:Useful kernel functions.


The book also contains A CDROM with source code for:-


    kernel 2.4.0 with patches up to patch 2.4.9.
    modutils-2.4.12
    net tools-1.60
    settrace4.4.1
    setserisl -2.15
    sysvint-2.84an internel PC speaker device drivers
    a directory with FAQ;s Howto's and Documentation from the Linux documentation Project


This is a book for the serious Linux kernel hacker. As shown from the chapter descriptions (and indeed the list of authors) this is a book that covers multiple areas of application and methodologies of the Linux kernel. My interest in Linux kernel programming is for much needed device drivers for PCI-bus-mastering devices. I therefore obtained this book to aid our device driver program (for PCI bus-mastering ASICs) described here .


I found chapters 7 and 9 the closest to the needs of the project. I found the chapter short on examples of a PCI driver however. An example driver of say a PCI audio card would have been useful in such important a book considering the PCI-bus is now standard on PC and non-PC's alike. The best way to learn programming is to read source code and the CD contains a wealth of source code and documentation that are useful for experimenting with the kernel.


Our linux training section offers an embedded Linux course. Kernel programming is an integral part of this course and accordingly this book will be adopted by the course.




For information on pricing please contact IT-minds or for pricing information or to buy this book please contact Basis Volume


TT

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