# Books for Freebsd



## paulfrottawa (May 22, 2009)

I wanting to buy a book on Freebsd. I no developer but a good book can change that. I had seen something at Chapters but the 4 books they had are gone. 

I must have at least two years in Freebsd so I'm not after a Basic book I think please offer suggestions.


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## DutchDaemon (May 23, 2009)

You'll find some suggestions here.


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## Oko (May 23, 2009)

paulfrottawa said:
			
		

> I wanting to buy a book on Freebsd. I no developer but a good book can change that. I had seen something at Chapters but the 4 books they had are gone.


You want to hack kernel?

Assuming that you know Ritchie's book C Programming Language I would suggest. 

1. Advanced programming in the Unix environment by Richard Stevens

2. Lion's Commentary on Unix

3. Design of the UNIX Operating System by Maurice J. Bach

4.  The Design and Implementation of the 4.4 BSD by Marshall Kirk McKusick


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## DutchDaemon (May 23, 2009)

http://www.bsdvm.com/main/infocenter/books


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## Oko (May 23, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> http://www.bsdvm.com/main/infocenter/books


That is a GOOD locking web-site Dutch. Would you be willing to 
share CSS?


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## vermaden (May 23, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> Would you be willing to share CSS?



Use Opera Dragonfly or Firefox's Firebug and you will get all needed CSS info.


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## tangram (May 25, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> http://www.bsdvm.com/main/infocenter/books



Don't want to rain on the parade but... is that site legit?

I mean those are pdf copies of popular books and honestly I very much doubt that both the publishers and author allowed their full text publication online.


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## vermaden (May 25, 2009)

tangram said:
			
		

> Don't want to rain on the parade but... is that site legit?
> 
> I mean those are pdf copies of popular books and honestly I very much doubt that both the publishers and author allowed their full text publication online.



Site is legal, dunno about PDFs


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## tangram (May 25, 2009)

vermaden said:
			
		

> Site is legal, dunno about PDFs



Yeah exactly were I was going.

Anyways I wrote a couple of reviews of FreeBSD books recently acquired:
Book Review: The Best of FreeBSD Basics
Book Review: Building a Server with FreeBSD 7
Book Review: Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition

Disclaimer: reader be advised that these contain my 100% biased opinion of each of them :e.


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## alie (May 25, 2009)

The Best is FreeBSD handbook.

I have The Best of FreeBSD Basics and Absolute FreeBSD: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD, 2nd Edition but.... i prefer FreeBSD handbook still...


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## tangram (May 25, 2009)

Honestly I found The Best of FreeBSD Basics very lacking. Maybe I'm alone on this opinion but comparing it with Lucas' book or the Handbook makes my quiver.

I haven't published reviews from FreeBSD 6 Unleashed, The Book of PF and BSD Unix Toolbox but so far they look very promising (only read a few chapters of each).


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## graudeejs (May 25, 2009)

I love FreeBSD 6 Unleashed....
It's very good for starters

If not that book, I wouldn't probably be posting here (if you know what I mean)


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## oliverh (May 25, 2009)

tangram said:
			
		

> Honestly I found The Best of FreeBSD Basics very lacking. Maybe I'm alone on this opinion but comparing it with Lucas' book or the Handbook makes my quiver.
> 
> I haven't published reviews from FreeBSD 6 Unleashed, The Book of PF and BSD Unix Toolbox but so far they look very promising (only read a few chapters of each).



Because the one is a 'better manual' (Lucas' book), the other is a compendium of useful hints (Dru's book). So you're comparing apples and oranges. My favorite is btw. BSD Hacks.


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## tangram (May 25, 2009)

And I was think I was comparing books


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## Oko (May 25, 2009)

oliverh said:
			
		

> Because the one is a 'better manual' (Lucas' book), the other is a compendium of useful hints (Dru's book). So you're comparing apples and oranges. My favorite is btw. BSD Hacks.


BSD Hacks is a very,very interesting book. I personally find only 10-15 interesting but the book is worth of buying even for 5 let alone 15 hacks. One draw back of BSD Hacks is that it is too FreeBSD centric and even more irritating are significant 
number of Linuxism among hacks.


Lucas' books Absolute BSD, Absolute OpenBSD, Absolute FreeBSD 
(and ill fated Absolute NetBSD which never got finished and published) are the best user manuals written for BSD.

Despite its age I really love Greg's The Complete FreeBSD.


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## Oko (May 25, 2009)

killasmurf86 said:
			
		

> I love FreeBSD 6 Unleashed....
> It's very good for starters


Rather poorly written text. I would not recommend for buying. I have
read the book in the book store though.


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## Nokobon (May 26, 2009)

I went for "Absolute FreeBSD 2nd edition" to start with FreeBSD.
So far I have read almost half of the book and I have to agree:
It`s really great. Well written and even to me an absolute newbie to UNIX-like OS`s everything is comprehensible.

Now I am looking for another book about FreeBSD, something as a compendium of standard and useful commands and I`ve found "BSD UNIX Toolbox: 1000+ Commands".

Any experience with that one? Is it a good choice?


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## tangram (May 26, 2009)

Nokobon said:
			
		

> Now I am looking for another book about FreeBSD, something as a compendium of standard and useful commands and I`ve found "BSD UNIX Toolbox: 1000+ Commands".
> 
> Any experience with that one? Is it a good choice?



I do own it though only read 2-3 chapters. It is very command focused as the book's own title points out.

Though it says NetBSD and OpenBSD in the subtitle it doesn't contains anything specific to both.

It is a nice to have book that contains not only FreeBSD usefull commands but loads of stuff applicable to any Unix like system.

And it is also very much bash centric when it comes to shells.


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## Nokobon (May 26, 2009)

Sounds not that bad, since I am looking for a command focused book.
Absolute FreeBSD doesn't cover all the basic commands, that I as a UNIX-newbie need.


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## tangram (May 26, 2009)

Then go for it.

And if you use other Unix-like systems there will be loads of commands that you'll be able to carry over .


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## Oko (Jun 27, 2009)

Nokobon said:
			
		

> Now I am looking for another book about FreeBSD, something as a compendium of standard and useful commands and I`ve found "BSD UNIX Toolbox: 1000+ Commands".
> 
> Any experience with that one? Is it a good choice?



Not worth of buying nor reading. I read it in the book store though


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## Oko (Jun 27, 2009)

godzila said:
			
		

> For initial stage you can use The Best of Freebsd Basics book. It will suited to you. Second Step you can use Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD Security book & ultimate guide is The Ultimate Guide to FreeBSD book. So these all i like to suggest. Cheers



You do not have to buy the best of Free BSD basic to read it. 
You can just read BSD diary which is free 

http://www.freebsddiary.org/

Mastering FreeBSD and OpenBSD security is ok read for people with no experience in security on FreeBSD. I must be crazy but I have not found a single information relevant to OpenBSD in that book. 

Your ultimate guide is the first edition of Absolute FreeBSD!


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## Nokobon (Jun 27, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> Not worth of buying nor reading. I read it in the book store though



Well, in my town there are several really big book stores, but they only have Linux books. 
Didn't find anything related to FreeBSD there, which means I can't even do a test reading on those books before I buy one...


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## danger@ (Jun 27, 2009)

use Amazon or similar. Find something that interests you and if you're lucky you will be able to find a pdf version somewhere on the internet. If you will like it, go and order it online.


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## Nokobon (Jun 28, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> You do not have to buy the best of Free BSD basic to read it.
> You can just read BSD diary which is free
> 
> http://www.freebsddiary.org/


There are some really useful tutorials, but unfortunatel most of them are about 10 years old...
And I'm not feeling comfortable rusing such an old how-to on security.



			
				danger@ said:
			
		

> use Amazon or similar. Find something that interests you and if you're lucky you will be able to find a pdf version somewhere on the internet. If you will like it, go and order it online.


Yes, of course I do so, but I'd like it more to thumb through a real book instead of Amazon and maybe a pdf-file...


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## tanked (Jun 29, 2009)

Oko said:
			
		

> Despite its age I really love Greg's The Complete FreeBSD.



Agreed, you can tell it was written by someone who knows FreeBSD inside out; I wish he would write the next edition for FreeBSD 8.


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## oliverh (Jun 29, 2009)

tanked said:
			
		

> Agreed, you can tell it was written by someone who knows FreeBSD inside out; I wish he would write the next edition for FreeBSD 8.



Yes would be nice, but he is out of the 'business' and a happy retiree now


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