
Humble Book Bundle: Unix - bdz
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/unix-book-bundle
======
SwellJoe
I think the best of these books (at least of the ones I've read) are in the
$15 tier. Several of the books in the lower tiers are ones I'd recommend
skipping and go to online resources, instead. It may not still be so, but when
I last looked at the O'Reilly bash books, many years ago, the TLDP bash
programming HOWTOs were more pragmatic and easy to follow (I think that's
here: [http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-
HOWTO.html](http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html) and
[http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/](http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/) ). I
guess UNIX in a Nutshell was good in its day, but is quite old now, even in
its 4th edition.

 _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.

~~~
contras1970
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](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.

~~~
SwellJoe
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.

~~~
contras1970
_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.

~~~
SwellJoe
I didn't know we were arguing. I'm not trying to dissuade you from using
djbdns.

------
bathory
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.

~~~
derekp7
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.

~~~
dublinben
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.

~~~
derekp7
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).

~~~
jsjohnst
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.

~~~
derekp7
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.

~~~
jsjohnst
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?

~~~
derekp7
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.

------
macintux
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.)

~~~
liveoneggs
Power Tools is a really great book though

------
strzalek
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...](https://gist.github.com/lukaszx0/0044aeb9ce86a7859a235093986ef885)

~~~
davidchua
Thanks! you just made my life so much easier.

------
xchaotic
$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.

------
_kst_
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.

~~~
hrnnnnnn
For what it's worth, if you use a Kindle, you can have them all emailed to
your device at once

~~~
Arkaad
The problem is that if you email them to your device, the books in your
library lose their cover picture. I always have to copy them manually with
Calibre to keep the cover.

------
squarefoot
I 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.

------
freehunter
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!

~~~
mkesper
I'm asking myself how relevant they are today? Tcp/Ip 3rd is from 2002, as
well as Essential Sysadmin 3rd.

~~~
johnmarcus
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.

~~~
Ianvdl
Would you mind sharing the title of the book?

~~~
jsjohnst
TCP/IP Illustrated Vol 1-3 is great and still very relevant.

------
jbmorgado
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.

~~~
newscracker
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.

------
combatentropy
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 Tools

------
sunnyps
It's missing the Unix Haters Handbook.

[http://web.mit.edu/~simsong/www/ugh.pdf](http://web.mit.edu/~simsong/www/ugh.pdf)

------
mrbill
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).

------
orbitingpluto
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.

~~~
arikrak
How does it take up so much space? What if you just download the epubs to your
Google Drive?

~~~
orbitingpluto
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.

------
kingosticks
Internal server error after the payment appeared to be accepted. I wonder if I
was actually charged or not...

------
partycoder
My favourite is "The Linux Programming Interface". It's a fantastic book...
very thick too.

~~~
didsomeonesay
This is not part of the bundle - or did I miss something?

------
crimsonalucard
"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.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
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. :)

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
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?

~~~
extropic-engine
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.

~~~
jsjohnst
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).

------
marklawrutgers
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.

~~~
Jtsummers
[http://support.oreilly.com/oreilly/topics/if_i_buy_pdf_versi...](http://support.oreilly.com/oreilly/topics/if_i_buy_pdf_version_of_a_book_can_i_share_it_to_my_friends)

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.

~~~
r3bl
> 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.

~~~
jsjohnst
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.

~~~
rollover
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.

~~~
detaro
Why is watermarking "just as bad"? It doesn't interfere with me using the
files, so I personally don't care.

~~~
rollover
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.

