5 comments about Windows 2000 Registry Little Black Book, 2nd Ed..

1. This book is written in such a way to give the reader maximum amount of useful information in a minimum amount of time. Each tip is included in a self contained section which lists all of the steps necessary to implement the tip. The reader is spared unnecessary information about underlying concepts and developmental theory. One tip that I utilized immediately was to disable that annoying animation everytime a window is minimized or restored. Another was speeding up the menus so when the mouse is moved over a menu, the submenu would appear very quickly. This book is a must for anyone supporting a network or end users.



2. This was the first book that I read concerning the Windows 98 Registry and could have stopped after finishing this book. The other books lacked the concise detail provided by this book.

   This book provides what every computer reference book should but doesn't. Readable informative prose combined with detailed instructions clearly outlining how to accomplish any type of editing possible.

   I am the caretaker for a computer lab at work and used this book on a daily basis at work and home. I finally purchased a second copy to cut down on wear and tear of the original. The book is a valuable tool and anyone working with Windows 98 on a daily basis should include this book in their library.




3. Hm, well i unlike most of the people with their "reviews" find this book very interesting and well written, this book can take you deep into windows 2000 registry, starting from changing settings of your keyboard and finishing with resolving networking problems through regedit. I got this book from a friend, now i think i'm gonna buy one for myself.



4. This book could have fit on the front and back of a single page, laminated pamphlet.

   Each entry in the book contains the exact step-by-step instructions on how to open regedit, how to reboot your computer after you've completed editing, etc etc. That wouldn't be bad had these instructions not consumed a whole page each. We're talking about 200 - 250 pages of paper in this book CONTAINING THE EXACT SAME INFORMATION (word for word).




5. These "Little Black Books" are published by the same people as the Exam Cram books and they are very useful. I've got this one along with the Reducing TCO book. Both have come in handy for me. I recently got this Registry book out to figure out an authentication problem we are having on our network. I didn't find anything to fix our problem, but I ended up reading the Sys Admin and TCP/IP section and found a lot of good useful info in there. These books are set up for ease of use. The chapters are tabbed in black so you can find what you are looking for real fast. The Index is very comprehensive and it is easy to look stuff up. It has a quick reference pull-out sheet like the Exam Cram books have. The second edition has some updated information and an expanded index. We should probably be seeing a third edition soon. A third edition or a new one for Windows 2003. This is a useful tool for 2k Sys Admin types and OS power users.

5 comments about FreeBSD: An Open-Source Operating System for Your Personal Computer.

1. I bought the book after I had installed a broken FreeBSD 4.7 on my old AMD K6-II. Despite the few typos here and there, the book helped me figure out what mistakes I had made during my previous installation ! I thus re-installed from scratch, following page by page. In no time, the system was up and running, I was customizing my shell behavior, connecting to the internet through my cable modem (Roadrunner/Earthlink), etc...

   With some extra hardware, my old AMD K6-II is now a router/firewall between my cable modem and my WinXP/Red Hat 8.0 dual-boot box without a glitch, and am planning to add a second box to my LAN and use it as a printer server too.

   For those who still hesitate, this book is written in english, not in nerdish. That itself makes it stand out from all the computer litterature I've read. This book is very valuable.

   Annelise: your book made my hardware firewall project feel like a walk in the park. Thank you so much !




2. I had been getting fed up with using Windows and wanted to learn a new operating system. I bought Anderson's book and installed FreeBSD 4.6 on an extra hard drive in my computer. The book covers a broad range of topics and I found it very helpful during the installation process. The first 10 chapters are great. I started to get annoyed with Chapter 12 on connecting to the internet. I used PPP and something kept going wrong. I still do not know what it was but the errors I got were endless. The chapters little sidenotes on troubeshooting were of no help and I eventually gave up. Then I tried to install the printer daemon and also recieved errors. I followed the book as best I could and eventually gave up and moved on. Chapter 14 on the X window system is great. Other than the printer and PPP problems (which could have just been my misunderstanding of the book), I would recommend this book to someone else



3. I first tried to install FreeBSD 4.8 on my K6-2 500mhz machine using the FreeBSD Handbook as a guide. While this book (the Handbook) is the standard for reference on the subject, it doesn't really explain it to a newbie's needs (even someone coming from Linux). My first attempts failed. I bought Annelise's book and was able to get 4.8 up and running following her suggestions. Though my copy came with a CD of FreeBSD 4.7, I had already burned ISO images of 4.8. The processes detailed in the book applied equally well. My only complaint would be that the book needs updating to reflect areas that a lot of people (most people) are interested in these days: burning music to CD - especially ATAPI CD devices, and USB mass storage devices. Both could be covered by a chapter on how to use SCSI emulation. I still give it 5 stars.



4. If you're looking for a place to start with FreeBSD (or with open soruce in general), this is really the book to get. I knew a little UNIX before I picked this up, but essentially I was a babe in the woods. This book helped me get my system up and running with clear, task-oriented discussions of all of the essentials. This doesn't go as deep as some of the other FreeBSD books out there (for that you'll probably want "Absolute BSD" by Michael Lucas), but it does tell you what you need to know to get started.



5. This book is a must if you are learning BSD Unix. All the commands you'll ever use are covered in this book. This book is easy to read and explains important topics without being exhaustive (a skill some authors never learn). A great book for newbies to BSD Unix!

2 comments about 101 Killer Apps for Your Palm Handheld (101 Best¿Series).

1. This is pretty much a waste of print. It is a compilation of advertisments for available apps. The included disk has NO apps on it, only a list of links to go to the web page where the apps are located. Nearly all of the apps are for sale, not free. If you want apps do a Google search for the appps you need, most of which can be downloaded for free.



2. Junk programs, mostly trial offers. Many of these trial programs cannot be permanently installed because the programmers stopped supporting them by website. Get ready to pay, and no payment will be accepted. Then you only have the option to delete the program.
   
   What a waste of time and money.

4 comments about Jini Example By Example.

1. everything you need to start developing services and clients and nothing unnecessary.

   clear, concise explanations, better than those in the Professional Jini book.

   sample programs/code needs better formatting for better readablility though




2. This book looks like it was rushed into publication. The example code is formatted incorrectly in every example and much of the text is straight out of Edwards' "Core Jini" (a better book but somewhat outdated). I also don't like Edwards' informal style of writing. The text is peppered with colloquialisms and redundancy and is generally not concise. He explains the one to four page code chunks awkwardly in text before or after the code rather than provide useful comments in the code. The comments that are in the code are sometimes obvious like documenting a function "addRates" as "adds a new currency exchange rate". I hope Edwards is writing a better book for Jini 1.2. Keith, if you are, let me know and I'll help you with that pesky English.



3. The main problem I find in this book is that Edwards uses an example, and then to build upon it adding more functionality, extends it...again and again etc. You are left with a confusing hierarchy of classes.
   So, if you want to jump in, find out which classes are needed to build clients and services, and get to it, anything by this author is not worth your time.
   You are either forced to use a hierarchy like he does ( which is a bad idea ) or back track through every one of is classes to find out what functionality you want.
   The Wrox book on Jini might be the best book around.

   The only reason I even gave it 2 stars was because if you do want to learn about the lower level/ non utility classes and how they work the first few chapters are ok for this.

   Also, god forbid you have a question for the author...don't expect a response.




4. If you learn better from an example than from a dry reference, this book will be a great way to get into Jini.

   It has little by the way of background explanation or reference material, but the example code (and the instructions on installing, configuring and running the various parts of Jini) are comprehensive and detailed, building into two interesting case studies - a chat system and a distributed remote storage system demonsrating all the Jini features.

   For discussion, hints, tips and experience get "Core Jini". For a reference get "Jini in a Nutshell". For the best and most interesting examples, get this book.

2 comments about Operating Systems and Middleware: Supporting Controlled Interaction.

1. I bought the book to get more background on middleware. However, the book is rather just a book on operating systems in general. The smattering of middleware discussion does not merit the mention of it on the book's cover.



2. This past summer, I used this book as the text in my operating systems class where in the past I had used "Operating Systems: Third Edition", by Gary Nutt. There were two reasons for the change.
   
   *) The material that I wanted to cover is more compact in the Hailperein book and the compressed schedule of the summer forces the material to be delivered in a more compact format.
   *) The code examples are all in Java, which is a bit more consistent with the tactics we use in our major.
   *) While there was little coverage of middleware, I thought that I could take up the slack.
   
   Now that the course is over, I look back at how things went and have concluded that I will not be using this book again. There is just too little coverage of middleware to make up the slack in a short time period. I also concluded that there is not quite the depth of coverage overall that I feel is necessary in the course. Therefore, at this time I am engaged in a search for a new textbook for operating systems.

No comments about Supporting Users And Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a Microsoft Windows Xp Operating System (70-272).

2 comments about Computational Biology: Unix/Linux, Data Processing and Programming.

1. A straightforward little book. Essentially a unix text about sed, awk and Perl. Ostensibly, it has to do with computational biology and the parsing of the various common data formats in that field. But a perusal of the book shows that the scope is more general. The biology formats are used as case studies. If you are in high energy physics, for example, and you have accelerator data in some other format, the book might still be of use in helping you parse out what you need.
   
   The sed and awk discussions could have be written 10 years or more ago. Those programs have been very stable. Whereas Perl has undergone relatively rapid changes. In fact, as the book indicates, Perl is far more powerful than sed or awk. It is a fully fledged programming language that can take you some time to master. The book doesn't give a comprehensive coverage of Perl's abilities. But for the expected reader, it may suffice.



2. I have to confess I bought this book in a rush, without reading the descriptions and reviews. Although I was a bit disappointed (I'm not a newbie on that subject anymore), this does not mean it's useless - I'm sure it will be of great use to people who are totally unfamiliar with Linux systems and programming. I would probably use it to teach this subject for undergraduates.

5 comments about How to Do Everything with Your CLIE(TM).

1. I've enjoyed this book. Much easier to read than a boring manual. I would buy other books from these authors.



2. I purchased this book when I bought the Sony Clie T-655. Even though this book is mostly about the NR70v it helped me understand how my clie funtioned tips, websites, suppliers it has it all. I have upgraded to NX70v and It is just as helpful if not more then before. There is nothing that this book does not cover and I even mean the dumb mistakes beginners make and what the Clie book doesnt have in it. So if you own a sony clie it is worth every penny for all the info is used in every aspect of your clie. Now I hope they come up with a newer version for the OS.5. thanks Guys for a great book. would be lost without it.!! Dr.



3. I am an experienced Clie user and I did not find this book very useful at all. If you are a NEW PDA user, then this book might be for you. All others, leave it at the bookstore!



4. Some people had given bad reviwer to this book, but to make honor to the true, this book give you what it offer. Ofcourse it does not give you everything about your PDA, that's imposible for el printed material in the computer field. other than that the writer maked a very ease to follow and joyful book to read, if your an expert PDA user or have had a lot of expirense with your PDA you do not need ANY book to teach you or guide you on how to use it. otherwise this is a most have book. I give it a buy it! Review



5. For the Clie' owner this is a must have reference. It not only expounds on what is in your Sony manual but has loads of practical advice and tips for Clie' use, references to sites for inexpensive hardware/software, and 3rd party software that you can purchase knowing that it will work with your Clie'.
   The book is well written and frequently humorous (think Siscal and Ebert...or Roper). The authors do not make the assumption that you already know all the basics of PDA's. The basics are there to read if you need them. This book pays for itself!

5 comments about Developing Your Own 32-Bit Operating System/Book and Cd-Rom.

1. MMURTL V1.0. The title seems to imply that there is going to be a second version. Oh Please.

   Like OS/2, which also faded into obscurity, MMURTL is a toy operating system written entirely in assembly code by some bozo who forked over $5000 to buy an 80386. Bad investment junior, go back to your coa-coa puffs.

   Burgess obviously doesn't know what open source development is about (thank god Linus did). This has pretty much doomed MMURTL to the backwaters, along with other great hits like the TRS-80.
   
   Should Bill Gates be worried about MMURTL? Oh, that's funny. Hell no, MMURTL is about as much of a threat to Windows as a 3-year-old is against the Oakland Raider's offensive line. Get real!

   Don't waste your money.




2. Usually when a software project is hobbled like this, the author does it to make things easy to understand. This can not be said in this books defense. It's both elementary and difficult to understand.

   For beginners I would read Villani's book on FreeDOS, which does a much better job of explaining basics. Once you've conquered FreeDOS, move on to Linux. Linux has the benefits of extensive documentation on internals and a massive base of users (which are things that MMURTL does NOT have).




3. The one thing that seems to stand out in my mind is how the code seems to be thrown together without any regard for long term maintenance (i.e. assembly code isn't wrapped in C, most of the kernel is in x86 assembly code, doesn't seem to be any sort of structural design underpinning the different components, etc.). This is evident by the fact that the author often admits that he had problems remembering what he had done. If an overall design blueprints/metaphors had existed, he wouldn't have had this problem.
   
   I assume that the author decided he would tackle his OS project and then get on with his life. In other words, let's get this done and then never, NEVER, look back (history seems to have verified this: the author wrote the OS in the early 1990s and then left MMURTL at the station with bus fair in the mid 1990s). There was no home-page on the internet, nor promoter outside of SAMs publishing.

   MMURTL did not take off. The hundreds of hours that the author spent building tools and wading around in the dark have been, for all intensive purposes, lost. All that remains is a jumbled book, as a testimony to one man's urge to climb a mountain "because it's there."

   Had Richard involved other people and Open-Sourced his creation, the man-power necessary to take MMURTL out of its confusing infantile state may have been available. Instead, Richard decided to build MMURTL utilizing a software team consisting of one person, and the rest is history.

   Those readers who want to dig into OS internals should defer to Linux. Unlike MMURTL, Linux is a "live" system (which admins actually use) with all the features you would expect in an enterprise OS. Linux has a sane design, does a sufficient job of isolating hardware specifics, and information/support can be located at dozens of web-sites. Best of all, Linus and his cast of thousands have wrapped the assembly code and given it a structural underpinning.

   At the end of the day, this book is a nice concept whose execution never really followed through. There may be one or two useful snippets of code, but I wouldn't invest 6 months of my life to become a MMURTL fanatic. History and evolution were the judges and Linux is the winner.




4. Some reviewers may fall back on the sorry excuse that this book is intended for educational purposes (because it does not examine a system being used by IT professionals). But my guess would be that these same reviewers must have ulterior motives ...because this book is, by no means, and educational textbook.

   What Burgess does, throughout the book, is basically dump code in your lap. There is no discussion of background theory, which is an absolute necessity when dealing with complicated topics like Intel Protected Mode and the 8259 Programmable Interrupt Controller (PIC). Instead, what he does is throw a bunch of source code at you (to pad the book's size) and then expect you to sift through everything line-by-line, with the expectation that you already know how PIC interrupt control words work, and that you understand how x386 segment descriptors work.

   There are a number of books on the Linux Kernel that do not suffer from these shortcomings. Specifically, the book by Bovet and Cesati does an amazing job of explaining all the little details (and don't think that this doesn't make a big difference, the devil is in the details). Check out Bovet's explanation of how Linux uses protected mode memory on Intel, it's well done.

   You can tell that PHDs like Bovet actually take pride in their work (unlike some two-dollar ex-technical school instructor who just expects you to learn by osmosis).

   Instructional text books are about lowering the learning threshold. The goal is to make a subject as easy to understand as possible. Burgess has not done that in this book. He hands you his code and then expects you to do the requisite foot-work. In this sense, this book is more of a poorly documented journal rather than something that an engineer would use to learn from.

   Documentation? Ha, that's a good one. If you're lucky, you might get cryptic one-line comments. The author admits, in certain points in the book, that his lack of documentation came back to haunt him (i.e. "I went back months later, only to realize that I forgot what I had done"). If Burgess worked for me writing software, I would have fired him.

   The reality of this book is that Burgess wrote an operating system because he had nothing better to do (he was retired). Retired people are like that; let's climb a mountain because it's there (what else am I going to do? Build a ship in a bottle? Watch TV?). However, once he completed the first cut, I suspect that he lost heart and decided to get a life. This book is his attempt to re-coup on the time he spent writing his own OS. Unfortunately, that's really all this book is. He took what he had and haphazardly crammed it into book format.




5. 
   The thing most of the reviews seem to be missing is that this was written in 1995 (when Linux didn't even -function-) and OSS was in reality, barely off the ground. Most reviews carp about how this os/book is a "no show" - that's not really the point. It shows all of the bits necessary to write an OS from scratch.
   
   Apparently, few of the readers have actually worked in industry.

3 comments about The Windows® 98 Registry.

1. This book, while comprehensive, is not written for your average user. As a PC technician for over 10 years, this book had me reading paragraphs two or three times in order to understand what Mr. Woram is trying to communicate. The book is written as you would expect a government manual on rules and regulations to be written. Example: "So whenever bad things happen and the Registry is a prime suspect, you should start searching for evidence in Chapter 7. However, if a problem is polite enough to announce itself by displaying a message, then try Chapter 8, where such messages are lined up for inspection. Some messages are self-explanatory, while others border on the incomprehensible. If you encounter one of the latter, perhaps the explanation offered in this book will help. And if neither the message nor the explanation is enough to resolve the problem, then you'll find a reference to a section in the previous chapter, or to an earlier part of the book, where the required information can be found." HUH?? He also details a way of backing up the two main HKEYs in DOS. What he fails to mention, however, is that those files have attributes that you must reset before you can run his example commands. OH, and if your registry is very large, this exporting can take upwards of an hour or more. And when doing the restore in DOS, he fails to mention that a large registry may result in an Out Of Memory error, since DOS has such limited memory capacity. He tends to be a bit wordy, with things like: "The title bar at the top of the window contains the conventional Windows components: a Control menu icon, the title of the application, and the usual three buttons for minimize, restore, and close. No further explanation is offered here." So while he feels the need to tell us that a registry error may 'annouce itself', he feels the need to tell us that it does this by 'displaying a message', (see above), and then he says, in the other example that "no other information is offered here." Well, one could deduce that fact on ones own, without that frivolous information. He writes parts of the book as if the reader has never used Windows before, and then writes other parts of the book using Hexidecimal codes without an explanation of how to interpret them. Example: "Just add 10 to the hexidecimal..." If you see 5E, how do you add 10 to that? This would require previous knowledge of hexidecimal since no explanation is offered in this book. Definately not a cover-to-cover read. An excellent reference for a technician or power user. Not for your average Joe.



2. I agree with the previous review. Seemingly comprehensive but how do you get through it? Very poorly written. Compare his writing skills to Paul McFedries, for example, an excellent writer. A better book on the Win 98 Registry has to be out there.



3. I'll use the previous reviewers words... "This book, while comprehensive, is not written for your average user". Unfortunate for some, fortunate for others, this book presupposes a certain level of knowledge. If you don't have it then you may have difficulty with comprehension. The prior reviewer gives the perfect example; the first sentence quoted is meant as a joke! It humorously conveys the confusion most people run into while dealing with complex computer and computer resource issues. Mr. Woram's writing has an amusing witty bite that not everyone can appreciate. If you can, then you will find no better resource than this.