Title Sams Teach Yourself Mandrake Linux in 24 Hours (486i version of Linux-Mandrake 7.0 included) Authors Craig Witherspoon and Coletta Witherspoon Publisher Sams Publishing Publication Date April 2000 ISBN 0-672-31877-6 Price $24.99 (U.S.) Pros Non-threatening, easy to understand information will get you started with Mandrake Linux. Cons Content is fairly basic, it doesn't venture too deeply into the topics. Will quite possibly leave you with more questions than answers. Verdict True beginners only; even then, its not comprehensive enough for any long-term usefulness.

The layout of this book is great, typical of the Sams Teach Yourself series. Chapters are set out clearly and organized into one-hour sessions to help you ease into the topics. Unfortunately it doesn't venture too far from the basics and will quite possibly leave you with more questions than answers. The book could definitely have used another 100 pages, and more detail. They've attempted to counter the light, introductory type content by including a lot of links to Internet sites with more information and downloads for you to investigate yourself. You may or may not like this approach; it does, however, get you started by sending you to the source where you're likely to find the most up to date information and programs.

If you were to choose this book on its title and expect to learn all there is to know about Mandrake--or even hope to get a reasonably complete, solid understanding of how to run the operating system in 24 hours--you'd be in for a disappointment: There are simply too many points skipped over that one way or the other you are going to have to figure out, especially when you're faced with an uncooperative Mandrake feature. The installation chapter is a big offender in this aspect; it seems to describe an installation in a perfect world where all your hardware is auto-detected by Xdrake, Mandrake's installation program. The reality is usually a little less trouble-free than this. Anyone who's ever spent many frustrating hours trying to get their display, sound, zip drive or modem working just right knows exactly what I'm talking about.

That's not to say that this book doesn't have value. It contains some excellent introductory information on a number of the more popular Linux applications, including the graphics programs KIllustrator and The Gimp, the Web site creation and maintenance application Screem, personal finance package Check Book Balancer, word processor KlyX, and the extremely powerful and customizable text editor and programming tool XEmacs.

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Sams Teach Yourself Mandrake Linux in 24 Hours also includes a basic introduction to Linux commands. There are plenty of chances for you to put these commands to use using the exercises throughout the book. If using a command line isn't for you, no worries--the book guides you through these same exercises using the graphical environment as well, so you'll have no excuses for not being able to complete them.

If you're looking for something to get you started on your Linux adventure in a non-threatening, easy to follow way then Sams Teach Yourself Mandrake Linux in 24 Hours could be a great start. However, if you have a little Linux experience under your belt, or are looking for a source of exhaustive information, then you should definitely look elsewhere.

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