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Modern UNIX by Alan Southerton Recommended

ISBN: 0-471-54916-9       Publisher: Wiley       Pages: 309pp hardcover       Price: £27-95

Categories:   unix

Reviewed by Chris Hills in C Vu 5-4 (May 1993)

It is Modern UNIX because apart from the history it concentrates on the newer concepts. It shows the position of UNIX and a break down of types against the global computer scene. There are discussions covering X, Motif, PC UNIX's, NeXT, TCP/IP, NFS, OSI, DeskviewX, shell programming, system startup and a lot on GUI's and comms. The discussions show why things developed as they have and where they appear to be going. As the author is the editor of UNIXWorld the and can do this with some authority.

There is a useful chapter on how to set up a system (including uucp, printers, mounting file systems etc) network basics and email. The email includes setting up uucp, UseNet and various readers. There are Email and mail addresses (in the US) of most of the companies and information sources mentioned. The publication date is 1993 so they should be current for a good while.

Whilst this is not a book of commands it explains quite a few along its route. It manages to explain in some detail a lot of ..files (dot or setup files) with examples for most of the topics that require them. The information is conversational and not like a MAN page. I get the feeling the author knows what he is doing and is imparting practical tips.

Conclusion: This book is a companion to UNIX manuals. It is the friend that explains all the background that the manuals leave out. The book is aimed at people who want to run UNIX as a single user/system administrator on a PC's, Next or Sun. Well worth reading before you buy a UNIX system for your PC. A useful book.