OpenBSD Journal

Absolute OpenBSD Released...

Contributed by Dengue on from the antici...pation dept.

wargod writes : "Absolute OpenBSD finally released. Its currently on sale on Amazon.com for $27.97

Regular Price: $39.95

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1886411999/002-9559766-0192065 "

600 pages of OpenBSD knowledge for the "practical paranoid". Congratulations to Michael Lucas. I'm looking forward to reading it.

(Comments are closed)

Comments

  1. By Anonymous Coward () on

    Is this sold in any bookshops in the United Kingdom or just sold online?

    Comments

    1. By Sam () on

      Yer its at amazon.co.uk for starters, seen it other places too - just ordered my copy.

    2. By Craig () on

      I just ordered it today at 20% off at http://www.holbornbooks.co.uk/ due to it being "pre-release". You still might just catch it.

    3. By Yves () on www.amazon.co.uk

      Its listed on www.amazon.co.uk but as yet unavailable. Also, this UK version is said to be only 300 pages and the 600 pages mentioned above. Also at £28.99, its more expensive than the US version.

      Comments

      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        "Also, this UK version is said to be only 300 pages and the 600 pages mentioned above."

        They have the same ISBN number on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk, the difference in number of pages must surely be a typo... It's 600 pages at the publisher, and at amazon.co.de and amazon.co.jp...

        Comments

        1. By Yves () on

          I will buy but will wait until amazon.co.uk offer the usual 30% discount. The new Harry Potter book has a higher priority for now!

  2. By Anonymous Coward () on


    not on barnes & noble inventory yet
    :(

    " Not Currently Available.
    A new copy is not available from Barnes & Noble.com at this time. "

  3. Comments

    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      the reason *why* it is better to order directly would be insightful.

      Comments

      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        "Pre-Order the Book Now! You can buy the book at a special Official Book Web Site Discount of 25%. Not only does this cost you a little less, but a wee bit more of your money goes to support the author's music habit. (Online orders are handled by No Starch Press.)"

    2. By Anonymous Coward () on

      I am EXTREMELY disappointed that 'No Starch' does not use an HTTPS server for orders!

      Comments

      1. By netchan () deadly@netchan.cotse.net on mailto:deadly@netchan.cotse.net

        The last page where you give your cc number is on an https page, but all other data sent unencrypted.

        netchan

  4. By Anonymous Coward () on

    i think we had this before, but -
    where'd be for an (half)-experienced obsd-luser the the use of this book? reading through the TOC and the example chapter i can't see anything really interesting not covered in the FAQ or covered by the constant use of obsd?

    any new, interesting insights?

    i can't imagine that there'd be $$$ going to the project from the sales, or?

    now insult etc. intended, i just can't see any advantage of buying this book besides having some printed, nice obsd-related document?

    Comments

    1. By StatiK76 () on

      Mr. Anonymous re-issues a good question. How much money per sale will goto the oBSD project? It's great that the project gains notoriety and popularity. However, I have some difficulties purchasing the FAQ, just to line Mr. Lucas' pocket. Especially, when my $50cdn could be better spent on the oBSD project, AND it puts a shirt on my back, a poster on my wall, and a stack of paper to print my own FAQ. Maybe, just maybe, if i'm lucky - a beverage at The Ship & Anchor.

      Granted, I have not read the book or seen a review. Maybe its great. I just hope that Mr. Lucas takes the time and (more importantly) the money, to recognize the hard work that has been put into the project, by so many people, that he now stands to profit from.

      StatiK76

      Comments

      1. By Eric Pogroski () on

        How much money per sale will goto the oBSD project? It's great that the project gains notoriety and popularity. However, I have some difficulties purchasing the FAQ, just to line Mr. Lucas' pocket. Especially, when my $50cdn could be better spent on the oBSD project, AND it puts a shirt on my back, a poster on my wall, and a stack of paper...


        I agree. After borrowing a friends 'Absolute FreeBSD', I wasn't impressed. My money went to better things (the new 3.3 set, a new tshirt, paper to print the documentation that I needed on demand, beer, etc). Why would I want to give someone money for something, that with a little digging/research, even the 'n00biest' oBSD user could find out easily, and more importantly, freely, not to mention that you tend to remember things better when YOU do the research, as opposed to someone just handing you the information that you think you need.

      2. By Book Nook () on

        I don't really care how much money might go to the project.

        Consider:
        How much time it takes to write a book.
        How much $ comes from the sale of each book
        How long the book will sell. 6 months from now, OpenBSD will be sold as an ELF-based image, do you want to read a book then and wonder if everything still applies?
        Readers of the book will do what? Buy a CD or ftp the s/w for free. Assuming someone likes OBSD they will get the prod to donate.
        If it answers questions that would have showed up on the mailing list, great.
        If it raises the consciousness of OpenBSD in the community, great.
        If it is wildly successful and makes mega-$$, well pass the smelling salts, I've fainted.
        If it proves the concept that OpenBSD books can make lots of money, then the OpenBSD development team(which already know how to write clear, concise, manual pages) will come out with a book that makes the $$ and allows them to continue with what they do best, code.

        Oh, and by the way, I did pre-order the book from No Starch, and checking today my credit card has not been charged yet. Too bad Amazon is selling it for less with free shipping. If I get another one for the office, I'm sure Mr Lucas won't mind where I get it from.

        What we need to do is get Nick Holland to publish the FAQ in hard copy through O'Reilly as a minibook. I don't see how it could make money, but what a cool concept.

      3. By Ben () on

        It is also very possible that this book will help introduce OpenBSD to more users, who in turn will buy CDs and T-shirts, thus helping to provide more support to the developers. Books like this are a benefit to OpenBSD in my opinion, and take nothing away from the project at all.

        Comments

        1. By StatiK76 () on

          Good point.

          StatiK76

      4. By Anonymous Coward () on

        "I have some difficulties purchasing the FAQ"
        your forethought has brought you great insight. here one, here all! though the book has not been read by a majority of people(including StatiK76), the book has been deemed a reflection of the OpenBSD FAQ.

        "my $50cdn could be better spent on the oBSD project, AND it puts a shirt on my back, a poster on my wall, and a stack of paper to print my own FAQ. Maybe, just maybe, if i'm lucky - a beverage at The Ship & Anchor"

        false. your $50cdn "could be" better *donated* to the project.

        "I just hope that Mr. Lucas takes the time and (more importantly) the money, to recognize the hard work that has been put into the project, by so many people, that he now stands to profit from."

        the BSD License is exactly used for the reason of having benefit on/for others; be it spiritual, or monetary. Freedom is key here, and your statements shed a bit of compromise. Lucas does not need to recognize anything except the fact he has the Freedom to do as he wishes given he respects authorship.

      5. By Michael Lucas () mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org on http://www.AbsoluteOpenBSD.com

        That's certainly a valid question in this community.

        Unfortunately, I don't have a definite answer. I do intend to give a chunk of money to the OpenBSD Project, but I'm not prepared at this time to say how much for a variety of reasons. The main reasons are:

        - I see zero money from this book until March 2004, if I am lucky. I don't know how much money I might see until a month before that. (There is zero advance on this book. Yes, zero. The reasons are too complicated to go into in this little text box.)

        - Keeping a roof over my family's head comes first, period. While my job is not in immediate jeopardy, I live in Detroit and the car companies are likely to take the whole city down with them.

        So, for me to state at any time in the next few months that I will be sending $X to OpenBSD is completely unrealistic.

        Comments

        1. By Anonymous Coward () on

          that sounds completely fair ... donate when you can

    2. By Anonymous Coward () on


      more traditional books,
      helps get traditional MSI departments to accept openbsd use

    3. By Michael Lucas () mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org on http://www.AbsoluteOpenBSD.com

      I have a few different answers on why I wrote this book.

      The very mercenary answer is:

      People have been begging for an OpenBSD book for years. I'm simply meeting the demand, filling a gap.

      The very altruistic answer is:

      To many outsiders, a book provides legitimacy to a project. If your OS has no book, well, you're just "a bunch of losers who put some stuff up on the Net. Anyone can do that, and anyone can claim that they're the best." A book means that you've convinced at least one big company (the publisher) that your project has meat on its bones.

      The personal answer is:

      OpenBSD does some cool stuff. I wanted to spend some time with it. Writing a book was a good excuse.

      All of these are true.

      Money? Yes, there is some from the book, absolutely. But I have a job as a consultant where I'm paid by the hours that I bill, much like a lawyer. I can bill as many hours as I want to -- our clients are happy to pay us, and it's considered wise to "strike while the iron is hot."

      This book took 500-700 hours. I can guarantee you that I would have made *far* more money from billing those hours than I will from writing this book.

      You guys are my harshest critics. I suspect that everyone on this forum is very comfortable with man pages and the FAQ. On the other hand, I solicited reviewers on o-misc@ quite some time ago, and got quite a few people whose names would be recognized here. Their concerns were addressed, and afterwards several of them said that they considered this a very good book.

      It should be back from the printers within just a few days here. As my harshest critics, I'm sure you'll let me know just how much it sucks then. :-)

      Comments

      1. By Anonymous Coward () on

        i think i did not make my original point clear enough.

        i very well agree with your points about writing this book and i also give you credit for the immense work you've put into this,

        but - my question was different:

        as a regular openbsd user since 2.5/2.6 with some insight how stuff works and how to do things, what should be the point for me BUYING this book.
        i never questioned or critized any of your motives publishing this book - i just don't see the advantage for me reading this book or don't see any points that aren't answered very thouroughfully in the faq and manual pages.

        i asked if there is any new or surprising content for which it would be worth spending $30-40 of my limited budget other than having just a cool book w/ a OpenBSD on it?!

        thanks for your time nevertheless!

        Comments

        1. By S. Ramazani () on

          Granted, the faq and man pages give us all the info necessary to run our OpenBSD box.

          Like you, I have a limited budget. However, I will buy the book because it has some advantages : I won't have to buy new prescription glasses due to long periods of staring at a screen; I can carry and read the book wherever I want (contrary to most computers and CRT monitors); from the organization point of view, it is better than printing man pages and stashing them under my bed for lack of space.

          You have been using OpenBSD for years now, yet I'm sure there are stuff you have forgotten. The book will also provide you with an easy way to remember them without ruining your health.

        2. By Michael Lucas () mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org on http://www.absoluteopenbsd.com

          Ah, yes, that is a different question, and one I cannot answer. What do you know? If you write it all down, we can do the comparison for you.

          I can say that OpenBSD has certainly changed a great deal since I did my first install. As I researched the book, I was surprised at how many little things had changed since those days.

          There are some new bits of information in the book, such as the customized installation/upgrade sections that are not yet documented in the install docs.

          For me to claim that a particular long-standing OpenBSD user either will, or will not, learn something from the book would be foolish. I can say that some of my technical reviewers, who have run OpenBSD for years, did learn things from the book, and Theo had a couple nice comments about parts of it. (He also had no qualms about pointing out bogus bits, so I'm assuming that the kind comments were not just polite noises.)

          I won't be hurt if any reader here chooses to wait for reviews. I won't be hurt if people on this forum choose not to buy it at all. People who have been running OpenBSD for that long are simply not in my target audience.

          Comments

          1. By rferrisx () rferris@rmfdevelopment.com on www.rmfdevelopment.com

            (1) "How I integrated OpenBSD onto 500 legacy workstations and servers for the local Naval Base."
            (2) "Our Migration to OpenBSD from Windows 2000: How my company kicked the Windows Habit"
            (3) "How big company X cut costs, satisified users, and pleased management by installing 3000 OpenBSD desktops and servers"
            (4) "Integrating DoD research applications into OpenBSD: A case study in OpenOffice, POOMA, and other MDA needed apps"
            (4) The Open Office spreadsheet templates used to cost out 1, 2 , 3, 4
            Etc.

          2. By rferrisx () rferris@rmfdevelopment.com on www.rmfdevelopment.com

            (1) "How I integrated OpenBSD onto 500 legacy workstations and servers for the local Naval Base."
            (2) "Our Migration to OpenBSD from Windows 2000: How my company kicked the Windows Habit"
            (3) "How big company X cut costs, satisified users, and pleased management by installing 3000 OpenBSD desktops and servers"
            (4) "Integrating DoD research applications into OpenBSD: A case study in OpenOffice, POOMA, and other MDA needed apps"
            (4) The Open Office spreadsheet templates used to cost out 1, 2 , 3, 4
            Etc.

            Comments

            1. By Anonymous Coward () on


              What in the blue hell are you talking about? More curiously - How the hell did you manage to post the same verbal diarrhaea twice, 40 minutes apart?

              Try www.slashdot.org for your next posting.

  5. By Anonymous Coward () on

    I believe EU folks will be able to order it through KD85 and it's shipping bunny Wim@.

    I've got no idea however, when it'll be available through kd85.

  7. By nonamed retart () eric_blair@hotmail.com on mailto:eric_blair@hotmail.com

    I'd like to buy the book just because it is OpenBSD, and will even pay the higher price if I feel like it is helping the author or some other cuase more. I don't want to buy it if I already know everything in it though....is there a sample chapter?

    Comments

  8. By Michael Lucas () mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org on http://www.AbsoluteOpenBSD.com

    ...especially given that the book is still at the printers...

    Comments

    1. By Anonymous Coward () on

      Or so you think! I've had my black market copy for a week!

  9. By Anonymous Coward () on

    I sure hope the book smells good. nothing worse than a stinky book. :|

  10. By Anonymous Coward () on

    The book is not yet available. You can order it, but it won't be available until July according to the No Starch web site.

    You will also notice that Amazon has a 4 to 6 week time period assigned to the shipping of the book; instead of the usual day or two.

    Comments

    1. By SiLiZiUMM () on

      I called a bookstore near me to check if they had it, and they called the editor (I think), then called me back to tell me that the book isn't out now but it will be out around July-August..

    2. By rikoli () on

  11. By John Mark () johnmark@nostarch.com on http://www.nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=openb

    The links you see on Amazon.com and nostarch.com are for pre-orders. Sorry if there has been some confusion, but it should start filtering into bookstores within 1 month. For international bookstores, it will be longer, but you can always order through Amazon or other online retailers.

    I will post an update here after we know for sure when it will be in the UK and other countries.

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