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Books Operating Systems Media BSD

Absolute OpenBSD 82

porkrind writes "No Starch Press has announced its latest BSD title, Absolute OpenBSD, by Michael Lucas, scheduled to be in stores in July, 2003. Lucas is known as a FreeBSD contributor and the author of Absolute BSD. You can read all about it and pre-order now direct from No Starch Press or at Amazon."
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Absolute OpenBSD

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  • The only OS which is a part of this complete martini!
  • Drunk? (Score:3, Funny)

    by sporty ( 27564 ) on Friday May 30, 2003 @10:34AM (#6076567) Homepage
    Heh, the fish on the front cover looks like it had a bit of absolute itself.

  • by baywulf ( 214371 ) on Friday May 30, 2003 @11:06AM (#6076907)
    "Lucas is known as a FreeBSD contributor and the author of Absolute BSD."

    First Star Wars and now a FreeBSB contributor! I just don't know how he manages to have the time to do it all.
    • By writing every day, whether I want to or not. :-)

      You can also get a sample chapter at the book's web site, http://www.AbsoluteOpenBSD.com, and order through me directly if you like. (The actual orders are handled by No Starch Press, but I make a tiny bit more money off of them if you order through me.)

      ==ml
  • Absolute BSD (Score:5, Informative)

    by scrotch ( 605605 ) on Friday May 30, 2003 @01:06PM (#6078177)
    I'm reading Absolute BSD now to get ready for my first FreeBSD install. I've mostly worked with Macs, with a couple of linux installations on servers. This book is great. It's well written, human and clear. It makes recompiling the kernel - which I've never considered touching - seem like a normal, no big deal thing that you just do sometimes. If this install goes well, this new book will help convince me to try OpenBSD for more secure installs.
    • Re:Absolute BSD (Score:2, Informative)

      by teemu.s ( 677447 )

      the install will go well - freebsds setup is pretty straight forward and kernel recompiling is a quit normal task :-) - I got much help from http://www.bsdvault.net their howtos are well written and user driven.

      the cool thing about absolute bsd is, that michael wrote it as stp by step guide for setting up a server. on the other hand portions of it can (and should) be taken to drive your home workstation. it gives you the tools and the insight you need to do tasks on your own - and tells you how to behave o
  • About time, I say (Score:5, Informative)

    by irenetheno ( 643089 ) on Friday May 30, 2003 @02:50PM (#6079296)
    This is only second book [amazon.com] in history on OpenBSD.

    That doesn't mean that OpenBSD is bad or has a small group of supporters.. It's only one of the most secure ("out of the box" is one of the items of high importance to me) firewall operating systems in the world. It's completely Open Source and available for free download.

    The original book [amazon.com] on OpenBSD from the year 2000 is sorely outdated since the OpenBSD project tries to release a new version every six months. This book covered lots of security/firewalling concepts and how to implement them in OpenBSD 2.5 (as well as Linux) while we are now at OpenBSD 3.3. The above-mentioned books should be able to help fill in the background details as to the "whys" more than the "hows."
    The "hows" are provided on the OpenBSD website for free:
    FAQ (installation) [openbsd.org]
    Packet Filter User's Guide (does most of the amazing firewalling that OpenBSD is famous for) [openbsd.org]
    Manual Pages [openbsd.org]

    OpenBSD is freely available for download, but if you like the project, I strongly encourage you... Buy something [openbsd.org] from them (they have a few shirts and posters): Or donate money [openbsd.org] or hardware. [openbsd.org]

    Also, I wonder if this book is in any way related to the Deadly.org [deadly.org] plea from the community for topics that an OpenBSD book should cover.

    • Also, I wonder if this book is in any way related to the Deadly.org plea from the community for topics that an OpenBSD book should cover.


      Well, it is obvious that the author reads deadly, so, at the very least, I'm sure he read that thread himself. If he was the one that submitted the comment or not... I don't think it really matters, do you?
    • Everything irenetheno has said is very useful...
      Anyone attempting to learn BSD coming from a Linux environment will be very suprised and a little disoriented at first,
      but with ample reading and a TON of hands on they will come to appreciate it and realize just how stable and secure it is even on the lowest level.
  • ...one of the most secure

    AFAIK it's the most secure by a long way.
    I only know two more secure OS's -

    Wang XTS ( UNIX based and impossible to get hold of ).
    Any OS without any input/output devices at all.

    • Multics was very secure. I'm not sure how you could possibly compare the two, since they faced completely different threats in completely different worlds.

      It can't be the most secure by long way when there are other OSes that are at least comperable. Other contemporary OS's aren't all that far behind. I think use of OpenBSD is as much an indicator of commitment to security as it is tool a to aquire more security.

      Most UNIXes meant for server use (ie: Solaris, AIX, Linux) can be secured to nearly the degree
  • At the beginning of Chapter 6, the author refers to BIOS as the "Built In Operating System". This is the first I've heard of BIOS as defined as such; anyone else hear of this? Just curious...
  • by Zeddicus_Z ( 214454 ) on Sunday June 01, 2003 @10:35AM (#6089718) Homepage
    http://www.everythinglinux.com.au/item/1886411999 Note that the book is currently on back order. Originally they only ordered three... and I have two of them :)

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