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Voodoo Unix: Mastery Tips & Masterful Tricks
By Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Ventana, 1994. 300p. paper, $27.95 (ISBN 1-56604-067-1).
This is an easy-to-read book in a format that presents each major topic as a "tip" and problems as "traps." There are a great many useful tips in this book, but despite the book's subtitle, Mastery Tips & Masterful Tricks, much of the book is dedicated to the most elementary points. The book is written with an informal slant that is somewhat annoying because the writers at times take too long to make a point.
Chapter 1 suggests sound rules to follow when selecting a password and goes into what prompt to expect from what shells. It also includes log-on procedures for a Unix system and other topics for beginners. Chapter 2 describes ways of managing files and directories. Chapter 3 covers the vi text editor with a few words about some of the other Unix text editors. Chapter 4 covers customizing prompts and using variables. Chapter 5 is titled "Printing Magic." There are, indeed, tips that can almost be considered magical. My favorite tip is how to realign tabs when using columns in a vi file. Chapter 6 includes compulsory file piping and redirection tools that are essential to a Unix user. This chapter also explains how to assign a job higher priority than the system default. It also details scheduling jobs: how to move a job to the foreground and how to place jobs in the background.
MS Windows, MAC O/S and OS/2 have taken over the desktop world, and one can only conclude that X-Windows devices will do the same on Unix mainframe...