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Re: [OCLUG-Tech] is there still a market for linux kernel books?

  • Subject: Re: [OCLUG-Tech] is there still a market for linux kernel books?
  • From: Michael Mullin <masmullin [ at ] hush [ dot ] com>
  • Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 12:18:08 -0500
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I've purchased the two of books you mention (Linux Device Drivers, and
Robert Love's book), and I would be interested in purchasing an
up-to-date book. So I am the market segment that your publisher is
interested in targeting.

The 5 main pillars are important, but are covered in alternate
sources, and they aren't really things that a newbie can jump into, so
while a good Linux Kernel book should obviously cover them, I dont
think they should necessarily be the main focus of a new book.

Please relay to your publisher that what we need are
1) Debugging Debugging Debugging. debugging remote targets
(specifically arm), debugging gdb style (heretic!).
2) Hardware specs, where to get them and how to read them as a
programmer. I recently had experience with the touchscreen on my
laptop and wish I knew more about the hardware I was hacking on
3) Kernel to Userspace communication

I guess my three main points demonstrate that I would be in the market
to purchase a "Practical guide to hacking the Linux Kernel"

On 12/29/2014 08:04 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> 
> without naming names, a publishing company i do a lot of 
> editing/proofreading for has sent me a proposal for a new linux 
> kernel book, and is asking me what i think of its marketability, 
> and these days, i'm not sure what to say.
> 
> the canonical kernel programming book these days *seems* to still 
> be "linux kernel programming (3rd ed)", by robert love but, like 
> all kernel books, it's starting to show its age -- if memory 
> serves, LKD3 is based on the 2.6.32 kernel so, yes, it needs a 
> serious facelift at this point.
> 
> keeping it brief, the proposal describes the three main pillars of
>  the kernel -- memory management, processes and interrupts -- and 
> the first five proposed chapters are listed as:
> 
> * kernel boot time * memory management * processes * interrupts * 
> file systems
> 
> i'm sure there's more but it's not listed here. the book claims to 
> be based on the 3.16 kernel, which is a good thing, but given the 
> amount of kernel documentation out there, and the speed with which 
> the kernel changes, i'm wondering what others think of the 
> viability of any new kernel books. thoughts?
> 
> rday
> 
> p.s. earlier this year, there was *supposed* to be an updated 
> version of "linux device drivers (3rd ed)", but the initial main 
> author had to bow out so that entire project was put on indefinite 
> hold.
> 
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