[rescue] off topic - red hat linux book

[Steve Sandau]

> This is exactly why the RHCE is so much better than e.g. Microsoft or
> Cisco exams.
> 
> * They give you real PC hardware, no emulator BS.
> 
> * For installation, you get the regular Red Hat install media.
> 
> * After installation, you get a real, uncrippled system.  Yes, this
> includes man pages.
> 
> * The official Red Hat site gives you a precise list of topics that
> you might be tested on.
> 
> During the actual exam, for eac hsegment, you have a list of clear,
> concise objectives that can be tested in an obvious way.  You won't
> wonder whether you finished the objective in the "correct" and
> grade-able fashion, you'll know.  You have a reasonable time limit to
> achieve the goals.  You have the system documentation on hand if you
> happen to forget some miserable bit of trivia.
> 
> If you know what you're doing, at all, you just can't fail.  I
> frequently recommend this book: 
> http://www.amazon.com/Certified-Engineer-Linux-Study-Certification/dp/0072264543/
> 
> 
> It's just a large number of labs in sequence, covering all the
> mandated topics.  If you run someone with a modest amount of UNIX
> experience through the book's labs, there's a good chance he'll pass.
> Odds are he'll remember at least enough to reference the correct man
> page on exam day, just like a real UNIX sysadmin.
> 
> For all its flaws, RHCE is as far as possible from say, VMware VCP.
> I wanted to take my eyeballs with a spoon after taking that exam.


That is really good to hear and sounds like it makes more sense than
other exams. I may have to do the RedHat exam thing and that actually 
sounds reasonable.

The problems I have had were with computer-based training for RH, 
probably put together by a specialist in documentation not in Linux. The 
"quizzes" required some real nonsensical answers. I think this is true 
with a lot of computer-based training.

I still think RedHat makes configuration unnecessarily
complicated (cron files, network config files to mention a couple). I 
find Solaris to be pretty straightforward. OK, 10 changed a lot, but 
configuration data is still not spread all over like RedHat.

And yes, source code is helpful, but the level of my C skills and the 
level of commenting are often about the same -- poor.

Steve