Truth be told, this book is not dramatically different from its Windows-centric cousin. It shouldn't be--hardware is hardware under both operating systems. The many versions of the SCSI specification, all well-documented here, are of interest to Linux users, as are the characteristics of different kinds of writable CD-ROMs. This material transcends operating systems.
Though the absence of a hardware compatibility list is surprising, such lists (more current than any that could appear in a book) exist on the Web. In addition to the hardware reference material, Mueller has chosen to include quite a bit of Linux-specific procedural data in this book. Readers get, for example, succinct statements of the shell commands that transfer an old hard drive's contents to a replacement and a statement of the settings that activate power management. The point: You probably won't find enough new material to justify buying this book if you already own the current Windows-centric version, since the hardware reference material is the same. But if you don't have a copy and plan to do mostly Linux work, you'll be delighted by this book. --David Wall
Topics covered: The physical, electrical, and logical characteristics of all classes of IBM-compatible personal computer hardware, with an emphasis on how that hardware interacts with the Linux 2.2 operating system. The author does a particularly great job with hard disks, the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) specification, and video hardware.