A good Linux kernel book for aspiring nerds

It's time for me to come clean. I'm a Linux poseur.

But a new Linux book, Greg Kroah-Hartman's Linux Kernel in a Nutshell, could help people like me get some real technical chops.

I've had nerd tendencies for decades. I'm one of those reasonably knowledgeable people who tries new operating systems for entertainment and freely supplies friends and relations with middling tech support.

I realized exactly how shallow my real knowledge of computers is, though, beginning in 1998 when I installed my first version of Linux--Red Hat 5.2. Linux comes with a vast array of technical options and caters to the computer science crowd that likes to sniff packets, allocate heap space and scrutinize core dumps.

Most of this is beyond me. However, even for me, there is a certain thrill in the powers that Linux grants its users. It's like fiddling with a car's fuel-air mixture and valve timing as you drive. Sure, it's not for everyone--your mileage may vary, as the standard disclaimer goes--but it can be very instructive.

The most instructive Linux activity by far was building my own kernel, the core software of the operating system. This is the part that listens to the keyboard, schedules disk operations, and figures out where to focus processing attention. Using a customized kernel is a great way to peer into the inner workings of a computer (and a great way to void your technical support agreement).

But there's no way I could have figured out how to build a kernel on my own, or at least to devote the necessary time to figure it out. Without a techno-savvy friend who held my hand during the scary parts, I would have been completely lost, or more likely, I wouldn't have made the exploration in the first place.

Which brings me Kroah-Hartman's book. It's a thorough guide to building a custom Linux kernel. The Novell programmer explains how to download the kernel, configure it, build it, install it. He has a comprehensive guide to all kinds of options, from modules to kernel options such as voluntary pre-emption.

And if you don't want to buy the book from publisher O'Reilly, it is available as a free download as well.

It's never going to be simple to reach into the deepest part of the computer's software and start fiddling with the knobs. And it's certainly not for everyone. But for students, the technically savvy, people who want to see what Richard Stallman is talking about when he says "free as in free speech," or just poseurs who want to beef up their cocktail party conversation, Kroah-Hartman's book is terrific.