Christopher Negus has been working with UNIX systems, the Internet, and (more recently) Linux systems for more than two decades. During that time, Chris worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, UNIX Systems Laboratories, and Novell, helping to develop the UNIX operating system. Features from many of the UNIX projects Chris worked on at AT&T have found their way into Red Hat and other Linux systems.

When did you start working with Linux and how did you get interested in it?

In 1994, I was asked to be the technical reviewer for the book Linux Unleashed. I had worked in UNIX development labs for years and written a couple of books on UNIX. I was curious to see what a free "UNIX clone" would look like. I never did get the GUI running, but I was impressed to find many of the features I was used to having in UNIX. I stuck Linux in the back of my mind for a couple of years and went for a drive across the western U.S.

How long did it take you to write "Red Hat Linux 8 Bible" and what was it like?

I finished the first edition of the Red Hat Linux Bible in 1999 (covering Red Hat Linux 6.1) after working on it for over a year. I started by writing an outline of what I thought a great UNIX-like system should do (run applications, connect to network, offer services, etc.). Then I set out to write it. I was floored at how far Linux had come in just a few years.

The Red Hat Linux Bible sold very well from the start. It went on sale right after Red Hat went public (remember the dot-com days?) and possibly gained some audience because we gave away a Red Hat T-shirt with the book.


Its success has given me the luxury (or perhaps the curse) of being able to rewrite the book for each new version of Red Hat. I spend about four months correcting and enhancing each new edition. I go through every page myself and don't sleep much during those times.

For the Red Hat Linux 8 Bible, I described new major releases of KDE and GNOME desktops. On the security end, I added some procedures for setting up a virtual private network using CIPE and using SSH to run remote graphical (X) applications. Lots of other stuff too, to match Red Hat enhancements.

What Linux distribution(s) do you use?

These days, I use Red Hat Linux almost exclusively. I used Caldera OpenLinux for a time when I wrote a couple of manuals for Caldera Systems (now part of SCO) and also wrote the OpenLinux Bible. I have friends who use other versions of Linux (does that count?).

In your opinion, where does Linux need the most software development at the moment?

Software development seems to be going along nicely. I would like to see more hardware manufacturers provide drivers to let their hardware work in Linux. Even that is beginning to improve.