The Official Ubuntu Book

"The Official Ubuntu Book is a great way to get you started with Ubuntu, giving you enough information to be productive without overloading you." -John Stevenson, DZone book reviewer "OUB is one of the best books I've seen for beginners." -Bill Blinn, TechByter Worldwide "This book is the perfect companion for users new to Linux and Ubuntu. It covers the basics in a concise and well-organized manner. General use is covered separately from troubleshooting and error-handling, making the book well-suited both for the beginner as well as the user that needs extended help." -Thomas Petrucha, Austria Ubuntu User Group "I have recommended this book to several users who I instruct regularly on the use of Ubuntu. All of them have been satisfied with their purchase and have even been able to use it to help them in their journey along the way." -Chris Crisafulli, Ubuntu LoCo Council, Florida Local Community Team "This text demystifies a very powerful Linux operating system. . . . In just a few weeks of having it, I've used it as a quick reference a half-dozen times, which saved me the time I would have spent scouring the Ubuntu forums online." -Darren Frey, Member, Houston Local User Group "This is a book that the new Ubuntu user would find helpful in getting started and the more experienced computer user would find informative enough to keep as a reference manual. I also enjoyed the computing humor." -Dr. Gregory Chapelle, General Atomics, Electromagnetics Division, San Diego, California "In short, this book is something that I can honestly recommend to anyone using Ubuntu. It works great as a reference and equally well as a how-to guide. I respect the work that's been done, and I can't overstate how knowledgeable the authors are, as well as the reviewers." -Paul Tagliamonte, Ubuntu Member, and Debian Developershow more

Matthew Helmke has been an Ubuntu user since April 2005 and an Ubuntu Member since August 2006. He served from 2006 to 2011 on the Ubuntu Forum Council, providing leadership and oversight of the Ubuntu Forums, and spent two years on the Ubuntu regional membership approval board for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He has written articles about Ubuntu for magazines and Web sites, is the lead author of Ubuntu Unleashed, and has written several books and articles on other topics. Elizabeth K. Joseph is a professional Linux Systems Administrator currently working at Hewlett-Packard, with a focus on managing the infrastructure for the OpenStack project. She has been working with Linux and around Linux communities since 2002. Elizabeth began contributing to Ubuntu in 2006 and currently contributes to various teams, including Documentation, News, Quality Assurance, and Classroom. Over the years she has served on the Ubuntu Membership Board and is now serving her third term as a member of the Ubuntu Community Council. At home in San Francisco, she serves as one of the leaders of the Ubuntu California team and is on the board of a nonprofit that provides Ubuntu-based computers to schools in need. Jose Antonio Rey is a community contributor who has been actively participating since 2011. He is a student residing in Peru, whose contributions include helping with the News and Classroom teams, managing Ubuntu On Air!, and being the contact of the Ubuntu Peru team and a member of the LoCo Council. Even though he is not a developer, he has helped with Juju charms and is the author for the Postfix and Mailman charms. Philip Ballew is an active open source advocate in the greater open source community. He is heavily involved in the Ubuntu project, and spends most of his time contributing to this project. When Philip is not contributing to Open Source, he can be found riding his bike, dancing badly, or attempting to pass his college classes. Philip is eager to get involved in any project that he sees making a difference in the world for the good, and enjoys Ubuntu for this reason. He currently calls sunny San Diego, California, home, and hopes all readers of the book come by and say hello to him there. Benjamin Mako Hill is a long-time free-software developer and advocate. He was part of the founding Ubuntu team whose charge at Canonical was to help grow the Ubuntu development and user community during the project's first year. Mako is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT.show more

Foreword to the Sixth Edition xix Foreword to the First Edition xxi Preface xxvii Acknowledgments xxxi About the Authors xxxiii Introduction xxxv Chapter 1: The Ubuntu Story 1 The Vision 2 Free Software, Open Source, and GNU/Linux 3 How the Vision Became Ubuntu 7 What Is Ubuntu? 12 Ubuntu Promises and Goals 17 Sustaining the Vision: Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation 26 Beyond the Vision: Ubuntu Subprojects, Flavors, and Spin-Offs 31 Summary 33 Chapter 2: Installing Ubuntu 35 Choosing Your Ubuntu Version 36 Getting Ubuntu 38 Booting and Installing 42 Installing from the Minimal CD 54 Summary 61 Chapter 3: Getting Started with Ubuntu 63 Getting Acquainted with Unity 65 Using Applications 76 Using Ubuntu in Your Language 85 Configuring a Printer 86 Keeping Your Computer Updated 90 Adding and Removing Programs and Packages 92 Upgrading to the Next Ubuntu Release 95 Ubuntu and Multimedia 96 Backing Up 102 Customizing Ubuntu's Look and Feel 104 Unity in Other Devices 105 Summary 105 Chapter 4: Finding and Installing Ubuntu Applications 107 Using the Ubuntu Software Center 108 Using Synaptic 115 Useful Software Packages to Explore 118 Summary 145 Chapter 5: Customizing Ubuntu for Performance, Accessibility, and Fun 147 Unity Terminology 148 Appearance Tool 153 Unity Tweak Tool 155 Compiz Config Settings Manager 159 Unity Lenses and Scopes 165 Additional Resources 166 Summary 166 Chapter 6: Becoming an Ubuntu Power User 167 Administering System and User Settings 168 Understanding How Linux Stores and Organizes Files 172 Learning Unity Keyboard Shortcuts 175 Using the Terminal 179 Working with Windows Programs 180 Installing Software from PPAs 181 Compiling Software from Source 183 Summary 184 Chapter 7: Welcome to the Command Line 185 Starting Up the Terminal 186 Getting Started 187 Building Pipelines 188 Running Commands as Superuser 189 Finding Help 190 Moving around the Filesystem 191 Manipulating Files and Folders 192 System Information Commands 193 Searching and Editing Text Files 194 Dealing with Users and Groups 195 Getting Help on the Command Line 196 Searching for Man Files 197 Using Wildcards 197 Executing Multiple Commands 198 Moving to More Advanced Uses of the Command Line 200 Summary 201 Chapter 8: The Ubuntu Server 203 What Is Ubuntu Server? 204 Installing Ubuntu Server 206 Ubuntu Package Management 218 Ubuntu Server Security 229 Advanced Topics 236 Summary 243 Chapter 9: Ubuntu-Related Projects and Derivatives 245 Recognized Flavors 246 Editions 256 Other Distributions 259 Launchpad 261 Bazaar 270 Ubuntu One 272 Summary 272 Chapter 10: The Ubuntu Community 273 Venues 275 Teams, Processes, and Community Governance 289 Getting Involved 299 Summary 302 Index 305show more

Ubuntu is a free operating system that emphasises community support and ease of use. This guide teaches you how to install and customise Ubuntu for your home or small business. Its open source power can be used in schools, government, or by companies, and is suitable for both desktop and server useshow more