The Official Ubuntu Book

Praise for Previous Editions of 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 who 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.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 30 Summary 32 Chapter 2: Installing Ubuntu 33 Choosing Your Ubuntu Version 34 Getting Ubuntu 36 Booting and Installing 39 Installing from the Minimal CD 52 Summary 58 Chapter 3: Getting Started with Ubuntu 59 Getting Acquainted with Unity 61 Using Applications 72 Using Ubuntu in Your Language 80 Configuring a Printer 81 Keeping Your Computer Updated 85 Adding and Removing Programs and Packages 87 Upgrading to the Next Ubuntu Release 90 Ubuntu and Multimedia 91 Backing Up 96 Customizing Ubuntu's Look and Feel 98 Unity in Other Devices 99 Summary 99 Chapter 4: Finding and Installing Ubuntu Applications 101 Using the GNOME Software Center 102 Learning Terminology and Foundations 106 Using Synaptic 106 Useful Software Packages to Explore 110 Playing to Learn with Educational Programs 128 Summary 132 Chapter 5: Customizing Ubuntu for Performance, Accessibility, and Fun 135 Unity Terminology 136 Appearance Tool 141 Unity Tweak Tool 143 Compiz Config Settings Manager 147 Unity Lenses and Scopes 153 Additional Resources 154 Summary 154 Chapter 6: Becoming an Ubuntu Power User 155 Administering System and User Settings 156 Understanding How Linux Stores and Organizes Files 160 Learning Unity Keyboard Shortcuts 164 Using the Terminal 167 Working with Windows Programs 168 Installing Software from PPAs 169 Compiling Software from Source 171 Summary 172 Chapter 7: Welcome to the Command Line 173 Starting Up the Terminal 174 Getting Started 175 Building Pipelines 176 Running Commands as Superuser 177 Finding Help 178 Moving around the Filesystem 179 Manipulating Files and Folders 180 System Information Commands 181 Searching and Editing Text Files 182 Dealing with Users and Groups 183 Getting Help on the Command Line 184 Searching for Man Files 185 Using Wildcards 185 Executing Multiple Commands 186 Moving to More Advanced Uses of the Command Line 188 Summary 189 Chapter 8: The Ubuntu Server 191 What Is Ubuntu Server? 192 Installing Ubuntu Server 194 Ubuntu Package Management 206 Ubuntu Server Security 217 Advanced Topics 224 Summary 231 Chapter 9: Ubuntu-Related Projects and Derivatives 233 Recognized Flavors 234 Editions 246 Other Distributions 249 Launchpad 250 Bazaar 258 Ubuntu One 260 Summary 260 Chapter 10: Ubuntu, Convergence, and Devices of the Future 261 The Convergence Vision 262 Unity 263 Ubuntu Devices 264 The Internet of Things and Beyond 268 The Future of the Ubuntu Desktop 272 Summary 273 Chapter 11: The Ubuntu Community 275 Venues and Events 277 Teams, Processes, and Community Governance 291 Getting Involved 301 Summary 304 Index 305show more