Customer Reviews

Ubuntu Kung Fu: Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book was written for version 8.04 of Ubuntu, but will work great with 8.10 too! While reading and reviewing the book, you ought to have a machine nearby to test the hacks and hints. They are absolutely amazing. There are over 300 tips in the book, and each is a gem in its own right. The tips range rom optimizing the speed of your machine, to GUI hacks, hardware, messing with media, security enhancements, and system administration.

The table of contents is really great too! First it list each hack/tip in order of the book, then it shows you the tips organized into groups of topics, system admin, security, etc. Also each tip has information on getting to the next tips that are related.

Truly this book is for anyone who is using Ubuntu who hasn't been working with the code directly and would like to know more about the OS and what it can do.

Just after reading the first few tips I was able to reduce the boot times on my laptop from minute and twenty seconds to under thirty seconds. I was also able to accurately graph the results of these changes by installing and using bootchart, a tip from the Ubuntu Kung Fu book.

If you are looking for a good book to help you enhance your understanding of Linux and Ubuntu, this is the book, get it now at Amazon, or from the Pragmatic Bookshelf.

As I've noted elsewhere (see below), I've been a sucker for "Tips & Tricks" and "Annoyances" books for many years. Keir Thomas's book is, for me, a best-of-breed entry in this genre. He tackles user-level (not coder) problems and perspective, and brings Ubuntu Linux advice, techniques and tips not found elsewhere.

The book is organized into only three chapters: After an introductory chapter, one finds "2 An Ubuntu Administration Crash Course" to be a cogent and useful primer, one of the best of this sort I've found so far. The focus here is on helping with the transition from Windows to Linux/Ubuntu, and it succeeds as a quick orientation for the less experienced "system non-administrator."

The meat is all in "3 The Tips", of which there are exactly 315. One can indeed "start reading them anywhere," as they're arranged in purely random order. But there's much of value here -- I found well over 120 that I had to highlight, either for immediate application to my Ubuntu system, or to return to later. That's not a bad return on investment!

Minor grousing about the order of tip presentation aside, I think this book is nearly an exemplar of its kind, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has become, or is becoming, an Ubuntu Linux user and enthusiast. It usefully helps bridge the gap between the Microsoft Windows experience and the not-so-different world of the Linux desktop. It provides ample practical help and knowledge to advance your productive use of Ubuntu Linux.

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Ubuntu Kung Fu: Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks

I have read a lot of linux books over the years, and this is one of the first that I really enjoyed. It is set up for both newbie and guru alike, crammed with tips and tricks, arranged in a way that you can just browse and pick, or use it kinda like a Ubuntu cookbook, if you will.

I ended up reading it cover to cover, picking and choosing my favorites and immediately implementing them upon my linux machines, and marking my favorites for my next install.

I definitely recommend this book for both novice and expert alike, it is a breath of fresh air when compared to those linux books that seem obsessed with the installation of linux and tend to forget about the neat stuff...

I'm really impressed with this book. It doesn't go through a long overview of the desktop, the apps, the history of Ubuntu, or how to install Ubuntu. Sure, it does go into those subjects a little bit but it manly is a book full of tips and hacks. It is organized in a way that you can just look at the index find a tip that interests you then just read that tip, you don't have to read cover to cover if you don't want to.

Bottom line: If you use Ubuntu you should consider buying this book. Whether you are a beginner or advance user, with 315 tips I'm sure you will find some helpful tips! I personally found this book made Ubuntu more fun! besides there is a cute kitten on the cover, that should be a good reason to buy this book :)

This book has a lot of little known "short cuts" that make Ubuntu a lot more useful. Ubuntu has been the most user friendly Linux system ever presented. This book makes it much more this way.

Loved the cover.

Let me first level-set on my Linux experience and skills..... I am a relative beginner to Ubuntu. I've been using it for about 18 months and I'm on the third version since I started. I am a Windows Sys Admin by profession, but Ubuntu is what I use at home and outside of work.

The first thing I should say about "Ubuntu Kung Fu", is that it really was a pleasant surprise. This book is loaded with tips, tricks and hacks. While I read it cover to cover, you don't have to - it is an excellent collection of practical tips and is going on my desk for future reference. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced Ubuntu user, there are 315 very useful, well detailed shortcuts, hacks and little-known facts presented for easy reading.

I dog-eared many pages and have already implemented a few, and they worked just as described! Many have been marked for use on my next Ubuntu install. I definitely recommend this book - there is value for users at all levels. The author's style is light, thoughtful and well researched. I highly recommend "Ubuntu Kung Fu" for anyone interested in wanting to get more out of Ubuntu and their computer.

As an experienced linux user I thought this might be too basic but I've got to say I've learned my way around Ubuntu thanks to this book. Have said goodbye to windows for good and have Ubuntu installed throughout the house. Ubuntu just works and this book gives alot of tips and tricks to make the experience that much better.

Title: Ubuntu Kung Fu Tips, Tricks, Hints, and Hacks
Author(s): Keir Thomas
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1st edition (September 2008)
Pages: 400
ISBN: 978-1-934-35622-7

Book Format:

Like all other O'Reilly books, I found the indexing and over-all writing style of this technical book very adequate. Essential information is presented in a concise manner. I especially liked the "summary" style that was used when explaining important concepts. The author does a good job of showing code examples and directing you to additional resources for the topics covered.

Scope Overview:

This book gives very detailed explanations on how you can tweak your Ubuntu Desktop installs by getting down and dirty, with screenshots, possible issues that might arise from the tweaks etc. The book does not assume you have a very strong base in the Ubuntu world, but it's not for the light-hearted newbie Linux user either. After reading a few of the chapters, I decided not to navigate from a start to end kind of order, and instead review the tweaks from the index and pick the ones I was interested in, then applied them on my Ubuntu install. Everything happened exactly as the book had laid it out. I was very impressed with how easy they made it for the user.


Material Overview:

GNOME + gcompiz: Now this is true magic! The fact that you can enable the "gooey" GUI for your environment is just plain cool. The 3-D Cube effect when switching virtual desktops is just plain awesome!

RAR File Compression Built-in: Now, this was a nice feature to have! Like the built-in Windows .ZIP support, you can tweak your Ubuntu to allow for RAR compression by a right-click on the file in your X environment. Very nice...

Switch Nautilus to Old Tree View: Now with 8.10 they had somehow managed to get rid of the old view, and the new one, well... it just wasn't working for me! This tip made me a happy man.

View PDFs in shell: What can I say, beats needing to download a PDF reader if you just need a quick peek.


Conclusion:

This book, is pretty much for the every-day Ubuntu Desktop user. They have tons of hints on how to make your environment faster and more efficient, especially if you are a desktop user!

Overall, I wish they would have specified this was for the Desktop edition, and not for the server edition, as originally my intent was for the server tweaks. But still I enjoyed this book very much and would definitely recommend it to any and all Ubuntu fans out there! Thanks for publishing this O'Reilly.


Reviewed by:
Aras Memisyazici
Virginia Tech

If you are an ubuntu non-geek, then this is the simple way to learn all that you need to know. Just flip to a page and you are up and running.

This book directs you to other tips that would be helpful for the subject matter that you are in.

I highly recommend this book if you are wanting to get your hands dirty with ubuntu.

I bought this book to try and get more information that isn't commonly known. I found alot of tips and hints that make Ubuntu, and Linux, a little more interesting.

If you use Ubuntu or Linux, this book is a good reference for so many facets of the OS. It's interesting and easy to follow along.

My experience with Linux goes back awhile, but I would never claim to be the guru of Linux. This book is good for noobs and those with more experience.