Ubuntu Netbooks: The Path to Low-Cost Computing (Expert's Voice in Open Source) [Paperback]

Sander Vugt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 143022441X | ISBN-13: 978-1430224419 | Publication Date: November 3, 2009 | Edition: 1

You’ve made the jump and have purchased your first netbook—a small laptop that is perfect for connecting to the internet, wireless communications, and working with cloud applications—including Google Docs, Flickr, Mobile Me, and many others. According to the creator of Linux, Linux Torvalds, netbooks are “are really just laptops done right‘.

Now you need to decide on the Linux distribution that will work best with your netbook, Millions of users have already come to the consensus that Ubuntu is the most compatible, and thus, it’s the number one most popular Linux distribution, and is currently running on 25 % of all netbooks. This book is a thorough guide to the basics of Ubuntu—including installation, getting online, configuration, and administration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sander van Vugt is the author of several best-selling Linux books, including Beginning Linux Command Line, Beginning Ubuntu Server Administration and Pro Server Administration. Sander lives in the Netherlands, doing work as an independent Linux trainer and author.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (November 3, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143022441X
• ISBN-13: 978-1430224419
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,168,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm the author of several books, most of which are about Linux in professional environments. These include "Beginning the Linux Command Line", "Beginning Ubuntu Server Administration" and "Pro Ubuntu Server Administration". Being a Linux user since 1992, the motivation to write books came early. Much of the documentation that you'll find on line (especially in the early days of Linux) was hard to read, so I wanted to translate that information into something that's understandable. I'm like the guy between the developer and the end user. Writing books is not the only way I accomplish this goal. Apart from being an author, I'm a technical trainer as well, delivering Linux courses all over the planet. And if a customer has something interesting, I might be willing to do some consultancy projects as well. In the past few years, most of these have included Linux High Availability and Virtualization.

Apart from all that, I have a personal life as well. I live in the Netherlands (that's a small country in Europe in case you've never heard of it). I like to travel, and my work allows me to do that often and I like running and photography. In fact, right now I'm preparing for my first marathon, which will be end of October this year.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great starting point for a newby, December 20, 2010

By 

bee_pipes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ubuntu Netbooks: The Path to Low-Cost Computing (Beginning) (Kindle Edition)

I picked up an ASUS netbook in Feb '10 and put the Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it. I had been tinkering with Linux on a desktop. My background is windows and DOS. Linux is like a can of worms, if you're looking for someone or something to take you by the hand and lead you through it. The user community is more than helpful, but there are different flavors and different configuration. I went with Ubuntu because not only did they have a distro geared specifically for the netbook, but it is a flavor in widespread use. There is ample information on Ubuntu. The most disconcerting thing to a newby is getting a book on Linux and finding that the screens under discussion bear no resemblance to anything you have.

Fortunately this book, though slightly dated in view of current releases, bore enough resemblance to my version. The desktop manager - Gnome - as with the rest of the applications on the netbook remix, was tweaked to gain the most benefit from the limited screen space and resources available on a netbook. I had tried a few other distributions and found that the fonts, menus and other options do not take into account the small netbook screen. This is a good book, though your basic intro level type book. What I got from it was reassurance of where the important applications were, how to take advantage of wireless resources, and the basic lesson to all intro books on Linux: the documentation/manuals are out there on the web, but the important documentation is not on Linux itself, but the applications that perform the individual tasks within the system.

The book is well written, reads easily, and provides a good foundation for moving forward with the netbook. I got the netbook because I got tired of sitting at a desk and working on a desktop computer. The netbook is portable, lends itself well to loafing on the couch while I read or write, and has more than enough power for my needs. I'm sold on these little laptop computers and don't think I'll ever go back to larger laptops or desktops as a primary computer.