Customer Reviews

Ubuntu Unleashed 2008 Edition: Covering 8.04 and 8.10 (4th Edition)

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

 

 

The book contains lots of misinformation and long outdated notions, and approaches things in a way that doesn't make sense either for Ubuntu novices or those experienced with Linux.

E.g. on pages 30 and 31 it indicates that Ubuntu 8.04 doesn't enable Universe and Multiverse by default, which has not been true for a while.

E.g. In its introduction to Python on page 561 it says "Although PHP is fundamentally similar to Java and Perl, Python is closer to C and Modula-3, and so might look unfamiliar at first." Java and PHP are light-years apart, and saying Python is closer to C is bizarre.

The section on backups recommends tape drives for many classes of user - a slow, expensive and long outdated technology.

It wastes people's time talking about telnet.

Most everywhere I look, there is misinformation. I'm going to stop looking now.

I won this book in a raffle, and plan to recycle it rather than confusing someone else by giving it away.
There are much better Ubuntu books out there by folks that actually work on the distribution, like the "Official Ubuntu Book" (3rd Edition) by Benjamin Mako Hill, Corey Burger, Jonathan Jesse, and Jono Bacon.

I hate this book. I own the first and the second edition which covers ubuntu 7.04.

I think they took their fedora unleashed book and replaced all instances of "fedora" with "ubuntu" and published the result as ubuntu unleashed.

The book contains things which are not true or simple for ubuntu. For example it talks about /etc/inittab but there is no such a folder in ubuntu. They are not even aware that there is a graphical application to install graphic drivers. The music player they referred to was Beep Media Player (nothing wrong with it as an audio player per se) which isn't even installed on Ubuntu by default. The list goes on.

So that book may be a good fedora book but it is not a good ubuntu book.

May be they fixed things in later editions, I have not seen them. But there are definetely better ubuntu books out there.

First off, this book is not for beginners.
Second, the information is not in any order and has a cobbled-together format which is annoying and even confusing; so much so that I even returned it.
I agree with the criticisms given in the other reviews so no need to repeat all that.
If you're an absolute beginner with Ubuntu, Marcel Gagne's book: "Moving to Ubuntu Linux" is very good, but not great.
A very good book that's more advanced is William Von Hagen's: "ubuntu Linux bible" - but he's coming out with an updated version in 2/09, so you could wait for that.
I just got into using the Ubuntu OS and have to say I like it a lot, but you still have to use the command line for some things and I have yet to see any book that explains it in easy to understand terms.

Well, it did get me started with Ubuntu UNIX, but it is full or errors, completely inconsistent. They reference examples that do not exist, for instance see page 346; "208.59.243.0 entry from the previous example" - huh? It is full of typo's. They talk about features in Ubuntu that I have never been able to find, even their description of the install process, with their own disk does not match what actually happens. They tell you things like rm will delete a directory! See page 681 "deleting files and directories with rm". No one could ever hope to learn networking with their cobbled together chapter on it. It makes me feel somewhat better seeing the other reviews here, I thought I was going crazy trying to learn from this REALLY BAD book.

In regards to the claim that you will get a Free Upgrade to 8.10 when its released, it must be said that the statement is misleading. The only time that you would pay for Ubuntu or any Linux distro is if:

A. You decided to donate to the cause
B. You didn't what to make your own install cd by downloading the FREE iso image and burning it to a cd and decided to buy a copy from some of the websites online that sell copys for an extremely low price.

I just wanted to clear up that one small point.

I was having trouble configuring my Ubuntu installation for programming C and this book and DVD provided me with all the resources that I needed to fix my problems. The book provided the needed information and the DVD provided the needed software packages. I could not have been happier with this combination. I wish that I had had this book before I setup my Ubuntu system!

I purchased this book in 2008. It has been a descent reference, not spectacular.

The reason for the one-star rating is this: the book clearly states on the front cover, the back cover, the spine, the inside back cover, and probably other places that when version 8.10 is released that a "free upgrade kit" will be sent "by mail" to registered customers. I registered the book and the publisher has confirmed it. Version 8.10 was released in October 2008. Starting in January 2009 I began inquiring when I might expect my upgrade kit. I have been trying for over 3 months to get the upgrade kit and I keep getting empty promises that it will be shipped very soon. Excuse me but 9.04 should be released this month. Are you planning on shipping version 8.10 after 9.04 is released? What a waste.

Save your money, buy a cheaper book. I wonder what Ubuntu Unleashed 2009 will promise and not fulfill...

This wrap-up of all Ubuntu features and softwares is well written. You'll find answers to most of your questions. Good work from Andrew and Paul Hudson.

But the attitude of Informit, the publisher, is pretty questionable. On the cover of the book, it is said: "Buy this book in 2008 and receive by mail a Free upgrade Kit to Ubuntu 8.10". In december, two months after the release of 8.10, I was still waiting for my Upgrade Kit. When I did contact Informit, their answer was simply that there was no use to to have an upgrade to move to 8.10, I could do it by downloading it from Ubuntuby myself. Never got any "Upgrade Kit".

I think it is a cheap practice from Informit to populate their mailing list.

Jean Pierre Dagenais
Montreal

SO far, the book is very informative overall. Some areas, Andrew is very specific and other areas, he does not tell how to get there or where the screenshot is from. There is one section that I followed what he said and I did got get the screen shown in the book.

Starts off with the basics like installing the software. Gets into fun stuff and good tips for making this OS work for you. Even comes with a DVD to load various programs to install and try.