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

(Author), Paul Hudson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Ubuntu Unleashed 2008 Edition presents comprehensive coverage of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Windows users, Mac users, and Linux enthusiasts have been increasingly turning to Ubuntu for a user-friendly, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

This book provides detailed information on installing, using, and administering Ubuntu. You will learn how to set up a workstation or a server, and you will find complete details on Ubuntu’s easy-to-use desktop and productivity software.

Ubuntu Unleashed 2008 Edition includes a range of coverage: From the software you need in your everyday work, such as the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, to how to configure your Linux desktop to run smoothly using multiple printers, shell scripts, and more.

For the hardcore Linux enthusiast, there is complete coverage of the X Window system, Linux programming, web server administration, and network administration.

Includes a DVD with a full Ubuntu Linux distribution, plus a free upgrade to Ubuntu Linux 8.10 once it is released

About the Author

Andrew Hudson is a freelance journalist who specializes in writing about Linux. He has significant experience in Red Hat and Debian-based Linux distributions and deployments and can often be found sitting at his keyboard tweaking various settings and config files just for the hell of it. He lives in Wiltshire, which is a county of England, along with his wife, Bernice, and their son, John. Andrew does not like Emacs. He can be reached at [e-mail].

 

Paul Hudson is a recognized expert in open-source technologies. He is also a professional developer and full-time journalist for Future Publishing. His articles have appeared in Mac Format, PC Answers, PC Format, PC Plus, and Linux Format. Paul is passionate about free software in all its forms and uses a mix of Linux and BSD to power his desktops and servers. Paul likes Emacs. Paul can be contacted through http://hudzilla.org.

 

 

 

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Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 4 edition (July 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067232993X
• ISBN-13: 978-0672329937
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #675,887 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misinformed and out of touch, August 14, 2008

By	Neal McBurnett - See all my reviews

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.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not for ubuntu, August 3, 2008

By	Memo Hedo - See all my reviews

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too much of a mish-mash, August 30, 2008

By	Mark Stanwick "Marko" (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.