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The Official Ubuntu Book 5th Edition

by Benjamin Mako Hill (Author), Matthew Helmke (Author), Corey Burger (Author),
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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Official Ubuntu Book, The
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Ub>The Official Ubuntu Book, Fifth Edition, will get you up and running quickly. Written by expert, leading Ubuntu community members, this book covers all you need to know to make the most of Ubuntu 10.04, whether you’re a home user, small business user, server administrator, or programmer. The authors explain Ubuntu 10.04 from start to finish: installation, configuration, desktop productivity, games, management, support, and much more. Among the many topics covered in this edition: Kubuntu, Ubuntu Netbook Edition, and Ubuntu Server. This complete guide also covers standard desktop applications, from word processing, spreadsheets, Web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, music, video, and games to software development, databases, and server applications. In addition, you will Learn how to customize Ubuntu for home, small
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  1. ISBN-10
    0137081308
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0137081301
  3. Edition
    5th
  4. Publisher
    Pearson P T R
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2010
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7 x 1 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    401 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

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 that 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

About the Author

Benjamin Mako Hill serves on Ubuntu’s Community Council governance board, which helps oversee community aspects of Ubuntu. He is a fellow at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media, and a researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Matthew Helmke is one of the administrators of the Ubuntu Forums and a member of the Ubuntu membership board for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Corey Burger serves on Ubuntu’s Community Council governance board, Ubuntu’s Marketing and News Teams, and is a geography student in his spare time.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pearson P T R; 5th edition (January 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 401 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0137081308
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0137081301
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ahmed Wahid
5.0 out of 5 stars Now I can use ubuntu :)
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2011
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This book is one of the bet boos I have ever read ,, why ?

I am a new user for Ubuntu and I bought this book to learn how and what is Linux and Ubuntu and this book complete the mission indeed and I'm very interested now to learn more and more about Ubuntu .
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C. Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for beginners
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2010
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Good book for absolute beginners. You won't become a Linux/Ubuntu expert from this one book, but it will help you get started with Ubuntu.
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Tyler Rud
5.0 out of 5 stars good product
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2013
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easy to understand book, very easy to read, the book is for beginners, I didn't learn any thing new, but it was a good book for noobs
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LEON E LUCK III
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2016
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As described
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Steve
2.0 out of 5 stars Poor book, better options out there
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2010
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It's my own fault for buying this book without actually peeking inside first. I was looking for an intermediate book on the specifics of Ubuntu, but this book is not it.

Not only is there very little technical info about Ubuntu, but there are dozens of pages that are about the internal workings of Canonical that is of virtually no interest to anyone.

And what really bugs me about any book, is the wasted pages on how to use common apps, like word processing and drawing apps. This is about as wasteful of pages as explaining how a mouse works. Give me a break!

There are better Linux books out there for any experience level. Stay away from this one.
Steve.
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me
5.0 out of 5 stars ubuntu book
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2011
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ok so we have good book and disc two that work good they is NO problem if you do not understand this book you can get help
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DesertHowler
4.0 out of 5 stars The Great Ubuntu Beginner's Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2010
To many people, right or wrong, Ubuntu is synonymous with Linux. Ubuntu does much to publicize Linux and is responsible for much growth in popularity of Linux in the last few years.
This book covers Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, the latest stable release of Ubuntu. LTS (Long Term Service) means Ubuntu 10.04 has support for three years (until April 2013) instead of the usual eighteen months of most Ubuntu releases.
The authors of The Official Ubuntu Book are prominent members of the Ubuntu and the Linux communities.
The book was written before Ubuntu 10.04 was frozen. There could changes after the writing the book but it was decided to get the book out in time for the release.

This book contains about 400 pages in a 7x9 format, not too bulky and nicely portable. About 350 pages comprise the subject matter. The cover is very different from older official Ubuntu books, varying shades of purple and not the traditional Ubuntu orange, expressing the new theme of Ubuntu. Included is an installation DVD containing the desktop installation, alternate installation and server installation.

'The Official Ubuntu Book, Fifth Edition, begins with a history and the mission statement of Ubuntu. The general organization of the project and related projects are briefly covered.

The installation section explains obtaining installation media and installing Ubuntu in clear detail. Partitioning is thoroughly and clearly covered. When the CD/DVD is booted, a menu appears on-screen. This menu includes the option of checking the media for defects. This is my first step. After checking the integrity of the installation media, try the Live CD to explore Ubuntu and determine if audio, video and peripheral support is satisfactory.

Much of the text is about the actual use of Ubuntu. Desktop layout, desktop and menu navigation, and customization are well covered. Core desktop programs and utilities are discussed thoroughly. Additional programs are introduced but are not discussed in great detail. Finding, installing and removing programs, much different than Windows, is covered. Many other administration tasks are discussed in these pages. There is a guide to Kubuntu, the KDE desktop version of Ubuntu, and Netbook Edition, especially designed to for netbooks.

Many other versions of Ubuntu, both official and unofficial, are mentioned. These other versions are worth investigating as another version of Ubuntu might better suits specific needs as multimedia or old computers with limited resources.
There is a brief but useful discussion of setting up a server. This is a good introduction but, as pointed out in the text, server administration is too complex to be covered in a general Ubuntu guide. It takes several books, not one chapter to cover this subject.

This book has much information on the Ubuntu community. Ubuntu is unique among Linux distributions in it's community emphasis.

There are many projects related to Ubuntu including translation, packaging software and other behind the scenes tasks necessary to make Ubuntu work. Users are invited to join these groups according to their abilities. Part of the Ubuntu philosophy is "anyone can play."

Ubuntu Forums, a question and answer forum sponsored by Ubuntu, is explained. Here users ask questions and volunteer answers. This is the most obvious and a very active part of the Ubuntu Community.
At the end of the book, the command line is explained and demystified ... sort of. Some things can't be done or can't be done as well from the GUI. The command line isn't difficult but does require some effort to learn. Approach with caution, not fear. With the various distributions, desktops and menu systems, the command line is the universal language of Linux.
This is an excellent starter book about Ubuntu as well as a reference for later use. The Official Ubuntu Book should assist the user in getting up to speed with Ubuntu quickly and effectively. It is all Ubuntu and not filled with frills to increase page count. Instructions on installation and using Ubuntu are very concise and clear. This is the best Ubuntu book I read in my 5 years with Ubuntu.

There is some very worthwhile information of the Ubuntu community. This will make the use of Ubuntu easier and more enjoyable. The community is a very important and helpful part of Ubuntu.
2 people found this helpful
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Bryan Hannah
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2014
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Received book quickly with no flaws!
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Top reviews from other countries

Richard
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2015
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Good easy to follow.
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Andrew Hodgkinson
4.0 out of 5 stars Really is the missing manual
Reviewed in Japan on February 14, 2011
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I have been trying to use Ubuntu for a while but have always been stuck on several little problems, which was very frustrating. I got the book out of desperation ans wished I had bought it much earlier.

It really is for absolute beginners but it takes you to a reasonable competency level and more importantly gives you advice on where to go next in almost every chapter. It is still totally relevant for 10.10 as well as 10.04 which it is written for.

The book takes you through each step of the install and explains decisions that are being made. It is in this respect and excellent tool for a beginner to computers as a lot of the information applies to any install of any operating system.

I do have one complaint. The server chapter is too short to be useful or too long to ignore, depending on your point of view. I did find some useful stuff in it for the desktop version and a brief chapter of how the server works would have been sufficient in this book.

I would recommend it though and would definitely like to have a more advanced book in the same style, as I got quite interested whilst reading and using this book. It is also very cool to tell your friends about the distro you install and customised to meet your needs and desires, for FREE!
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I. Welham
4.0 out of 5 stars The Official Ubuntu Book is Good...but!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2011
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This is a good book...make no mistake. It has a lot of helpful insight into 'how to' etc etc. But the book is, in my view, too heavily wrapped up in telling the story, the history of Linux and Ubuntu. It drones on and on for page after page to start with and becomes somewhat boring. And this takes up a good deal of the books opening chapters. Yes, we want to know about the fine ideals of the Open Source Community and Ubuntu, but not quite so repetitively and heavily.

So it is surprising that the more important stuff about 'how to do stuff' is a bit light on detail in some instances. You are left wondering, as I was, if this is the book you should have bought.

However, it does cover other versions of Ubuntu Linux and you do get a very nice factory 'Live CD' with the latest Long Term Support version on it. Mine came with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

All in all worth buying but probably not the best one regarding 'how to's'.
3 people found this helpful
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