Beginning Ubuntu Linux - From Novice To Professional (2006)

About the Author

■KEIR THOMAS has been writing about computers, operating systems, and software for a decade. He has edited several best-selling computer magazines, including LinuxUser & Developer, PC Utilities, and

PC Extreme, and worked as part of the editorial staff on a range of other titles. He was formerly Technical Group Editor at Live Publishing. Throughout Keir’s career, his aim has been to explain advanced and confusing technology in ways that the average person can understand. Keir works as a freelance editor and writer. He lives on the side of a mountain in England, and his pastimes include hiking and playing musical instruments. Beginning Ubuntu Linux is Keir’s second title for Apress. His first was Beginning SUSE Linux.

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About the Technical Reviewer

■JOHN HORNBECK has been involved in free software since 1999 and involved with Ubuntu since before the first release. He was a member of the original Ubuntu Documentation Team and was responsible for writing the documentation that shipped with the first Ubuntu release. John was also one of the first Ubuntu developers not directly employed by Canonical Ltd.

John currently runs his own software company, Oklahoma Computer, Software and Robotics, and attends university classes. When not writing code, he spends time with his wife and two children.

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Acknowledgments

Books like the one you’re holding now take an enormous amount of work by a lot of people to come to fruition. To this end, I’d like to acknowledge the help of the following individuals in the production of this book: Chris Mills, Emily K. Wolman, Frank Pohlmann, Jason Gilmore, John Hornbeck, Sofia Marchant, Marilyn Smith, Ellie Fountain, and the many other people at Apress whose work behind the scenes made Beginning Ubuntu Linux possible.

In addition, I’d like to thank the Ubuntu community at large, who often helped me figure out some aspects of Ubuntu, particularly when it came to hardware configuration. Thanks must also go to Mark Shuttleworth and the Ubuntu developers for creating one of the most exciting and innovative Linux distributions I’ve had the pleasure of using.

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Introduction

Linux has come a long way in a short time. Computing itself is still relatively young by any standard; if the era of modern computing started with the invention of the microchip, it’s still less than 50 years old. But Linux is a youngster compared even to this; it has been around for only 15 of those years.

In that brief time span, a student’s personal project has grown to where it now runs many computers throughout the world. It has rampaged through the computing industry, offering an alternative to commercial solutions such as those offered by Microsoft, and toppling long-held beliefs about the way things should be done. This is all by virtue of the fact that Linux is simply better than every other choice out there. Many argue that it’s more secure and faster than other operating systems. But here’s the kicker—Linux is free of charge. Yes, that’s right. It doesn’t have to cost a penny. It is one of the computing industry’s best-kept secrets.

I was bitten by the Linux bug in the mid-1990s. I was introduced to it by a friend who sold it to me as a kind of alternative to DOS. At that time, I tapped a few commands at the prompt and was greeted by error messages. I must admit that I was put off. But shortly afterwards, I revisited Linux and quickly became hooked.

Yet getting used to Linux wasn’t easy. I read as many books as I could, but they weren’t very helpful to me. They were usually overly complicated or simply irrelevant. To start off, I didn’t want to know how to create a program that could parse text files. I just wanted to know how to copy and delete files. I didn’t want to set up a web server. I just wanted to know how to play my MP3 tracks and browse the Web.

This book is my answer to the need for a fundamental, authoritative, and down-to-earth guide to Linux, done in the context of one of the most popular flavors of Linux in existence today. It’s a book that is desperately needed in our modern world, especially as Linux becomes more and more popular and enters homes and workplaces.

Beginning Ubuntu Linux purely and simply focuses on what you need to know to use Linux. It’s concise and to the point, aiming to re-create under Linux all the stuff you used to do under Windows. But don’t think that this means Beginning Ubuntu Linux cuts corners. Wherever justified, this book spends time examining the topics you need to know in order to gain a complete and comprehensive understanding. For example, you’ll find a hefty chapter looking at the command-line prompt—arguably the heart of Linux and the element that gives Linux most of its power. There’s also an entire chapter discussing (and illustrating) how to initially install Ubuntu on your computer. Beginning Ubuntu Linux really is a complete guide.

About Ubuntu

Linux applies an alternative philosophy to computing that revolves around the sharing of not only software, but also knowledge. To use Linux is to become part of a huge global community of people who have caught on to a phenomenon that is changing the world.

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