The Official Ubuntu Book

Benjamin Mako Hill is a Seattle native working out of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Mako is a long-time free software developer and advocate. He  was part of the founding Ubuntu team, one of the first employees of Canonical, Ltd., and coauthor of The Official Ubuntu Server Book. In addition to some technical work, his charge at Canonical was to help grow the Ubuntu development and user community during the project’s first year. Mako is currently a fellow at the MIT Center for Future Civic Media, and a researcher and Ph.D. Candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Mako has continued his involvement with Ubuntu as a member of the Community Council governance board, through development work, and through projects such as this book. Matthew Helmke is an active member of the Ubuntu Linux community as an Administrator and Forum Council member for the Ubuntu Forums (http://www.ubuntuforums.org) and coauthored the most recent editions of The Official Ubuntu Book. Matthew first used Unix in 1987 while studying Lisp on a Vax at the university. He has run a business using only free software, has consulted, and is currently working on a master's degree in Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona while working as the senior technical writer for iPlant Collaborative, a project creating software to help biologists do genetic research. Corey Burger lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and is a long-term user and contributor to Ubuntu. A member of the Ubuntu Canada and the Community Council, he has been involved with Ubuntu since its first release. Corey is currently a geography student and has most recently worked for a Canadian Linux company. He also contributes to OpenStreetMap and works to promote Ubuntu on Vancouver Island. Corey speaks regularly about Ubuntu, OpenStreetMap, and open source to a wide variety of audiences.  

Foreword to the First Edition      xxv
Preface      xxxi
Acknowledgments      xxxiii
About the Authors      xxxv
Introduction      xxxvii

Chapter1: Introducing Ubuntu      1
A Wild Ride 2
Free Software, Open Source, and GNU/Linux 3
A Brief History of Ubuntu 7
What Is Ubuntu? 12
Ubuntu Promises and Goals 18
Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation 25
Ubuntu Subprojects, Derivatives, and Spin-offs 30
Summary 31

Chapter 2: Installing Ubuntu      33
Choosing Your Ubuntu Version 34
Getting Ubuntu 36
Installing from the Desktop CD 38
Installing from the Alternate Install CD 47
Installing from a USB Key 55
Summary 55

Chapter 3: Using Ubuntu on the Desktop      57
Taking Your Desktop for a Ride 59
Using Your Applications 68
The Ubuntu File Chooser and Bookmarks 102
Ubuntu in Your Language 103
Customizing Ubuntu’s Look and Feel 104
Managing Your Files 106
Ubuntu and Multimedia 112
Summary 117

Chapter 4: Advanced Usage and Managing Ubuntu      119
Adding and Removing Programs and Packages 120
Keeping Your Computer Updated 126
Moving to the Next Ubuntu Release 128
Using and Abusing Devices and Media 130
Configuring a Printer in Ubuntu 132
Graphically Accessing Remote Files 137
The Terminal 138
Backup Strategies 139
Working with Windows 140
Summary 143

Chapter 5: The Ubuntu Server      145
What Is Ubuntu Server? 146
Installing Ubuntu Server 148
Ubuntu Package Management 160
Ubuntu Server Security 171
Advanced Topics 178
Summary 182

Chapter 6: Support and Typical Problems      185
The System 186
Applications 201
Multimedia 205
Networking 211
Hardware 215
System Administration 223
Other 234
Summary 241

Chapter 7: The Ubuntu Community 243
Venues 245
Teams, Processes, and Community Governance 260
Getting Involved 268
Summary 271

Chapter 8: Using Kubuntu      273
Introduction to Kubuntu 274
Installing Kubuntu 277
Navigating in Kubuntu 282
Customizing Kubuntu 285
System Administration 287
Managing Files with Kubuntu 298
Common Applications 303
Finding Help and Giving Back to the Community 316
Summary 317

Chapter 9: Using Edubuntu      319
Introduction to Edubuntu 320
Installing Edubuntu as an Add-on 322
Applications 323
Using Edubuntu in LTSP Mode 330
Managing Your LTSP Server 345
Managing Your Edubuntu Clients 352
Controlling and Managing the Users’ Desktops 355
Troubleshooting LTSP 358
Finding Help and Giving Back to the Community 361
Summary 363

Chapter 10: Ubuntu-Related Projects       365
Officially Supported Derivatives 366
Recognized Derivatives 368
Other Distributions 370
Launchpad 372
Bazaar 379
Summary 379

Chapter 11: Introducing the Ubuntu Forums      381
What Are the Ubuntu Forums? 382
A Brief History of the Ubuntu Forums 382
How May I Participate? 383
Questions, Locations, Conversations, and Activities 388
Key People in the Forums 389
Fun Stuff 390
The Foundation of the Ubuntu Forums 391
Summary 391

Appendix A: Welcome to the Command Line      393
Starting Up the Terminal 393
Getting Started 394
Building Pipelines 395
Running Commands as the Superuser 396
Finding Help 397
Moving Around the Filesystem 397
Manipulating Files and Folders 398
System Information Commands 399
Searching and Editing Text Files 400
Dealing with Users and Groups 401
Getting Help on the Command Line 402
Searching for Man Files 403
Using Wildcards 403
Executing Multiple Commands 404
Moving to More Advanced Uses of the Command Line 404

Appendix B: Ubuntu Equivalents to Windows Programs      407
On the Ubuntu Desktop 407
Additional Applications 409

Index      411