Ubuntu on a Dime (eBook)

You know that Ubuntu software costs nothing. Now you want the PC system that costs as little as possible and runs Ubuntu and OS applications without complaints and calls to tech support.

So you spent your hard-earned dollars on the hardware only, and have your own optimized Ubuntu PC. This is the book that will show you how to get what you need without wreaking havoc on your finances. Put together the parts to make a great work computer for little cost.

Packed with the practical, hands-on guidance and technical know-how that you've come to expect from Apress, Ubuntu on a Dime takes you on a tour of the very best low-cost hardware, while only using zero-cost software in each of the many categories that matter to the typical PC user.

You'll learn how to find the best and cheapest hardware, and how to put it together to make a working PC. Learn to edit photos on the Internet without having to install any software at all. Find out where to get a free office suite for word processing and spreadsheet work. Whatever your need, James Kelly, best-selling technology author, guides you through the exciting and often confusing world of zero-cost computing.

This book

• Takes you step-by-step through a PC build
• Tells you what you need to install to have a fantastic work computer without spending a dime
• Saves you money by showing you how to meet your computing needs
• Saves you time by pointing you directly to the best free software
• Saves you work by illustrating the most commonly performed tasks with each zero-cost software
• Gives you choices and the ability to make your own decisions for your own needs and requirements

Before you go buy that $900 dollar computer and that $400 office suite-or worse, before you 'borrow' it from work-stop! Let this inexpensive book show you how to save hundreds of dollars in expensive software, and never depend on the big PC providers and their tech support again. Learn all about cheap, fast hardware, find out about the free tools that the digerati use to make their lives better, and stop paying out the nose. Don't spend a dime!

James Floyd Kelly is a professional writer from Atlanta, Georgia. He has written numerous books on multiple subjects, including LEGO robotics, open source software, and building your own CNC machine as well as a 3D printer. He is the editor-in-chief of the number one MINDSTORMS NXT blog, The NXT Step (TheNXTStep.com), where he is joined by fellow NXT experts who share their knowledge and designs with other robot fans around the world.

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I will never-never!-purchase an expensive computer again. It's getting almost as bad as purchasing a new car. You drive it off the lot and it immediately drops 10 percent or more in value. And when you buy new hardware and software, one week later the same computer is $200 cheaper or-even worse-a newer model with more and better hardware is out and is $300 cheaper! Argh! I go through computers fast in my line of work. I wear out a laptop in about two years. My desktop computer frequently has half a dozen or more operating system reinstalls in a year so that I can take screenshots of the installation, test software compatibility, and more. I'm always pulling out some piece of hardware to pop in a newer piece of hardware. (I've been known to drop a piece of sensitive hardware-another trip to the computer store!) Costs start to add up. In late 2008, my test computer (nicknamed FrankenPC) died. The autopsy I performed was inconclusive; I think the little desktop just lost the will to compute: RIP, FrankenPC. I found myself sitting down and listing the things I wanted in a basic little desktop test PC: * I wanted to keep the cost down. Under $250 would be great, but was it realistic? * I needed to be able to access the Internet (a realistic expectation these days, right?). * It would be one of three computers that I would use for e-mail: laptop, netbook, and desktop.