The Official Ubuntu Book

Benjamin Mako Hill is a Seattle native working out of Boston, Massachusetts. Mako is a long-time free software developer and advocate. He was part of the founding Ubuntu team and one of the first employees of Canonical Ltd. 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, a senior researcher at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a contractor for the One Laptop per Child project. 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. 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. Jonathan Jesse is a full-time Microsoft Windows consultant specializing in IT lifecycle management products. He has a strong interest in Linux and open source software focusing on Ubuntu and Kubuntu. Since Jonathan is not a developer or a programmer, he struggled to find a way to give back to the open source community. Beginning with the Hoary Hedgehog release, he joined the Ubuntu Documentation Team by proofreading and submitting patches to the mailing list, then worked on the Kubuntu documents. Currently, Jonathan is involved in working on bugs for the Kubuntu Team, the Ubuntu Wiki, and the Laptop Testing Team. Ubuntu and Kubuntu have given Jonathan a way to give back to the community without having to be a developer, and he encourages everyone to come help him out. Jono Bacon (www.jonobacon.org) is the community leader for Ubuntu. Previously he was a consultant for the United Kingdom’s government-funded OpenAdvantage (www.openadvantage.org) center in England, where he worked with businesses, education and charitable organizations, and individuals to help them move to open source software and open standards. He is the cocreator of the popular LugRadio podcast.

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

Chapter 1: 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        32

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
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           101
Ubuntu in Your Language          102
Customizing Ubuntu’s Look and Feel            103
Managing Your Files           105
Ubuntu and Multimedia          111
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          129
Using and Abusing Devices and Media          130
Configuring a Printer in Ubuntu               133
Graphically Accessing Remote Files         138
The Terminal          139
Working with Windows         144
Summary              146

Chapter 5: The Ubuntu Server             147
What Is Ubuntu Server?          148
Installing Ubuntu Server          150
Ubuntu Package Management         161
Ubuntu Server Security            172
Summary              179

Chapter 6: Support and Typical Problems           181
The System           182
Applications         196
Multimedia           200
Networking           206
Hardware              211
System Administration            222
Other                     233
Summary               239

Chapter 7: The Ubuntu Community                     241
Venues              243
Teams, Processes, and Community Governance             259
Getting Involved                267
Summary                     270

Chapter 8: Using Kubuntu                      271
Introduction to Kubuntu           272
Installing Kubuntu               274
Navigating in Kubuntu              277
Customizing Kubuntu             282
System Administration                 284
Managing Files with Kubuntu             302
Common Applications                   307
Finding Help and Giving Back to the Community           320
Summary          321

Chapter 9: Using Edubuntu                  323
Introduction to Edubuntu              324
Installing Edubuntu as an Add-on           326
Applications             327
Using Edubuntu in LTSP Mode               334
Managing Your LTSP Server              349
Managing Your Edubuntu Clients             356
Controlling and Managing the Users’ Desktops          359
Troubleshooting LTSP            362
Finding Help and Giving Back to the Community            365
Summary                367

Chapter 10: Ubuntu-Related Projects                     369
Ubuntu Editions             370
Derived Distributions             374
Launchpad                377
Bazaar                     384
Summary              384

Appendix A: Welcome to the Command Line                    385
Starting Up the Terminal              385
Moving Around the Filesystem             385
Manipulating Files and Folders            387
System Information Commands               388
Searching and Editing Text Files              389
Dealing with Users and Groups                390
Getting Help on the Command Line              391
Searching for Man Files               391
Using Wildcards               392
Executing Multiple Commands              392
Moving to More Advanced Uses of the Command Line             393

Appendix B: Ubuntu Foundation Documents                            395
Code of Conduct              395
Leadership Code of Conduct             398
Ubuntu Philosophy             401
Components            402
Licensing             405

Appendix C: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Open Publication License                    409
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States           409
License           409
Creative Commons Notice            417

Appendix D: Ubuntu Equivalents to Windows Programs             419
On the Ubuntu Desktop               419
Additional Applications               421

Index                          423