View Larger Image	Marcel Gagne Addison-Wesley, Paperback, Bk&DVD edition, Published August 2006, 512 pages, ISBN 032142722X
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• Operating Systems : Linux
• Other Topics : Open Source

• Addison-Wesley

Discover Ubuntu, Today's Hottest Linux

Everyone's talking about Ubuntu -- it's not just 100% free, it's the most useful, practical desktop Linux ever! Now, Linux expert Marcel Gagne reveals Ubuntu's amazing power and helps you migrate from Windows faster than you ever thought possible.

Moving to Ubuntu Linux will teach you how to do virtually anything with Ubuntu -- write documents, create spreadsheets, surf the Web, use email, listen to music, watch movies, and play games.

• Install Ubuntu fast, with easy, step-by-step instructions
• Take control, with the GNOME desktop environment and Nautilus file manager
• Browse the Internet using Firefox, the powerful browser that's quickly replacing Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Find and install all the software you'll ever need, with Ubuntu's powerful Synaptic package manager
• Send email, track contacts, create calendars, and manage all your personal information with Evolution
• Organize digital photos, rip music, burn and play CDs, watch movies, create graphics, and more
• Discover the world of Linux games, and learn how to run Windows games on your Ubuntu PC
• Set up an efficient, convenient network for your home or small business
• Customize your desktop so it's perfectly comfortable and totally efficient

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xix

Foreword xxi

Chapter 1: Introducing Ubuntu! 1

But What Is Linux? 2

Is Linux Really FREE? 4

What's a Distribution? 4

Linux and the GPL 5

What Do I Gain? 5

What Do I Lose? 7

Some Tips on Using This Book 8

Quick Tips and Shelling Out 9

Meet Your Desktop 9

Help Me! 10

About the DVD 12

It's My Philosophy 13

Resources 14

Ready to Try Ubuntu Linux? 17

HELP! 18

Installing the Ubuntu Live DVD 31

Remember to Share 40

Resources 40

Getting to Know You . . . GNOME 42

Logging In 43

Becoming One with the Desktop 44

Your First Application 46

Windows, Title Bars, and Menus, Oh My! 48

Command Central 52

A Polite Introduction to the Command Line 54

Give Me More! 55

Changing Your Password; It's All About You! 56

User Security 58

Much Ado About sudo 60

I Need More Help! 61

Logging Out 62

Navigating Your Ubuntu Desktop 64

Resources 64

Files, Directories, and the Root of All Things 66

Wherever You Go . . . 70

Search Me . . . 71

Navigating Networks 75

Uh, Roger, Copy That . . . 78

Creating New Folders 79

Copying Files and Directories (and Moving, Too!) 80

Deleting Files and Folders 86

Other Interesting Places to Visit 87

My World, My Way 88

Making Your Home a Home 88

I Am Sovereign of All I Survey . . . 90

Save My Screen, Please! 93

Moving Things Around 95

Is That a Theme or a Motif? 98

Adding Icons and Shortcuts to Your Desktop 102

Applets Galore: Back to the Panel! 106

Miscellaneous Changes 109

Resources 109

Yes, It Runs with Linux! 112

Plug and Play 113

Printers and Printing 114

Getting Familiar with Your Other Hardware 123

Modems versus Winmodems 129

What? More Devices? 132

Resources 133

Before You Begin 136

Getting on the Net 137

Connecting to the Net with a Modem 137

Cable Modems and High-Speed DSL 143

Going Wireless 144

Okay, I'm Connected -- Now What? 146

Resources 147

Linux and Security 150

Identifying Software Packages 151

The Simplest Way to Add Applications 151

The Synaptic Package Manager 155

Installing Software with Synaptic 158

Keeping Ubuntu Up-to-Date 162

DEBs, the Shell Way 164

Why Jabber? 170

Instant Messaging with Gaim 170

IRC: Internet Relay Chat 176

Resources 182

Mozilla versus Firefox 184

Extending Firefox 193

Wrapping Up—Other Browsers to Consider 196

Resources 197

Be Prepared . . . 200

Evolution 200

Sending and Receiving Mail 204

Your Little Black Book 207

Attached to You . . . 209

Other Options 210

Resources 210

Evolution and Planning 212

Resources 223

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org Writer 226

Alternative Word Processor Choices 244

Resources 244

Starting a New Spreadsheet and Entering Data 246

Nice, Colorful, Impressive, and Dynamic Graphs 252

Final Touches 255

Alternatives 257

Resources 257

Getting Ready to Impress 260

Instant Web Presentations 270

So What's with the Penguin? 275

Extra! Extra! 276

Alternatives 277

Resources 277

The Beginning: Creating a New Database 280

Setting the Table 284

Creating Mailing Labels 289

Further Exploring 293

Resources 294

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your GIMP 296

Printing Your Masterpiece 303

Tools, Tools, and More Tools 305

On to the Tool Icons 306

Touching Up Photographs 314

What Is Script-Fu? 317

Resources 317

Adjusting the Levels 320

Playing Audio CDs with the Sound Juicer 321

A Simpler CD Player 323

Ripping and Burning Songs 324

Playing Your Songs 329

Can You Feel the Burn? 331

Put Another Nickel In . . . 340

Resources 345

Ubuntu Preinstalled Games 348

Must-Have Linux Games 364

More Games! I Need More Games! 368

Resources 369

Installing the Kubuntu Desktop 372

Doing It with the Shell 379

Resources 379

Linux Commands: An Easy Start 382

Working with Files 384

A Peek at Metacharacters 386

File Permissions in the Shell 386

More on rm (or, "Oops! I didn't really mean that") 389

Making Your Life Easier with alias 389

Standard Input and Standard Output 392

Pipes and Piping 394

Linux Commands: Working with Directories 397

There's No Place Like $HOME 399

More on File Permissions 399

User and Group Ownership 400

Who Was That Masked User? 403

Finding Anything 405

Processes 409

Working with Editors 416

Resources 424

Appendix A: The GNU General Public License 425

Index 435

Oct 17, 2006     James from Seattle, WA
Great introduction to Ubuntu on the desktop
I received 3 Ubuntu titles and thought it might be useful to compare them. Ubuntu is a fairly recent Linux distribution that strives to be usable out of the box, with strong support. It has deep pockets and a thriving community behind it. I admire a lot of the design choices that went into Ubuntu, such as limiting the use of the all-powerful root account, which can get people into trouble. The bare-bones server install is the cleanest Linux server I've seen - *no* open ports, minimal services. Just enough to log in at a console and then install what you want. On the other hand, if you want a LAMP server (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP - the most popular combination on the internet), that's a one button install! Brilliant!

I think all three books are pretty good, and your choice will depend on your technical level and religious ferver. If you are uncomfortable with computers, I think _Moving to Ubuntu_ is your best choice. If you are somewhat comfortable and into the philosophy behind Ubuntu, _the Official Ubuntu book_ is your best choice. If you are unintimidated by the topic, _Ubuntu Unleashed_ has the most detailed technical coverage. You can get a free, fully-functional installation and livecd just for asking, or downloading. The only thing I don't like is the iptables firewall. A "linux for everyone" needs an easier firewall to deal with. (I love pf, written for OpenBSD and now showing up on other systems.)

Moving to Ubuntu - Marcel Gagne

This is the most approachable of the three books. Gagne has an enthusiastic, conversational, even narrative approach to the material. The audience is people stuck using Windows desktops because they don't know any Linux nerds willing to help them. I think it's a terrific book, and it showed me some cool things to do on the desktop. I use Linux mainly for servers.

It covers productivity apps very well. One quibble: he introduces GAIM, for chatting on various systems, and then introduces another tool for IRC, which GAIM handles just fine. The multimedia coverage is the best of the three books. The section on games is good as well, and I like his approach of getting a teenage nephew to recommend the best Linux games.

Like Ubuntu Unleashed, this book has a lot of material lifted from earlier works. I don't think that's a bad thing if the material lifted is generic. In this case, Gagne uses material from the slightly earlier _Moving to Linux_, which mostly used on one (non-Ubuntu) distro and mentioned some differences. Unlike _Ubuntu Unleashed_, the material was applied carefully. They even updated some things that didn't have to be, like an illustration in _MTL_ that had a graphic with a logo reading, "Welcome to Linux". In _MTU_ they cared enough to change it to "Welcome to Ubuntu". The chapters on Open Office are the same - and that's appropriate because Open Office IS the same. The GIMP is the same. So I think it's appropriate for the chapters to be the same.

Gagne pays some attention to the Ubuntu community ethos, but he's mostly concerned with showing someone unfamiliar with the system how to do the things they are most likely to want to do.

A good book, GREAT for newbies.

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