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Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional

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Winner of a Linux Journal Editor's Choice 2006 award (first edition)!


Beginning Ubuntu Linux, Second Edition updates the best-selling and award-winning first edition. It's the perfect guide for those switching to the world's favorite Linux. The new edition has been thoroughly updated to cover technology introduced in the 6.10 release.


In the 680+ fully illustrated pages, you'll learn how to install Linux, set up your hardware and software, customize the desktop experience, browse the Web and send/receive e-mail, play back audio and video, edit digital images, use the OpenOffice.org office suite, and more.


Additionally, you'll discover how to perform vital maintenance tasks, such as securing your computer against hackers, updating online, optimizing your system, installing and managing software, backing up, accessing your computer remotely, scheduling tasks, and more.


A whole third of the book is dedicated to Linux internals, including managing system processes and working at the command line. Two appendices provide a glossary of Linux terms and an index of commands that can be used to control Ubuntu.


Beginning Ubuntu Linux, Second Edition is a complete, comprehensive, and unbiased guide to getting the most from Ubuntu.


Beginning Ubuntu Linux, Second Edition features a unique DVD-ROM companion disk containing the full Ubuntu installation that you can install on your computer. A full installation guide is provided in the book. Also included on the DVD-ROM are the Ubuntu sister projects, such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, and others. Both the long-term support and 6.10 releases of all projects are provided.

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

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About the author

Keir Thomas

27 books3 followers
Keir Thomas has nearly two decades experience as a magazine journalist and author, working largely in the home computing field but also covering leisure. In recent years he’s also written fiction.

His most recent computing books are iPad and iPhone Kung Fu and Mac Kung Fu (Second Edition), and his novel The Rock & Roll Beers is now on sale as Kindle, Kobo, Android and iBook eBooks.

He has written over 10 other best-selling computing books, one of which won a Linux Journal award and one of which has been read by more than 1,000,000 people worldwide. His $0.99 Kindle computing ebooks, written as a “publishing experiment”, consistently top Amazon’s sales charts — beating titles by the world’s biggest publishers.

Prior to book authoring he edited several computer magazines in the United Kingdom and continues to write for many other titles. He blogs professionally for publishing giant IDG and in the past has written for several high-profile independent sites.

His work has been translated into many languages, including German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Polish.

Are you still reading? Wow. Good for you. Keir lives in Manchester with two cats and one woman. His hobbies include walking and cycling. There. That’s everything.

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Kyle Sorkness.
1 review
not-in-my-library
July 6, 2012
Granted I read an outdated version of this book, I found much of its information to be general enough to apply to even the latest version of Ubuntu. As an Ubuntu newbie, I appreciated both this book's easy-to-understand language that left few concepts undefined and its relative comprehensiveness. Although I wouldn't say this book took me "From Novice to Professional," as its subtitle promises, I would say that I feel fairly grounded in the basics concepts of Ubuntu (and GNU/Linux in general) and am prepared to move on to more specialized books and guides.
3 reviews1 follower
February 10, 2011
I found this far too remedial for my purposes. This is focused on the computer illiterate, which is probably a small segment of users installing and using Linux. I found "Ubuntu for Non-Geeks: A Pain-Free, Get-Things-Done Guide" by Rickford Grant and Phil Bull to have more useful information that goes beyond simply installing and turning on the computer.
Profile Image for Onionboy.
530 reviews2 followers
March 12, 2016
This is good if you are considering moving from Windows to Linux. It gives a good overview of all the aspects to consider and serves as a good introduction to the whole concept. You can get a feel for what it will be like if you make the switch.
9 reviews1 follower
Read
July 18, 2011
Good way to finally completly setup a linux box
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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