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 enlarge | Authors: Benjamin Mako Hill, Jono Bacon, Ivan Krstic, David J. Murphy, Jonathan Jesse, Peter Savage, Corey Burger
Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy Used: $4.77
You Save: $30.22 (86%)
New (39) Used (18) from $4.77
Rating:  49 reviews
Sales Rank: 524694
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0132354136
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.432
EAN: 9780132354134
ASIN: 0132354136
Publication Date: July 12, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not a Book Designed for Problem Solving November 9, 2006
9 out of 12 found this review helpful
If you are looking for a light-weight introduction to this fine operating system release, go for it. If, however, your needs go beyond "Space does not allow us to go into any detail..." or "Visit www.xxxx.com for more information" this book will disappoint you. You will also find discrepancies between the text and what you will experience using Ubuntu. This can be confusing and frustrating for a new user. For an experienced user just wanting a reference, this book is more than adequate.
It is well-written and easy to understand, but it leaves unanswered many questions you might be asking if you are moving from Windows to Linux and this is your first attempt.
If that is the case, I would recommend "Ubuntu Unleashed" from Sams Publishing, also available from Amazon.com. It is far more comprehensive, not so much in scope, but in depth. It is a little more expensive than "The Official Ubuntu Book" but well worth the difference in price.
 Excellent, clear, outstanding! November 5, 2006
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is perfect: they clearly explain every interesting aspect of installing, configuring and using Ubuntu or Kubuntu version 6.06 (though most parts apply also for version 6.10).
Definitively recommended!
Great collaborative book effort... October 29, 2006
29 out of 30 found this review helpful
There are a plethora of books hitting the market on the Ubuntu Linux distribution, and so far they've all been pretty good. But this one is at the head of the pack for getting started with your penguin experience... The Official Ubuntu Book by Benjamin Mako Hill, Jono Bacon, Corey Burger, Jonathan Jesse, and Ivan Krstic. It's a collaborative book writing effort that pays off on a number of levels.
Contents: Introducing Ubuntu; Installing Ubuntu; Using Ubuntu on the Desktop; Advanced Usage and Managing Ubuntu; The Ubuntu Server; Support and Typical Problems; Using Kubuntu; The Ubuntu Community; Ubuntu-Related Projects; Welcome to the Command Line; Ubuntu Foundation Documents; Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Open Publication License; Ubuntu Equivalents to Windows Programs; Index
This book, as you can see from the number of authors listed, was a collaborative effort. In addition to the listed authors, contributions were also taken from members of the Ubuntu community, so you truly have experts writing about the system they are deeply involved with. The quality that comes with that type of knowledge shows through here. Rather than focus on a number of applications that run on Ubuntu, the focus tends to stay with the operating system and the desktop environment. As such, I felt I was learning Ubuntu rather than learning OpenOffice. While the screen shots and directions are clear, there's not so much hand-holding that you feel like half the book is fluff. We've all installed software, and can figure that stuff out. Good job! I was also surprised and pleased with the chapters on the Ubuntu server and the Support chapter. It seems that Ubuntu Server only gets a passing mention in many books, and I wasn't really sure if there *was* an Ubuntu Server (there is). The support chapter is also very helpful in covering some of the basic problems you'll encounter. Obviously they can't touch on everything, but the chapter on the Ubuntu community fills in the gaps to show you where all your additional knowledge will come from.
This is not a 1000 page "Ubuntu Exhaustive Reference" manual. Instead, it's focused, practical, and written by the experts. Equipped with this book and the included media, there's no reason you shouldn't be up and running Ubuntu in no time flat...
Good intro to Ubuntu the Linux Distro, GREAT intro to community October 17, 2006
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
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.)
The Official Ubuntu Book - Benjamine Mako Hill, et. al.
This is at a midpoint in complexity. It is the strongest of the three in describing Ubuntu the phenomenon, rather than Ubuntu the tool. They honor their antecedents (especially the Debian distribution on which Ubuntu is built) and support projects built off of an Ubuntu base. The committment to the Open Source/Free Software community is very strong: even the book is Open Source, meaning you can copy, improve, and distribute it! Good technical details, few editing mistakes.
One area where this exceeds even Ubuntu Unleased in technical detail is in the future of the server side. While not yet ready, there are features that will make Ubuntu more suitable for server farms and clusters than it currently is. They also describe high end features like support for Red Hat's Cluster suite. Ubuntu Unleashed doesn't mention that, even though it is a retailored version of Fedora Unleased.
There are good points and advice throughout, and I picked up some neat tricks and tools. For example, I hadn't heard about zcat, zgrep, and zless, which work on gzipped files without requiring you to unzip them. Cool!
In the installation section, they include some useful tips like how to switch to another console in case you need to do something in the middle of the install. (I had to do that last week.) There's great information on setting up partitions, including one tip to separate /var/spool and /var/log because both can fill up if there's a glitch of some kind. I've long put /var on a separate partition, but that's an additional level I may adopt.
KDE is another desktop environment (Gnome is the default). TOUB gives the KDE flavor of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, full and fair treatment. Ubuntu Unleashed crams in a little Kubuntu stuff here and there.
I liked the treatment of bug reports in Chapter 6. That's the most realistic way the average user can make a contribution - catching and describing bugs in a useful way.
The discussion of scheduling jobs through cron was very good. I learned some stuff I hadn't heard before, such as using lists and ranges of times.
A couple of issues:
There is some very bad password advice on page 40, where the authors essentially suggest running a dictionary word through a 'leet-speak' filter, turning something like 'password' into p455w0rd' (substituting 4 for A, 5 for S, 0 for O). The bad guys crack this easily.
The discussion of the X-windows client and server on page 53 probably only makes sense to those who already understand what's going on.
The troubleshooting section for hardware was a little weak. "Want to watch DVDs? Check the forums." "Want to install a Tivo-like package? Check the forums." The book does a good job of describing the approach to software licenses and the exclusion of packages that aren't 100% free. But it doesn't do such a good job of how an individual can add those parts after the install. For example, playing dvd movies requires some additional libraries and the book doesn't provide much guidance. (Google "decss ubuntu" for starters)
I mentioned the editing is pretty good, no huge glitches. The chapter subtopic is wrong on 319-329: an earlier topic got stuck, I guess. There are a few other typos as well.
In sum, a good book and a great introduction to the Ubuntu community. Get this book if you want a family as much as an operating system.
If Ubuntu sounds good, then this book is for you. October 13, 2006
The Official Ubuntu Book, brought to you by a number of folks who actively write or document Ubuntu and is a great book for those looking to move from OSX or Windows to Ubuntu. If you're a novice or intermediate Ubuntu user then this book is for you. If you consider yourself an expert, you can still pick up a few things but most of what you'll find here, you'll already know.
The book starts with a an interesting introduction written by Mark Shuttleworth giving a light explanation of why he started the Ubuntu project and a few of his thoughts on the Open Source movement in general.
The book is divided into nine chapters which bring users through an explanation of OSS and a history of how the Ubuntu project got started, installation, using Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, Kubuntu, administration, troubleshooting and how to become involved in the community.
In addition to this there are four appendices covering the command line, the Ubuntu Foundation documents, the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Open Publication License and Ubuntu equivalents to Windows programs.
This book isn't as weighty as other Linux tomes I've encountered. For what it is, I feel that this is a good thing. It's not intimidating in the least. It's written in a friendly and intelligent style that assumes the reader isn't an expert but is capable of picking up a new OS rather quickly.
The chapters are very concise, and while it would be impossible to cover every aspect of any Linux distribution in a single, 450 page book, the authors cover all of the essentials and touch on a great deal more besides. This gives the user a solid foundation in running Ubuntu and the tools and knowledge to seek out further information.
The troubleshooting section is at first a bit daunting, but a quick read through shows clear and concise answers to many of the major problems (video, networking, modems, file-system) that end users may come up against.
The server section is a bit light, but then the aim of this book isn't to create a Linux sysadmin, but to inform folks about Ubuntu and to a lesser extent to dispel the myth that Ubuntu is a desktop only distribution.
The book is full of links pointing to further reading, community sites and external documentation that users and sysadmins alike will find helpful. There's also an interesting section on how the Ubuntu project works, from it's philosophy to it's structure, as well as ways to get involved.
Pros: Well written in an easy to follow format. Full of information for folks new to Linux or just new to Ubuntu. Even non-technical users would find this a very helpful resource.
Cons: Writing about an OS with a 6 month release schedule is a bit tricky. This book will be a bit out of date later this month as far as Edgy Eft is concerned, however 6.06 LTS will be around until late 2009 meaning this book will still be relevant for the next three years.
So should you go out and buy this book? If you're a Linux/Ubuntu expert then you can probably forgo it. Anyone else who's interested in Ubuntu either as a primary operating system, or as a means to learn a lot more about Linux should pick this up. It's a great reference and has everything you'll need from install to working productively in one easy place. It also comes with the Ubuntu 6.06 LTS DVD, saving the new user from trying to download and burn a copy - a time saver in the least.
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