Ubuntu
Ubuntu (pronounced oo-BOON-too) is a Zulu word that translates to "humanness. Used as a verb, Ubuntu describes the practice of respecting one's family and neighbors — or more broadly, the community at large.
Obtaining Ubuntu Installer
Ubuntu and its close cousins Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu are all designed with ease of use and familiarity in transition in mind. These distributions focus on keeping things simple and clean to help smooth out the learning curves when you are adapting to a new system.
Ubuntu Philosophy
Ubuntu is driven by a philosophy of software freedom that hope will spread and bring the benefits of software technology to all parts of the globe.
Ubuntu Code of Conduct
This Code of Conduct covers your behavior as a member of the Ubuntu Community, in any forum, mailing list, wiki, Web site, IRC channel, install-fest, public meeting, or private correspondence. The Ubuntu Community Council will arbitrate in any dispute over the conduct of a member of the community.
Windows Security vs. Linux Security
If you’ve switched to Ubuntu from Windows, there’s a very good chance that the security failings of Windows featured in your decision. By any measure, Microsoft’s record on security within its products is appalling. A new and serious security warning appears seemingly on an ongoing basis, and a new and devastating virus makes news headlines with similar frequency (usually described as “a PC virus” rather than what it actually is: a Windows virus).
Canonical and the Ubuntu Foundation
Ubuntu is an organization driven by a community; several organizations play an important role in its structure and organization. Foremost among these are Canonical Ltd., a for-profit company.
What is Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu is a Linux distribution. Linux distributions take the Linux kernel (the kernel is the software that orchestrates the interaction of programs and applications with computer hardware) and add an installation system, administration software, productivity applications, and other parts to make it possible for people to use their computers. Putting the parts together creates a sum that is greater than the pieces themselves.
Ubuntu VS Other Linux Distributions
If you log into the command line of both an Ubuntu system and a Red Hat Enterprise
Linux or Fedora system, very little will look different. There are common directories and utilities between the two, and functionality is fundamentally the same.
Why Choose Ubuntu?
With so many distros out there, you may wonder why you should opt for Ubuntu:
Understanding the Linuxisms
The word Linux has different meanings, depending on the context in which it's referred to. Linux kernel: Linux is the operating system that controls everything you do on your Ubuntu computer.
Where to look for Ubuntu Resources
The Ubuntu community has a vast pool of knowledge you can draw from in the form of online resources. The following is a list of links to some of the most popular and useful venues.
Where to download Ubuntu Software
Most Ubuntu software can be found on the Ubuntu package web site (http://packages.ubuntu.com). The standard tools—Synaptic, APT, and Update Manager—are the most common ways of installing software on your Ubuntu system.
Linux file system
Everything that you use or save on a computer is stored as a file on disk drives of some sort. Programs are stored as files. Other types of information, such as word processing files, spreadsheets, and photographs, are stored as files, too. In fact, Linux organizes every resource (except network connections) as a file. All of these resources together are considered a file system.
Changing Your User Information in Ubuntu Linux
Linux users are assigned a name, known as a username, by the root operator. One method of assigning usernames is to use one's first initial and last name in lowercase; for example, Bernice Hudson would have a username of bhudson. Each user must also have a password, which is used with the username either at a graphical or text-based login.
Enabling Multiple CPUs (SMP) in Ubuntu
Many of today's computers have multiple CPUs. Some are physically distinct, and others are virtual, such as hyper-threading and dual-core. In any case, these processors support symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and can dramatically speed up Linux.
Adding Printers in Ubuntu
Printers are one of the most common types of external device. Today, many computer manufactures bundle printers with new computers-it's hard not to have a printer. Printers used to come with one of two types of connectors: serial or parallel. Today, USB printers are very common. In corporate and small-office/home-office (SOHO) environments, networked printers are common. Ubuntu supports an amazing number of printers; making Ubuntu work with most printers is relatively easy.
Detecting Old Sound Card in Ubuntu
Many older devices are not automatically detected by the current 2.6 kernel series. This is done to avoid hardware issues such as crashes. Unfortunately if you have an older sound card, it means you need to roll your sleeves up and poke around to get it running.
Formatting a USB Drive in Ubuntu
USB drives support two basic formats: floppy drive and hard drive. A USB floppy drive consists of one large formatted drive. In contrast USB hard drives contain partition tables and one or more formatted partitions. If you purchased a thumb drive and never formatted it, then it is most likely configured as a USB hard drive with one large partition.
Booting from a USB Drive in Ubuntu
USB drives can be used as bootable devices. If your computer supports booting from a USB drive, then this is a great option for developing a portable operating system, emergency recovery disk, or installing the OS on other computers.
Sharing Files with a USB Drive in Ubuntu
The simplest and most common use for a USB drive is to share files between systems. Dapper supports most USB drives. Simply plugging the drive into the USB port will automatically mount the drive. From there, you can access it as you would access any mounted partition.
Single- or Dual-Boot Setup with Ubuntu
It is possible to have both Windows and Linux installed on the same machine and for them to happily coexist. This is known as a dual-boot setup. It has also become incredibly easy to set up such a system.
Optimizing the Ubuntu Boot Process
The /sbin/init process uses an entry in /etc/inittab for your system’s default run level to run scripts that start various services at boot time. You can manually customize the run levels at which various services start, but this is tedious at best. As you might expect, the Ubuntu repositories provide a number of applications that simplify editing the startup and shutdown scripts associated with different run levels.
How to speed up Ubuntu booting by reducing the Boot Menu Delay
Getting rid of the GRUB boot menu delay can save some waiting around in the early stages of the boot process. The delay can be reduced to a second, or even eradicated completely.
Ubuntu Linux File Systems
Even though there are a lot of different file system types available in Linux, there are not many that you need to set up a basic Linux system. For a basic Linux system, your computer hard disk may contain only three partitions: a swap partition (used to handle the overflow of information in RAM), a boot partition that contains the boot loader and kernel, and a root file system partition. The boot and root file system partitions are usually an ext3 file system type.
Introduction and History of Kubuntu
Kubuntu is an official project of Ubuntua complete implementation of the Ubuntu OS led by Jonathan Riddell (an employee of Canonical Ltd.) and an army of developers. However, Kubuntu uses KDE instead of GNOME for Ubuntu.
Trying a Different Look with Kubuntu
Kubuntu is Ubuntu that uses the K Desktop Environment (KDE) graphical desktop in place of GNOME. KDE and GNOME are similar in many ways. However, KDE is considered to use more advanced technology than GNOME.
Using shell in Ubuntu
Bash is the dominant shell in use today within the Linux world. Ubuntu uses bash as its default shell. Bash is a derivative of the Bourne shell and gets its acronym from that heritage — born again shell.
Why use Shell in Ubuntu
The real measure of a Linux user expertise comes from your abilities at the shell. In our modern age, the GUI is mistakenly considered “progress.” For instance, users of the Microsoft and Apple-based operating systems are quite used to using a mouse to navigate and perform various tasks. While it’s handy in certain situations—it would be difficult to imagine image editing without a mouse, for example—in many other situations, such as when manipulating files, directly typing commands is far more efficient.
Using Bash to Best Effect in Ubuntu
Basically, in the Bash environment, an administrator is working with text commands. An example of such a command is ls, which can be used to display a list of files in a directory. Bash has some useful features to make working with these line commands as easy as possible. Some shells offer the option to complete a command automatically.
Managing Bash with Key Sequences in Ubuntu
Sometimes, you’ll enter a command from the Bash command line and either nothing happens at all or else something totally unexpected happens. In such an event, it’s good to know that some key sequences are available to perform basic Bash management tasks. Here are some of the most useful key sequences.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts in Ubuntu
Your other good friends when using BASH are the Ctrl and Alt keys. These keys provide shortcuts to vital command-line shell functions. They also let you work more efficiently when typing by providing what most programs call keyboard shortcuts.
How to Starting and Stopping Ubuntu
Starting and stopping a computer is a simple process. However, there are good ways to do so and bad ways, too.
How to install a package in Ubuntu
In Ubuntu, all components (applications, documentation, artwork, etc.) are split up into separate packages. Each package serves one purpose. For instance the package Firefox contains Mozilla Firefox, and Ubuntu-audio contains the Ubuntu default audio theme.
How to use Ubuntu Linux Network Configuration Tool
As expected, Ubuntu provides an easy-to-use network configuration utility.
Configuring Wireless Ethernet Interfaces in Ubuntu
Wireless network adapters are configured in basically the same way as standard networking adapters, except that they require some additional, wireless-specific information. To configure a wireless networking adapter on your Ubuntu system, connect it to your system and select System -> Administration -> Networking to start Ubuntu’s networking administration application (which you can also execute as the network-admin command from any Ubuntu command line, using the sudo command).
Configuring Ubuntu Wireless Networking with Command-Line Tools
The wireless-tools package, which is installed on Ubuntu systems by default, provides several commands for probing and configuring wireless interfaces and networks. You can execute the man wireless command to get information about the wireless-tools package, learn how and where it is installed by various Linux distributions, and view a list of the commands that this package provides. The wireless-tools commands that I find most valuable are the iwconfig and iwlist commands.
Ubuntu GNOME's Nautilus
Nautilus is an open source file manager that Ubuntu supplies to help maneuver around your computer. Nautilus is equivalent to Windows Explorer and provides all the facilities that you need to work with files, folders, and network file shares.
Ubuntu GNOME Applications
Knowing what applications GNOME provides is quite useful. Having that information can save you time looking for programs that are or aren't installed.
Using FTP Clients in Ubuntu
The FTP protocol allows users to connect to a server, read directories and filenames, and download and upload data. If the correct access rights are set, users can also create new folders and set access permissions on them.
Remote Logging Using ssh in Ubuntu
The newer, more modern and secure replacement for telnet is ssh, the secure shell application, which uses SSH, the Secure Shell protocol. The ssh application is installed as part of a default Ubuntu Linux installation, along with other applications that use the same protocol and authentication information, and which shares much of the same command-line syntax, such as sftp (secure FTP) and scp (secure copy).
What is Samba Server
Samba is a free and impressive interface for Linux, Unix, and other types of systems to any other networked device that can communicate using the SMB protocol, most notably Windows systems that provide networked access to files, directories, and printers.
Instant Messaging with Gaim in Ubuntu
The Web is great for one-way communications: someone posts a web page and someone else views it. Even in online forums, discussions may span days. E-mail is a faster communication method, and is bi-directional, but is not instant. Instant messaging (IM) systems allow realtime communications with groups of people.
Ubuntu Linux Disk Quotas
On large systems with many users, you need to control the amount of disk space a user has access to. Disk quotas are designed specifically for this purpose. Quotas, managed per each partition, can be set for both individual users as well as groups; quotas for the group need not be as large as the aggregate quotas for the individuals in the groups.
Setting Up Apache in Ubuntu
Apart from the web server where the content is stored, the client also has to use a specific protocol to access this content as well, and this protocol is HTTP (the hypertext transfer protocol). Typically, a client uses a web browser to generate HTTP commands that retrieve content, in the form of HTML and other files, from a web server.
Managing E-mail with Evolution in Ubuntu
The default e-mail reader for Dapper Drake is called Evolution. This program is an open source clone of Microsoft Outlook. Besides viewing and composing e- mail, it also manages your calendar, task list, and contacts. Evolution also enables you to manage multiple e-mail accounts. While it natively supports many different mail server configurations, it does have a couple of quirks.
Audio Rippers and Encoders in Ubuntu Linux
The application you use to rip audio files from CD and encode them into space-saving MP3 or Ogg Vorbis formats is commonly referred to as a ripper. For some time now, the most commonly used non–command-line ripper was Grip, which still has its dedicated following. Other simpler-to-use rippers, however, have surfaced more recently, such as RipperX, Goobox, and the one that comes bundled with Ubuntu: Sound Juicer.
Ubuntu Ctrl+Alt+Delete (CAD) Key Sequence
Different versions of Linux either have the Ctrl+Alt+Delete (CAD) key sequence enabled or disabled. In Ubuntu Dapper Drake, this key sequence is enabled, allowing a quick shutdown and reboot.
Ubuntu Multiple Terminals
It is both curious and sad that many Linux veterans have not heard of the screen command. Curious because they needlessly go to extra effort to replicate what screen takes in its stride and sad because they are missing a powerful tool that would benefit them greatly.
Installing RealPlayer in Ubuntu
Installing RealPlayer involves adding a new software repository and then using the Synaptic Package Manager to download and install RealPlayer. The software repository is hosted by Canonical, the company that’s the chief sponsor and director of Ubuntu, as a method of providing some useful proprietary extra software.
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