The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide: Second Edition
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About this ebook
Want to use Ubuntu without having to learn the command line? Then this is the book for you! THE UBUNTU DESKTOP BEGINNER'S GUIDE will show you how to use the Ubuntu desktop interface and perform common tasks with the operating system.
In the guide, you'll earn how to:
-Install Ubuntu.
-Install the latest updates for Ubuntu.
-Configure and use Ubuntu's Unity environment.
-Master the Launcher, the Dash, and the Heads-Up Display.
-Create and manage user accounts.
-Manage files and folders.
-Set up automated backups.
-Use email from Ubuntu.
-Manage removable media like USB hard drives and flash drives.
-Use wired networks.
-Use wireless networks.
-Find applications and install them using Ubuntu Software Center.
-Listen to music.
-Watch video.
Jonathan Moeller
Standing over six feet tall, Jonathan Moeller has the piercing blue eyes of a Conan of Cimmeria, the bronze-colored hair of a Visigothic warrior-king, and the stern visage of a captain of men, none of which are useful in his career as a computer repairman, alas.He has written the "Demonsouled" trilogy of sword-and-sorcery novels, and continues to write the "Ghosts" sequence about assassin and spy Caina Amalas, the "$0.99 Beginner's Guide" series of computer books, and numerous other works.Visit his website at:http://www.jonathanmoeller.comVisit his technology blog at:http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed
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The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide - Jonathan Moeller
THE UBUNTU DESKTOP BEGINNER'S GUIDE - SECOND EDITION
Jonathan Moeller
***
Book Description
Want to use Ubuntu without having to learn the command line? Then this is the book for you! THE UBUNTU DESKTOP BEGINNER'S GUIDE will show you how to use the Ubuntu desktop interface and perform common tasks with the operating system.
In the guide, you'll earn how to:
-Install Ubuntu.
-Install the latest updates for Ubuntu.
-Configure and use Ubuntu's Unity environment.
-Master the Launcher, the Dash, and the Heads-Up Display.
-Create and manage user accounts.
-Manage files and folders.
-Set up automated backups.
-Use email from Ubuntu.
-Manage removable media like USB hard drives and flash drives.
-Use wired networks.
-Use wireless networks.
-Find applications and install them using Ubuntu Software Center.
-Listen to music.
-Watch video.
***
The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide - Second Edition
Copyright Jonathan Moeller
Cover image copy Robert Nystrom | Dreamstime.com
Smashwords Edition
All Rights Reserved.
Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every appearance of a trademarked name, this book uses the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
The information in this book is distributed on an as is
basis without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor the publishers shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work.
***
Introduction
Welcome to The Ubuntu Desktop Beginner's Guide
. If you are a new Ubuntu Linux user, you've come to the right place. Ubuntu is a powerful and versatile modern operating system, and you can use its desktop edition to perform a wide variety of tasks, ranging from office work and Internet browsing to listening to music and playing games. In this book, we'll introduce you to the basics of using Ubuntu and working with its interface.
WHAT IS UBUNTU?
What exactly is Ubuntu
, though? Technically, the full name of the current version as of this writing is Ubuntu Linux 13.04 Raring Ringtail.
But what exactly does that mean?
Linux
refers generally to a family of free operating systems based upon the Linux kernel (a kernel is the core component of any operating system). The history of Linux is long and complex, but we can provide a brief sketch here. In the late 1960s and 1970s, AT&T’s Bell Labs developed the UNIX operating system, which was soon used in university computer labs across the United States.
However, AT&T retained the rights to the UNIX code, which meant that people could not freely alter or distribute it. In response to this, computer programmer Richard Stallman launched the GNU Project in 1983. (GNU stands for GNU’s Not Unix.
) Stallman’s goal with the GNU Project was to create a UNIX-like operating system that was nonetheless free to alter and distribute under the principle of Free Software
, a philosophical position which argued that software should be free to distribute and alter without legal restrictions. The GNU Project and Stallman himself produced a large number of software tools and programs. Unfortunately, the GNU Project lacked a viable kernel, the necessary core of any operating system.
This changed in 1991 when a Finnish university student named Linus Torvald became frustrated with the academic licensing for Minix, a UNIX-like operating system restricted to educational use. Torvalds wrote his own kernel, named it Linux, and released it under the GNU free license. Combined with the GNU project, the Linux kernel provided a freely available operating system – an operating system that people could modify and distribute however they saw fit.
Linux had been born.
(Many people insist that the proper name of Linux should in fact be GNU\Linux, in recognition of GNU’s vital role, and many GNU programs are used in Linux to this day.)
Under the terms of GNU’s General Public License (GPL), anyone could modify and distribute Linux. Today, Linux and Linux variants run on every different computing platform, from smartphones to desktop computers to high-end server systems. (Even Amazon's Kindle and Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader devices are powered by custom versions of Android, a version of Linux designed for smartphones and tablets.) These different flavors of Linux are called Linux distributions.
Some distributions are commercially supported endeavors, like Red Hat Linux or SuSE Linux, while others are free and community-supported, like Knoppix or Fedora.
One of the more venerable distributions is Debian, started in 1993 by a German programmer named Ian Murdock. Debian is well-known for its stability and its strong devotion to free software principles. Unfortunately, Debian also has a famously slow release cycle. Because of this, Debian is frequently forked
– a fork
is when the code of an open-source project (which is free to share and distribute) is used as the foundation for another open-source project.
Ubuntu began as one of these forks. Started by South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth through his company Canonical, Ubuntu focused on providing a smooth experience for the end users, offering a version of Linux for people with little experience with Linux or even with computers in general. Ubuntu issues new releases every six months, accompanied by an alliterative code name: Hoary Hedgehog
, Breezy Badger
, and so on. Each Ubuntu release is supported for 18 months, and every two years a Long-Term Support (LTS) release comes out, which is supported for three years on the desktop version and five years on the server.
Since the releases come out every six months, there’s sometimes not much of a noticeable difference between them – the end user would notice very little difference between, say, 10.04 and 10.10. In aggregate, however, the improvements add up – Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin is a vastly superior operating system over 5.10 Breezy Badger.
Today, Ubuntu is one of the most popular available Linux distributions, with a growing market share and a dedicated community of users and developers.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK
The purpose of this book is to give the reader a basic introduction to using the Ubuntu operating system. This book is not intending as a comprehensive overview, but as an introduction to Ubuntu – enough information to get you started and to get you comfortable using Ubuntu. In this book, we'll focus entirely on using the graphical interface instead of the Linux command line. This book is intended for brand-new Ubuntu users, users who might be interested in giving Ubuntu a try but have no wish to learn the command line. Additionally, some users might find themselves required to use Ubuntu (such as at their workplace, for example), but have neither the time nor the interest in learning to use the command line.
If you have more interest in learning the command line, you can check out my other two books – THE LINUX COMMAND LINE BEGINNER'S GUIDE and THE UBUNTU BEGINNER'S GUIDE, both of which deal with the command line in greater detail.
WHY I WROTE THIS BOOK
As I mentioned above, my first two books about Ubuntu and Linux dealt almost exclusively with the command line. However, I've had an increasing number of requests from readers to write a book dealing with Ubuntu's graphical interface. At first I was opposed to the idea, since I think a good understanding of the command line is vital for using a Linux system. Over time, I came to understand that not everyone necessarily needs an understanding of the command line. While knowledge of the command line is necessary for administrators of Ubuntu and Linux systems, it is probably not necessary for the regular, non-technical user who simply wants to use Ubuntu to get work done.
I wrote this book, therefore, to offer an introduction to Ubuntu for brand-new users.
ERRATA
I have done my best to make sure all the information in this