Ubuntu Hacks 138
Ravi writes "I recently got hold of a very nice book on Ubuntu called Ubuntu Hacks co-authored by three authors - Kyle Rankin, Jonathan Oxer and Bill Childers. This is the latest of the hack series of books published by O'Reilly. They have made available a rough cut version of the book online ahead of schedule which was how I got hold of the book but as of now you can also buy the book in print. Put in a nutshell, this book is a collection of around 100 tips and tricks which the authors choose to call hacks, which explain how to accomplish various tasks in Ubuntu Linux. The so called hacks range from down right ordinary to the other end of the spectrum of doing specialised things." Read on for the rest of Ravi's review.
Ubuntu Hacks - Tips and Tools for Exploring, Using and Tuning Linux | |
author | Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin and Bill Childers |
pages | 447 |
publisher | O'Reilly |
rating | 9 |
reviewer | Ravi |
ISBN | 0-596-52720-9 |
summary | This book contains around a 100 hacks in configuring various aspects of Ubuntu. |
The book is divided into 10 chapters each containing a collection of hacks on a particular topic.
In the first chapter titled - Getting Started, the authors explains how to install Ubuntu on a Mac and Windows PC, moving data like mail from windows Outlook express to Ubuntu, setting up a printer and more. This chapter contains a total of 14 hacks. And my favorite hack is the one where the authors explains how to create a customized version of Ubuntu Live CD containing ones favourite applications.
The second chapter dwells on the topics related to customizing the Ubuntu desktop. Here the authors give tips to install Java, customize Ubuntu desktop, install additional window managers, synchronizing ones PDA and Pocket PC, just to name a few. This chapter contains around 27 tips. My favourite one here would be how to create PDF files by using the print command from any application in Ubuntu.
Ubuntu like other main stream GNU/Linux distributions is encumbered by the patent restrictions related to various popular multimedia file formats. The net result is one cannot play multimedia files like mp3, wmv or quick time in a default Ubuntu installation. In the chapter titled "Multimedia", one gets to know how to enable audio and video applications bundled with Ubuntu to play these restricted media files.Topics like CD ripping, playing encrypted DVDs and playing any media formats using the all time popular mplayer are also explained in simple detail. But the one hack which takes the prize is that which explains how to buy songs at the iTunes music store and download the music on Linux.
Laptop users have some advantages as well as disadvantages over people using the desktop. And considering that the number of laptop users are ever increasing, there is a need to explain how to configure and take care of ones laptop running Ubuntu - like prolonging the battery life, configuring the wireless card on the laptop, hibernating, setting up bluetooth connection and so on. The 4th chapter contains around 8 detailed tips which deals with these interesting topics related to a laptop. I really liked the tip explaining how to make ones laptop settings roam with ones network which could be quite useful for people who are always on the move.
Chapter five of this well structured book deals exclusively with configuring and fine tuning X11 - the X Windows System. Here one gets to know how to configure ones mouse the old fashioned way by editing the requisite section in the X configuration file.As an example, the authors elaborate on a special case of configuring a seven button mouse with a tilted scroll wheel to work properly in Ubuntu. This chapter additionally contain a slew of tips to configure different difficult to configure hardware like the touch pad, setting up dual head displays, installing and configuring Nvidia, ATI and Matrox proprietary graphics drivers to work in Ubuntu and more.
The next chapter titled "Package Management" has a collection of tips in managing packages. Over and above explaining how to install, remove and update packages using apt-get, synaptic and Adept, this chapter also contain tips on creating ones own Ubuntu package from source, cache packages locally from source and more. I especially found the hack where the authors explain how to create ones own Ubuntu package repository really informative.
The seventh chapter dwells exclusively on Security. Usually Ubuntu for the desktop comes with all the ports closed by default which makes it relatively secure. But in these times of cheap high speed Internet access when a home network is connected to the Internet at all times, it is always prudent to run a firewall on ones machine. In this chapter, the authors explain how to setup a robust firewall using iptables and firewallbuilder and then manage it from the Ubuntu desktop. But that is not all, there are tips on configuring SUDO to limit permissions to different users where one gets to know how to do it the command line way. But my favourite tip in this chapter is the one which explains how to encrypt the file system to protect important data. This chapter contains a total of six in-depth hacks all related to enhancing the security of the machine running Ubuntu.
Ubuntu developers have always persevered in providing easy to use front-ends for conducting the most common system administration tasks - be it creating additional user accounts or managing the services running on ones machine. But at times the user is forced to do system administration tasks the command line way. In this chapter titled "Administration", the authors explain for instance how to compile a kernel from source the Ubuntu way and also ways of installing multiple copies of one kernel version on the same machine which could be useful for testing purpose. There are tips for taking backups as well as restoring them. I found the hack titled "Rescuing an unbootable system" really useful. This hack is in fact a collection of tips where common rescue scenarios are elaborated. I found this chapter full of very useful tips as varied as ways of synchronizing files between different machines, mounting a remote filesystem and even a tip on creating videos by capturing what is done on the desktop which could be really useful when shared with others while seeking help on a particular error.
A virtual machine is a simulated computer-inside-another-computer, allowing one to boot an extra operating system inside the primary environment. The next chapter titled "Virtualization and Emulation" explains the different virtualization and emulation technologies available which allow one to run windows/Dos applications and games in Ubuntu, running Ubuntu inside Windows and so on. Here the authors gives in-depth step-by-step walkthroughs in configuring and running virtualization and emulation technologies such as Xen, VMWare server and Wine which imparts a lot of importance to this chapter.
The final chapter of this excellent book which is also the 10th chapter deals with setting up a small home/office server. Here one gets to know how to install and configure a Ubuntu server from scratch. All the topics like setting up quotas to control disk space usage among users, setting up an SSH server, configuring Apache web server, building an email server, DHCP server, DNS server and so on which are a part and parcel of an office server setup have been given due importance in this chapter.
All the ten chapters combined, there are a total of 100 tips (Oops! hacks) in this unique book which are based on the latest version of Ubuntu - Dapper Drake. What is worth noting is that one is not expected to read the book from cover-to-cover rather, you can flip to the hack you are interested in and carry on from there which makes this book a very good reference for setting up and configuring all things related to Ubuntu. At this point, one might have questions in ones mind whether many of the solutions listed in this book aren't already available on the net in popular Linux/Ubuntu forums. True, with some searching one might be able to get what one is looking for. But if you ask me, it is always nice to have something tangible in ones hands while reading instead of having to stare at the monitor for hours on end. More over, each and every tip in this book has been tested by the authors on the latest version of Ubuntu (Dapper Drake) and is guaranteed to work. In writing this book, it is clear that the authors have put in a lot of hard work in covering all facets of configuring this popular Linux distribution which makes this book a worth while buy.
You can purchase Ubuntu Hacks - Tips and Tools for Exploring, Using and Tuning Linux from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Dead tree publications (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:1, Informative)
I believe you mean "overestimated." Because this makes it sound like books are worthless...
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly. Nothing better than having a book in your hands to read when taking a shit.
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:1, Funny)
Underestimated. You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.
Re:Dead tree publications (Score:3, Interesting)
Most of the time manual's simply outline what functions foo, bar and baz
This is a book report, not a review (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This is a book report, not a review (Score:2)
There comes a point where you judge something on it's value rather than its definition. I couldn't give a flying fuck what slashdot calls it, and I'm not an Ubuntu user, but this looked like a pretty reasonable book for someone who was new.
Agreed (Score:1)
One of the first hacks in the book.. (Score:5, Funny)
other uses for one hack (Score:2)
distro fragmentation (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:distro fragmentation (Score:3, Informative)
In my experiences, one of the main factors tends to be package managment. Does the distro use
Re:distro fragmentation (Score:3, Insightful)
It does'nt make any difference. .deb and RPM are just package format; a way to carry files, meta-data and (de)installation scripts. Technically, they are both pretty close in term of functionnalities. The real difference between distro packaging is two-folds : high-level package manager (apt, yum, urpm, yast, emerge, etc), and quality of packaging.
The two main high-level package manager are apt a
Re:distro fragmentation (Score:3, Insightful)
Hummmm ... no. SysV init management, configuration files localisation (layout of /etc), default configuration of various subsystem, etc vary greatly between distro. Example : Apache configuration. In RedHat and friends, the default config is pretty vanilla, and reside in /etc/httpd. In Debian, it's in /etc/apache2, and the way virtual hosts configuration is managed (s
Re:distro fragmentation (Score:2)
Regarding 101-things-to-do dept (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Regarding 101-things-to-do dept (Score:1)
1. Buy the book.
2. Try Hack #1.
etc.
Re: (Score:2)
A better book on hacking would be: (Score:2, Funny)
This reminds me of another nice book I purchased recently:
A Dozen Hacks - Tips and Tools for Exploring, Using and Tuning Your Mom. [wikipedia.org]
I found it very useful last night. Although I'm not sure these were really hacks so much as just interesting ways of doing things with your mom.
Ubuntu Hacks (Score:1)
Use ubuntuforums.org (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Use ubuntuforums.org (Score:3, Insightful)
Yup. Like so many other interesting concepts, the word hack has been all but destroyed by advertising-savvy editors.
It may be a great book, and I'm all in favor of people writing and reading books about linux. (Can't say I've ever bought any myself, since I've always been able to find more than enough information online, but I have no objection to them in principle.) But the tit
Not to be too pedantic about it, but... (Score:1, Insightful)
I'm not saying it isn't useful, nor that it doesn't have a place on
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ [digitalelite.com]
Re:Not to be too pedantic about it, but... (Score:5, Funny)
I mean, if I hadn't discovered you blog (which is automatically linked as part of your user comment header, by the way; hows that for redundancy?) with it's gnome tips, funny pictures and flash animations (that obviously won't work on any real linux-users machine) I would have been seriously intellectually impoverished.
Either way, I think the word I'm looking for is thankyou.
Re:Not to be too pedantic about it, but... (Score:5, Funny)
If my blog interests you, perhaps you'd also like to sign up for my Tom.DigitalElite.Com [digitalelite.com] newsletter.
I also have Tom.DigitalElite.Com [digitalelite.com] coffee mugs and t-shirts for the serious fan.
For the more sedate sophisticate such as yourself, I offer a Tom.DigitalElite.Com [digitalelite.com] roasted java bean blend---smooth, satisfying, and oh so mmmmm, just like my blog [digitalelite.com].
At my blog [digitalelite.com], you'll find that sarcasm is but one of the many services I provide free of charge.
Act now, I'll throw in a free Tom.DigitalElite.Com [digitalelite.com] "Lonely Fornication" baseball cap.
Tom Caudron
http://tom.digitalelite.com/ [digitalelite.com]
Ubuntu Hacks... thanks for the review! (Score:5, Informative)
At any rate; I'm very pleased to see that the book is well accepted. Thanks again for the good review. I'd like to add that we're going to continue to update things at the http://www.ubuntuhacks.com/ [ubuntuhacks.com] blog - there's no real content there at the moment, but as we think of new things or there are new developments in the Ubuntu world we'll keep that site up to date.
- Bill
Re:Ubuntu Hacks... thanks for the review! (Score:2)
That's UNencumbered to you (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, what you mean to say is that Ubuntu is not encumbered by the patent restrictions on certain multimedia formats, because it does not include support for those formats.
Re:That's UNencumbered to you (Score:2)
It doesn't support them out of the box. In fact, it doesn't support them at all. Therefore it is not encumbered by the patents covering those formats. As it stands, the Ubuntu developers don't have to worry in the slightest about what the holders of those patents want. It's not an issue.
On the other hand, if Ubuntu did support those formats out of the box, then it would be encumbered
Re:That's UNencumbered to you (Score:2)
That's right. The codecs are patent encumbered. Therefore Ubuntu, which does not include those codecs, is not.
You seem to be a little confused about Free Software and what it means. Think about it. The fact that the software bundled with Ubuntu is not patent encumbered is what makes Ubuntu 100 percent Free So
The book is outright wrong on several points (Score:2)
Re:The book is outright wrong on several points (Score:2)
Sorry, but they did say "Hopefully". That's enough to have the courts didmiss the case. ;)
Apart from that the ACPI spec isn't apparently fully enabled or implemented in all machines. So the kernel might have been expecting something that wasn't there while the Windows driver was working around it. OTOH it is weird the the usual 4 second press on the power button didn't work, that is a bug somewhere (don't know
Re:The book is outright wrong on several points (Score:2)
Last night I ran a full apt-get update and noted that a new ACPI package was downloaded, so perhaps the problem has been addressed by the developers.
I realize that getting OS's to work on laptops is especially difficult and don't expect any Linux distro to actually support ACPI 'out of the box' for every laptop that exists. The fact that Ubuntu's live CD booted and ran respectably on my laptop was impressive enough
Re:The book is outright wrong on several points (Score:2)
I agree they should have added a bold "this may not work" warning before the "how to
The Good Old Books are better (Score:2, Interesting)
When I f
Still this primitive ? (Score:2)
I've used Linux for about 10 years now, and recently helped move RH into an investment bank. But I stay away from it on the workstation these days, and this review is a good example of why...
And considering that the number of laptop users are ever increasing, there is a need to explain how to configure and take care of ones laptop running Ubuntu - like prolonging the battery life, configuring the wireless card on the laptop, hibernating, setting up bluetooth connection and so on
A need? Only if someth
Re:Still this primitive ? (Score:2)
Its the best distro I have seen yet for a pc/notebook. I have a cheap laptop which I assumed would not work at all and I was very surprised that everything from the wifi card to even the 7 in one card reader worked and I didn't have tgo configure anything.
Ubuntu has a livecd so you can test it out without even installing it. Ubuntu is what Linux desperately needed as most distro's lost stability and focused more on the server.
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:3, Insightful)
fails to do their own research they should be reading zdnet...
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:2)
G
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:2)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:2)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:1)
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:2)
AFAIK, slashdot editors refuse to link to Amazon in protest of their "one click patent".
Re:Sick of B&N favoritism (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:3, Informative)
Saying that nobody is busy addressing the "stuff like this" is a lie. The FSF and plenty of other OSS organizations join up to fig
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:5, Interesting)
The need-to-know-hacks-to-use-Linux argument no longer holds. It was completely valid when I started using Linux (circa 1998), but today it is 100% myth.
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
WiFi is simply Linux's weakest link. I think we all know the reasons why this is true, so I'll skip that part of the conversation entirely... but the simple fact is that WiFi on linux is craptacular.
I have an Avaya card which is supported by the wavelan driver. Unfortunately that doesn't support scanning for APs, or acting as the master.
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
Compare to Windows XP where damn near _nothing_ works out of the box (note that I define out of the box as I plug it in and it works, not I
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:1)
I am not a linux expert. Having never used Linux, I successfully installed Breezy Badger the first time, and sat there amazed as everything just worked. The install is _much_ easier than Windows. Everything just worked. I had a few updates to make, and they were downloaded and installed. It was easy and life was great. Or so I thought. Now to why I also agree with the OP...
Things were working well and I was loving ubuntu. Then I noticed that Firefox was st
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
You're right, though Dapper has improved this somewhat. You still have to edit the repositories to get the goodies, but it can be done by clicking a few checkboxes within Synaptic. (No need to add brand-new sources or edit the config file by hand).
However, in order to get Flash player working for Firefox, I had to manually install it into /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/plugins/. And I don't know if I've ever gotten the Acrobat plugin working properly...
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
In windows this functionality is provided by the driver; there are hooks to allow adding property pages to the mouse control panel. Windows itself only recognizes a small handful of mouse events; AFAIK they are positional (both differential and absolute) and some mouse buttons. I'm not sure if more than three buttons are directly su
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:5, Insightful)
I think I've just been trolled.
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2)
Ah - so if "Ubuntu Hacks" gives a bad impression, what do you think of "Windows Annoyances" [annoyances.org] available from all good booksellers?
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Re: (Score:1)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The Linux Flaw (Score:1)
Or the alternative hack is a caller display system for your phone. That way when the windows users ring up you can ignore them, after all you know what they will want already.
Dapper Hacks, or Ubuntu in general? (Score:1, Redundant)
I really like Ubuntu, but since I upgraded to Dapper from Breezy, things that used to work flawlessly are now either a pain to get working or still impossible.
three useful hacks off the top of my head: USB scanning - broken in Dapper. Haven' t found a way to fix it yet. USB printing - broken in Dapper, but found an answer in the Ubuntu forums. Touchpad driver - broken in Dapper. Haven't found a way to enable sidebar scrolling.
Any hacks mentioned to get these
Re:Dapper Hacks, or Ubuntu in general? (Score:1)
My Touchpad also was set up, no fuss. The side scrolls and tapping the bottom right corner actives a right click menu.
I suggest you file some bug reports.
Re:Dapper Hacks, or Ubuntu in general? (Score:2)
Same situation with Dapper+Touchpad. Again, a known problem. And it also worked flawlessly in Breezy.
Re:Dapper Hacks, or Ubuntu in general? (Score:2)
No it isn't. I have a Canon LiDE 20 (or was it 30?) that I got at fry's for $40. I plugged it in, and it worked. Actually, I had one, I broke the glass recently :(
Re:Dapper Hacks, or Ubuntu in general? (Score:2)
Take that, linux fanboys!
tip: stop scanning your ass (Score:2)
Re:tip: stop scanning your ass (Score:2)
You're absolutely right... (Score:3, Insightful)
With MS-Windows [google.com] you don't need to know any hacks. There are books [annoyances.org] about MS-Windows [amazon.com] but they aren't about hacks.
BTW, doesn't your browser do spell checking? The one I use, in a standard Ubuntu installation without any hacks, shows your "oridinary" in red, it's easy to find typos that way.
Re:One.. (Score:1)
Perhaps there's a Slackware Hacks book coming out ?
Re:One.. (Score:5, Interesting)
It's sad that such useful usage has become passe, usually inappropriately replaced with 'you'. The aforementioned royalty and their hangers-on probably had a lot to do with its fall from grace.
Think about it - to express, for instance, that people should generally be polite, people now usually say "you should be polite", which strictly speaking arrogantly excludes the speaker. Much better to say "one should be polite" ...it's more polite ;).
But then, sadly, ignorant people think you are affected.
Re:One.. (Score:2)
Supposedly 9 months before she gave birth to her son. Well, anyway I don't even recall what century that must have been.
Re:One.. (Score:2)
Re:One.. (Score:5, Funny)
People that write correctly, that's who.
Ahem. People WHO write correctly, that's who.
Re:One.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Ahem. People WHO write correctly, that's WHOM.
Re:One.. (Score:2, Informative)
This post brought to you by the Grammatical Inquisition.
Re:One.. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:One.. (Score:3, Informative)
"Who" is only inflected to "whom" in the accusative and dative cases. In the nomanative it remains "who" and in the genetive it becomes "whose". THose who've learned german or latin will know that the verb "to be" always causes the nominative case.
N: That is who.
A: You hit whom?
D: To whom did you give the book?
G: Whose book is this?
Re:One.. (Score:4, Funny)
They would both think "RTFM".
Re:One.. (Score:2)
Chaucer says: " Alas, I may well wepe with syghes depe! "
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Ok. You Piqued My Interest. (Score:2)
Because maybe I like buying from a source where there's some hope that royalties will make their way back to the artist? Also, by any definition I'd consider accurate, US citizens (as well as most other countries as far as I can tell) purchasing from allofmp3 are breaking the law, and from the latest reports I'm ont even sure what they're doing is legal e
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Ok. You Piqued My Interest. (Score:2)
There is plenty of information on this topic at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allofmp3 [wikipedia.org] and http://www.museekster.com/allofmp3faq.htm [museekster.com] It's certainly possible to make a case for the site being legal, but doing so requires some assumptions that are so fundamentally wrong that I don't understand how people can defend them.
The position of the Russian ROMS system that collects royalties see
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Ok. You Piqued My Interest. (Score:2)
Each nation gets to decide how copyrights are treated in that nation. A U.S. copyright does not have international jurisdiction. The Russian government organization ROMS "
Re:Ok. You Piqued My Interest. (Score:2)
I expect that economic forces will stomp out this abberation eventually. There is government backing for US copyrights--it just takes a while for its hand to be felt in cases like these, and is only really effective when the nation in question is fully integrated into the global economy. Russia is still working out some issues there.
And don't even try to tell me that because I'm an American then I can't use AllofMP3 legally. The law allows bringing back produ
Re:Ok. You Piqued My Interest. (Score:2)
Sure. Just like piracy or terrorism. Russia soon will no longer be a safe haven at least...
I find the moral position very clear even if the legal one isn't.
Sure it might not be the fairest way to get music, but until the music gatekeepers decide to go light on the DRM (that keeps paid for online music off my Linux desktop) I will pay a little extra to actually get the music with some plausible deniability (something no P2P app has).
Re:Ok. You Piqued My Interest. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:RestrictedFormats (Score:1)