Two new books on Ubuntu!

[traveller]

Here are two new books on Ubuntu I discovered yesterday:

Beginning Ubuntu Linux by Keir Thomas
Pub. Date: March 2006
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=1590596277&itm=4

Ubuntu Hacks: Tips and Tools for Humanizing Linux by Kyle Rankin, Jonathan Oxer, Bill Childers
Pub. Date: June 2006
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&isbn=0596527209&itm=3

I have been waiting for a long time to find books on Ubuntu...
I thought you too might want to take a look at them. ;)

[adamb10]

Sweet, Ubuntu gets its own O Reily Book.

[JulieM]

Hi everyone,

I'm the marketing manager for the open source line here at Apress, and I wanted to let y'all know that Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional has officially published, and is now available at your favorite online and brick and mortar bookstores.

We've posted a sample chapter and other book extras at our website (http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10086.).

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Julie Miller
Product Marketing Manager
Apress
julieATapressDOTcom

[s|k]

Can we all get free copies? :P

[endersshadow]

Hi everyone,

I'm the marketing manager for the open source line here at Apress, and I wanted to let y'all know that Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional has officially published, and is now available at your favorite online and brick and mortar bookstores.

We've posted a sample chapter and other book extras at our website (http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10086.).

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Julie Miller
Product Marketing Manager
Apress
julieATapressDOTcom

Dearest Julie,

I'm in college. Ergo, I'm poor. What are my chances at getting a free copy?

Love,
endersshadow

Actually, just kidding (about the free copy, not about the poor and in college part)...thanks for the book, though! Is there any place that those of us who would like to can contribute to any future editions of the book? I always end up looking through these books and going, "Why isn't this or that in here?!" I may just be weird like that, though.

Thanks again!

[traveller]

Hi everyone,

I'm the marketing manager for the open source line here at Apress, and I wanted to let y'all know that Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional has officially published, and is now available at your favorite online and brick and mortar bookstores.

We've posted a sample chapter and other book extras at our website (http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10086.).

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Julie Miller
Product Marketing Manager
Apress
julieATapressDOTcom

Hi Julie,

Thanks for the PDF. I'm going to order the book as soon as possible.
I would like to add that Keir Thomas is already one of my favorite authors. Without having read his previous book Beginning SUSE Linux: From Novice to Professional I would not have been able to get connected to the Internet with Linux (I'm referring especially to the chapters about modems). It is a book I also highly recommend to beginners whatever their flavor might be.

Greetings from Greece

Nikolaos

[s|k]

Hi Julie,

Thanks for the PDF. I'm going to order the book as soon as possible.
I would like to add that Keir Thomas is already one of my favorite authors. Without having read his previous book Beginning SUSE Linux: From Novice to Professional I would not have been able to get connected to the Internet with Linux (I'm referring especially to the chapters about modems). It is a book I also highly recommend to beginners whatever their flavor might be.

Greetings from Greece

NikolaosBrownnoser! Shouldn't you go be helping a revolution on Corcyca or invade Attica or something? ;)

Anyways, hows Greece?

[traveller]

Brownnoser! Shouldn't you go be helping a revolution on Corcyca or invade Attica or something? ;)

Anyways, hows Greece?
Sorry, I did not get it...

Anyway, Greece is fine...

Greetings to you too! ;)

[ubuntu27]

There are also other books: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=145539

[Havoc]

Brownnoser! Shouldn't you go be helping a revolution on Corcyca or invade Attica or something?

Anyways, hows Greece?

Athenians suck.Spartans rule.

We really kicked their a**es during the Peloponesian war.

Anyways, It's good Ubuntu is getting some attention right now, with Dapper and all.

Mabye Mark Shuttleworth could make a deal with either publisher for a discount on one of the books with each batch of shipit CDs sent to someone.You know, something like a "99% discount!" coupon or something.I don't know is it fits the Ubuntu philosophy, but, it *is* practical, and would reduce "n00b" questions around the forums, if you know what I mean. ;)

[tseliot]

Athenians suck.Spartans rule.
Spartans ruled. They lost their power. In the past their race had a few problems because they married their relatives (as they remained enclosed in their territory and did not have a chance to marry other people).

[s|k]

Athenians suck.Spartans rule.

We really kicked their a**es during the Peloponesian war.

Athens kicked its own butt during the war by attacking Syracuse and annoying the Persians.

[traveller]

A few years later...
War broke out between operating systems... web browsers and office suites after a border dispute...

[Luggy]

Anyhoo back to the books...

Way cool, glad they are out there, might go and purchase them but I don't think I need them that much and they are a little expensive if all I'm going to use them for is decorations for the bookshelf.

[Havoc]

Athens kicked its own butt during the war by attacking Syracuse and annoying the Persians.

Sorry, I couldn't resist! :D

The war on Syrracuse only happened because Alkibiades started pumping the Athenians' brains with all kinds of lies.In a sense, he tricked them, because they're so damn stupid. ;)

The Persian Wars happend *before* Athens attacked Syracuse with Alkibiades, and the Spartans kicked the Persians a**es too.

Oh,


Spartans ruled. They lost their power. In the past their race had a few problems because they married their relatives (as they remained enclosed in their territory and did not have a chance to marry other people).

They started losing their power after the end of the Persian wars, and by the end of the Peloponnesian War they were just a shadow of their past selves (Even though they won the war).The Spartan society had birth-control "laws", called Eygoniki, where the most powerful (healthy, intelligent) would mate with a similar male to ensure strong offsping.Yet that doens't mean that nobody else got a piece of the action...
I don't believe that Sparta ever reached a point where the only human they could marry was a relative...Sure, some (or most) *could* be relatives, albeit distant ones.I think I read that, during Sparta's last days, it had a population of 1000, still not small enough to talk about incest taking place (Though it might).Oh, and you are right, Spartans were not allowed to leave the general area governed by Sparta.

Oh, and the books look cool.I might just order one. ;)

[s|k]

Sorry, I couldn't resist! :D

The war on Syrracuse only happened because Alkibiades started pumping the Athenians' brains with all kinds of lies.In a sense, he tricked them, because they're so damn stupid. ;)

Who cares why, Athens went in and ruined themselves.


The Persian Wars happend *before* Athens attacked Syracuse with Alkibiades, and the Spartans kicked the Persians a**es too.
I know very well when the Persians invaded Greece. Don't you think that if I knew about Syracuse I would know that too? Persia played a major part in the Peloponnesian war, and Athens was in a bad place after it had diminished it's navy and after Sparta aligned themselves with Persia. Throughout their conflict with the Peloponnese they had caused problems for Persia around it's periphery by encouraging subjects of Persia to not pay tribute to Persia.

[endersshadow]

How a book about Ubuntu turns into a discussion on the history of Ancient Greece, I'll never know.

On that note, I'll try to get this discussion back on track:

The thing that I'm not too fond of with the book is its glaring lack of any explanation about the backend and where things go. It just walks a user through point-and-click customization, instead of discussing what's happening with the customization. I suppose that this is a "Beginning" book, but if you really want to go from "Novice to Professional," it's important to include what your system is doing with each click. For example, there's not one mention of the .themes or .icons folders in the chapter. What happens when someone comes across multitheme packages? Beginning Ubuntu won't help them. The chapter is written well and provides very clear instructions, but I would think that delving a little deeper into what happens behind the scenes, such as when you click "Install Theme," the book could simply say, "The 'Install Theme' button unpacks the package into the .themes folder in your home directory." It's one sentence, and then the reader knows what's happening...it's not just magic.

Anywho, those are my two cents.

Now I'm broke...

[JulieM]

Holy cow; I don't log in for 21 hours, and this posting transitions from books to war and then sort of back to books. Wow. Who knew a simple book announcement would go there...

Anyways, I can't give you guys free books (sorry...), but note that the eBook is half the price of the printed book. (eBook = $ 20 US/printed book = $40 US). Plus, many online resellers have the printed book at a substantial discount.

If one of you jokers would be interested in writing a serious and well-thought out review for sites like amazon, slashdot, or your blogs, I would consider sending you a code to download the eBook for free. If you're interested, drop me at email at julieATapressDOTcom.

Cheers from a cold, grey, and rainy day in California!

[JulieM]

How a book about Ubuntu turns into a discussion on the history of Ancient Greece, I'll never know.

On that note, I'll try to get this discussion back on track:

The thing that I'm not too fond of with the book is its glaring lack of any explanation about the backend and where things go. It just walks a user through point-and-click customization, instead of discussing what's happening with the customization. I suppose that this is a "Beginning" book, but if you really want to go from "Novice to Professional," it's important to include what your system is doing with each click. For example, there's not one mention of the .themes or .icons folders in the chapter. What happens when someone comes across multitheme packages? Beginning Ubuntu won't help them. The chapter is written well and provides very clear instructions, but I would think that delving a little deeper into what happens behind the scenes, such as when you click "Install Theme," the book could simply say, "The 'Install Theme' button unpacks the package into the .themes folder in your home directory." It's one sentence, and then the reader knows what's happening...it's not just magic.

Anywho, those are my two cents.

Now I'm broke...


Hey there,

We are ALWAYS looking for feedback like this on our books. One of the challenges of publishing technical books is figuring out how to best create the book for a wide audience, and when there's too much or too little detail. If you are interested in tech reviewing, email me off the board, and I can put you in touch with the right folks. Cheers!

[purdy hate machine]

If one of you jokers would be interested in writing a serious and well-thought out review for sites like amazon, slashdot, or your blogs, I would consider sending you a code to download the eBook for free. If you're interested, drop me at email at julieATapressDOTcom.

I would be interested to see how anyone is expected to write "a serious and well-thought out review" before you actually send them a copy of the e-book. Unless of course they already own it in which case your offer seems a little pointless. :???:

[traveller]

There are also other books: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=145539

Ubuntu, le livre
http://www.eyrolles.com/Accueil/Livre/9782212116083/

A French book as well! Very interesting...

Thanks!!!

[JulieM]

I would be interested to see how anyone is expected to write "a serious and well-thought out review" before you actually send them a copy of the e-book. Unless of course they already own it in which case your offer seems a little pointless. :???:

Sorry, I must not have made myself clear enough. Here's the deal: if someone is willing to write a serious and well-thought out review of the book, email me off the board. I will then send a code to download the eBook for free. Obviously, once s/he has read the book, then the writing of the review will commence.

[JulieM]

Hi folks,

Julie from Apress here. I wanted to let everyone know that we've just published the new edition of the book, entitled "Beginning Ubuntu Linux, Third Edition." It's been completely updated and revised for Hardy Heron, and the included DVD contains a full version of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, as well as other alternative releases. No need to download the ISO!

More information about the book is at http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590599918.

Please PM me if you have any questions about the book. Cheers!