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Cows
June 10th, 2007, 05:10 AM
I just finished writing the first version of The Ubuntu Shortbook. If anybody would like to help me fix vocabulary issues, add extra features to the book, or anything else you have in mind you can. I'm don't really have experience writing books so I just wrote the book in Open Office ( Thanks free software :) )

You can modify/add/delete anything you want since it's released under GPL License. Just make sure you give me credit since im the original author of this shortbook. Enjoy.

PS: I could not upload the .pdf since it exceeded the limit. Most people running Ubuntu have Open Office anyways :).

Version 1.1 uploaded on June 10, 2007
Version 1.2 uploaded on June 10, 2007
Version 1.3 uploaded on June 12, 2007 - I uploaded a tar.gz that contains the .odt and the .html file. The .html file is for people that would like to read or comment the book but don't have OpenOffice.

Cows
June 10th, 2007, 03:11 PM
Bump ! Feedback would be nice :).

christhemonkey
June 10th, 2007, 03:29 PM
I like the idea, couple of typos:


since Ubuntu is a deritive of Debian
Page 4: deritive should be derivative


Ubuntu brings alot more applications
Page 5: i never liked the shortening "alot" i prefer "a lot" but that might just be me.


In Ubuntu Linux the root account is disable.
Page 6: Root acount is disabled.


it can also be runned on your brain.
Page 7: ran not runned.


Linux was created in 1991 by Finnish student Linus Torvalds. Linus created the 'Linux Kernel' for his personal needs but the Kernel ended up helping the Linux community. The Linux Kernel is what helps the programs communicate with each other. The Kernel also tells the other programs what to do. You can think of the Kernel as the mother ship, All the information goes through the mother ship for confirmation and objectives.
Page 3: I dont like this paragraph, im not sure it is techincally correct... But i might be wrong. I always think of it as the low level interface between the hardware and the software that runs on it.
Also Linux did not end up helping the Linux community, there wouldnt be a Linux community without the LInux kernel.... (there might be a HURD community but who knows)


GNU stands for GNU's Not Unix. GNU was started so people can basically have free software. Not free as in you don't have to pay, but free as in you can modify the owner's source code and do whatever you want with it. Although the term "free" does not mean you don't have to pay any money, most Linux distributions believe Linux to be purely free and you really don't have to pay money.
Page 3: I think the "free"'s should be "Free" in some of the cases. Such as:
GNU was started so people basically can have Free software.

Im also not 100% that is techincally correct either but i dont know much about GNUs history.




But overall nice idea :D

Cows
June 10th, 2007, 07:05 PM
Thanks :). Yea the Linus Torvalds and GNU is technically correct. I did a lot of research and watched a few documentary's about the history of Linux. Good source is 'Revolution OS' in google video. The 'alot' I was trying to fix but I couldn't catch all of them. Thank you for the proof reading ill get to work on it. Anything else you would like to see just let me know :).

EDIT: Thanks, I just finished uploading the new revision.

cactaur
June 10th, 2007, 07:52 PM
This is a really good foundation for a book. However, I decided to make my own contribution to Chapter 1. I hope it fits well in it.


Since the creation of Linux, there have been three major branches (called distributions) to emerge. These are Debian linux, Red Hat Linux, and Slackware linux. Debian linux is entirely controlled by an open source community, and has even implemented a social contract to make sure it sticks closely to its objectives of remaining Free. Debian is also well known for its package manager “apt”, which is considered one of the most advanced and sophisticated package managers in the linux community, while still remaining fairly easy to use. Red Hat Linux is owned by a company known as Red Hat. Although Red Hat owns Red Hat Linux, it still licenses it under the GNU Public License, and allows the source to be available to the community. Although Red Hat Linux does not exist anymore, it's descendants are Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is aimed for the corporate environment, and Fedora Core, which is aimed toward the open source community. Slackware is the oldest remaining distribution in Linux. It aims to be one of the simplest and most stable distributions. However, it is also considered one of the most difficult to use because of its minimalist approach to usability. Each of these three distributions also have a large number of branches. The one which will be discussed here is Ubuntu, which is a descendant of Debian.

Something I thought would be a good addition to that part.

SoulinEther
June 10th, 2007, 07:57 PM
I downloaded it. I'm kinda Type A... and I am trying really hard to stop myself from going through and editting the whole thing, lol.

It's not bad, but some grammar can be fixed to make the language stronger.

Cows
June 10th, 2007, 08:12 PM
Thanks I added your paragraph in :). Also I added the summary of Ubuntu from distrowatch. Just let me know if it's too much and what else I can add/remove/change. I don't want this book to have a lot of pages, but I also want it to have detailed infomation. Graphics will help the reader not lose attention. Also what does Type A mean?

sal
June 10th, 2007, 09:13 PM
Cows,
I notice at the end of the book you say you're from New York City.
have you herd about the New York LoCo team yet:

http://newyork-ubuntu.com/

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NewYorkTeam

irc.freenode.net #ubuntu-ny

maybe you would like to join us. :)

Cows
June 10th, 2007, 09:31 PM
Yea I posted in a LoCo for argentina and I also posted in 1 for Ny. But I don't know what LoCo is and I also would not be able to attend LoCo meetings personally due to my age and parental approval :(.

EDIT: I just read the home page for the New York LoCo. I already advertise the Ubuntu Distribution myself so I would be glad to join the LoCo team.

Patrick-Ruff
June 11th, 2007, 01:56 AM
looks like an interesting idea.

sal
June 11th, 2007, 09:08 PM
Yea I posted in a LoCo for argentina and I also posted in 1 for Ny. But I don't know what LoCo is and I also would not be able to attend LoCo meetings personally due to my age and parental approval :(.

EDIT: I just read the home page for the New York LoCo. I already advertise the Ubuntu Distribution myself so I would be glad to join the LoCo team.

we would be glad to have you on the team :)

Cows
June 11th, 2007, 09:27 PM
Alright well I don't want to bring this topic to off-topic if you know what I mean. So just PM me the info of the benefits I would get and anything else I need to get started.

Also if anyone read the latest version I would appreciate more ideas on things I should add/remove/change.

Catsworth
June 11th, 2007, 09:32 PM
I've spent some time authoring/editing technical documents/user guides.

If you'd like I'm happy to go through and have a general tidy up and play with the formatting/wording a little where I think it could do with a polish?

Cows
June 11th, 2007, 09:46 PM
Yea I would appreciate that. I will follow the new format if it's good :).

Catsworth
June 12th, 2007, 08:32 AM
kk. Have an examn coming up this week, but will take a look at it as soon after that as I can.

smoker
June 12th, 2007, 12:03 PM
very good effort, interesting, you have a talent, hope to see more stuff like this from you:-)

Spr0k3t
June 12th, 2007, 12:40 PM
This is a great start. However, I'd like to offer up a suggestion... Maniacmusician is working in a very similar direction but with a much broader core of information. I really like your idea, a short book about Ubuntu, and I think you should continue with your efforts. However, the information needs to be a bit more finite as the point of a needle so to speak. I think it would be awesome if you could get your information down to a maximum of six pages. Include the why, how, and benefits as a sort of an extension or quickguide to other books offered. Just be careful not to turn it into a commercial as you would lose the interest of the reader. I'll pick through it a bit more and post my findings a little later.

Cows
June 12th, 2007, 09:29 PM
@Catsworth

Np man.

@smoker

Thanks. If there is something that pops in my mind that I can do, I would probably do it .. ( only good things :) )

@Spr0k3t

Yea I have seen that in v1.2 It has been getting a little longer. I will have to revise it and cut out some parts. I also don't want to just have biographical information about linux, debian, ubuntu. I want to also have a very basic guide on how to use linux. Maybe like how to update/upgrade etc. Only the basics, and at the end I can refer other books :). I forgot to say, you don't have to worry about 'commerciality' from me. I will always release the .odt format so people can change it or w/e.

forrestcupp
June 12th, 2007, 09:51 PM
This is a really good foundation for a book. However, I decided to make my own contribution to Chapter 1. I hope it fits well in it.



Something I thought would be a good addition to that part.

Good, but debatable. What about Gentoo, and all of its derivatives?

Cows
June 12th, 2007, 10:32 PM
I uploaded the new version of the book. I re-read it, polished it, removed/changed titles,analogy's,etc. This book is short, It would probably be about 6 pages long if i scrunched it down, but I wanted each chapter to have it's own page. I don't think Gentoo was a base where distributions started off. Like Red Hat and Debian were definitely starting Distributions

christhemonkey
June 12th, 2007, 10:41 PM
For a quick look at what distributions happened when see here:
http://kde-files.org/CONTENT/content-files/44218-linuxdistrotimeline-7.2.png

Gentoo was not the name of the project but it was one of the initial distros (it would seem).

Cows
June 12th, 2007, 10:48 PM
Ahh thanks for this picture. I had it before on my old flash drive before I lost my data :(. Hmm should I add a quick sketch on Gentoo and the portage system just like I did with Debian and Red Hat.. that would mean I would have to write a paragrah for all of them. So ill leave it like that for now. Won't be a problem to leave it like that IMO.

Cows
June 13th, 2007, 08:52 PM
What does everyone think about the latest version?