Book covers setting up using and hacking Ubuntu

Ubuntu Hacks, a new volume from O'Reilly Media ($29.99), explains the phenomenon of Ubuntu's popularity, expounds on its use, and offers easy-to-understand "hacks" -- that is, how to tweak it to do exactly what you want.


Don't be put off by the title. While "hacking" has a bad reputation in the press today, the term originally referred to solving difficult problems or devising a creative ways to get something done.

O'Reilly's Hacks series -- of which Ubuntu Hacks is the latest -- is an attempt to reclaim the word, document the good ways people are hacking, and pass the hacker ethic of creative participation on to the uninitiated, the publisher said.

Co-authors Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin, and Bill Childers detail exactly 100 "hacks" you can use to set up a printer, tweak the GNOME or KDE desktops, rip and encode DVDs, connect multiple displays, or post a blog. If those don't interest you, perhaps some of the 96 other good bits of advice will.

The book is organized in 10 chapters:

Chapter 1 -- Getting Started
Chapter 2 -- The Linux Desktop
Chapter 3 -- Multimedia
Chapter 4 -- Mobile Ubuntu
Chapter 5 -- X11
Chapter 6 -- Package Management
Chapter 7 -- Security
Chapter 8 -- Administration
Chapter 9 -- Virtualization and Emulation
Chapter 10 -- Small Office/Home Office Server

Topics covered range from simple tasks such as test driving Ubuntu on your hardware using the live CD, installing and configuring a permanent install on your hard drive, and using typical applications; to installing and configuring file, web, email, proxy, dhcp, and domain name servers; to advanced system hacks and tweaks.

You can view the entire table of contents, read an overview and early reviews, and see some sample chapters here.

Summary:

Title -- Ubuntu Hacks
Authors -- Bill Childers, Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin
Publisher -- O'Reilly
Publication date -- June 2006
ISBN -- 0-596-52720-9