Product: Ubuntu Made Easy

Despite its usability, it can be a bit tricky to come to grips with Ubuntu (or any Linux distribution) if you don’t have the lay of the land. Regardless of the features added to the distribution for ease of use. So how can you get that lay of the land without a lot of time-consuming experimentation? That’s where Ubuntu Made Easy comes in.

The book is easy-to-follow and the format actually teaches you something.

In a number of ways, Ubuntu Made Easy follows the traditional template for computer books. It starts off with background on Linux and Ubuntu (even explaining what a distribution is), and then moves on to explaining how to test out Ubuntu using a live CD or a bootable flash drive. Then, predictably, the authors detail how to install Ubuntu.

But that’s where the old-school nature of the book pretty much ends. Ubuntu Made Easy approaches teaching, and learning, by treating what you need to know as a series of projects. The book doesn’t merely walk you through the user interface and various functions and commands. Like any good piece of documentation, it shows you how to use the user interface and those functions and commands while helping you get something done.

The projects include a pair of the early ones that involve setting up a wired or wireless connection to the internet, and a comprehensive look at how to use the web – browsing with Firefox, using Ubuntu’s Messaging Menu, and chatting using Empathy (Ubuntu’s default messaging client). One of the more useful projects, especially for new Ubuntu users, is the one that explains how to download, install, and update software. How to do that isn’t always easy, or apparent to new users.

The book shines in several areas. First, the writing style. It’s conversational, but never talks down to the reader. The writing flows nicely, and you aren’t bombarded with jargon or technical terms. Any that you do encounter are nicely explained. Reading Ubuntu Made Easy is less like reading the stereotypical and much-derided software manual and more like listening to a pair of patient and knowledgeable teachers explain something to you.

The emphasis on projects makes this book far more useful than other, similar titles. You’re actually learning to do something by doing it, which makes those tasks (many of which you’ll repeatedly undertake) easier to remember. The projects themselves are a bit of a mixed bag, at least to me. Experience Ubuntu (and Linux) users will probably gloss over some of the earlier chapters – if only because they’re old hat. For new users of Ubuntu, however, those chapters and projects will be very useful.

However, at around 480 pages the book may be a bit long for some people.

Ubuntu Made Easy is a good introduction for someone new to Linux and new to Ubuntu. But even if you have some experience with Ubuntu, and are a user who isn’t overly technical, Ubuntu Made Easy can also teach you a few new things.
Rating: 4
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