Books for/about - linux

Python in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Authors: Alex Martelli

ISBN: 0596100469
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Summary: Watch for second edition
This first edition is probably not where you want to invest your dollars. The second edition (ISBN 0596100469 ) is projected to be out this month (July 2006) and will cover not only 2.4 but 2.5.

Martelli has been so comprehensive and comprehensible in the past, that you'll probably want to get his SECOND edition if you're serious about Python.

Summary: Good book to learn and as a reference
For someone who knows other programming languages this is a great book to quickly get a feel for the language and to start trying it out. The book only covers up to Python 2.2 while the current standard is up to 2.4.2, so there are a few things that are a little different. However, I have found that the differences are not major and can be supplemented by the python help system (normally installed on your system along with the interpreter).

I also use this book extensively as a reference, especially for all the associated libraries.

Summary: Excellent
All what you would expect from the title : very complete even if not exhaustive coverage of the language and its main libraries, excellent explanations...
Not good as an introduction to the language unless you're already familiar with various programming language, but the ultimate reference to keep under your pillow

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A Practical Guide to Linux(R) Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming

Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Mark G. Sobell

ISBN: 0131478230
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Summary: Good book, It complements nicely DVD course
It is great book no questions here. I was listening to another reviewer's advice and paired it with "UNIX Essentials and UNIX Core" DVD and this thing works! The book elaborates on many subjects and the DVD gives the whole variety of prospectives on Linux and UNIX. I also liked the clear organization of this book. It takes one glance in the list to figure out what do you need and how to get it. It also helps to see how many things maybe accomplished by variety of ways to avoid mishaps.

Summary: Excellent introduction to commands,shells and editors
If you are a beginner/intermediate linux user in need of tutorial style treatment of commands, editors and shell programming then look no further. The author has done an excellent job presenting the chapters, from the basics to more advanced, gradually building on the concepts learned, in a simple, easy-to-read text. This book shines in explaining the commands with relevant examples and differs from the others in not being a printed man pages. The author also details the subtleties of shell (bash and tc) and shell commands where appropriate. The chapters on sed and gawk are invaluable, so are the chapters on vim and emacs. This book also doubles as an excellent command reference - Part 5 of the book is dedicated to this.

This book neither teaches you nor is intended to teach the nuances of mounting/unmounting devices, loading modules, managing disks and partitions, runlevels, boot sequences and boot loaders, networking, user administration and such. Linux administrator handbook by Evi Nemeth et al and How Linux Works by Brian Ward fills this gap nicely.

The verdict:
Reads so well cover to cover. Highly recommended for beginners.

Summary: review of A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming
Clear, concise, and comprehensive.

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	Linux Kernel Development (2nd Edition) Publisher: Novell Press Authors: Robert Love
ISBN: 0672327201 List Price: $44.99 Amazon Price: $28.34 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: Good help if you try to understand the Linux Kernel This book describe how kernel works and how was designed, it do not shows lines of code just shows you the way you have to write code into the kernel, I think is helpful if you try to undertand or write Linux Kernel code. Summary: Well written, but out of date This book covers the linux 2.6 kernel, but does not apply to 2.6.15 (current kernel). Data structures for working with files have changed for example. If this book gets updated, it would be quite helpful. Its still a great starting place, but be prepaired to go through include files in the linux kernel source quite a bit. Since Linus lost the change logs for the kernel, its hard to compare notes on older kernels. If you are a professor, don't give this book to students and expect them to have all they need for kernel development. Summary: Not bad at all, but mistitled A perfect title for this book would be "First Steps at Understanding Linux Kernel 2.6". It's a good book -- clear, logical, well written, and well illustrated, nice layout, fonts, etc. -- but it's not indepth. To make a Windows parallel, it is kind of like "Windows Internals" by Solomon/Russinovich, only smaller; lots of text, not a lot of code. If you plan to really work with the kernel, you may want to go directly for O'Reilly's "Understanding Linux Kernel", "Device Drivers", and "Linux Networking" books -- you'll end up there anyway. Actually, this: if you DON'T plan to read the above O'Reilly books, THEN read this one to get a "sorta-kinda" picture of what takes place in the 2.6 kernel. Don't get me wrong: this is a nice book; if time and money are no problem, get it, even in addition to whatever else; it's good, not a must, but good. Summary:

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C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4

Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
Authors: Jasmin Blanchette Mark Summerfield

ISBN: 0131872494
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Summary: a comprehensive widget set for C++
When C++ was first put together in the 80s, it was just before the advent of GUIs for many programs. But as Java arose in the 90s, and then C#, the need for easy UI coding in C++ became very clear. Hence Qt was developed. Now in its 4th version. And available for Microsoft Windows, linux, Macintosh and several unixes. The accompanying CD has version 4.1.1. Though by the time you get this book, you might want to scout the Web, either for patches to this version, or a more recent version.

The text takes you thru Qt 4. Showing that it is a fairly complete set of widgets for making a UI front end to your C++ code. Basically, if you have coded in any other UI package, like Java, then you can quickly find the equivalent functionality of many common types of widgets. For such things as drop down menus or toolbars. Or a layout manager for a composite window that will hold several widgets.

Some of you will be glad to see that the Qt widgets can be subclassed or extended, for your custom needs.

For actual rendering of images, Qt can also interact with OpenGL. Which is good because OpenGL is widely used, and there was little point to Qt reimplementing that functionality.

There are also some non-graphical classes that perhaps strictly do not belong in Qt. But which have been added due to perceived user demands. Notably a SAX parser for reading XML data files. It seems competent enough. Though I am unsure why the Qt designers didn't just refer programmers to other SAX parsers that have been written for C++.

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Learning Python, Second Edition

Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Authors: Mark Lutz David Ascher

ISBN: 0596002815
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Summary: Kill your curiosity with this one
very bad book... do not use this book if youre starting programming or python. the first chapter itself will put you off completely. try instead beginning python by Magnus Lie Hetland. its simple practical and downright fun.

Summary: This should be your first Python book!
This is simply a stellar introduction to the Python language, for both newcomers to programming and those who are already proficient in another language. I know there are several choices for 'beginning' type Python books, and you may be tempted to choose a different one because it is newer than this one, but please understand that you lose nothing by reading this book instead. It covers Python 2.3 (which is just short of the current 2.4), and there are only a couple of items not referred to (e.g. decorators and decimals). But you can easily read up on the latest features online. The benefits of this book far outweigh the fact that it was published a few years ago!

Here is the true advantage of Learning Python: the authors describe the language in complete detail from the ground up. They begin with how to use the interactive interpreter and IDLE, and then move on to built-in data types. Every single thing that could be considered a 'component' of the Python language gets its own chapter (numbers, strings, lists, etc.), and the larger components (functions, modules, classes, etc.) each get their own Part (which is further divided into chapters). In other words, they take plenty of time to describe everything you need to know about everything in the language. You won't finish learning the core language until well into the 400-range of pages.

Another intro Python book that I just began reading has already covered numbers, arithmetic operators, functions, modules, and a few other things, all by page 20! I won't name the book yet, because I'm not fairly deep enough in it yet. But this is certainly not good for a newcomer.

Don't even wonder about other books! Learning Python covers every aspect of the language in great detail, yet at the same time remains intelligent (e.g. it does not explain to you what variables in general are (hopefully you have a basic understanding of programming already), but it explains in great detail what variables *in Python* are). After you read this book, you will have an amazing foundation in Python.

Summary: Not really useful
This book is not very good for actually learning Python. It also lacks a reference section and is excessively wordy.

Learning implies tutorials and a gentle progression from basic to advanced subjects; this book does neither. For example, in chapter 3, "How You Run Programs", it introduces modules and namespaces--fairly advanced concepts to read about before even the first "hello world" program! In chapter 4, as it describes the use of numbers and strings, it is already delving deep into the uses and implications of Python's objects.

With well over 500 pages, there should be plenty of room for a reference section, but there is none. There is no list of built-in classes and their methods.

The overall tone of the book is enthusiastic, touting Python's object-orientedness and other advantages. Unfortunately, it is excessively wordy and difficult to read. Cheerleading can be excused, but it is present on nearly every page and gets old quick.

In a book about programming or a programming language, one might want tutorials, reference, discussion of advanced topics, or code examples. This book provides none of these things. I do not recommend it.

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	Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition Publisher: O'Reilly Media Authors: Hugh E. Williams David Lane
ISBN: 0596005431 List Price: $44.95 Amazon Price: $28.32 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 2 Reviews: Summary: Disappointingly poor index I'm new to PHP and MySQL, but a programmer for over 3 decades. I'm customizing some PHP code, using code examples for ideas. When I (a) see something I want to understand better or (b) want to find the PHP analog for basic functions, I naturally turn to the index to try to find the information I need. However, I found the index very disappointing because of what it doesn't have. For example, simple and basic keywords are not in the index: "comment", "logical operator", "and", "or", etc. I'm going to have order a different book as a PHP reference. Summary: The best starting point to php and mysql I bought this book with the hope I could learn just enought to get me started with web application development. I only had little programming experience at that time, I I didn't even have any experience with databases. Well. This book was the perfect introduction to web applications. From security to authentication, from php basics to multi-table join sql queries, this book got me into this world, and I appreciate it so much because I am working now in web development, thanks to what I learned from here. Altough this book is not for the absolute beginner, it teaches you just what you need to know to get you started, and even more. It lacks some subjects, like caching, or some advanced php 5 language constructs. Its focus is in real world development, without too much emphasis in application design or php/mysql internals. It teaches you just what you really need to know, and it teaches you that extremely well. You will learn php, from its basic syntax and usage, to object oriented programming basics. Then the book takes you to mysql, with a great introduction to sql, and how to use mysql from php. The following chapters deal with typical database concepts you must grasp, like concurrency issues and even performance tunning. It doesn't get too deep in php as a language, rather it focuses on php and mysql interaction, with an eye towards constructing a real world web application (which finally gets its parts joined in the final chapter). Things I dislike are its use of templating systems over many chapters. That was not a subject I was interested in. Althought a serious php developer can't simply ignore this topic, it is not crucial in understanding the fundamentals, and it, in turn, adds a source of difficulty to the examples from chapter 7 on. Other thing I didn't like was the development of a complete application that I didn't have time to study, altough fortunately I managed to ignore it as much as I can, without losing too much. In summary, I love this book, it is not perfect, but it's just what I needed and I give it 5 stars because it is a really well written and focused book. Summary: Excellent Introduction Book & Reference This book is an excellent introduction to PHP, MySQL, and the interaction of the two. It has a few chapters introducing PHP, then a few introducing MySQL, and then walks through the steps necessary to build a functioning dynamic website. They also include an elaborate and detailed case study of a Winestore application the author's developed. Whenever somebody tells me they are interested in PHP and web programming, this is the book I tell them to get. Many friends have borrowed my copy since I got it. Summary:

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Perl Best Practices

Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Authors: Damian Conway

ISBN: 0596001738
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Summary: Good Coding Methods to Improve Your Perl
I have to admit that I can bristle at books that try to preach, so Perl Best Practices was on a hiding to nothing when I came to review it. I also have to admit to being torn about the author -- after all, he is one of those poor fools who insist on living in cold, unenlightened Melbourne, while I live in vastly superior Sydney. On the other hand, how can I dislike a man who manages to place a quote that involves my favourite character, Lady Bracknell. from my favourite comic play, 'The Importance of Being Earnest,' in the first few pages of his book?

Many years ago I read a marvelous article that explained why so may early editors and word processors supported the keyboard commands of WordStar. When it's first born, a baby duck can be easily convinced that almost anything is its mother. The small bird imprints, and it takes a lot to shift its focus. "Baby Duck Syndrome" affects programmers in a number of ways, not just their choice of editor, and Conway is walking right into the middle and arguing with your imprinting on almost every page. A brave man; fortunately he has the street cred to make you at least listen.

So I carefully placed my bias and bigotry in the bottom drawer and prepared myself. I discovered a well-written, informed and engaging book that covers a number of methods (hey, 256 rules, come on Derrick, 2 ^ 8 rules can't be a coincidence!) for improving your Perl software when working in a team. That means all of us when you remember an adage a guru once told me: "Every piece of computer software, no matter how small, involves at least a team of two -- me, and me six months from now when I have to fix it." Conway puts it differently "Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live."

The first chapter outlines the why and where of the book. The why is to improve your code with three goals; robustness, efficiency and maintainability. The chapter finishes with a short exhortation to us to "rehabit." Don't like the word much but I applaud the aim.

Conway is far from timid. He jumps right in to the deep end of the wars, with formatting the appearance of your code. I thought the chapter was brilliantly written until he told me I shouldn't "cuddle else statements," at which point I realized what an ill-informed idiot he was. Oh, hang on. Hey, that almost makes sense. OK, that's a cogent argument for your point of view, Conway. I also have to admit that earlier you did say that your rules for this bit weren't gospel, that if you wanted a variation that was OK, just have a standard and make sure you can support it with a code prettier. Perhaps not a total idiot after all.

After successfully negotiating those shark infested waters, Conway -- obviously a man who knows no fear -- wades into naming conventions. Once again he gives coherent arguments, pointed examples and counterexamples. It all makes sense.

The book's page at O'Reilly has an example chapter and a good description, but no table of contents so here's a quick list of the headings:

1. Best Practices
2. Code Layout
3. Naming Conventions
4. Values and Expressions
5. Variables
6. Control Structures
7. Documentation
8. Built-in Functions
9. Subroutines
10. I/O
11. References
12. Regular Expressions
13. Error Handling
14. Command-Line Processing
15. Objects
16. Class Hierarchies
17. Modules
18. Testing and Debugging
19. Miscellanea

Suffice to say that Conway leaves no corner of Perl uncovered, offering well-reasoned and well-explained advice on improving your Perl code.

The book is also well-written and well-edited. The order of topics covered is a sensible one, and the book is appropriately structured. It reads and feels as if you are being given the wisdom from many a hard-won battle coding and maintaining Perl code.

My one complaint is that I found it dry: you are reading through pages of argument and examples without much relief. Perhaps this book might be best digested in a number of chunks, making the effort to use the ideas from each chunk for a while before moving on to the next.

Every so often I read a book from O'Reilly that makes me fear that they are slipping, then along comes a book like Perl Best Practices, and I'm reminded that when it comes to Perl, O'Reilly authors wrote the book. Once you've rushed through Larry's book and learnt the finer points with Schwartz and Phoenix's 'Learning' titles, you may well find that this is the perfect volume to complete your Perl education. If you believe your Perl education is complete, then buy this volume and I'm sure you'll find a lesson or two for yourself.

This book is not really aimed at the occasional Perl programmer (though many of us would probably benefit from its wisdom), but at the person who is professionally programming in Perl and wants to produce better quality, more easily maintained code. For this person Perl Best Practices is a 5. For the rest of us, the 'rehabiting' process might be a little too arduous; personally, I'm going to pick a few of the chapters and work on those for a while, maybe naming conventions and variables. For me I'll give it 4 stars.

Summary: Not perfect but still quite good...
"Perl Best Practices" provides a good tour of the current features of
Perl 5.8.x and sheds light on all the corners of the language except
one. I didn't understand why there is no info on Win32 Perl (use
"chomp" instead of "chop", stuff like that). The book would have been
better if it hadn't shied away from that. It seems like Conway
decided to leave OS-specific best practices for another book. Apart
from that one gripe the book is quite good and will force the reader
to think about ways to improve his programming even though no one will
agree with everything. The books strongest point is that it touches
on the oldest parts of the language and also some really new stuff
like importing Perl 6 behavior via CPAN modules, and ties it all
together into a coherent body of thought. The thing that really
shines is how much Conway understands how Perl works as a programming
language and is honest about where it's lacking. Apart from the
absence of any Win32 or other OS-specific content, this book is a
treasure and worth owning and referring to often.

Summary: I learned a lot from this book.
I think it is very telling that all the reviews so far are 5 star or 1 star. The author clearly pushes some peoples buttons. You don't have to agree with every recommendation made, but a lot can be learned from the discussion of each topic. It's rare for me to read a technical book cover-to-cover, but I did with this book and enjoyed it. I've started reading some sections again.

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Ubuntu Hacks: Tips & Tools for Exploring, Using, and Tuning Linux (Hacks)

Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Authors: Jonathan Oxer Kyle Rankin Bill Childers

ISBN: 0596527209
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Summary: Excellent, Excellent, Excellent...
First off, I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to the authors of the "Ubuntu Hacks" book; a fantastic achievement and contribution to the Ubuntu, Debian, and GNU/Linux Community.

The book was obviously written just as Dapper was being released, and being that there were many changes from Breezy 5.10 to Dapper 6.06 LTS, the authors efforts to keep the content as current as possible undoubtedly will be appreciated by everyone reading it after the final Dapper release.

The content is accurate, concise, and skillfully presented by the authors in an apparent tone throughout that denotes sincerity towards the reader.

A common problem with many technical books is that instead of just getting to the point and giving readers the most bang for their buck, they clutter and waste page-space with non-essential information. This book successfully avoids this problem by delivering a balanced amount of information useful for those just getting started with Ubuntu, or GNU/Linux for that matter.

At the same time, professionals and experienced users will be tickled and pleased to find all sorts of "little gems" of information and new ways of using their beloved operating systems (regardless if they use Ubuntu or not). It's simply packed with just about everything one needs to make their time learning and using Linux productive and meaningful.

Job well done.

Summary: Great book for Ubuntu users of all skill levels
Ubuntu is a predominantly desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux. Its name comes from the South African concept of ubuntu-- which is roughly, "humanity towards others". The first release of Ubuntu, the Warty Warthog, was released in autumn 2004, and each release has maintained a level of usability that makes it a joy to use. This book is like all others I have encountered in this series - it has something for every level of user from beginner to expert. You can read it from beginning to end or pick and choose the parts you are interested in. My favorite section was the one on security, since there is a real lack of information on that subject as it pertains to Ubuntu. I see no table of contents is shown, so I review this book in the context of the table of contents:

1. Getting Started
This chapter shows you how to get started with Ubuntu including all of the information you need to install Ubuntu on your system, how to get started with the Linux command line, set up your printer, file a bug report, and more.
1. Test-Drive Ubuntu
2. Get Help
3. Make Live CD Data Persistent
4. Customize the Ubuntu Live CD
5. Install Ubuntu
6. Dual-Boot Ubuntu and Windows
7. Move Your Windows Data to Ubuntu
8. Install Ubuntu on a Mac
9. Set Up Your Printer
10. Install Ubuntu on an External Drive
11. Install from a Network Boot Server
12. Submit a Bug Report
13. Use the Command Line
14. Get Productive with Applications

2. The Linux Desktop
This chapter helps you work with the GNOME and KDE desktop environments for Linux, and also helps you find out about a few others that are out there. You'll also learn how to set up Java, how to work with files on remote computers, and how to get Ubuntu communicating to handheld devices. To me, the most useful tip was the one on creating PDF files by using the print command from any application in Ubuntu.
15. Get Under the Hood of the GNOME Desktop
16. Tweak the KDE Desktop
17. Switch to a Lighter Window Manager
18. Install Java
19. Search Your Computer
20. Access Remote Filesystems
21. Tweak Your Desktop Like a Pro
22. Sync Your Palm PDA
23. Sync Your Pocket PC
24. Customize the Right-Click Contextual Menu
25. Download and Share Files with the Best P2P Software
26. Make Your Own PDFs
27. Blog with Ubuntu

3. Multimedia
This chapter shows how to play music and movies. You'll learn how to play nearly any kind of audio and video, and burn files, music, and movies to optical discs.
28. Install Multimedia Plug-ins
29. Watch Videos
30. Play DVDs
31. Buy Songs at the iTunes Music Store
32. Get a Grip on CD Ripping
33. Burn CDs and DVDs
34. Automate Audio CD Burning
35. Rip and Encode DVDs
36. Create a Video DVD
37. Connect to a Digital Camera

4. Mobile Ubuntu
This chapter shows how to work with different wireless cards. You'll also learn how to save energy and install add-on cards. The most interesting tip in this chapter explains how have your laptop settings roam with your network. This is very useful for Ubuntu users on the move.
39. Hibernate Your Laptop
40. Prolong Your Battery Life
41. Get Proprietary Wireless Cards Working
42. Roam Wirelessly
43. Make Laptop Settings Roam with Your Network
44. Make Bluetooth Connections
45. Expand Your Laptop
46. Hotswap Your Laptop's Optical Drive

5. X11
Shows how to customize X11, the X Windows System, which is the windowing system that is behind KDE and GNOME. You'll learn how to interface to your mouse and keyboard, and also how to get X11 configured in relation to your graphics card.
47. Configure Multibutton Mice
48. Enable Your Multimedia Keyboard
49. Configure a Touchpad
50. Connect Multiple Displays
51. Change the Ubuntu Splash Screen
52. Enable 3-D Video Acceleration
53. Make Your Fonts Pretty

6. Package Management
This chapter shows you how to work with all of the packages that come with the distribution. It talks about installation techniques, finding new packages, and finally creating your own packages.
54. Manage Packages from the Command Line
55. Manage Packages with Synaptic
56. Manage Packages with Adept
57. Install and Remove Standalone Files
58. Search for Packages from the Command Line
59. Install Software from Source
60. Modify the List of Package Repositories
61. Cache Packages Locally with Apt-cacher
62. Create an Ubuntu Package
63. Compile a Source Package
64. Convert Non-Ubuntu Packages
65. Create Your Own Package Repository
66. Convert Debian to Ubuntu

7. Security
You'll learn about the "sudo" command, intrusion detection and prevention, and safeguarding data via encryption.
67. Limit Permissions with sudo
68. Manage Security Updates
69. Protect Your Network with a Firewall
70. Use an Encrypted Filesystem to Protect Your Data
71. Encrypt Your Email and Important Files
72. Surf the Web Anonymously
73. Keep Windows Malware off Your System

8. Administration
This talks about basic system administration which includes adding users, altering the system configuration, and doing backups, among other tasks. One of the most interesting tips in this section was how to create videos that capture what is done on the desktop which can then be shared with others when troubleshooting a particular problem.
74. Edit Configuration Files
75. Manage Users and Groups
76. Mount Any Filesystem
77. Control Startup Services
78. Build Kernels the Ubuntu Way
79. Back Up Your System
80. Clone an Installation
81. Rescue an Unbootable System
82. Check the Captain's Log
83. Mount Removable Devices with Persistent Names
84. Mount Remote Directories Securely and Easily
85. Make Videos of Your Tech-Support Questions
86. Synchronize Files Across Machines

9. Virtualization and Emulation
This chapter shows you how to run Ubuntu inside of other operating systems, and other operating systems inside of Ubuntu.
87. Run Windows Applications
88. Play Windows Games
89. Run Ubuntu Inside Windows
90. Use Xen to Host Virtual Machines
91. Create an Ubuntu/Xen Virtual Machine
92. Split Your Machine's Personality

10. Small Office/Home Office Server
Ubuntu can be the basis of a server. Thus, this chapter teaches basic server installation plus installing network services such as DNS, mail, Apache, and more.
93. Install and Configure an Ubuntu Server
94. Build a File Server
95. Administer Your Server Remotely
96. Build a Web Server
97. Build an Email Server
98. Build a Caching Proxy Server
99. Build a DHCP Server
100. Build a Domain Name Server

Summary: Find out what the experinced people know
Not surprisingly, this is another lovely addition to the successful 'Hacks' series.

Like the others, 'Ubuntu Hacks' consists of a series of pointers on how to perform useful and usually non-trivial tasks ranging from beginner level through to expert. As you would expect novice users can get more from the book than experienced users, but there is still likely to be plenty to interest people of any skill level.

This book does not suffer from too broad a topic range, as several from the series do. Since it limits coverage to using the Ubuntu Linux distribution, it reduces the number of topics that are not relevant. It is also a very good source for finding out what else is available, so you gain from not only what is presented directly but will be able to use these to accelerate your own knowledge.

This book highlights one of the problems with the 'Hacks' series. 'Ubuntu Hacks' is noticeably larger than other books I have seen from the series, and while the volume is necessary to cover some of the advanced topics I felt that limiting the book to one hundred hacks made some entries very long indeed.

Overall it is a great book, particularly for those of beginner to intermediate level. You can learn Ubuntu by accident, or you can get a real head start using this book.

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