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Notes from the Author

119 bytes removed, 20:48, 3 July 2007
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In order to further broaden my Linux knowledge I decided to attend the monthly local Linux User Group meetings. At these meetings I was humbled by the depth of Linux knowledge of the other attendees and learned more about Linux from these experts than I ever could have hoped for. One month, a member of the user group committee announced that a representative for Ubuntu would be speaking at the next meeting, at which a loud and sustained cheer rose up from the audience. At this point I had never heard of Ubuntu and had no idea what it was that these experts were so enthusiastic about. All I knew was that if these people thought it was great then I had better find out what it is. I drove home, fired up a web browser and searched for Ubuntu. I quickly found out it was a Linux distribution. How can these people be so excited about "just another Linux distribution"? I had to find out. I slid the Ubuntu Linux Live CD I'd picked up at the meeting into my CDROM tray and booted from it. Several hours later I had my answer. Ubuntu Linux was a nice, easy to use and easy to maintain Linux system. Clearly, a lot of work had gone into making Ubuntu easy to try, install and use, and yet I could still drop down to the low level to perform the more advanced tasks I was used to performing when I needed to.
Having just finished writing the PHP Essentials and JavaScript Essentials on-line books Techotopia A few months later I was ready for change from scripting languages. It decided it was time to write about Ubuntu Linux and try to give others to chance to find out why Ubuntu Linux is such a popular Linux distribution. The first edition of Ubuntu Linux Essentials is now complete, but will continue to evolve as Ubuntu gains new features and I learn more about it. I hope you find it useful.