Chapter 17. Running Ubuntu Linux
IN THIS CHAPTER
Ubuntu bursts onto the Linux scene
Challenges facing Ubuntu
Installing Ubuntu
Using Ubuntu
Ubuntu Linux (www.ubuntu.com) has experienced a meteoric rise in popularity since its first release at the end of 2004. Relying on a constantly expanding number of core developers and contributions from its growing legion of advocates and users, Ubuntu has become one of the leading Linux distributions in the world.
"Ubuntu" is an African word that means "humanity to others." The project pursues the meaning of its name by:
Making the distribution freely available; in fact, the project will even mail you pressed CDs without charge, although it can take up to 10 weeks to receive them (
https://shipit.ubuntu.com).Providing support for many languages.
Offering features to make it usable by people with disabilities.
Ubuntu is based on Debian GNU/Linux but offers more focused goals than Debian. The original goals of Ubuntu were to provide a tested, easy-to-use Linux distribution with a regular release schedule (every six months), to provide support and updates for those releases for an extended period of time, and to fit this easy-to-use desktop Linux on one installation CD. Ubuntu now offers Desktop and Server Install CDs, as well as an Alternate Desktop Install CD to help with automated deployments, partitioning, and low-resource system installs.
Ubuntu has its own repositories of freely available software on the Internet, providing a huge assortment of software ...
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