Outline of Ubuntu

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Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux distribution for personal computers, tablets and smartphones, where the Ubuntu Touch edition is used; and also runs network servers, usually with the Ubuntu Server edition, either on physical or virtual servers (such as on mainframes) or with containers, that is with enterprise-class features.

Contents

Ubuntu runs on the most popular architectures, including server-class ARM-based. Ubuntu is developedby Canonical Ltd., who offer commercial support.

Overview

Ubuntu can be described as all of the following:

Ubuntu derivatives

Ubuntu family tree UbuntuFamilyTree1210.svg
Ubuntu family tree

Official editions

Official editions  —official Ubuntu variants install a set of packages different from the original Ubuntu, but since they draw additional packages and updates from the same repositories as Ubuntu, all of the same software is available for each of them. [1]

Community supported

  • Ubuntu Budgie  —uses the Budgie desktop environment.
  • Edubuntu  —complete Linux based operating system targeted for primary and secondary education. It is freely available with community based support. The Edubuntu community is built on the ideas enshrined in the Edubuntu Manifesto: that software, especially for education, should be available free of charge and that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities. [2]
  • Ubuntu GNOME  — uses a pure GNOME desktop environment with GNOME Shell, rather than the Unity graphical shell, and uses GDM as its display manager. [3]
  • Kubuntu  — uses the KDE Plasma Desktop instead of the Unity graphical environment. [4]
  • Lubuntu  — "lightweight Ubuntu", which uses the LXDE desktop environment in place of Ubuntu's Unity shell and GNOME desktop. LXDE is touted as being "lighter, less resource hungry and more energy-efficient". [5] [6] [7]
  • Ubuntu MATE  — uses the MATE desktop environment as its default user interface, forked from the now-defunct GNOME 2 code base, with an emphasis on the desktop metaphor. [8]
  • Ubuntu Server  — An official derivative made for use in servers. Ubuntu Server handles mail, controls printers, acts as a fileserver, can host LAMP and more. [9]
  • Ubuntu Studio  — provides open-source applications for multimedia creation by audio, video and graphic editors. [10]
  • Ubuntu Touch  — Designed for use with touchscreen devices.
  • Ubuntu TV  — Designed for use with TVs. [11]
  • Xubuntu  — intended for use on less-powerful computers or by those who seek a highly efficient desktop environment on faster systems, and it uses mostly GTK+ applications. [12] For efficiency, it uses the Xfce desktop environment, instead of Ubuntu's Unity.

Third-party distributions

Unofficial variants and derivatives are not controlled or guided by Canonical Ltd. and generally have different goals in mind.

Features and components

Command-line utilities and shell builtins included in Ubuntu

Diagnostics and repair

  • fsck (file system consistency check) — check and repair a Linux file system.

Documentation

  • man  — retrieve a man page, a software documentation page that explains a command or command-line utility program.

File system

  • cat  — concatenate (join) files
  • chmod  — command and system call that may change the access permissions to file system objects (files and directories). It may also alter special mode flags.
  • chown  — change the owner of file system files, directories. Abbreviation of "change owner".
  • chgrp  — used by unprivileged users on Unix-like systems to change the group associated with a file system object (such as a file, directory, or link) to one of which they are a member. A file system object has 3 sets of access permissions, one set for the owner, one set for the group and one set for others. Changing the group of an object could be used to change which users can write to a file.
  • cksum  — generates a checksum value for a file or stream of data. The cksum command reads each file given in its arguments, or standard input if no arguments are provided, and outputs the file's CRC checksum and byte count. It is used to verify that files transferred by unreliable means arrived intact.
  • cmp  — compares two files of any type and writes the results to the standard output. By default, cmp is silent if the files are the same; if they differ, the byte and line number at which the first difference occurred is reported.
  • cp  — copy files.
  • dd  — convert and copy a file.
  • du  — estimate file system usage (space used under a particular directory or files on a file system).
  • df  — report free disk space.
  • file  — determine file type.
  • fuser  — list process IDs of all processes that have one or more files open.
  • ln  — link files.
  • ls  — list directory contents.
  • mkdir  — make directory.
  • mv  — move or rename files.
  • pax  — portable archive interchange.
  • pwd  — print working directory; return working directory name.
  • rm  — remove objects such as files, directories, device nodes, symbolic links, and so on from the filesystem.
  • rmdir  — Remove directories, if they are empty.
  • split  — Split files into pieces.
  • tee  — reads standard input and writes it to both standard output and one or more files, effectively duplicating its input. The command is named after the T-splitter used in plumbing.
  • touch  — change file access and modification times.
  • type  — display a command name's path.
  • umask  — determines the settings of a mask that controls how file permissions are set for newly created files.

Processes

  • at  — execute commands at a later time.
  • bg  — run jobs in the background.
  • cron  — schedule periodic background work.
  • fg  — run jobs in the foreground.
  • kill  — send a signal to a process. By default, the message sent is the termination signal, which requests that the process exit.
  • nice  — invoke a utility or shell script with a particular priority, thus giving the process more or less CPU time than other processes. A niceness of −20 is the highest priority and 19 is the lowest priority. The default niceness for processes is inherited from its parent process and is usually 0.
  • ps  — report process status.
  • sudo  — allows users to run programs with the security privileges of another user, by default the superuser.
  • time  — used to determine the duration of execution of a particular command.

Searching

  • apropos  — search the man page files (command names and their descriptions).
  • find  — find files; searches one or more directory trees of a file system, locates files based on some user-specified criteria and applies a user-specified action on each matched file.
  • grep  — search plain-text files for lines that match a regular expression.

Shell builtins

Shell builtins

  • alias  — enables a replacement of a word by another string. It is mainly used for abbreviating a system command, or for adding default arguments to a regularly used command.
  • cd  — change the working directory.
  • echo  — outputs a specified string to the screen.
  • test  — evaluate an expression.
  • unset  — unsets a shell variable, removing it from memory and the shell's exported environment.
  • wait  — pauses until execution of a background process has ended.

Software development

Text processing

User environment

Miscellaneous

Fonts


Applications

History of Ubuntu

Terminated or discontinued official distributions

Discontinued applications

Hardware

Ubuntu community

Organizations

Support

By third party

Media

Periodicals

  • Full Circle  — free distribution monthly Portable Document Format magazine aimed at users of the Ubuntu operating system and all its derivatives, including Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, as well as others like Linux Mint and its derivatives. It focuses on product reviews, community news, how-to articles, programming and troubleshooting tips. The first issue of Full Circle was published in April 2007.
  • Ubuntu User  — commercial paper magazine focusing on reviews, community news, how to articles, and troubleshooting tips pertaining to Ubuntu.

Books about Ubuntu

Free books

Commercial books

  • Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional — Thomas Keir, Apress, 2006, ISBN   978-1-59059-627-2
  • Moving to Ubuntu Linux — 1st edition, Marcel Gagne, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2006, ISBN   978-0-321-42722-9.
  • The Official Ubuntu Book — 9th edition, Matthew Helmke, Elizabeth K. Joseph, Jonathan Jesse, and José Antonio Rey, Pearson Education, 2016, ISBN   9780134513423
  • Ubuntu 14.04 – Everyday usage — Sasa Paporovic, CreateSpace, 2014, Video-Tutorial
  • Ubuntu for Non-Geeks: A Pain-Free, Get-Things-Done Guide — 4th edition, Rick Grant and Phil Bull, No Starch Press, 2010, ISBN   978-1-59327-257-9.
  • Ubuntu Hacks: Tips & Tools for Exploring, Using, and Tuning Linux  — 1st edition, Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin, and Bill Childers, O'Reilly Media, 2006, ISBN   978-0-596-52720-4
  • Ubuntu Linux Bible — 1st edition, William von Hagen, John Wiley & Sons, 2007, ISBN   978-0-470-03899-4
  • Ubuntu Unleashed: Covering 9.10 and 10.4 — 5th edition, Andrew Hudson, Paul Hudson, Matthew Helmke, and Ryan Troy, SAMS Publishing, 2010, ISBN   978-0-672-33109-1

Persons influential in Ubuntu

See also

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