Translations by Andreas Nilsson

\newglossaryentry{Canonical}{name={Canonical}, description={Canonical, the financial backer of Ubuntu, provides support for the core Ubuntu system. It has over 310 paid staff members worldwide who ensure that the foundation of the operating system is stable, as well as checking all the work submitted by volunteer contributors. To learn more about Canonical, go to \url{http://www.canonical.com}.}}

\newglossaryentry{cursor}{name={cursor}, description={The blinking cursor that appears after the \gls{prompt} in the \gls{terminal} is used to show you where text will appear when you start typing. You can move it around with arrow keys on your keyboard.}}

\newglossaryentry{minimize}{name={minimize}, description={When you minimize an open application, it sits in an applet on a panel. If you click on a minimized applications panel button, it will then be restored to its normal state and allow you to interact with it.}}

\newglossaryentry{notification area}{name={notification area}, description={The notification area is an applet on the panel that provides you with all sorts of information such as volume control, the current song playing in Rhythmbox, your internet connection status and email status.}}

\newglossaryentry{output}{name={output}, description={The output of a command is any text it displays on the next line after typing a command and pressing enter, \eg, if you type \commandlineapp{pwd} into a terminal and press \keystroke{Enter}, the directory name it displays on the next line is the output.}}

\newglossaryentry{package}{name={package}, description={Debian package files that hold the core information and code for applications to run.}}

\newglossaryentry{panel}{name={panel}, description={A panel is a bar that sits on the edge of your screen. It contains \glspl{applet} which provide useful functions such as running programs, viewing the time, or accessing the main menu.}}

\newglossaryentry{parameter}{name={parameter}, description={Parameters are special options that you can use with other commands in the terminal to make that command behave differently, this can make a lot of commands far more useful.}}

\newglossaryentry{prompt}{name={prompt}, description={The prompt displays some useful information about your computer, it can be customized to display in different colors as well as being able to display the time, date and current directory as well as almost anything else you like.}}

\newglossaryentry{proprietary}{name={proprietary}, description={Software made by companies that don't release their source code under an open-source license.}}

\newglossaryentry{router}{name={router}, description={A router is a specially designed computer that using its software and hardware, routes information from the internet to a network. It is also sometimes called a gateway.}}

\newglossaryentry{server}{name={server}, description={A server is a computer that runs a specialized operating system and provides services to computers that connect to it and make a request.}}

\newglossaryentry{shell}{name={shell}, description={The \gls{terminal} gives access to the shell, when you type a command into the terminal and press enter the shell takes that command and performs the relevant action.}}

\newglossaryentry{Software Center}{name={Software Center}, description={The Software Center is where you can easily manage software installation and removal as well as the ability to manage software installed via Personal Package Archives.}}

\newglossaryentry{Synaptic Package Manager}{name={Synaptic Package Manager}, description={Synaptic Package Manager is a tool that, instead of listing applications (like the Software Center) lists individual packages that can then be installed, removed and fixed.}}

\newglossaryentry{terminal}{name={terminal}, description={The terminal is Ubuntu's text only interface, it is a method of controlling some aspects of the operating system using only commands entered via the keyboard.}}

\newglossaryentry{wired connection}{name={wired connection}, description={A wired connection is when your computer is physically connected to a \gls{router} or \gls{Ethernet port} with a cable, this is the most common connection for desktop computers.}}

\newglossaryentry{wireless connection}{name={wireless connection}, description={A wireless connection involves no cables of any sort and instead uses a wireless signal to communicate with either a \gls{router} or access point.}}

\newglossaryentry{Wubi}{name={Wubi}, description={Wubi stands for Windows Ubuntu Installer, and it allows you to install Ubuntu inside Windows. See page~\pageref{sec:installation:using-wubi} for more information.}}

\noindent Copyright \textcopyright{} \the\year{} by The Ubuntu Manual Team. Some rights reserved. \ccbysa

\noindent This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution--Share Alike 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, see \hyperref[ch:license]{Appendix~}\ref{ch:license}, visit \url{http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/}, or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.

\listoftodos

Welcome to \emph{Getting Started with Ubuntu}, an introductory guide written to help new users get started with Ubuntu.

Our goal is to cover the basics of Ubuntu (such as installation and working with the desktop) as well as guide you through some of the most popular applications. We designed this guide to be simple to follow with step-by-step instructions and plenty of screenshots, allowing you to discover the potential of your new Ubuntu system even if you are a novice computer user or are migrating from another operating system for the first time.

Please bear in mind that this guide is still very much a work in progress and always will be. It is written specifically for Ubuntu 10.04 \acronym{LTS}, and although we have aimed to not limit our instructions to this version it is unavoidable that some things will change over the life of Ubuntu. Whenever a new version of Ubuntu is released, we will incorporate any changes into our guide, and make a new version available at \url{http://www.ubuntu-manual.org}.

\emph{Getting Started with Ubuntu 10.04} is not intended to be a comprehensive Ubuntu instruction manual. It is more like a quick-start guide that will get you doing the things you need to do with your computer quickly and easily, without getting bogged down in technical details.

\marginnote{More information about Ubuntu's online and system documentation can be found in \chaplink{ch:learning-more}.}

If you are after more detail, there are excellent resources available at \url{http://help.ubuntu.com}. Ubuntu's built-in system documentation is also very useful for accessing help on specific topics, and can be found by clicking \menu{System\then Help and Support} in Ubuntu. If something isn't covered here, chances are you will find the information you are looking for in one of those locations. We will try our best to include links to more detailed help wherever we can.

The term ``Ubuntu'' is a traditional African concept that originated from the Bantu languages of southern Africa. It can be described as a way of connecting with others\dash living in a global community where your actions affect all of humanity. Ubuntu is more than just an operating system: it is a community of people that come together voluntarily to collaborate on an international software project that aims to deliver the best possible user experience.

Ubuntu comes with full commercial support from \gls{Canonical} and hundreds of companies from across the world.

Ubuntu core applications are all free and open source. We want you to use free and open source software, improve it, and pass it on.

Ubuntu was conceived in 2004 by Mark Shuttleworth, a successful South African entrepreneur, and his company \gls{Canonical}. Shuttleworth recognized the power of Linux and Open Source, but was also aware of weaknesses that prevented mainstream use.

\marginnote{Canonical is the company that provides financial and technical support for Ubuntu. They have employees based around the world who work on developing and improving the operating system, as well as reviewing work submitted by volunteer contributors. To learn more about Canonical, go to \url{http://www.canonical.com}.}

Shuttleworth set out with clear intentions to address these weaknesses and create a system that was easy to use, completely free (see \chaplink{ch:learning-more} for the complete definition of ``free''), and could compete with other mainstream operating systems. With the Debian system as a base, Shuttleworth began to build Ubuntu. Using his own funds at first, installation \acronym{CD}s were pressed and shipped worldwide at no cost to the end user. Ubuntu spread quickly, the size of the community rapidly increased, and it soon became the most popular Debian-based Linux distribution available.

Now with more people working on the project than ever before, Ubuntu continues to see improvement to its core features and hardware support, and has gained the attention of large organizations worldwide. For example, in 2007 Dell began a collaboration with Canonical to sell computers with Ubuntu pre-installed. Additionally, in 2005 the French Police began to transition their entire computer infrastructure to a variant of Ubuntu\dash a process which has reportedly saved them ``millions of Euro'' in licensing fees for Microsoft Windows. By the year 2012, the French Police anticipates that all of their computers will be running Ubuntu. Canonical profits from this arrangement by providing technical support and custom-built software.

\marginnote{For information on Ubuntu Server Edition, and how you can use it in your company, visit \url{http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/serveredition/features}.}

While large organizations often find it useful to pay for support services, Shuttleworth has promised that the Ubuntu desktop system will always be free. As of 2010, Ubuntu desktop is installed on nearly 2\% of the world's computers. This equates to millions of users worldwide, and is growing each year.

What is Linux?

Ubuntu is built on the foundation of Linux, which is a member of the Unix family. Unix is one of the oldest types of operating systems and has provided reliability and security in professional applications for almost half a century. Many servers around the world that store data for popular websites (such as YouTube and Google) run some variant of a Unix system.

\marginnote{Whilst modern graphical \glspl{desktop environment} have generally replaced early command line--based operating systems, the command line can still be a quick and efficient way of performing many tasks. See \chaplink{ch:command-line} for more information, and \chaplink{ch:the-ubuntu-desktop} to learn more about \gls{GNOME} and other desktop environments.}

Linux was designed from the ground up with security and hardware compatibility in mind, and is currently one of the most popular Unix-based operating system. One of the benefits of Linux is that it is incredibly flexible and can be configured to run on almost any device\dash from the smallest micro-computers and cellphones to larger super-computers. Initially, Unix was entirely command line-based until Graphical User Interfaces (\glspl{GUI}) began to emerge in the early 1990s.

\mbox{}\marginnote{To learn more about Linux distributions, see \chaplink{ch:learning-more}.}These early \acronym{GUI}s were difficult to configure and clunky at best, and generally only used by seasoned computer programmers. In the past decade, however, Graphical User Interfaces have come a long way in terms of usability, reliability and appearance. Ubuntu is just one of many different Linux \emph{distributions}, and uses one of the more popular graphical desktop environments called \acronym{GNOME}. \marginnote{A \emph{desktop environment} is a sophisticated and integrated user interface that provides the basis for humans to interact with a computer using a monitor, keyboard and a mouse.}