The book promises “Over 300 Tips, Tricks, Hints and Hacks” for Ubuntu users and those who are thinking about using Ubuntu.

The excerpts of Ubuntu Kung Fu are on Pragmatic Programmer’s website. I think that the excerpts are great. I even learned about the screenlets and the desktop recording function. I never knew about these things until tonight. Though there have been desklets from before, I think that screenlets look more polished than the desklets I’ve seen before. As for the desktop recording tool which saves in animated GIFs, I think it’s really cool because you could be clearer about communicating things when you’ve got visuals to help you say things. It would help you troubleshoot better or, in some cases, just showcase what’s going on if you just want someone else to have an idea, let’s say for posting it on your blog, etc.

I’ve got to admit that the excerpts make me think about getting the PDF + printed copy. But for now, I’d probably recommend getting it in PDF form because I think that the price fairly reasonable. Handy for those of you who are still new to Ubuntu and would prefer to have a handy resource available before going online and digging through various forums and mailing lists. Also handy if you’re the type to keep the copy at the home desktop for your family to read through while you’re away and out of reach. It seems that from the excerpts, it’s a pretty straightforward book which new users and not-so-new users could learn from.

If you’re looking for alternative ways to learn Linux, you might want to try something with illustrations, humor and geekery. For this, check out Hackett and Bankwell. I only saw the preview but it seems like it has great potential. There are concepts which are very helpful to new Linux users especially if you’re someone who wants to try out Ubuntu and/or other Ubuntu-based Linux distributions. The illustrations are ok and it is easy to understand. It would potentially make it easy for you and your family to learn using Linux.

Because it is in comics form, you might be able to identify with the characters and as such, make it easier to understand.

If and when I get a copy of the first issue (that’s all I saw on the website) I’d post a review about it. But if you already got your copy, why don’t you share your thoughts about it here?

If you want to have an idea as to what Ubuntu is, it’s time to grab a copy of the Official Ubuntu Book. In our office, we have the second edition of the book. I think that it’s worth buying especially if you have people in your office who might be intimidated with the new operating system. You could probably walk them through using Ubuntu with this book. It has the basics of using Ubuntu and it also gives users an idea of what basic operations they could do, as well as the basic systems administrations tasks.

If you are trying to do certain things like distro upgrades and user management as well, you might want to take a look at this book. Even if you’re online and wondering about certain terms, it will be fine. This is one book that wouldn’t intimidate you. The screenshots will be enough to keep people interested and happily using Ubuntu. Well, unless they get really difficult problems to troubleshoot, that is. And as such, there might be those people who would think that the book is just dead tree copy of the wiki or something. Maybe so. But if you’re someone who’s more comfortable with a book, this would be great. Also good for people who don’t have internet access at home and need some basic help.

I think that I should look at the shelf in the office if we have the Ubuntu Hacks book