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Contents at a Glance

Introduction ...... 1 Part I: Getting Your Feet Wet ...... 7 Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with ...... 9 Chapter 2: Prepping Your Computer for Linux ...... 19 Chapter 3: Installing Fedora Core ...... 39 Chapter 4: Installing Other Linux Distributions ...... 65 Chapter 5: Booting and Stopping Linux ...... 95 Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops ...... 105 Chapter 7: Configuring Linux ...... 133 Part II: Internet Now! ...... 147 Chapter 8: Connecting to the Internet ...... 149 Chapter 9: Using the Internet ...... 165 Part III: Getting Up to Speed with Linux ...... 191 Chapter 10: Manipulating Files and Directories ...... 193 Chapter 11: Checking Out the Linux Filesystem ...... 215 Chapter 12: Adding Software to Linux ...... 233 Chapter 13: A Secure Linux Box Is a Happy Linux Box ...... 263 Chapter 14: Working without the GUI ...... 277 Chapter 15: Gettin’ Gooey with the GUIs ...... 293 Part IV: Getting Things Done ...... 307 Chapter 16: Putting the X in Text ...... 309 Chapter 17: Word-Processing and More with OpenOffice.org ...... 317 Chapter 18: Multimedia Wow! ...... 345 Chapter 19: Windows-OnlyCOPYRIGHTED Media Formats and MATERIAL Programs ...... 359 Part V: The Part of Tens ...... 367 Chapter 20: Ten Troubleshooting Tips ...... 369 Chapter 21: Ten Cool Uses for ...... 379 Part VI: Appendixes ...... 393 Appendix A: Common Linux Commands ...... 395 Appendix B: About the DVD-ROM ...... 405 Index ...... 411 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page viii 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page ix

Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 1 About This Book ...... 1 How to Use This Book ...... 2 Three Presumptuous Assumptions ...... 3 How This Book Is Organized ...... 4 Part I: Getting Your Feet Wet ...... 4 Part II: Internet Now! ...... 4 Part III: Getting Up to Speed with Linux ...... 5 Part IV: Getting Things Done ...... 5 Part V: The Part of Tens ...... 5 Part VI: Appendixes ...... 5 Icons Used in This Book ...... 6 Where to Go from Here ...... 6

Part I: Getting Your Feet Wet ...... 7

Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Linux ...... 9 Is Free Really Free? ...... 9 Linux: Revolution or Just Another ? ...... 10 Anatomy of an Open Source Software Project ...... 13 GNU who? ...... 13 Who’s in charge of Linux anyway? ...... 15 Einstein was a volunteer ...... 15 Packaging Linux: The Distribution ...... 16 Chapter 2: Prepping Your Computer for Linux ...... 19 Installation Considerations ...... 19 Preparing to Use Linux and Windows Together ...... 20 Partitioning from scratch for a dual boot ...... 21 Peeking at your partitions from Windows ...... 22 Peeking at your partitions in Windows 2000 and Windows XP ...... 22 Checking your partitions in Windows 98 ...... 24 Making space ...... 26 Working with Disk Partitions ...... 28 Choosing a partitioning tool ...... 28 Getting and resizing partitions with ...... 28 Gathering Information about Your Machine ...... 33 Finally, Finally, Before You Get Started ...... 37 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page x

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Chapter 3: Installing Fedora Core ...... 39 Things to Consider Before You Begin Installation ...... 39 Making a Boot Floppy (if Needed) ...... 41 The Installation Process ...... 43 Your First Boot ...... 60 Chapter 4: Installing Other Linux Distributions ...... 65 Kickstarting Linux with Knoppix ...... 66 Living Large with ...... 66 Installing Linspire ...... 67 Recognizing some special Linspire features ...... 70 About the various Linspire versions ...... 71 Maxin’ Out the Fun with Mandrake ...... 71 Installing Mandrake ...... 72 About the various Mandrake versions ...... 77 Starting off with SuSE ...... 78 Installing SuSE ...... 78 About the various SuSE versions ...... 85 Zapping Frustration with ...... 85 Installing Xandros ...... 86 About the various Xandros versions ...... 91 Using LiveCDs ...... 92 Finding Even More Linux ...... 92 Chapter 5: Booting and Stopping Linux ...... 95 Giving Linux the Boot ...... 96 Step 1: Power-On Self-Test (POST) leads to BIOS ...... 96 Step 2: The BIOS passes the baton to the boot loader ...... 97 Step 3: The boot loader (GRUB or LILO) loads the system kernel into memory ...... 98 Step 4: Control is handed over to init ...... 99 Don’t Just Turn Off the Machine! ...... 102 Removing Linux from Your System ...... 103 Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops ...... 105 Introducing the Interfaces ...... 105 Deciding Which Interface to Use ...... 106 Making the Best of the Command Line ...... 107 GNOME Basics ...... 108 The menus ...... 109 The Run Application tool ...... 111 The Lock Screen tool ...... 112 The Log Out tool ...... 113 The Panels ...... 113 The Panel menu ...... 115 The Add To Panel menu option ...... 116 Playing with desktop icons ...... 116 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page xi

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KDE Basics ...... 117 Knoppix KDE ...... 118 Linspire KDE ...... 121 Mandrake KDE ...... 124 SuSE KDE ...... 126 Xandros KDE ...... 128 Switching between GNOME and KDE ...... 130 Chapter 7: Configuring Linux ...... 133 Accounts Great and Small ...... 133 Avoiding root ...... 134 Creating user accounts ...... 134 Printing ...... 137 Zen and the Art of Linux Configuration ...... 140 Knoppix tools ...... 141 Linspire tools ...... 142 Mandrake tools ...... 144 and Fedora Core tools ...... 145 SuSE tools ...... 145 Xandros tools ...... 146

Part II: Internet Now! ...... 147

Chapter 8: Connecting to the Internet ...... 149 Internet Connectivity 101 ...... 149 Setting Up the Hardware ...... 152 Selecting an Internet Service Provider (ISP) ...... 153 Getting Information You Need from Your ISP ...... 154 Hooking Up ...... 155 Configuring Your Connection ...... 156 Connecting to (and Disconnecting from) the Internet ...... 160 It’s All Fun and Games until Something Doesn’t Work ...... 161 Checking whether you can talk to a specific address with ping ....161 Following in your traffic’s footsteps with traceroute ...... 162 After You’re Connected ...... 164 Chapter 9: Using the Internet ...... 165 Meet the Popular Browsers ...... 165 Configuring Mozilla ...... 166 Them dad-gum browser plug-ins ...... 172 Navigating Newsgroups ...... 174 Configuring Mozilla to read newsgroups ...... 174 Subscribing to newsgroups ...... 176 Reading news ...... 177 Evolving into E-Mail ...... 177 Setting up Evolution ...... 178 Sending and checking e-mail ...... 184 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page xii

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Taking Advantage of Instant Messaging ...... 186 Using the Gaim Instant Messenger ...... 187 Troubleshooting your IM connections ...... 189 Working with Other Internet Tools ...... 190

Part III: Getting Up to Speed with Linux ...... 191

Chapter 10: Manipulating Files and Directories ...... 193 Working with Files in the GUI ...... 193 Sailin’ with Nautilus ...... 194 Rulin’ with ...... 201 Excavating with the Xandros File Manager ...... 209 Understanding Filesystem Mechanics ...... 209 Understanding long format file listings ...... 210 A permissions primer ...... 211 Comprehending file types ...... 213 Chapter 11: Checking Out the Linux Filesystem ...... 215 Introducing the Linux Filesystem ...... 215 Meet the root directory ...... 216 Meet the /etc subdirectories ...... 217 Meet the /mnt and /media subdirectories ...... 217 Meet the /usr subdirectories ...... 218 Finding CDs and More in Your GUI ...... 219 Navigating the filesystem in Fedora ...... 219 Navigating the Filesystem in Knoppix ...... 221 Navigating the filesystem in Linspire ...... 223 Navigating the filesystem in Mandrake ...... 223 Navigating the filesystem in SuSE ...... 225 Navigating the filesystem in Xandros ...... 226 Partitions versus Directories ...... 226 Formatting Disks ...... 229 Care and Feeding of Your Filesystem ...... 229 If your machine fails to reboot ...... 229 Don’t run out of room! ...... 232 Chapter 12: Adding Software to Linux ...... 233 Opening Downloaded Files ...... 233 Compressing and Packaging Files to Share ...... 235 Updating Your Software ...... 236 Updating Fedora ...... 236 Updating Linspire ...... 240 Updating Mandrake ...... 242 Updating SuSE ...... 243 Updating Xandros ...... 245 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page xiii

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Installing New Software ...... 247 Eating it up with Fedora’s yum ...... 247 Clicking and running with Linspire ...... 253 Making it happen with Mandrake ...... 255 Sassing with SuSE ...... 258 Xipping with Xandros Networks ...... 260 Finding More Software ...... 261 Upgrading Your OS ...... 262 Chapter 13: A Secure Linux Box Is a Happy Linux Box ...... 263 Choosing Secure Passwords ...... 263 Updating Software ...... 264 Network holes ...... 265 The Secure Shell game (SSH) ...... 269 Software holes ...... 273 Introducing SELinux ...... 274 Keeping an Eye on Your Log Files with the System Log Viewer ...... 275 Locating Security Resources ...... 276 Chapter 14: Working without the GUI ...... 277 Playing the Shell Game ...... 278 Understanding bash Command Syntax and Structure ...... 280 Starting Programs from the Shell ...... 281 Putting Wildcard Expansion to Good Use ...... 282 Working with Long Commands ...... 282 Asking Linux to complete a command or filename for you ...... 282 Accessing your command history ...... 283 Working with Variables ...... 284 Variables versus environment variables ...... 284 Checking out commonly used environment variables ...... 285 Storing and retrieving variables’ values ...... 286 Using Redirection and Pipes ...... 288 Redirecting command output ...... 289 Laying pipes ...... 290 “Help!” ...... 290 Clearing the screen ...... 291 Chapter 15: Gettin’ Gooey with the GUIs ...... 293 Changing GNOME’s Look and Feel ...... 294 How do ya like them applets? ...... 294 Don’t forget the programs ...... 296 Customizing KDE ...... 297 Applets keep fallin’ on my head ...... 298 Adding programs to your panel ...... 299 Cluttering the desktop with icons ...... 300 Prettying Up Your Desktop with Themes ...... 300 Adding themes to GNOME ...... 301 Adding themes to KDE ...... 303 Tweaking the GUI’s Innards ...... 305 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page xiv

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Part IV: Getting Things Done ...... 307

Chapter 16: Putting the X in Text ...... 309 Viewing the Contents of a Text File ...... 309 Editing Text Files with nano ...... 310 Saving your work as you go ...... 311 Saving and moving on with your life ...... 311 Going with gedit ...... 312 Entering and editing text in gedit ...... 312 Saving your work ...... 314 Taking a Quick Look at Kate ...... 315 Chapter 17: Word-Processing and More with OpenOffice.org . . . . .317 Word-Processing with OpenOffice.Org Writer ...... 318 Starting it up ...... 318 Taking a tour of OpenOffice.org Writer ...... 318 Spreadsheets with OpenOffice.Org Calc ...... 323 Starting it up ...... 323 Taking a tour of OpenOffice.org Calc ...... 324 Presentations with OpenOffice.Org Impress ...... 327 Starting it up ...... 327 Using the AutoPilot Presentation Wizard ...... 328 Taking a tour of OpenOffice.org Impress ...... 330 Fine Art with OpenOffice.Org Draw ...... 333 Starting it up ...... 333 Taking a tour of OpenOffice.org Draw ...... 334 Layout with OpenOffice.Org Math ...... 337 Starting it up ...... 337 Taking a tour of OpenOffice.org Math ...... 338 Configuring Printing for OpenOffice.org ...... 342 Chapter 18: Multimedia Wow! ...... 345 Checking Your Sound Card ...... 346 Looking into Your Mixer ...... 346 Investigating Troublesome Sound Issues ...... 347 Listening to CDs ...... 348 Listening to Internet Radio ...... 349 Listening to Downloaded Music ...... 351 Ripping Music Tracks from CDs ...... 352 Burning CDs and DVDs ...... 354 Creating and Modifying Graphics ...... 355 Watchin’ Movies ...... 356 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page xv

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Chapter 19: Windows-Only Media Formats and Programs ...... 359 Commercial Software ...... 360 CodeWeavers ...... 360 ...... 361 Cedega ...... 362 VMware ...... 363 Installing and Using ...... 364

Part V: The Part of Tens ...... 367

Chapter 20: Ten Troubleshooting Tips ...... 369 “The Linux Installer Froze” ...... 370 For Fedora Core Users ...... 371 “I Told the Installer to Test My Graphics, and They Failed” ...... 372 “The Installer Tested My Graphics Fine, but My GUI Won’t Start” ...... 373 “I Think I’m in Linux, but I Don’t Know What to Do!” ...... 373 “I Don’t Want to Boot into This!” ...... 375 Changing your boot environment “permanently” ...... 375 Changing your boot environment just for now ...... 376 “I Want to Change Screen Resolutions” ...... 376 “My GUI Is Hung, and I’m Stuck!” ...... 377 “Help, My Machine Hangs During Boot!” ...... 377 “Aaargh! I Forgot My Root Password! What Do I Do?” ...... 378 Chapter 21: Ten Cool Uses for Knoppix ...... 379 Rescuing Files off of a Machine that Won’t Boot ...... 379 Recovering a Root Password with Knoppix ...... 381 Functioning as a Portable Desktop ...... 383 Installing Knoppix ...... 384 Keeping Knoppix Up to Date ...... 386 Installing New Software in LiveCD Knoppix ...... 388 Installing New Software on an Installed Knoppix System ...... 388 Adding More Software Repositories ...... 389 Aren’t Sure a Machine Actually Works? ...... 390 Exploring Tons of Linux Tools ...... 391

Part VI: Appendixes ...... 393

Appendix A: Common Linux Commands ...... 395 Linux Commands by Function ...... 395 Archiving and compressing ...... 396 Built-in bash commands ...... 396 02_579371 ftoc.qxd 12/27/04 7:55 PM Page xvi

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Getting Help ...... 397 Files and file system ...... 398 mtools ...... 400 System control ...... 401 Appendix B: About the DVD-ROM ...... 405 System Requirements ...... 406 Using the DVD-ROM ...... 407 Booting from the DVD-ROM ...... 407 Booting from a Linux floppy disk ...... 408 What You Find in Fedora Core 3 ...... 408 If You’ve Got Problems (Of the DVD-ROM Kind) ...... 409

Index...... 411