Lesson G15 En. Red Hat Linux Operation System

Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 LESSON G15_EN. RED HAT LINUX OPERATION SYSTEM

Parent Entity: IPA SA, Bucharest, Romania, 167 bis, Calea Floreasca, e-mail: [email protected];Fax: + 4021 316 16 20 Authors: Mariana Bistran, Principal Researcher, IPA SA, Bucharest, Romania, 167 bis, Calea Floreasca, Fax: + 4021 318 00 51 Professor Gheorghe Mincu Sandulescu, PhD, IPA SA, Bucharest, Romania, 167 bis, Calea Floreasca, e-mail: [email protected]; Fax: + 4021 318 00 51, Consultations: Every working day from 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m..

After studying this lesson, you will acquire the following knowledge: To work with the application programs of the Linux graphical interfaces The main steps to install and configure the Red Hat Linux To find commands for Internet access for both systems Linux and Unix

CONTENT OF THE LESSON 1. INTRODUCTION IN RED HAT LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM 2. HOW TO PERFORM THE INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF RED HAT LINUX 9.0 3. HOW TO WORK WITH RED HAT LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM? 4. WHICH IS THE COMMON STRUCTURE OF THE GRAPHICAL INTERFACES OF LINUX? 5. MAIN DIFFERENCES AND RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN LINUX AND MICROSOFT WINDOWS 6. HOW TO WORK IN TEXT MODE WITH RED HAT LINUX 7. HOW TO FIND THE MAIN COMMANDS FOR INTERNET ACCESS IN LINUX AND UNIX OPERATING SYSTEMS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After covering the lesson you will obtain knowledge about: The main components as free, open source programs of the distribution of Red Hat Linux Starting the installation and configuration processes of Linux How can we use the programs for configuration of Linux operating system and their graphical interfaces GNOME and KDE Starting work in text mode with Linux Main commands for Internet access in Linux and in Unix operating systems

1. INTRODUCTION TO THE RED HAT LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM

LINUX is the kernel of Operating System, multi-user, which can be obtained for free from Internet. It is distributed Open Source and it can be modified and redistributed under the license GPL – General Public License.

LINUX is the follower of Operating System UNIX and is designed mainly for networking, and it can be used as: Web server for navigation and for emails, Router, Firewall, Server for file hosting, DNS and proxy server.

The internet world is based on open source, free, reliable and powerful programs and the most important program for Internet web servers is the open source, free program Apache.

The Operating Systems, containing LINUX as kernel are named distributions; some of the main ones are the following: o Red Hat, which is the most spread; o Fedora; o Slackware; o TurboLinux; o Caldera, etc.

The main differences from UNIX are that all the LINUX distributions use the same Kernel LINUX, in English, under the management of its author Linus Torvalds.

Bi-monthly a new version of Linux kernel appears which can be downloaded for free from the address:http://www.kernel.org LINUX modern distributions can be easily installed with the help of graphical interface. It appears and works like Windows. The user interface is accessible in many languages, also in Romanian. 191 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006

There are some differences between the Linux distributions, related to the installation programs such as: o graphical and interactive interface with the user, o user interface with text messages, o automatic installation of directories and files without user information; o on each version of distribution there are differences between the directories and the files, etc..

Each of LINUX distributions can be used in both operating modes: o text mode (only for the professionals) and o graphic mode recommended especially for the beginners. The real power of Linux consists in the text mode interface and it resembles the MS – DOS operating system.

The main components of the distribution Red Hat of Linux contain the following programs: o graphical program for easy installation of Linux, named Anaconda, which detects the hardware components and produces the automatic resources partitioning; o 2 graphical and interactive user interfaces, very simple and practical to use, named GNOME and KDE; o many multimedia applications; o applications for users administration, for equipment control and for easy access to Internet; o free suites like Microsoft Office: OpenOffice, KOffice, GNOME; o assurance of special security; o for the reduction of the risk of data loss on power off failures, it contains a system with files as journals; o it contains two file managers, very accurate, entitled: Nautilus in GNOME and Konqueror in KDE; o an utilitarian RPM (Red Hat Package Manager) to store information about the program packets and their files.

The version downloaded for free of the distribution Red Hat 9.0 contains: 3 CDs with the installation Kit and 2CDs with the source code.

2. HOW TO PERFORM THE INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION OF RED HAT LINUX 9.0

Firstly it is necessary to assure the minimal hardware features for working in Red Hat Linux 9.0 such as: o Processor with a frequency of minimum 200 MHz; o RAM memory of minimum : 64 MB in text mode and 128 MB in graphical mode; o Free space on HDD: from 650 MB to 5 GB; o CD-Rom unit and the possibility to boot the system from the CD.

For users which have PCs under these features, they can only use the old versions of Red Hat Linux for small memory.

The easy installation of the operating system named Linux Red Hat 9.0 is performed with the help of a wizard program on CD-ROM, having a graphical user interface; during the installation process many windows appear with explanations and selection options for choosing the preferred options.

If you are not sure if you can start from the CD-ROM it is necessary to verify in the computer BIOS if the CD-ROM is the first bootable driver. Striking the keys DEL or F2 it is possible to access the BIOS setup utility and to enable booting from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

To start the process of installation it is necessary to input the 1st CD (of the 3 CDs) from the Red Hat Linux 9.0 kit in the CD- ROM unit and to reboot the PC. The 3 CDs can be provided for free from some IT magazines or from Internet from the address http://www.redhat.com.

The installation process can be performed over 2-3 hours, and it is graphically represented indicating: Number of packages remaining to be installed, how much time remains until finishing the installation process, name, dimension, short description of the installing packet. All the applications programs built for working in Linux are components of the operating system and will be installed together at the operating system installation.

How can we perform the Linux installation process ?

The main Steps of Linux Installation Process are the following: Step 1. Selection of control of the installing process as “expert + ENTER” followed by the answer “No” to the question “Do you have a driver disk?”; 192 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 Step 2. Selection of dialogue language “English+Ok” in the list “Choose a language”; Step 3. Introduction of the type of keyboard “US+Ok” in the list “Keyboard type”; Step 4. Specifying “Local CD-ROM + Ok” as disk driver on which the installation kit of Linux is situated, in the window entitled Installation Mode, followed by pressing the Skip option at the program question “To begin testing the CD media before installation”;

As a result the Anaconda program will be launched for automatic detection of the hardware features of the computer, and it will continue with the following actions of the installation process : Step 5. Press Next option into the introductive window Welcome to Red Hat Linux; Step 6. Selection of the “type of mouse” + press Next button, in the window named Mouse Configuration; Step 7. Selection of the option “Perform a New Red Hat Linux installation”+ Next in the window Upgrade Examine; Step 8. Selection of the option “Custom” + Next in the window Installation Type for the following types: • Personal Desktop for individuals, • Workstation for networks, • Server; • Custom for personalized installation.

Step 9. Selection of the option “Manual partition with Disk Druid”+Next in the window Disk Partitioning for the following partitioning modes : a. Automatic partition, with possible loss of hard disk data; b. Manual partition with Disk Druid.

Step 10. Pressing the button “New” + Next to create a new partition in the window Partitioning is recommended to create the following 3 partitions on the hard disk for Linux operating system: Partition1. Partition of 100 Mb for the kernel Linux, placed in the zone named /boot of the type ext3; Partition2. Partition of type swap, dimensioned as double value of the virtual RAM memory; Partition3. Partition of 5 Gb for the Operating System, placed in the zone named / of the type ext3.

Step 11. Selection of the GRUB program, in the window Boot Loader Configuration for configuration of boot manager, followed by pressing the option “Configure advanced boot loader options” + Next; Step 12. Selection of the option “First sector of boot partition” + Next , in the window Install Boot Loader record on, for establishing the place for the boot manager program; Step 13. Selection of the security level “High” + Next in the window Firewall Configuration; Step 14. Other settings may be introduced in their correspondent windows such as: • Additional Language Support, • Time Zone Selection, • Set Root Password.

Step 15. Anaconda program will open the window Package Group Selection in which the selection “Everything”+Next will be introduced for selecting the categories of programs to be installed; the beginning of the installation is indicated in the window About to Install and in the window entitled Installing Packages begins the real partitions formatting process, followed by the installation of the entire Linux operating system. The installation process of Linux finishes after installing all the 3 CDs of the Linux installation kit.

How to perform the Linux configuration after installation ?

The configuration process after the installation of the Red Hat Linux system consists in the following activities: 1.)- Selection of the option “Yes, I would like to create a boot diskette”+ Next in the window Boot Diskette Creation for the creation of a bootable diskette; the configuration program will detect automatically the graphic modules of the PC; 2.)- Specification of the following features of Linux system, in the window Customize Graphical Configuration: number of colors: Color Depth resolution: Screen Resolution the starting mode of Linux : Text or Graphical. 3.)- The window Congratulations shows the end of the configuration process by pressing Exit which leads to the new restarting of the PC. 4.)- At the 1st loading of Linux Red Hat 9.0 system the window Welcome will appear, which requests some configuration operations by the agent program entitled Setup. 5.)- Starting of date and time will be performed by pressing the button Forward, 6.)- It is compulsory to create a new user account, different from the root, to protect the operating system. The final message of configuration is Finish Setup and will be closed by clicking on the button Forward.

How can the programs be used for the configuration of Red Hat Linux operating system 193 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006

The easy mode of configuration of Red Hat Linux is represented by the configuration programs situated in both graphical interfaces of the system into the group System Settings and perform the following functions, similar to the Windows system: Add/Remove Packages -> (un)installing program components of Linux system; Date and Time Properties-> modifying the date, hour or synchronizing the PC with a remote time server by enabling the option Network Time Protocol; Display Settings -> modifying the display resolution and Color Depth; Keyboard and Language-> indicating the type of user keyboard and the user default language; Login Screen -> configuration of automated or temporized login on the Linux system in the window Welcome by introducing the authentication keys Username and Password; Mouse, Printer Configuration-> selecting of the appropriate mouse/printer for the system; Network Configuration -> configuration of network devices associated with the existent hardware; Root Password -> setting the root password for the system by introducing of a new “Root Password” + OK; Security Level Configuration -> configure the firewall by selecting High value for the Security Level of the system, and selecting the option “Use default firewall rules” +OK; Sound Detection -> Automatic detection of features of Audio Devices like Vendor, Model, Module and can perform the function Play test sound.

How can the common configuration programs be used for both graphical interfaces GNOME and KDE?

For introducing the user parameters in both graphical interfaces GNOME and KDE there are configuration programs situated inside the group Preferences, such as: User Information as: Full Name, Office/Home Address, Office/Home Phone, Place of Login; Select a photo : Select a photograph to show in the browser window; Password Query : Changes the user password as needed; CD Database Preferences: for selecting the Internet servers to find information about audio CDs.

3. HOW TO WORK WITH RED HAT LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM?

If the Linux is installed to start in graphical mode on the PC, the power on of the computer will boot the Linux system by the window Welcome. Similarly as in Windows system, the main system window consists in: the Desktop, the Taskbar and the Main Menu.

On the Linux operating system Desktop there are some pictograms of shortcut to the programs which can be run by performing a left click on the respective icon.

On the bottom row of the window the Taskbar named Panel is situated, a row with picture images for the introduction of: current date and hour and the following menus: o Language , for selecting the language for the system menus; o Session, for selecting the graphical interface for working GNOME, KDE, last used–last-, default, GNOME- failsafe; we will select KDE. o Reboot ,which performs the reloading of the operating system; o Shutdown, to leave the PC without closing it; o The buttons with numbers :1,2,3,4 are virtual screens, offering the facility to see in parallel 4 applications, with elimination of the minimizing / maximizing operations from Windows system.

The following icons are included into the Panel Taskbar, as shortcut to the following application programs as in the Table 1

NAME IN LINUX NAME IN WINDOWS FUNCTION Red Hat Start Introduces all the menus with the active programs, organized in a tree structure Mozilla Internet Explorer Browser program for navigation on Internet Ximian Evolution Outlook Express Default program for email Microsoft Word Program for text processing Open Office.org suite, with 3 Microsoft Power Point Program for presentations icons Microsoft Excel Program for tables computing Print Manager Print Manager Program for printing documents

The Main Menu is activated by the button with Red Hat, (similar to the button Start from Windows), bottom-left of screen, on which, by a simple click, is introduced the tree of menus for launching the needed application program installed into the graphical interface GNOME.

How to work with the standard graphical interface GNOME as desktop environment? 194 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006

Why choosing to work with the help of the interface entitled GNOME, designed especially for the beginner: It is more rapid than the KDE interface; It is the default interface of the system, in the event of configuration Linux with graphic interface without specifying one of the variants: GNOME or KDE; It is simple, friendly; It can be easily modified at will, because it contains the source code; It contains the Files Manager like Windows Explorer and the office applications like MS Office, programs for Internet connection, tools for programming; It includes complete libraries, and others.

Table 2 presents the main differences between the two Linux system interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of function Interface GNOME Interface KDE Director of files NAUTILUS KONQUEROR Name of main menu MAIN MENU START APPLICATIONS Equivalence with Operating system facilities WINDOWS 95/98 WINDOWS XP Quick access to the menus editor no yes Quick access to the floppy disk no Icon on desktop

The differences between the two interfaces GNOME and KDE consist in the application programs of which each interface is built and of the working method; every program functions only under its graphical interface, on which it was achieved. It is easy to discover the allocation of program per interface, respectively: • the programs of interface GNOME begin with letter G and • the programs of interface KDE begin with letter K.

Interface GNOME contains on the desktop some pictograms as shortcuts to the programs: 1. root’s Home, 2. Start Here and 3. Trash.

1). Performing a click on the pictogram root’s Home will open the default File Manager named Nautilus, situated in the Home director of user named root.

In Linux each user can have its own home, where it can store its own files; so that if the graphical interface is open by the user named XXX the pictogram will have the name XXX’s Home.

The browser program Nautilus works similarly as the browser Internet Explorer from the Windows system, with the following features: o Displaying the files/ folders as icons or lists; o Making sorts of files on name, size, type, modifying date; o Performing Copy/Paste for Copying or Moving of the files/folders; o It is not possible to see folder trees as in Windows Explorer; o It has a toolbar, similar to the Internet Explorer program with the following buttons:

BackW, ForwardX, UpS, Stop9, Reload , Home

2). Clicking the program Start Here from the Desktop the Nautilus program window is opened for setting the graphical interface (similarly to the menu Setting from Windows).

3). The program Trash is the same as the Recycle Bin from the Windows system.

Performing right click in a free region of desktop will introduce the menu for quick commands which allows the following: o Accessing of CD-ROM or floppy disk, o Building of shortcut with the command New Launcher to the desired application program. To choose the icon for the shortcut you will make a selection in the window Browse icons, introduced with the help of the button No Icon.

4. WHICH IS THE COMMON STRUCTURE OF THE GRAPHICAL INTERFACES OF LINUX?

195 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 The programs of each graphical interfaces GNOME and KDE are associated in common groups of both interfaces and separated groups for each interface. Red Hat Linux system is composed of 8 common groups for both graphical interfaces: Accessories, Graphics, Internet, Programming, Office, System Tools, Sound and Video.

Table 3 Linux common group Accessories of application programs for both interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of Name of the application Function achieved by the application program the program common groups Print Manager printing of documents Address Manager, Creating an address book and creating “to-do” lists KOrganizer, JPilot

KAlarm reminder alarms or timing schedule, Kandy, KPilot for communication of PC with mobile phones, connection of PDA to PC KArm, KTimer to compute the timing of the program execution, Accessories KDEprint Fax for sending faxes KHexEdit editor for binary files KJots, KNotes editing short sentences of texts Komandder Editor tool for creating graphical applications multiplatform like Windows, Linux, Unix, etc. World Translator which groups dictionaries: English <-> Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and others.

Table 4 Linux common group Graphics of applications programs for both interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of Name of the application Function achieved by the application program the program common groups KColorEdit Program for Color Palette Editor gtkam Working program with a great number of digital camera devices for acquisition of images DVI Viewer Displays text files in format *.DVI, achieved with the text editor program named TeX, and exports text file in *.PDF format. Fax Viewer Displays the received faxes Xsane, Kooka For scanning of document files and optical recognition of characters and receiving image from a video camera, processing of images, in the format JPEG, PNG, PostScript, text, TIFF Graphics GIMP, Eye of Gnome Image Free and powerful graphical programs like Adobe Photoshop and Corel Viewer, KView, KPaint, Photo Paint, for the format images: JPEG, PostScript, GIF, PNG, TIFF, KIconEdit, GQview, Xfig TGA, MPEG, PCX, BMP, etc. KColorChooser For displaying the colors content as % of RGB Xdvi Displaying the files in format DVI with possibilities of zoom in % Ghostview,GGV, Program for displaying the PDF files content KGhostView, Xpdf KuickShow, GThumb Browser program for displaying the directories with images and viewing the graphical images as thumbnails KRuler For measuring distances on the PC display with the ruler mechanism

Table 5 Linux common group Internet of application programs for both interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of Name of the application Function achieved by the application program the program common groups Ximian Evolution, Gaim, Programs for managing emails, personal data agenda, like Outlook Express, Internet Balsa, exmh, KMail, Sylpheed, Eudora, and others. Korn

196 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 Mozilla, Galeon, gFTP, KGet, Powerful web browser program like Netscape Communicator offering Konqueror options for: 1)email &Discussion groups with text processing program; 2)creation of web pages with Composer program; 3)chat organizing with the help of the program named ChatZilla ; The Browser Konqueror works with JavaScripts GnomeMeeting, IRC Client - program for videoconferences management, with sound or video signal and it Internet Relay Chat, KNode, can work in connection with mobile or fixed phones KSirc, Licq ethreal Program for analyzing signals protocol on network: searching, capture, save of data packets, production of statistics Kppp Program for Voice on IP (Internet Protocol), respectively telephony through Internet way, dial-up process by Internet Service Provider and for monitoring the Internet connection, displaying the costs for the phone connections Pan Program for configuring the discussion groups Remote Desktop Connection Program for connection to other computer on LAN, DSL, TV, ISDN

Table 6 Linux common group Programming of application programs for both interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of the Name of the application Function achieved by the application program common groups program Emasc Simple program Editor of texts with its own compiler GladeInterface Designer Program for the creation of graphical interfaces KDevelop, Qt Designer Programming environment like C++, consisting of editor, compiler, link editor, creation of user interfaces, and others. VI IMproved Simple editor of text which can execute script programs Bug Report Tool Program for displaying errors of the interface GNOME CVS Program for the control of versions of the working group Programming DDD, KDbg Graphical interface for debugger in line of command KBabel Consists of an editor for text translation files, the Catalogue manager of files and the dictionary KBug Buster Program for reporting the KDE interface errors Nedit Text editor like Notepad from Windows Quanta Plus Environment for rapid creation of web pages, working with templates Toolkit for Oracle Program for developing and managing Oracle data bases, browser of data bases, has connections to MySQL, ODBC, editor SQL

How to work with applications group Office?

The suite Office present in both interfaces GNOME and KDE contains 2 application programs (Diagram Editor and MrProject ) and the following 3 suites like MS Office: 1. OpenOffice.org, 2. KOffice and 3. GNOME.

Diagram Editor application program performs diagrams and flowcharts files easily, with the help of internal graphic symbols. The diagram files can be saved in format: shape, cgm, dxf, eps, dia, png, TeX and fig. It is based on a simple editing operation such as: Cut/ Copy/ Paste, grouping of objects, accessing object by click, etc..

MrProject is similar to Microsoft Project program for projects management and it contains 3 views with pictograms, respectively: • Task View for displaying the tasks to be executed, • Grantt View display the activities included inside the project, • Resource View for management of the resources list.

1). Office suite entitled OpenOffice.org includes the following application programs, with similar user interfaces: o Calc -> program for tables computing similar to Excel, o Draw -> vector graphic program similar to CorelDraw, o Impress -> presentation program similar to Power Point, o Math -> computing program similar to Microsoft Equations Editor, o Printer Setup -> program for printer setup, o Repair -> program for setting of all the programs of the suite OpenOffice.org. o Writer -> text editor program similar to Microsoft Word. 197 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 The suite programs can process files Word document and templates, ASCII, web page, dBase, Excel, PowerPoint, TIFF,

From the menu File of each program from the packet a new file can be created as text document, HTML document , document with formulas, labels document, template, a new graphical file, a new Excel worksheet, a new presentation in Power Point, a new visiting-card. The tool program for assistance entitled Auto Pilot can perform conversions into XML format, process currency conversion, or facilitate the use of template files.

The application program Writer for text processing generates files *.sxw; also it can export files in format: Microsoft Word, RTF, text, web page HTML.

The text editor program Writer has a rich set of tools designed for the following activities: • design and creation of templates, • for zoom and full screen displaying; • for sending email and introducing of hyperlinks; • for introducing headers, footer, bookmarks, cross references, • for introducing Java script, • for automatic spelling corrections, and others.

2). KOffice suite contains the following application programs to achieve the design of graphical images and editing texts or mathematical formula and for the creation of presentations: o Karbon14 -> vectors graphical program similar to CorelDraw, o KChart -> Editor program for diagrams and graphics, o KFormula -> Editor program for mathematical formula, o Kivio -> program for creating diagrams, o KOffice Workspace -> integrator of application programs from the suite Office, o Kontour -> vectors graphical program similar to CorelDraw with a facility of input different graphical images: GIF, JPG, BMP, TIFF, and others, and has the following saving formats: HTML file, WML, RTF, and others. o KPresenter -> program for creating presentations similar to Microsoft Power Point, o KSpread -> program for computing tables similar to Microsoft Excel , o KThesaurus –> program for listing the synonyms in English of the searched words, and contains a lexical reference program named WordNet . o Kugar –> program for building reports based on XML, including a graphical tool and samples of reports, o KWord –> a very powerful program for text editor working with frames which can be overlapped with the automatic arrangement of texts. It is a program from the category WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get).

3). GNOME suite of programs is situated into the menu More Office Applications, and contains the following applications for text editing and financial and table computing: o AbiWord –>simple, quick, free and easy program for text editing similar to Microsoft Word; the format of its output files is accessible for every ASCII editor program; o GnuCash –> program with wizard assistant, for financial data processing accepting different types of currencies; o Gnumeric Spreadsheet –> program for table computing similar to Microsoft Excel program, containing extended functions referring to databases, date and hour, searching data, engineering, financial computing, mathematical and logical computing, strings, informative functions, and others.

Table 7 Linux common group System Tools of application programs for both interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of Name of the application Function achieved by the application program the program common groups System X-C-Roast, Gnome Toaster, Program for the management of CDs Tools User Mount Tool Hardware Browser Browser for hardware components of the PC Internet Configuration Wizard Internet Configuration program as in Windows Kickstart Configurator Creation of file for starting of Linux Network Device Control Program for setting of network interfaces for GNOME Red Hat Network Program for updating of the Linux operating system from the Internet from Red Hat server System Monitor Displaying the list of the running programs KCron Graphical interface for task planning of the time of execution as in Windows Console Interface Terminal in line of command like MS-DOS Prompt from 198 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 Windows Traceroute Program for indicating the pathway from Internet to the web page GConf-Editor Editor for the system configuration, like Reedit from Windows Desktop Switching Tool Changing of the graphical interface of Linux system GKrell System Monitor, Monitoring program of the operating System Linux displaying the name of KSim, KDE System Guard the local host, version of Linux OS, date of setting, the loading of CPU, number of users, number of programs running, etc. KAudio Creator Program for copying tracks from audio CDs in files of the MP3 type KDiskFree Shows all the system disks with information on : device, type, size, place of mounting, usage value Kernel Tuning Allows introducing of a modification inside the kernel of Linux operating system as : security, logging and resources KRec Tool for sound recording in files type RAW Lokkit Easy configuration of the firewall security level of Linux system : High, Low or Disable Security protection QTCups For setting of printers’ configuration: name, page selection, Number of copies, properties, options, and others.

Table 8 Linux common group Sound and Video of application programs for both interfaces GNOME and KDE

Name of Name of the application Function achieved by the application program the program common groups Audio Player Multimedia player program named XMMS Sound Recorder Similar as in Windows for working with audio files type WAV. Sound and Volume Control Program for audio mixer speaker , microphone, etc. Video Grip Player for audio CDs Kaboodle, KMid, KMidi, Noatun Media players for KDE

5. MAIN DIFFERENCES AND RESEMBLANCES BETWEEN LINUX AND MICROSOFT WINDOWS

Both operating systems: Linux and Windows have contributed to the widespread of the Internet applications in the world.

Linux is the single competitor for Windows on PCs, having the fastest growing rate of users and LINUX operating system has the power to execute all the programs written for Windows or MS-DOS.

The most important difference between both operating systems consist in the advantage that in Linux all the programs take part in the Operating System, they are installed from the beginning into the system, as different from Windows.

All the programs created for Windows or MS-DOS systems can be executed with emulators under Operating system Linux (the emulator WINE for Windows and the emulator DOS EMU for MS-DOS).

As a difference from Windows, the Linux system is more user friendly than Windows and it is composed from open source programs, reliable and free of charge, offering extended facilities of easy modification in conformance with the user needs.

In LINUX the situations named “crash” of the system from Windows applications are eliminated, which can destroy the user files, data bases, etc.

6. HOW TO WORK IN TEXT MODE WITH RED HAT LINUX

The real power of Linux operating system consists in working in text mode, which is similar to MS-DOS.

The main features of the Linux text mode are the following: • File names and directories are case sensitive, and Linux process the systems of files: swap for RAM extensions, ext2, ext3, vfat (MS-DOS). The access of files is of type read, write, execution; • The position of files into the folder tree are specified with (/) differently from MS-DOS; • It contains more text editor programs like : vi, vim, emacs, jed, joe, LaTeX, etc • Executable files have no extensions EXE , COM; 199 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 • Commands interpreter Shell (default is bash-Bourne Again Shell)) is the Linux user interface like in MS-DOS; other commands interpreters accepted in Linux are : tcl/tk, Perl, Python, a.o.; • Linux support using more programming languages like C++, Java, Basic, etc. • Peripheral devices are managed similarly to files and are situated in directory /dev; • The super user is named root, and connection to Linux can be performed by the pair of authentication keys username and password.

To pass from graphical to the text mode of Linux will be used a combination of keys such as: CTRL+ALT+F1…F6 and for returning from text in Linux graphical mode the command is ALT+F7.

Linux folder structure is standardized and the tree with folders starts from directory entitled root; similarly as in MS-DOS the present director is represented with (.) and the parent directory is represented by (..).

The list with all Linux commands can be introduced by pressing twice the key TAB.

The mainly used Linux commands are the following: • man -> displays comments for help; • whatis -> informs about the function of a command; • whereis, locate -> informs about the place where a command is situated; • date -> displays date and time; • halt -> exits Linux • reboot, CTRL+Alt+Del -> reloads Linux system; • ls -> displays the directories’ content; • cp, rm, mv -> to copy, delete, move or rename the files; • mkdir, rmdir ->to create and remove the directories; • cd -> changes the director similarly to MS-DOS; • cat, less, more -> to display the content of the text files; • ps -> displays the number of the running programs; • kill -> executes the compulsory end of the running program • mount -> mounting of the disc unit; • Ï -> displays the last executed commands.

7. HOW TO FIND THE MAIN COMMANDS FOR INTERNET ACCESS IN LINUX AND IN UNIX OPERATING SYSTEMS?

Linux is a powerful operating system, which is the free version of the UNIX operating system. Many ISPs use Linux on their servers because it supports a full range of tools for Internet access.

With the help of the program entitled Telnet for the connection to the Internet the Unix and Linux systems can be easily accessed on the Internet.

The most important Unix and Linux commands are the following: o To create a new directory the command is : mkdir name_of_new_directory o To reset an empty directory the command is : rmdir directoryname o To change the current directory the command is: cd directoryname o Returning one level in the folder the command is : cd . . o Returning to the root level the command is : cd o To break the current program in execution the command is : CTRL + C o To copy a file named file1 to another file named file2, the command is : cp file1 file2 o To move a file the command is : mv file1 file2 o To delete one must be very attentive because the Linux system can not recover the file deletion; if it is the case of reset a file the command is : rm filename o To exit from the personal authenticated session the command is: logout o To display the list of all the files existent in the current working directory the command is : ls o To print the current directory the command is : pwd o To display the instructions associated with one command, introduce the command: man name_of_command

There are some differences of notations between Windows and Unix Linux systems such as the following: o In Unix Linux the character (/ ) is used instead of the Windows character (\); o The file names starting with a period (.) are hidden and can be used for storing settings for different programs; o The character (*) can be used as wildcard in the filename in many commands; o The character (~) is used to abbreviate the pathway for a directory to its home value, as follows 200 Leonardo da Vinci Programme – Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006 cd ~ return to the home directory , cd ~ name_of_directory conducts to the directory with the name specified in this command.

Key Point Summary Conclusions and Recommendations Red Hat Linux operating system is considered an open source system in progress, having the fastest growing rate of users. Linux system is more user friendly than Windows and it is composed of open source programs, reliable and free of charge, offering extended facilities of easy modification in conformance with the user needs.

Study Guide ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO EVALUATE THE ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE 1. What do you understand by GNOME? 2. How can you pass from graphical to text mode in Linux? 3. How can you pass from text to graphical mode in Linux? 4. What is the text editor program similar to NotePad from Windows? 5. What is the name of Linux browser program which works similarly as the browser Internet Explorer from Windows system? 6. What are the distinguishing symbols for the application programs of interfaces GNOME and KDE? 7. What are the emulation programs for facilitating the execution of Windows and MS-DOS programs under the Linux system? 8. What are the application programs of the common group Sound and Video?

BIBLIOGRAPHY. REFERENCES. [1 ] Chirstopher Negus – “Red Hat Linux 8”, Teora, Bucuresti, 2003, ISBN 973-20-0587-4 [2] Craig Hunt – “Linux. Administrarea serverului DNS”, Teora, Bucharet, 2003, ISBN 973-601-784-2 [3] Bill Ball, Hoyt Duff – “ Red Hat Linux. Fedora 3”, SAMS Publishing, 2005, USA, ISBN 0-672-32708-2 [4] George Dimitriu – “LINUX pentru incepatori”, Ed.Albatra, ClujNapoca, 2004, ISBN 973-650-134-5 [5] Kelly Ewing, a.o. – “The Internet all in one Desk Reference for Dummies, 2nd Edition”, Hungry Minds, NY, 2002, ISBN 0-7645-1659-0 [6] Charles Aulds – “ Linux. Administrarea serverului APACHE”, Teora, Bucharest, 2002, ISBN 973-20-0262-X [7] Joseph D.Sloan – “ Network Troubleshooting Tools “, O’REILLY, USA, 2001, ISBN 0-596-00186X

IMPORTANT SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY. REFERENCES. (www) [SUP.1]

SUPPLEMENTARY INDICATIONS ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THE LESSON

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS 1. Graphical interactive Interface of Linux system and the component of the free suite of Office applications. 2. To pass from graphical to the text mode of Linux you will introduce a combination of keys: CTRL+ALT+F1…F6 3. To return from text to graphical mode in Linux you will introduce a combination of keys: ALT+F7. 4. Nedit 5. Nautilus 6. Programs of interface GNOME begin with letter G and of the interface KDE begin with letter K. 7. Emulator WINE for Windows and the emulator DOS EMU for MS-DOS 8. Audio Player, Sound Recorder, Volume Control

WORDS TO THE LEARNER: “And now to work. To Linux, forward!” (After George Dimitriu, [4], page 5)

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