Contents in Detail

UHH_02.book Page vii Thursday, May 15, 2008 1:46 PM

CONTENTS IN DETAIL

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii

INTRODUCTION 1 Who Is This Book For? ...... 2 Version Compatibility ...... 3 Concept and Approach ...... 4 How to Use This Book...... 7 About the Conventions Used in This Book...... 7 About the Projects in This Book ...... 7

1 BECOMING A PENGUINISTA Welcome to the World of Linux 9 What Is Linux? ...... 10 About the Penguin...... 11 Why Should I Use Linux?...... 11 Is It All Just About Money?...... 12 But Is Linux Really Ready for the Desktop? ...... 12 What Is a Distribution? ...... 13 What Is Ubuntu? ...... 13 Why Ubuntu Then?...... 14 Hardware Compatibility...... 15 Diving In ...... 15 When Research Is Required...... 15 Hardware Requirements...... 16 Good News for AMD64 Users...... 17 Mixed News for Mac Users...... 17 Speaking Ubuntu ...... 18 Where Do I Go from Here? ...... 18

2 WADING AND DIVING Running and (If You Like) Installing Ubuntu 19 Going in for a Dip...... 20 Choices, Choices, Choices—Installation Options...... 20 Going out for a Swim—Installing Ubuntu Inside Windows (the Wubi Installer) ... 21 Taking the Full Plunge—Installing Ubuntu Outside of Windows ...... 23 Getting Ready for Action...... 24 Doing the Deed...... 25

3 A NEW PLACE TO CALL HOME Getting to Know the Desktop 31 Welcome to the GNOME Desktop ...... 32 The Top Panel...... 32 The Left End...... 33 The Right End ...... 34 The Bottom Panel...... 34 Project 3A: Customizing the GNOME Panel...... 35 3A-1: Adding Utility Buttons to the Panel ...... 35 3A-2: Adding Amusing Applets to the Panel ...... 36 3A-3: Adding a Program Launcher to the Panel...... 37 3A-4: Changing Panel Launcher Icons ...... 39 3A-5: Adding a Drawer to the Panel...... 40 3A-6: Adding Program Launchers to the Drawer ...... 40 3A-7: Adding the Entire Contents of a Menu to the Panel ...... 41 3A-8: Moving Things Around on the Panel ...... 42 More Panel Fun...... 42 Project 3B: Manipulating Menus...... 43 3B-1: Changing Icons Within Menus ...... 43 3B-2: Changing the Order of Icons Within Menus...... 44 Virtual Desktops ...... 45 Moving Running Applications Between Virtual Desktops...... 46 Wanda Revisited—GNOME Easter Eggs ...... 47 Shutting Down ...... 48

4 MORE THAN WEBBED FEET The Internet, Linux Style 49 Setting Up a High-Speed Connection...... 50 Setting Up a Cable or Ethernet Connection for Providers Not Utilizing DHCP..... 50 Setting Up a Wireless Connection ...... 52 Hardware ...... 52 Activating Your Wireless Card...... 53 Releasing and Renewing Your Wireless Connection ...... 54 Setting Up a Dial-Up Connection...... 55 What to Do If Your Modem Isn’t Compatible ...... 57 Firefox: Your Internet Browser ...... 58 Controlling Browser Window Clutter with Tabs ...... 58 Other Firefox Features: Popup Manager...... 59 Project 4A: Installing Firefox Extensions...... 60 4A-1: Downloading and Installing the ScribeFire Extension ...... 60 4A-2: Setting Up the ScribeFire Extension...... 62 Project 4B: Installing the Flash Plugin...... 62 Email with Evolution...... 64 An Email Alternative: Thunderbird ...... 64 Other Internet Applications...... 66

5 ROUNDING OUT THE BIRD Downloading, Installing, and Updating Programs the Easy Way 67 Project 5A: Installing Applications via GNOME App Install ...... 68 5A-1: Selecting Applications for Installation...... 69 5A-2: Downloading and Installing Selected Applications...... 70 Project 5B: Installing Applications via Synaptic...... 72 Installing Frozen-Bubble ...... 73 A Little More Practice with Synaptic...... 75 Removing Applications via Synaptic ...... 76 Upgrading Applications via Synaptic...... 76 Performing System Upgrades via Update Manager ...... 76 If an Update Ruins Your Day . . . or System ...... 77

6 A TIDY NEST File and Disk Handling in Ubuntu 79 Nautilus: Your File Manager...... 80 The Side Pane...... 80 File Handling in Nautilus...... 82 Creating, Naming, and Renaming Folders ...... 82 Moving Files and Folders ...... 83 Copying Files and Folders...... 83 Navigating in Nautilus...... 83 Tabbed Browsing in Nautilus...... 83 Spelling It Out—Typing File Paths in Nautilus...... 84 Bookmarks Within Nautilus ...... 85 Understanding the Linux Filesystem...... 85 What’s in All Those Other Folders? ...... 86 Using Nautilus as a Network Browser...... 87 Using Nautilus as an FTP Client...... 88 File and Folder Permissions Within Nautilus...... 88 Reading Data CDs and DVDs ...... 91 Burning Data CDs and DVDs ...... 91 Dealing with CD-RW Disks ...... 93 Burning ISO Images to Disk ...... 94 Creating Your Own ISO Images...... 94 Burning Multisession CDs ...... 95 Burning Subsequent Sessions ...... 96 Duplicating CDs and DVDs...... 96 USB Storage Devices ...... 96 Putting USB Storage Devices to Work ...... 98 Working with Bluetooth Devices...... 98 Browsing Devices...... 98 Sending Files by Bluetooth...... 99 Receiving Files by Bluetooth...... 99 Project 6: Creating and Extracting Compressed Files ...... 100

7 DRESSING UP THE BIRD Customizing the Look and Feel of Your System 103 Project 7A: Creating a New User Account...... 104 Logging In to Your New Account...... 106 Project 7B: Customizing Your Desktop Environment...... 108 7B-1: Adding Emblems to Folders...... 108 7B-2: Setting Window Backgrounds (and Emblems Again)...... 109 7B-3: Dolling Up the Side Pane (and Emblems Yet Again) ...... 110 7B-4: Changing the Desktop Background ...... 111 7B-5: Downloading and Installing the Art Manager (GNOME Art) ...... 114 7B-6: Changing Window Borders, Controls, and Icon Sets ...... 115 7B-7: Installing Additional Window Borders, Controls, and Icons ...... 117 Project 7C: Placing Home and Trash Icons on the Desktop ...... 119 Stretching Desktop Icons ...... 120 Project 7D: Changing Your Login Screen...... 121 7D-1: Downloading a Login Manager Theme ...... 121 7D-2: Installing Your New Login Manager Theme ...... 121 Project 7E: Changing Your Splash Screen...... 122 7E-1: Enabling Automatic Login ...... 123 7E-2: Installing Splash Screens...... 123 7E-3: Selecting and Activating Splash Screens...... 124 Choosing a Screensaver ...... 125 Screenshots ...... 125 Why Don’t My Window Screenshots Have Borders? ...... 126 Visual Effects ...... 127 Enabling Individual Compiz Features...... 128

8 SIMPLE KITTEN WAYS Getting to Know the Linux Terminal and Command Line 131 Meet the Terminal ...... 133 Shells...... 134 Some Goofy, Yet Useful, Fun with the Command Terminal...... 134 Nontoxic Commands...... 135 $ whoami ...... 135 $ finger...... 135 $ pwd ...... 136 $ df...... 137 $ ls...... 137 $ calendar ...... 138 $ exit...... 138 Commands with Some Teeth...... 138 $ mkdir...... 138 $ mv...... 138 $ cd ...... 139 $ cp ...... 139 $ rm ...... 140

$ rmdir ...... 140 $ chmod ...... 140 $ sudo ...... 142 $ locate ...... 143 $ apt-get ...... 143 A Couple of Other Biters You’ll Be Using Soon ...... 144 $ ln ...... 144 $ tar...... 145 Project 8A: Creating a Plan ...... 146 Project 8B: More Command Practice with pyWings ...... 147 8B-1: Getting Ready for pyWings (Installing Tkinter) ...... 149 8B-2: Getting pyWings...... 149 8B-3: Creating a LocalApps Folder for pyWings ...... 149 8B-4: Extracting the pyWings Tarball...... 150 8B-5: Moving the pyWings Folder to Your LocalApps Folder ...... 150 8B-6: Running pyWings ...... 151 8B-7: Creating a Launchable Link for pyWings ...... 151 8B-8: Running pyWings Again ...... 152 8B-9: Adding Emblems to Your LocalApps Folder ...... 152 Project 8C: Command Practice Review with Briscola...... 153 8C-1: Getting Briscola ...... 153 8C-2: Extracting the Briscola Tarball and Renaming the Briscola Folder ...... 154 8C-3: Preparing the Briscola Script...... 154 8C-4: Moving the Briscola Folder to a Global Location ...... 155 8C-5: Creating a Launchable Link for Briscola ...... 155 Can I Do the Same Thing with pyWings? ...... 155 Playing Briscola ...... 156 Customizing the Terminal ...... 157 Tabbed Shell Sessions in the Terminal...... 159

9 ALIENS, TARBALLS, A GLASS OF WINE, AND A CUP OF JOE More Ways to Install Programs 161 Project 9A: Installing the Java Runtime Environment and Running Java Apps: Risk ...... 162 9A-1: Installing the Java Runtime Environment...... 162 9A-2: Getting the Risk File...... 163 9A-3: Running Risk ...... 163 Project 9B: A Little More Hands-On Java Experience: Schnapsen ...... 164 9B-1: Getting and Extracting Schnapsen ...... 164 9B-2: Running and Anglicizing Schnapsen ...... 165 Project 9C: Say It Ain’t So, Joe—Running Windows Applications with Wine...... 166 9C-1: Installing and Checking Out Wine...... 166 9C-2: Installing a Windows Application in Wine ...... 166 9C-3: Installing Microsoft Internet Explorer ...... 168 Project 9D: Installing DEB Packages Not Available via the Ubuntu Repositories: Skype .... 171 9D-1: Getting and Installing Skype ...... 171 Project 9E: Converting RPMs to DEB Packages Using Alien...... 172 9E-1: Installing Alien...... 173 9E-2: Installing Qt GUI Library ...... 173 From Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks, 3rd Edition Copyright 2008 by Rickford Grant Contents in Detail xi No Starch Press UHH_02.book Page xii Thursday, May 15, 2008 1:46 PM

9E-3: Getting the TuxCards RPM ...... 174 9E-4: Converting the TuxCards RPM ...... 174 9E-5: Installing the Newly Generated TuxCards DEB Package ...... 174 9E-6: Running TuxCards...... 174 Project 9F: Compiling and Installing Programs from Source: Xmahjongg ...... 175 What Is Source? ...... 175 Tarballs: The Containers of Source ...... 176 The Basics ...... 177 9F-1: Installing the Tools You Need ...... 177 9F-2: Downloading and Extracting the Xmahjongg File ...... 177 9F-3: Running configure and make for Xmahjongg ...... 179 9F-4: Installing and Running Xmahjongg ...... 180 9F-5: Cleaning Up and/or Uninstalling Xmahjongg...... 181

10 GUTENBIRD Setting Up and Using Your Printer and Scanner 183 Printers ...... 184 Confirming That Your Printer Is Supported ...... 184 Getting Ubuntu to Automatically Recognize and Set Up Your Printer...... 184 Manually Configuring Printers...... 186 Setting Up Printers Connected Over a Network...... 188 For the Driverless Among You ...... 188 Printing Details...... 190 Canceling a Print Job...... 192 Scanners...... 192 Scanning with XSane...... 193 Why Are My Scanned Images So Big? ...... 195 What Resolution Should I Use When Scanning? ...... 196

11 FONT FEATHERED FRENZY Adding New Fonts to Your System 197 Project 11A: Installing TrueType Fonts Locally ...... 199 11A-1: Getting the Font Files ...... 199 11A-2: Installing the Fonts...... 199 11A-3: Uninstalling Locally Installed Fonts ...... 200 Project 11B: Installing TrueType Fonts Globally ...... 200 11B-1: Installing Individual Fonts Globally...... 201 11B-2: Installing Multiple Fonts Globally ...... 201 11B-3: Uninstalling Globally Installed Fonts ...... 202 Project 11C: Installing Microsoft Windows Core Fonts via Synaptic ...... 202 Project 11D: Installing Microsoft Core Fonts from Your Windows Partition (for Dual-Booters) ...... 203 11D-1: Mounting Your Windows Partition ...... 203 11D-2: Installing Fonts from Your Windows Partition ...... 204 Unmounting Your Windows Partition ...... 205

Customizing Your System Fonts...... 205 Making Things Look Better...... 206 Creating Your Own Fonts with FontForge ...... 206 Downloading, Installing, and Running FontForge...... 207

12 POLYGLOT PENGUINS Linux Speaks Your Language 209 Read-Only Language Support ...... 210 Changing the Character Encoding in Firefox ...... 210 Typing Nonstandard Characters ...... 211 Using the Compose Key Option ...... 211 Using the Keyboard Indicator ...... 212 Viewing Your System in Another Language...... 214 Multilingual Login...... 215 Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Input...... 217 Chinese ...... 217 Japanese...... 217 Korean ...... 218 Project 12: Installing Asian Language Input Support for SCIM...... 219 12-1: Downloading and Installing SCIM Input Method Modules...... 219 12-2: Typing in Asian Languages with SCIM ...... 220

13 PENGUINS BACK AT WORK Getting Down to Business in Linux 223 OpenOffice.org ...... 224 OpenOffice.org Applications...... 224 Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org File Compatibility ...... 226 OpenOffice.org Features ...... 227 Getting to Know the Buttons...... 228 Word Processing Done Lightly with AbiWord ...... 232 Some Other Cool Productivity Apps...... 233 Sticky Notes ...... 233 Tomboy ...... 233 GnuCash ...... 234 Scribus ...... 235

14 BRUSH-WIELDING PENGUINS Linux Does Art 237 Project 14A: Importing Images from Digital Cameras ...... 237 14A-1: Importing Images from Camera to Computer Somewhat Automatically via F-Spot...... 238 14A-2: Transferring Images from Camera to Computer via Nautilus ...... 239

Project 14B: Working with Digital Images in F-Spot Photo Manager...... 240 14B-1: Exporting Images to Online Albums and Galleries ...... 240 14B-2: Organizing Your Photo Collections with Tags...... 241 Getting Arty with the GIMP...... 242 Using the GIMP to Resize Images and Convert File Formats...... 242 Dialogs...... 243 Taking Screenshots with the GIMP...... 244 Learning More ...... 245 gpaint...... 245 Inkscape ...... 246 Project 14C: Installing Picasa ...... 247 14C-1: Downloading and Installing the Picasa Package...... 247 14C-2: Running and Setting Up Picasa ...... 248 A Few Other Graphics Apps to Consider ...... 249 gThumb Image Viewer ...... 249 Blender ...... 250 QCad...... 251 Tux Paint...... 252

15 TUX ROCKS Music à la Linux 253 Audio File Formats ...... 253 Project 15A: Installing MP3 Support for Audio Apps ...... 254 Audio Rippers and Encoders...... 255 Sound Juicer...... 256 Audio Players ...... 258 Rhythmbox ...... 258 Project 15B: Listening to Streaming Media with Rhythmbox...... 262 15B-1: Adding Radio Streams to Rhythmbox ...... 262 15B-2: Adding Additional Radio Streams to Rhythmbox...... 263 Creating Audio CDs ...... 263 Burning Audio CDs with Rhythmbox ...... 263 Burning Audio CDs with Brasero ...... 263 Project 15C: Listening to RealMedia Streams with RealPlayer...... 264 Downloading and Installing RealPlayer ...... 265 Setting Up RealPlayer and Testing Your Installation...... 265 Going to Town with RealPlayer ...... 266 Other Cool Audio Apps ...... 267 Other Audio Players ...... 267 Other Audio Apps...... 267 EasyTAG and Audio Tag Tool...... 268 LMMS...... 268 Audacity ...... 270

16 PLUGGIN’ IN THE PENGUIN Ubuntu and Your iPod 271 Knowing Your Limits ...... 272 iPod Filesystem Formats...... 272 Determining Your iPod’s Format ...... 273 Disabling Journaling on HFS+-Formatted iPods ...... 273 Reformatting Your HFS+-Formatted iPod ...... 274 (Not) Auto-Updating Your iPod ...... 275 Managing Your iPod in Ubuntu...... 276 Managing Your iPod’s Audio Files with Rhythmbox ...... 276 Managing Your iPod’s Audio Files in gtkpod ...... 277 Photo Transfer with GPixPod...... 281 Converting Audio File Formats ...... 282 Linux on Your iPod?...... 283 Other MP3 Players ...... 283

17 COUCH PENGUINS Video and DVD Playback in Ubuntu 285 Playing Video Streams with RealPlayer...... 285 DVDs...... 286 Can I Play Foreign DVDs? ...... 286 Project 17: Installing Support for Encrypted DVDs ...... 287 Totem Movie Player ...... 288 Using Totem to Play DVDs, VCDs, and Other Multimedia Files...... 288 Making Things Look a Bit Better in Totem ...... 289 Totem as an Audio Player?...... 289 A Couple of Other Cool Totem Features...... 291 Using Your Digital Video Camera ...... 291 Setting Up Your System to Capture Digital Video...... 291 Capturing and Editing Digital Video with Kino...... 292 Other Video Apps...... 294

18 DEFENDING THE NEST Security 297 Does My System Need Protection? ...... 298 The First Line of Defense...... 298 Software Firewalls...... 300 Taking Control of Firestarter ...... 302 Confirming That Firestarter Runs Automatically...... 302 Finding Out More ...... 302 ClamAV: Antivirus Software, Linux Style...... 302 Using the ClamAV/ClamTk Duo...... 303

Project 18: Virus Scanning with avast!...... 304 18-1: Downloading the avast! DEB Package and License Key...... 304 18-2: Running and Using avast!...... 305

A UBUNTU DESKTOP CDS FOR AMD64 USERS 307 Downloading and Burning Ubuntu Desktop CD ISOs to CD ...... 307 Burning the ISO to CD in Windows ...... 308 Burning the ISO to CD in OS X ...... 309 Ordering an Install Disk from Ubuntu ...... 310 Ordering an Install Disk from Other Online Sources...... 310

B RESOURCES 311 Forums...... 311 Linux Reference...... 312 Blogs ...... 313 Hardware Compatibility Issues...... 313 Wireless Connections ...... 313 Free Downloads...... 314 Applications and Other Packages ...... 314 Free Fonts ...... 314 News and Information ...... 314 Magazines...... 314 Books ...... 315 Ubuntu CDs...... 315

INDEX 317