Table of Contents Beginning Red Hat Linux 9...............................................................................................................................1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................4 Who Is This Book For?...........................................................................................................................4 What You Need to Use This Book.........................................................................................................4 What Is Linux?........................................................................................................................................5 Linus Torvalds and the Birth of Linux.............................................................................................5 Why Choose Linux?.........................................................................................................................6 What Is Red Hat Linux 9?................................................................................................................7 What Is Covered in This Book?..............................................................................................................8 Conventions in This Book......................................................................................................................9 Customer Support.................................................................................................................................10 Source Code and Updates...............................................................................................................10 Errata..............................................................................................................................................11 Technical Support...........................................................................................................................11 p2p.wrox.com.................................................................................................................................11 Chapter 1: Installing Red Hat Linux 9..........................................................................................................13 Overview...............................................................................................................................................13 Preparing for the Installation................................................................................................................14 The Software..................................................................................................................................14 The Hardware.................................................................................................................................14 Network Details..............................................................................................................................16 Getting Help...................................................................................................................................17 The Installation.....................................................................................................................................17 Booting off the CD.........................................................................................................................17 Testing the Media...........................................................................................................................18 The Graphical Installation Launch.................................................................................................20 Selecting the Default Language.....................................................................................................21 Selecting the Keyboard..................................................................................................................21 Selecting the Mouse.......................................................................................................................22 Selecting an Installation Type........................................................................................................22 Setting up the Disk Partitions.........................................................................................................23 Setting the Boot Loader..................................................................................................................25 Setting the Network Parameters.....................................................................................................26 Setting up the Firewall...................................................................................................................28 Setting Additional Language Support............................................................................................29 Setting the Time Zone....................................................................................................................30 Root Account Configuration..........................................................................................................30 Selecting Packages for Installation.................................................................................................31 The Automatic Installation Process................................................................................................32 Creating a Boot Disk......................................................................................................................33 Setting up the GUI..........................................................................................................................34 Finishing.........................................................................................................................................36 Booting Up.....................................................................................................................................36 First Boot........................................................................................................................................36 Logging In......................................................................................................................................39 Summary...............................................................................................................................................40 i Table of Contents Chapter 2: Red Hat Linux 9 Basics................................................................................................................41 Overview...............................................................................................................................................41 Moving Around the Desktop................................................................................................................41 Using Applications.........................................................................................................................43 Shutting Down the Computer.........................................................................................................49 The File System....................................................................................................................................50 The File System Hierarchy.............................................................................................................50 Adding Devices to the Filesystem..................................................................................................54 Navigating in the File System........................................................................................................57 Managing the Hardware........................................................................................................................60 Finding the Existing Hardware.......................................................................................................61 Configuring the Desktop.......................................................................................................................71 Using the Desktop Control Center.................................................................................................71 Managing Processes..............................................................................................................................73 Managing Users....................................................................................................................................78 Summary...............................................................................................................................................80 Chapter 3: Connecting to the Internet...........................................................................................................82 Overview...............................................................................................................................................82 Connecting to the Internet.....................................................................................................................82 Network Configuration Tool..........................................................................................................83 Analog Modem Connections..........................................................................................................84