SUBSCRIBE or renew your subscription to APC for your chance to WIN the new Alfa 156 JTS, valued at over $54,000 Only $65 for 12 issues THE 2003 edition linux POCKETBOOK Subscribe ... www.apcmag.com Online at magshop.com.au or Call 13 61 16 Authorised under NSW Permit No. L02/09075 VIC: 02/2531 SA: T02/3553 ACT: TP02/3650 NT: NT02/3286 For terms and conditions refer to www.xmas.magshop.au. Expiry date: 24/12/02 Contents CHAPTER 1 Customising Gnome 57 CHAPTER 6 Editorial INTRODUCTION 11 Exploring KDE 60 WORKING WITH WINDOWS 131 The origins of the Customising KDE 64 What about Windows? 132 Welcome back to The Linux Pocketbook 2003 edition! penguin 12 Windows connectivity 138 Many of you will probably remember the original print ver- CHAPTER 4 sions of The Linux Pocketbook on newsstands across the country. Why Linux? 18 Basic security 145 The original versions sold so well that we ran out of copies. We’ve The ways of the world 20 USING LINUX 67 had countless requests for reprints, so we’ve decided to bundle the Connecting to the Net 68 CHAPTER 7 entire book into this single resource. This version of the pocketbook relies heavily on Mandrake Linux 9.0 or Red Hat 8.0. Both were CHAPTER 2 Applications 71 PLAYING WITH LINUX 151 released late in 2002, and can be easily found for sale at www.everyth INSTALLING LINUX 21 Conjuring Linux 75 Linux multimedia 152 inglinux.com.au, or for download from either mandrakelinux.com or First published December 2000. Upgrading your system 84 redhat.com respectively. APC recommends that you use Mandrake For more information about Choosing a distribution 22 Multimedia playback 156 Linux 9.0, which was bundled with the November issue of APC The Linux Pocketbook 2003 Preparing to install Linux 23 Games 160 because it’s a more technologically advanced distribution than Red edition call (02) 9288 9123. Hat. This book is designed as a beginner’s reference guide to the Material contained within Partitioning your drive 25 CHAPTER 5 The Linux Pocketbook 2003 powerful (and initially confusing) world of Linux. Inside you’ll find edition is protected under the Making space for Linux 28 LEARNING LINUX 85 CHAPTER 8 advice on partitioning and setting up your Linux system, tweaking, Commonwealth Copyright learning your way around the command line, working and even gam- Act 1968. No material may be Booting into Linux 32 Learning Linux 86 LINUX RESOURCES 163 reproduced in part or in whole ing under Linux. Release yourself from the shackles of commercial without the written consent of the Installing Red Hat 8.0 33 Tools of the trade 95 Getting help 164 software. All you need is this pocketbook and a copy of Linux. The copyright holders. Permissions 102 rest is up to you. The Linux Pocketbook 2003 Installing Mandrake 9.0 40 Keeping in touch 166 edition is published by ACP Tech, a division of ACP Publishing Pty Shell operation 106 Uninstalling Linux 169 Ltd (ACN 053 273 546). Matthew Overington CHAPTER 3 Mounting filesystems 110 Command reference 170 EXPLORING LINUX 47 Installing new OBTAINING SOURCE Up and running 48 applications 110 Understanding the Compiling the kernel 117 If you’re a programmer who’s interested in getting your hands on the complete source code for Red Hat 8.0 and Mandrake 9.0, the best place to go is directly to the source: desktop 51 Surviving in Linux 123 Exploring Gnome 53 Configuration files 129 Red Hat 7.0: mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linux/redhat/releases/redhat-8.0/SRPMS Mandrake 7.2: mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linux/mandrake/9.0/SPRMS Alternatively, you can send a $10 cheque or money order to the address below. Please include a return address along with the distribution source you would like, and we’ll post you out a source CD. Pocketbooks, GPO Box 4088, Sydney NSW 1028 version of Mozilla. In case you’ve been look- ing to try one or more of the latest Linux applications, the best place to get them all in the one place is prob- ably by installing Mandrake. Mandrake 9.0 A powerful installer, rich package list Paging through the package and stable operation help make the much-awaited sequel to Mandrake 8.2 a list, Mandrake 9.0 reads like success for Linux old-hands and newbies alike. a who’s-who of major Linux software development. The Mandrake Linux has long been a favourite amongst both beginners and gurus, but version 8.2 suf- brand-new GNOME 2.0 is fered flak for having a poor installer and ‘package bloat’. Not everyone can pick their way through there, along with KDE 3.0.2 installers that go bad halfway through, leaving a half-built filesystem and raw configuration files. and version 2.4.19 RC1 of the Not every PC that runs Linux is able to store multiple versions of packages because the installer kernel. In fact, all the packag- messed up the installation. In an emerging world of Linux distributions, complex, bloated installers es included with Mandrake 9.0 are out. Package pileups are gone. Easy configuration and even easier operation is in. Mandrake are the latest and greatest so Mandrake 9.0 provides a clean look and feel through KDE 3.0.2. 9 heralds a new wave of efficient Linux distributions that give Windows a run for its money in the you won’t need to spend much usability stakes. time, if any, downloading new Mandrake 9.0 is a must-have for any One of the sources of complaint regarding previous versions of Mandrake was the DrakX install- packages and applying patches after bleeding-edge Linux fan. But it’s not er. DrakX was known as buggy and slow, and prone to installing multiple, conflicting versions of installing it. just for gurus. Even the freshest Linux packages to the hard disk. DrakX has been refined and improved from previous versions, and is now Mandrake 8.2 is one of the pre- newbie will be able to install Mandrake one of the cleanest and most efficient Linux installers currently bundled with any distro. When we ferred Linux distributions on offer 9.0 and be looking at a fully functional booted with the first disc in the drive, we were prompted to partition our disks. After setting up the today, yet with release 9 Mandrake Linux desktop within an hour. Contact file system, a menu is displayed where you can select the most appropriate packages for your PC. Linux appears to have improved on it. www.mandrakelinux.com for more The package list for a distro like Mandrake is huge, so the list of programs is divided into appropriate With GNOME 2.0, KDE 3.0.2, Xfree86 information, or look to the October 2002 categories for the tasks the computer might fill: Internet Appliance, Multimedia Workstation, and 4.2, and a selection of new tools, issue of APC for a working version. Server to name a few. From here the installer ran through cleanly, and installed a working version on each of six test machines without error. Totally painless. IF LOOKS COULD KILL We chose to install with both KDE 3.0.2 and GNOME 2.0 to give maximum flexibility. You can make both KDE 3.0.2 and GNOME 2.0 backwards compatible by installing the library files for previous versions (2.2 and 1.4 respectively), so you don’t have to pick and choose which x-based applications you run. Galeon 1.2.5 is one of the standouts under either environment, as is the final release 6 7 pocketbooks pocketbooks restarted it that we managed to get mouse support. Another bug. Given that the Microsoft Intellimouse is extremely popu- lar, we’d have thought this was something Red Hat could get right (both Mandrake 9.0 and Red Hat 8.0 Red Hat is one of the most popular Linux Lycoris Desktop/LX had no prob- distributions on the market. As it speeds across the ether to PCs near you, lems with the Intellimouse). APC asks what all the fuss is about. DRIVE SETUP Red Hat is striving to create a simple, powerful Linux distribution that can go head-to-head with As per version 7.x, you can Microsoft Windows in a corporate environment. The latest version comes with an office-focused set choose to autopartition your of productivity tools and a clean new look to try and woo corporate users towards Linux. Red Hat’s drives, launch Disk Druid (a GUI size, relative success, and policy of creating an easy-to-use Linux distribution have caused many partitioning application) or take geeks to refer to it as the Microsoft of the Linux world. Striving for a unified appearance, simpli- the full geek approach and use fied package installation system and robust driver set isn’t going to hurt any Linux distribution fdisk. Disk Druid has remained not installed by default, but can be Red Hat 8.0 is though. Red Hat 8.0’s core components include GCC 3.2, GTK+ 2, kernel 2.4.18, Gnome 2.0.1, KDE largely unchanged from Red Hat 7.3 added with a few clicks when select- disappointingly 3.0.3 and OpenOffice.org 1.0.1, keeping it in line with Mandrake 9.0. The only real difference is that and is still the preferred method for ing the packages. Strangely, when you lacking in Mandrake 9.0 comes bundled with kernel 2.4.19, which provides a few extra goodies, like improved configuring your disks.