Linux Newbie Administrator Guide

A complete reference for new Linux users who wish to set up and administer their own Linux home computer, workstation and/or their home or small office network. The answers are meant to be simple, with just sufficient detail, and always supported with a readily usable example. The work is still in progress, but we hope the Guide can be helpful already. Introduction......Page 5 0.3€What are the Linux benefits?......Page 8 0.5€"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch"......Page 10 0.7€I need standards. Big software corporations †Microsoft‡€ provide standards.......Page 11 1.1€Which Linux distribution should I use?......Page 14 1.2€What are the Linux hardware requirements?......Page 15 1.4€How do I download Linux?......Page 17 1.6€I have RedHat CD but no install floppy. What do I do?......Page 18 1.8€Can I have MS Windows and Linux installed on the same computer?......Page 20 1.9€How do I partition my hard drive?......Page 21 1.12€Is the Linux installation difficult?......Page 23 1.13€ I finished the installation. How do I log-in for the very first time?......Page 24 2.1€Any Linux reading materials?......Page 25 2.2€Is there a help command?......Page 26 2.3€Newsgroups......Page 27 2.4€Any Linux Internet links?......Page 28 3.1.1€Filenames......Page 32 3.1.2€What are the different directories for?......Page 34 3.1.3€How do I run a program?......Page 35 3.1.4€How can I change the PATH?......Page 37 3.1.5€How can I shutdown my computer?......Page 38 3.1.6€ How do I deal with a hanged program?......Page 39 3.2.1€Home directories, root, adding users......Page 42 3.2.3€I forgot the root password......Page 43 3.2.4€ I have file permission problems. How do file ownership and permissions work?......Page 45 3.2.5€My mp3 player chokes. The sound is kind of interrupted †how to set suid‡.......Page 49 3.3.1€How do I execute a command at specified time †using "at" or "batch"‡?......Page 50 3.3.2€How do I set up cron?......Page 51 3.4€ Swap space......Page 52 3.4.2€Swap files......Page 53 3.5.1€What is a shell and do I want to use a different one?......Page 54 3.5.2€How do I write a simple shell script?......Page 55 3.6.2€How do I write a simple GUI program †using Tk‡?......Page 56 3.6.3€How do I write a simple perl script?......Page 57 3.7€How do I install a program I downloaded from the Internet?......Page 58 4.1.1€Linux cannot detect all my memory......Page 62 4.1.2€LILO displays only LI †or LIL‡ and hangs......Page 63 4.2.1€Where are my drives?......Page 65 4.2.2€How can I access my CDROM?......Page 66 4.2.3€How to mount a floppy, zip drive, DOS/Windows partition, or a network drive?......Page 67 4.2.5€Any quick way to access a file on a DOS/Windows floppy?......Page 69 4.2.6€Mounting works when I am root. Can a normal user mount?......Page 70 4.2.8€Can I automount?......Page 72 4.2.9€How do I get my parallel-port †external‡ Zip drive recognized?......Page 73 4.2.10€Can I set 32-bit hard drive I/O?......Page 75 4.3.1€How do I install kde on RedHat 5.2?......Page 76 4.3.3€How to X-window remotely?......Page 78 4.3.5€ Can I have a GUI login prompt?......Page 80 4.4.1€How to setup my soundcard?......Page 81 4.4.2€How do I setup my printer?......Page 82 4.5.2€How to set up my home network?......Page 84 4.5.3€I have problems configuring my ppp dial out......Page 87 4.5.4€How to browse the net from my networked computer without a modem?......Page 89 4.5.5€How to use Samba?......Page 90 4.5.6€ Sendmail......Page 92 4.5.7€Simple web server †running Apache‡......Page 93 4.5.8€Simple ftp server......Page 94 4.5.9€How can one access my computer from the outside world when I am on the net using my phone ppp conection?......Page 95 4.5.10€Can my home computer get hacked?......Page 96 5.4€Where can I get the new kernel?......Page 99 5.6.2€Unpacking the full source......Page 104 5.7.1€Using the patch......Page 105 5.8€Installing the new kernel......Page 106 5.9€What about next kernel upgrade?......Page 108 5.12€Changes......Page 109 6.1€Linux essential shortcuts and sanity commands......Page 111 6.2€Common Linux commands--system info......Page 113 6.3€Basic operations......Page 114 6.4€Process control......Page 116 6.5€Basic administration commands......Page 117 6.6€Networking tools......Page 120 6.7€Linux built-in developer tools and programming languages......Page 121 7.2€Star Office Suite......Page 124 7.5€Spreadsheet......Page 125 7.7€CAD......Page 126 7.8€ Netscape and Lynx †web browsers‡......Page 127 7.9€Klyx and Latex......Page 128 7.10€Writing CD-Rs †cdrecord and cdparanoia‡......Page 130 Our rewards and testimonials......Page 136