A Project-Based
Introduction to Linux
How to Use This Book
You can use this book simply as a reference, but that’s not the main idea behind its design. Ideally, you should go through the book chapter by chapter, doing the projects along the way. This will give you a much broader understanding of how things are done (and of how you can get things done), and it will reduce the chance for anxiety, confusion, and, worse yet, mistakes. It is best to read this book and complete its projects when you are relaxed and have time to spare. Nothing makes things go wrong more than working in a rush. And keep in mind that Linux and the projects in this book are fun, not just work exercises. Linux is fun, so enjoy it!
About the Conventions Used in This Book
There are a few points worth noting about the conventions used in this book. Items in bold type are ones that you need to click or manipulate in any way, such as buttons, tabs, and menus. Where words or phrases are defined, they have been set in italics. Text to input into a Terminal window is in a bold monospace font.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Rickford
Grant My computing life began long ago, in the Commodore/Atari days. No doubt inspired by Alan Alda’s television commercials at the time, I purchased my first machine, an Atari 600XL with a cassette drive for storage and 16KB of RAM— more than I thought I would ever need. Most of my time on that machine, I must admit, was spent playing cartridge-based games and transcribing pages and pages of machine code from the now-defunct magazine Antic to create even more games. Eventually, my interest in computers increased, especially after seeing my first (and actually the first) Macintosh at the UCLA bookstore. The very in-your-face nature of the Mac’s operating system caused me to become an operating system maniac. To date, I have worked with a lot of different operating systems, including Mac OS up to and including OS X, every Windows version from 3.1 onward, and even IBM’s mostly forgotten OS/2. Though tempted to join the Linux fray, I continued to steer away from it for a long time because I could not help but see it, as so many others do, as a system for never-seen-the-light-of-day-faced, late-night Dr Pepper–drinking, Domino’s pizza–eating compu-geeks. However, when I moved to Japan and was suddenly surrounded by machines loaded with Japanese versions of Windows, I encountered numerous problems, especially language constraints. Since everything, including Help files, was written in Japanese and my reading skills in Japanese were less than spectacular, I ended up using only a fraction xxiv About the Authors of the full potential of most software. Then there were those annoying Windowstype problems that were especially prevalent back then, such as the constant freezes and restarts and the gradual system slowdowns, which were eventually remedied only by reinstalling the system. Getting the software I needed to do the things I wanted to do also took a toll on my wallet, and I began to rethink my initial resistance to Linux. With Linux’s multilingual support, system stability, and extensive and free software packages, there were plenty of incentives for me to get over my preconceived notions about the typical Linux user. After a few failed attempts at getting Linux to work on the oddball, Frankenstein-like collection of junk that was my computer, I finally succeeded with a live-CD distribution called Knoppix, which worked well enough to reel me in. I eventually tried and used a number of distributions that appeared, before eventually making my way to Fedora and then, ultimately, Ubuntu. I started off with my three desktop machines at work and home set up as dual-boot systems running both Linux and Windows, but I gradually found myself using only Linux. Although I had expected to encounter numerous limitations in Linux that would force me to return often to Windows, I actually increased my productivity. Despite a lack of native support for Windows streaming media, I was able to do more because of the extensive software base that was now installed on my machine. Without having to fork out money that I could ill afford to spend, I was able to manipulate my digital images, rip songs from CDs, create vector drawings, generate PDF files, and do a variety of other things that I wasn’t able to do under Windows. It was only a matter of time before my dual-boot setups became full Linux-only setups. I ceased to be a Windows user. To be sure, a bit more hands-on tinkering had to be done back then to get all the things you wanted to work in Linux working, but I am happy to report that things have continued to get easier and better, and those early frustrations I suffered trying to get things to work with this machine or that piece of hardware are mostly a thing of the past. Best of all, with even more distributions being available as live CDs, which allow you to try Linux before you actually install it, you usually don’t even have to take a leap of faith to get started. Ubuntu, quite fortunately, is one such distribution. Of course, getting started in the world of Linux, no matter which distribution you are using, can be a bit intimidating, especially when you don’t have anyone around to help you out when you have questions. In fact, I actually started writing this book as a Linux primer for my mother, to whom I had just given one of my extra computers with Red Hat installed. At that time, I was not planning on writing a book at all; it was just that there really weren’t any books out there written with average users in mind. The books available were all more or less geek oriented, and as such, they would not do for the mater. I thus created a somewhat elaborate instruction set that would tell her how to do everything she might want to do in a way she could understand. Since I was in Japan and she in the United States at the time, I tried to make it as user-friendly as possible. About the Authors xxv My auntie caught hold of the “manuscript” and decided that I must try to publish it. I responded with the obligatory, “Yeah, right,” before putting it out of my mind. My auntie, being a rather persistent character, did not relent, so I moved to quiet her by submitting the book for publication. Surely a rejection slip would do the trick; however, I did not get a rejection slip, and instead my first book, Linux for Non-Geeks, based on Fedora Core I, was born. I later switched to Ubuntu, and the Non-Geeks line followed along with Ubuntu for Non-Geeks. I continued with two subsequent editions of the Ubuntu books, but my new day job was making it harder and harder to devote the time necessary to keep the whole book up-to-date and up-to-snuff and get it all written by when it was needed. It seemed time to bring in a co-author to keep things moving. Enter Phil Bull. Phil was the technical editor on the third edition of Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, and because of his familiarity with the book, in addition to his work on Ubuntu documentation, he seemed a perfect candidate for the job. The fact that he lives closer than I to Stanage Edge, where I still imagine myself one day standing, pulling the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice pose, didn’t hurt matters either. Such rêves de vacances aside, having Phil on the project allowed us not only to update the book so as to reflect changes in the system and bundled applications but also to expand it to cover changes in available technology and hardware and to address suggestions from readers of past editions. These changes, I believe, made for an even more well-rounded volume than before— a book that even better served the original purpose of the series: helping you get into the world of Linux easily and comfortably. The collaboration with Phil continues with this follow-up edition, Ubuntu Made Easy, and though the title is new, the book continues to improve and expand upon the previous Non-Geeks editions. It attempts, as did its predecessors, to make your transition into the world of Linux a smooth and easy one.
Download Link:-https://drive.google.com/uc?id=17CPNeDGMpss1ILN0LINWVLjre6KwFtzl&export=download
How to Use This Book
You can use this book simply as a reference, but that’s not the main idea behind its design. Ideally, you should go through the book chapter by chapter, doing the projects along the way. This will give you a much broader understanding of how things are done (and of how you can get things done), and it will reduce the chance for anxiety, confusion, and, worse yet, mistakes. It is best to read this book and complete its projects when you are relaxed and have time to spare. Nothing makes things go wrong more than working in a rush. And keep in mind that Linux and the projects in this book are fun, not just work exercises. Linux is fun, so enjoy it!
About the Conventions Used in This Book
There are a few points worth noting about the conventions used in this book. Items in bold type are ones that you need to click or manipulate in any way, such as buttons, tabs, and menus. Where words or phrases are defined, they have been set in italics. Text to input into a Terminal window is in a bold monospace font.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Rickford
Grant My computing life began long ago, in the Commodore/Atari days. No doubt inspired by Alan Alda’s television commercials at the time, I purchased my first machine, an Atari 600XL with a cassette drive for storage and 16KB of RAM— more than I thought I would ever need. Most of my time on that machine, I must admit, was spent playing cartridge-based games and transcribing pages and pages of machine code from the now-defunct magazine Antic to create even more games. Eventually, my interest in computers increased, especially after seeing my first (and actually the first) Macintosh at the UCLA bookstore. The very in-your-face nature of the Mac’s operating system caused me to become an operating system maniac. To date, I have worked with a lot of different operating systems, including Mac OS up to and including OS X, every Windows version from 3.1 onward, and even IBM’s mostly forgotten OS/2. Though tempted to join the Linux fray, I continued to steer away from it for a long time because I could not help but see it, as so many others do, as a system for never-seen-the-light-of-day-faced, late-night Dr Pepper–drinking, Domino’s pizza–eating compu-geeks. However, when I moved to Japan and was suddenly surrounded by machines loaded with Japanese versions of Windows, I encountered numerous problems, especially language constraints. Since everything, including Help files, was written in Japanese and my reading skills in Japanese were less than spectacular, I ended up using only a fraction xxiv About the Authors of the full potential of most software. Then there were those annoying Windowstype problems that were especially prevalent back then, such as the constant freezes and restarts and the gradual system slowdowns, which were eventually remedied only by reinstalling the system. Getting the software I needed to do the things I wanted to do also took a toll on my wallet, and I began to rethink my initial resistance to Linux. With Linux’s multilingual support, system stability, and extensive and free software packages, there were plenty of incentives for me to get over my preconceived notions about the typical Linux user. After a few failed attempts at getting Linux to work on the oddball, Frankenstein-like collection of junk that was my computer, I finally succeeded with a live-CD distribution called Knoppix, which worked well enough to reel me in. I eventually tried and used a number of distributions that appeared, before eventually making my way to Fedora and then, ultimately, Ubuntu. I started off with my three desktop machines at work and home set up as dual-boot systems running both Linux and Windows, but I gradually found myself using only Linux. Although I had expected to encounter numerous limitations in Linux that would force me to return often to Windows, I actually increased my productivity. Despite a lack of native support for Windows streaming media, I was able to do more because of the extensive software base that was now installed on my machine. Without having to fork out money that I could ill afford to spend, I was able to manipulate my digital images, rip songs from CDs, create vector drawings, generate PDF files, and do a variety of other things that I wasn’t able to do under Windows. It was only a matter of time before my dual-boot setups became full Linux-only setups. I ceased to be a Windows user. To be sure, a bit more hands-on tinkering had to be done back then to get all the things you wanted to work in Linux working, but I am happy to report that things have continued to get easier and better, and those early frustrations I suffered trying to get things to work with this machine or that piece of hardware are mostly a thing of the past. Best of all, with even more distributions being available as live CDs, which allow you to try Linux before you actually install it, you usually don’t even have to take a leap of faith to get started. Ubuntu, quite fortunately, is one such distribution. Of course, getting started in the world of Linux, no matter which distribution you are using, can be a bit intimidating, especially when you don’t have anyone around to help you out when you have questions. In fact, I actually started writing this book as a Linux primer for my mother, to whom I had just given one of my extra computers with Red Hat installed. At that time, I was not planning on writing a book at all; it was just that there really weren’t any books out there written with average users in mind. The books available were all more or less geek oriented, and as such, they would not do for the mater. I thus created a somewhat elaborate instruction set that would tell her how to do everything she might want to do in a way she could understand. Since I was in Japan and she in the United States at the time, I tried to make it as user-friendly as possible. About the Authors xxv My auntie caught hold of the “manuscript” and decided that I must try to publish it. I responded with the obligatory, “Yeah, right,” before putting it out of my mind. My auntie, being a rather persistent character, did not relent, so I moved to quiet her by submitting the book for publication. Surely a rejection slip would do the trick; however, I did not get a rejection slip, and instead my first book, Linux for Non-Geeks, based on Fedora Core I, was born. I later switched to Ubuntu, and the Non-Geeks line followed along with Ubuntu for Non-Geeks. I continued with two subsequent editions of the Ubuntu books, but my new day job was making it harder and harder to devote the time necessary to keep the whole book up-to-date and up-to-snuff and get it all written by when it was needed. It seemed time to bring in a co-author to keep things moving. Enter Phil Bull. Phil was the technical editor on the third edition of Ubuntu for Non-Geeks, and because of his familiarity with the book, in addition to his work on Ubuntu documentation, he seemed a perfect candidate for the job. The fact that he lives closer than I to Stanage Edge, where I still imagine myself one day standing, pulling the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice pose, didn’t hurt matters either. Such rêves de vacances aside, having Phil on the project allowed us not only to update the book so as to reflect changes in the system and bundled applications but also to expand it to cover changes in available technology and hardware and to address suggestions from readers of past editions. These changes, I believe, made for an even more well-rounded volume than before— a book that even better served the original purpose of the series: helping you get into the world of Linux easily and comfortably. The collaboration with Phil continues with this follow-up edition, Ubuntu Made Easy, and though the title is new, the book continues to improve and expand upon the previous Non-Geeks editions. It attempts, as did its predecessors, to make your transition into the world of Linux a smooth and easy one.
Download Link:-https://drive.google.com/uc?id=17CPNeDGMpss1ILN0LINWVLjre6KwFtzl&export=download