Learning Red Hat Linux

Learning Red Hat Linux

by Bill McCarty
Released September 1999
Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ISBN: 9781565926271

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Book description

New users are flocking to Linux literally by the millions. Yet most of these new users draw from Microsoft Windows as their primary computing experience; for them an operating system from the UNIX family is an unfamiliar experience. In Learning Red Hat Linux, Bill McCarty has written a book aimed specifically at this new audience. Learning Red Hat Linux will guide any new user of Linux through the installing and use of the Red Hat® version of the free operating system that is shaking up the commercial world of software. It demystifies Linux in terms familiar to Windows users and gives readers only what they need to start being successful users of Linux. Built around the popular Red Hat distribution of Linux, Learning Red Hat Linux takes the reader step by step through the process of installing and setting up a Red Hat Linux system, and provides a thorough but gentle introduction to the basics of using Red Hat Linux. Because the book is written specifically for the enclosed CD, the reader needs nothing else to get started with this exciting new operating system.

Table of contents

  1. Learning Red Hat Linux
    1. Preface
      1. Organization of This Book
      2. Conventions Used in This Book
        1. Path Notation
        2. Keyboard Accelerators
      3. We’d Like to Hear from You
      4. Acknowledgments
    2. 1. Why Run Linux?
      1. Linux at Home and at Work
      2. What is Linux?
        1. PC Operating Systems
        2. How Linux is Different
          1. The origins of Linux
          2. Free software
          3. Copyleft
          4. The Linux kernel
          5. The X Window System
          6. Linux distributions
        3. Linux Features and Performance
      3. Reasons to Choose or Not Choose Linux
      4. Linux Resources on the Internet
        1. Web Pages
        2. Newsgroups
    3. 2. Preparing to Install Linux
      1. Minimum Hardware Requirements
        1. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
        2. Motherboard
        3. Drives
      2. Collecting Information About Your System
        1. Information You Need
        2. Collecting Configuration Information by Using Windows
      3. Installation Types
        1. The Workstation Installation Type
        2. The Server Installation Type
        3. The Custom Installation Type
      4. Preparing Your Hard Disk
        1. How Hard Disks are Organized
        2. Viewing Partition Information
        3. Obtaining Sufficient Disk Space
          1. Installing a new disk drive
          2. Identifying an unused partition
          3. Shrinking a partition
          4. Using the fips utility
    4. 3. Installing Linux
      1. Installing the Operating System and Applications
        1. The Installation Program User Interface
          1. User-interface controls
          2. Common keystrokes
          3. Using virtual consoles
        2. Starting the Installation
          1. Choosing a language
          2. Selecting a keyboard type
          3. Selecting PCMCIA support
        3. Selecting Installation Options
          1. Selecting the installation method
          2. Upgrading or installing
          3. Selecting the installation class
        4. Creating Partitions
          1. Using Disk Druid
          2. Adding a partition
          3. Editing a partition
          4. Deleting a partition
          5. Starting over
          6. Saving your changes
        5. Selecting and Installing Packages
          1. Selecting components
          2. Selecting packages
      2. Configuring Devices and Services
        1. Configuring a Mouse
        2. Configuring Networking
        3. Configuring the System Clock
        4. Configuring Services
        5. Configuring a Printer
          1. Configuring a local printer
          2. Configuring a remote printer
          3. Completing printer setup
      3. Completing the Installation
        1. Setting root’s Password
        2. Creating a Boot Diskette
        3. Installing the LILO Bootloader
          1. Configuring LILO options
          2. Booting other operating systems
        4. Configuring X
      4. Getting Help
        1. FAQs
        2. HOWTOs
        3. The Red Hat Mailing List
        4. Usenet Newsgroups
    5. 4. Issuing Linux Commands
      1. The System Use Cycle
        1. Booting the System
        2. Logging In
        3. Issuing Commands
        4. Correcting Commands
        5. Using Virtual Consoles
        6. Logging Out
        7. Shutting Down the System
      2. Working with the Linux Command Prompt
        1. Command Structure
        2. Getting Help
          1. Using man
          2. Using apropos
      3. How Linux Organizes Data
        1. Devices
        2. Filesystems
        3. Directories
          1. Home and working directories
          2. The directory tree
          3. Absolute and relative pathnames
        4. Commands That Work with Directories
          1. Displaying the working directory
          2. Changing the working directory
          3. Displaying directory contents
          4. Creating a directory
          5. Removing a directory
        5. Working with Files
          1. Displaying the contents of a file
          2. Removing a file
          3. Copying a file
          4. Renaming or moving a file
          5. Finding a file
          6. Printing a file
          7. Working with compressed files
          8. Working with links
          9. Working with file permissions
          10. Running programs
      4. Working with Devices
        1. Mounting and Unmounting Drives
        2. Formatting Floppy Diskettes
      5. Useful Linux Programs
        1. Viewing System Information
        2. Using the pico Editor
    6. 5. Installing and Configuring the X Window System
      1. What is X?
      2. Installing X
      3. Configuration Using Xconfigurator
      4. Configuration Using xf86config
      5. Starting and Stopping X
    7. 6. Using the X Window System
      1. Keyboard Operations
        1. Switching Video Modes
        2. Using Virtual Consoles with X
        3. Terminating X
        4. Terminal Windows
        5. Pop-Up Menus
      2. Mouse Operations
        1. Copying and Pasting Text
        2. Using Scrollbars
        3. Virtual Desktop
      3. Window Managers
        1. FVWM
        2. Enlightenment
      4. Desktops
        1. KDE
        2. GNOME
      5. Using GNOME and Enlightenment
        1. Launching GNOME and Enlightenment
        2. Logging Out
        3. Parts of the Display
          1. Home directory icon
          2. Desktop
          3. Drive icon
          4. Panel
          5. Date & time applet
          6. Main menu
          7. Pager
          8. Hide button
          9. Help viewer
          10. File Manager
        4. Using the File Manager
      6. Using GNOME Applets and Applications
        1. GNOME Terminal
        2. GNOME CD Player
      7. Configuring GNOME
        1. The GNOME Panel
        2. The GNOME Main Menu
        3. The GNOME Control Center
    8. 7. Configuring and Administering Linux
      1. Using linuxconf
        1. Launching linuxconf
          1. Launching X-based linuxconf
          2. Launching text-based linuxconf
        2. The linuxconf Tree Menu
        3. User and Group Administration
          1. Configuring user accounts
          2. Configuring group definitions
          3. Changing the root password
          4. Configuring password and account policies
          5. Configuring special accounts
          6. Configuring available shells
        4. Filesystem Administration
          1. Configuring local drives
          2. Configuring NFS Volumes
          3. Configuring swap files and partitions
          4. Setting quota defaults
          5. Checking file permissions
        5. System Boot Administration
          1. Configuring LILO defaults
          2. Configuring bootable Linux partitions
          3. Configuring bootable non-Linux partitions
          4. Configuring the default boot configuration
          5. Configuring a new kernel
          6. Configuring the boot mode
        6. Using the linuxconf Control Menu
          1. The Control Panel
          2. Controlling Files and Systems
          3. Controlling systems messages and logs
          4. Controlling other facilities
        7. Network Administration
          1. The Client Tasks menu
          2. The Server Tasks menu
          3. The Misc menu
    9. 8. Using Linux Applications and Clients
      1. Linux Desktop Applications
        1. Applix Applixware
          1. Installing Applixware
          2. Running Applixware
        2. StarOffice
          1. Installing StarOffice
          2. Running StarOffice
        3. Corel WordPerfect for Linux
          1. Installing WordPerfect for Linux
          2. Running WordPerfect for Linux
        4. Other Desktop Applications
      2. Other Approaches to Desktop Computing
        1. The VMware Virtual Platform
        2. WINE
          1. Getting and installing WINE
          2. Running WINE
    10. 9. Playing Linux Games
      1. Configuring Your Sound Card
        1. Early Linux Sound Support
        2. Compatible Sound Cards
        3. The Sound Card Configuration Tool
      2. A Survey of Linux Games
      3. Closeups of Some Popular Games
        1. DOOM
        2. Quake II
        3. Starcraft
          1. Installing Starcraft
          2. Playing Starcraft
          3. Ending a Starcraft session
    11. 10. Setting Up a Linux-Based LAN
      1. Introduction
      2. Network Administration Using linuxconf
        1. Basic Host Information
        2. Name Server Specification
        3. Routing and Gateways
        4. Hostname Search Path
        5. Miscellaneous Network Configuration Options
      3. Samba
        1. Samba Server Installation
        2. Starting Samba
        3. Configuring Samba
          1. Configuring global variables
          2. Configuring file share parameters
          3. Configuring printer share parameters
        4. Viewing Samba Server Status
        5. Viewing Samba Server Configuration
        6. Managing Users and Passwords
        7. Troubleshooting Samba
      4. Samba Client Configuration and Use
        1. Microsoft Windows Client
        2. Other Clients
        3. Linux Client
        4. Using the Linux Samba Client for File Backup and Recovery
    12. 11. Getting Connected to the Internet
      1. Connecting to the Internet
      2. Configuring Your Modem
      3. Using wvdial
      4. PPP Client
      5. Web Browser
      6. gFTP FTP Client
      7. Using minicom and seyon
        1. Using seyon
        2. Using minicom
          1. Configuring filenames and paths
          2. Configuring file transfer protocols
          3. Configuring the serial port
          4. Configuring modem and dialing options
          5. Configuring screen and keyboard options
          6. Saving your changes
          7. Running minicom
      8. Making a PPP Connection Manually
    13. 12. Setting Up a Linux-Based WAN
      1. Installing and Configuring an FTP Server
        1. Configuring the FTP Server
        2. Testing the FTP Server
      2. Installing and Configuring a Web Server
        1. Configuration
          1. The access.conf file
          2. The srm.conf File
          3. The httpd.conf File
        2. Startup and Use
      3. Configuring a Mail Server
      4. Configuring a Secure Shell Server
        1. Using a Secure Shell Client
        2. Using a Secure Server from a Remote System
      5. Configuring a Dial-In Shell Server
        1. Configuration
        2. Using the Dial-In Server
    14. 13. Conquering the BASH Shell
      1. The Linux Shell
        1. A Variety of Shells
        2. Why Learn to Use the Shell?
      2. Using the Shell
        1. Typing Shell Commands
        2. Commands and Arguments
        3. Filename Globbing
        4. Shell Aliases
        5. Shell Scripts
        6. Input/Output Redirection and Piping
        7. Shell Variables
        8. The Search Path
        9. Quoted Strings
        10. The Power of the Linux Shell
      3. Understanding Shell Scripts
        1. Processing Arguments
        2. Exit Codes
        3. Conditional Logic
          1. The test command
          2. The if command
          3. The case command
          4. The while command
          5. The until command
          6. The for command
          7. The break and continue commands
        4. Periscope: A Useful Networking Script
        5. Using periscope
        6. Continuing Onward
    15. A. Linux Directory Tree
    16. B. Principal Linux Files
    17. C. The Red Hat Package Manager
      1. Packages
      2. Installing a Package
        1. Package Already Installed
        2. Conflicting File
        3. Failed Dependency
      3. Uninstalling a Package
      4. Updating a Package
      5. Querying Your System’s RPM Database
      6. Advanced RPM Techniques
      7. Finding Interesting Packages
      8. GnoRPM
      9. Package Contents and Installation Commands
        1. The X Window System Packages (Chapter 5)
        2. Linux Applications and Clients (Chapter 8)
          1. The TeX RPM Package Files
          2. Installing the Mesa and WINE packages
        3. Linux Games (Chapter 9)
          1. Installing the doom package
          2. Installing the quake2 Package
          3. Installing from the Quake II CD-ROM
          4. Installing from the Quake II demo
          5. Installing the Linux Quake binaries
        4. LAN-Related Packages (Chapter 10)
        5. Internet-Related Packages (Chapter 11)
          1. Installing the wvdial package
          2. Installing the netscape-navigator package
          3. Installing the seyon package
          4. Installing the minicom package
        6. WAN-Related Packages (Chapter 12)
          1. Installing the wu-ftpd package
          2. Installing the apache Package
          3. Installing the sendmail and imap packages
          4. Installing the ssh client and server package
          5. Installing the mgetty dial-in server package
    18. D. Managing the Boot Process
      1. Booting Linux
      2. Boot Disks
        1. Creating a Boot Disk
        2. Using a Boot Disk
      3. The lilo Loader
      4. The loadlin Loader
        1. Installing loadlin
        2. Using loadlin
        3. Configuring loadlin
      5. Boot Parameters
        1. General Boot Arguments
        2. RAM Disk Boot Arguments
        3. SCSI Host Adapter Boot Arguments
        4. IDE Hard Drive and CD-ROM Boot Arguments
        5. Non-IDE CD-ROM Drive Boot Arguments
        6. Floppy Drive Boot Arguments
        7. Bus Mouse Boot Arguments
        8. Parallel Port Printer Boot Arguments
      6. Using Loadable Ethernet Drivers
        1. Dynamically Loading a Modular Driver
        2. Loading Modular Drivers at Boot Time
        3. Administering Modular Drivers
    19. E. Linux Command Quick Reference
    20. Glossary
    21. Index
    22. Colophon

Product information

  • Title: Learning Red Hat Linux
  • Author(s): Bill McCarty
  • Release date: September 1999
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781565926271