Chapter 3. OpenSolaris Crash Course

IN THIS CHAPTER

  • Discovering the desktop

  • Using the command line

  • Switching languages and locales

  • Getting online

  • Adding software

  • Developing on OpenSolaris

  • Connecting remotely

  • System administration

It's time to jump in and start using OpenSolaris. This chapter provides a whirlwind tour of the OpenSolaris operating environment, including an overview of the GNOME desktop and an introduction to the OpenSolaris command line, focusing on the bash shell. You'll learn how to leverage the OpenSolaris internationalization features, how to get online, and how to use the new Image Packaging System to obtain the software you need. The chapter concludes with an overview of OpenSolaris system administration. Although this chapter provides an introduction to many aspects of OpenSolaris, most of the content in this chapter is discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters.

This chapter is aimed at the beginning and intermediate user. If you're already familiar with OpenSolaris, you can probably skip it and move right into Part II of the book. If you're an experienced UNIX or Linux user, you might still want to skim this chapter to bring yourself up to date on the differences between those platforms and OpenSolaris.

Note that this chapter, and, with a few exceptions, most of this book, focuses on the OpenSolaris distribution from Sun. However, much of the information is applicable to other distributions as well.

Discovering the Desktop

After installing, booting, and logging in ...

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