Synopses & Reviews
You may be contemplating your first Linux installation. Or you may have been using Linux for years and need to know more about adding a network printer or setting up an FTP server. Running Linux, now in its fifth edition, is the book you'll want on hand in either case. Widely recognized in the Linux community as the ultimate getting-started and problem-solving book, it answers the questions and tackles the configuration issues that frequently plague users, but are seldom addressed in other books.
This fifth edition of Running Linux is greatly expanded, reflecting the maturity of the operating system and the teeming wealth of software available for it. Hot consumer topics suchas audio and video playback applications, groupware functionality, and spam filtering are covered, along with the basics in configuration and management that always have made the book popular.
Running Linux covers basic communications such as mail, web surfing, and instant messaging, but also delves into the subtleties of network configuration--including dial-up, ADSL, and cable modems--in case you need to set up your network manually. The book canmake you proficient on office suites and personal productivity applications--and also tells you what programming tools are available if you're interested in contributing to these applications.
Other new topics in the fifth edition include encrypted email and filesystems, advanced shell techniques, and remote login applications. Classic discussions on booting, package management, kernel recompilation, and X configuration have also been updated.
The authors of Running Linux have anticipated problem areas, selected stable and popular solutions, and provided clear instructions to ensure that you'll have a satisfying experience using Linux. The discussion is direct and complete enough to guide novice users, while still providing the additional information experienced users will need to progress in their mastery of Linux.
Whether you're using Linux on a home workstation or maintaining a network server, Running Linux will provide expert advice just when you need it.
About the Author
Matthias Kalle Dalheimer is the President & CEO of Klaralvdalens Datakonsult AB, a Sweden-based consultancy specializing in platform-independent software solutions. He is also a founding member of the KDE project and the current president of the KDE foundation. Kalle has written numerous books for O'Reilly, both in English and in his native German, including "Running Linux" and "Programming with Qt". In his spare time, he enjoys cross-country skiing and reading history books. Kalle lives with his wife Tanja and his two sons Jan and Tim in the middle of the forest near Hagfors in the Swedish province of Varmland.
Matt Welsh is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. His current research focuses on wireless sensor networks, including operating systems design, distributed systems, networking, and parallel computing. Matt is a long-time Linux advocate and developer, a role in which he has fielded questions from thousands of Linux users over the years. He was the original coordinator of the Linux Documentation Project and author of the original "Linux Installation and Getting Started" guide. He completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
Table of Contents
Preface; Organization of This Book; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; How to Contact Us; Safari® Enabled; Acknowledgments; Part I: Enjoying and Being Productive on Linux; Chapter 1: Introduction to Linux; 1.1 About This Book; 1.2 Who's Using Linux?; 1.3 System Features; 1.4 About Linux's Copyright; 1.5 Open Source and the Philosophy of Linux; 1.6 Sources of Linux Information; 1.7 Getting Help; Chapter 2: Preinstallation and Installation; 2.1 Distributions of Linux; 2.2 Preparing to Install Linux; 2.3 Post-Installation Procedures; 2.4 Running into Trouble; Chapter 3: Desktop Environments; 3.1 Why Use a Graphical Desktop?; 3.2 The K Desktop Environment; 3.3 KDE Applications; 3.4 The GNOME Desktop Environment; 3.5 GNOME Applications; Chapter 4: Basic Unix Commands and Concepts; 4.1 Logging In; 4.2 Setting a Password; 4.3 Virtual Consoles; 4.4 Popular Commands; 4.5 Shells; 4.6 Useful Keys and How to Get Them to Work; 4.7 Typing Shortcuts; 4.8 Filename Expansion; 4.9 Saving Your Output; 4.10 What Is a Command?; 4.11 Putting a Command in the Background; 4.12 Remote Logins and Command Execution; 4.13 Manual Pages; 4.14 Startup Files; 4.15 Important Directories; 4.16 Basic Text Editing; 4.17 Advanced Shells and Shell Scripting; Chapter 5: Web Browsers and Instant Messaging; 5.1 The World Wide Web; 5.2 Instant Messaging; Chapter 6: Electronic Mail Clients; 6.1 Using KMail; 6.2 Using Mozilla Mail and News; 6.3 Getting the Mail to Your Computer with fetchmail; 6.4 OpenPGP Encryption with GnuPG; Chapter 7: Games; 7.1 Gaming; 7.2 Quake III; 7.3 Return to Castle Wolfenstein; 7.4 Unreal Tournament 2004; 7.5 Emulators; 7.6 Frozen Bubble; 7.7 Tux Racer; Chapter 8: Office Suites and Personal Productivity; 8.1 Using OpenOffice; 8.2 KOffice; 8.3 Other Word Processors; 8.4 Synching PDAs; 8.5 Groupware; 8.6 Managing Your Finances; Chapter 9: Multimedia; 9.1 Multimedia Concepts; 9.2 Kernel and Driver Issues; 9.3 Embedded and Other Multimedia Devices; 9.4 Desktop Environments; 9.5 Windows Compatibility; 9.6 Multimedia Applications; 9.7 Multimedia Toolkits and Development Environments; 9.8 Solutions to Common Problems; 9.9 References; Part II: System Administration; Chapter 10: System Administration Basics; 10.1 Maintaining the System; 10.2 Managing Filesystems; 10.3 Managing Swap Space; 10.4 The /proc Filesystem; 10.5 Device Files; 10.6 Scheduling Recurring Jobs Using cron; 10.7 Executing Jobs Once; 10.8 Managing System Logs; 10.9 Processes; 10.10 Programs That Serve You; Chapter 11: Managing Users, Groups, and Permissions; 11.1 Managing User Accounts; 11.2 File Ownership and Permissions; 11.3 Changing the Owner, Group, and Permissions; Chapter 12: Installing, Updating, and Compiling Programs; 12.1 Upgrading Software; 12.2 General Upgrade Procedure; 12.3 Automated and Bulk Upgrades; 12.4 Upgrading Software Not Provided in Packages; 12.5 Archive and Compression Utilities; Chapter 13: Networking; 13.1 Networking with TCP/IP; 13.2 Dial-Up PPP; 13.3 PPP over ISDN; 13.4 ADSL; 13.5 Cable Modems; 13.6 Network Diagnostics Tools; Chapter 14: Printing; 14.1 Printing; 14.2 Managing Print Services; Chapter 15: File Sharing; 15.1 Sharing Files with Windows Systems (Samba); 15.2 NFS Configuration and NIS; Chapter 16: The X Window System; 16.1 A History of X; 16.2 X Concepts; 16.3 Hardware Requirements; 16.4 Installing X.org; 16.5 Configuring X.org; 16.6 Running X; 16.7 Running into Trouble; 16.8 X and 3D; Chapter 17: System Start and Shutdown; 17.1 Booting the System; 17.2 System Startup and Initialization; 17.3 Single-User Mode; 17.4 Shutting Down the System; 17.5 A Graphical Runlevel Editor: KSysV; Chapter 18: Configuring and Building the Kernel; 18.1 Building a New Kernel; 18.2 Loadable Device Drivers; 18.3 Loading Modules Automatically; Chapter 19: Text Editing; 19.1 Editing Files Using vi; 19.2 The (X)Emacs Editor; Chapter 20: Text Processing; 20.1 TeX and LaTeX; 20.2 XML and DocBook; 20.3 groff; 20.4 Texinfo; Part III: Programming; Chapter 21: Programming Tools; 21.1 Programming with gcc; 21.2 Makefiles; 21.3 Debugging with gdb; 21.4 Useful Utilities for C Programmers; 21.5 Using Perl; 21.6 Java; 21.7 Python; 21.8 Other Languages; 21.9 Introduction to OpenGL Programming; 21.10 Integrated Development Environments; Chapter 22: Running a Web Server; 22.1 Configuring Your Own Web Server; Chapter 23: Transporting and Handling Email Messages; 23.1 The Postfix MTA; 23.2 Procmail; 23.3 Filtering Spam; Chapter 24: Running an FTP Server; 24.1 Introduction; 24.2 Compiling and Installing; 24.3 Running ProFTPD; 24.4 Configuration; Part IV: Network Services; Chapter 25: Running Web Applications with MySQL and PHP; 25.1 MySQL; 25.2 PHP; 25.3 The LAMP Server in Action; Chapter 26: Running a Secure System; 26.1 A Perspective on System Security; 26.2 Initial Steps in Setting Up a Secure System; 26.3 TCP Wrapper Configuration; 26.4 Firewalls: Filtering IP Packets; 26.5 SELinux; Chapter 27: Backup and Recovery; 27.1 Making Backups; 27.2 What to Do in an Emergency; Chapter 28: Heterogeneous Networking and Running Windows Programs; 28.1 Sharing Partitions; 28.2 Emulation and Virtual Operating Systems; 28.3 Remote Desktop Access to Windows Programs; 28.4 FreeNX: Linux as a Remote Desktop Server; Appendix A: Sources of Linux Information; A.1 Linux Documentation Project; A.2 FTP Sites; A.3 World Wide Web Sites; Colophon;