The Linux Newbie Guide
1.0 Why Linux?
2.0 Getting a Computer
2.1 Live CD's
2.2 Finding an old computer
2.3 Buying a new computer
3.0 Installing the Software
3.1 The Options
3.2 Installing It
4.0 Using Linux
4.1 The Basics
4.1.1 How Open Source works
4.2 GNOME
4.3 KDE
4.4 Other
-
Why Linux?
Many people use Linux, but often for different reasons. One reason people
use Linux it that it is extremely secure. Almost no one uses anti-virus
software on Linux, because viruses for Linux are just about unheard of.
Another reason, and possibly the most obvious, is that it's free. Think
about it: A retail copy of Windows Vista Business costs $250 (OK, only
$249.99) from Newegg.com, a popular online store for technology. On the
other hand Linux is free. Yet another reason people love Linux is the
artwork and desktop effects. Desktop effects are similar to Vista's Aero,
but far cooler. Many distributions (think of them as different OS's build
off the same core technology and sharing code) have a few of these effects
built in, but the real cool effects (and some useful too) come from a
program called Compiz Fusion, the merger of Beryl and Compiz. This program
adds many, many neat and useful effects to the desktop more interesting and
productive. When you see these effects (search Google Video or YouTube for
"Combiz Fusion") you will be amazed how much cooler and more useful they are
then anything Mac OS X or Vista (much less XP) have. Another feature is
multiple desktops. This means that you can have almost as many desktops as
you want (without Compiz Fusion, it may be limited to two or four) and have
different applications in each. This may sound confusing, but when you start
using it you will love it. These are just some of the reasons people use
Linux, but this should get you interested enough to discover what
things you especially love about Linux.
-
Getting a Computer
At this point you may be wondering how you can try it out. There are
basically two ways of trying Linux out: running it from a "live" CD or DVD,
or actually installing it on a computer. Plus another possibility for
Windows users who want to try out Ubuntu.
-
Live CD's
A live CD or DVD is a disc that you can boot directly off of. This means
that you can put the CD or DVD into your drive and reboot your computer
into Linux. When you are done just shut it down, take out the CD and
when you start it up again and nothing will have changed. Note that
Linux will run slowly, some parts of Linux will not work (or at lease
not well) from a Live CD, and any documents you save
will be lost.
To make a live CD or DVD, first you need to find the .iso file for the
Linux distribution that you want to try. A good choice to start out
would be Ubuntu. You can download
Ubuntu
here or buy a CD from Amazon
. See our tutorial section for how to make a live cd/dvd.
-
Finding an Old Computer
One of the fun things about Linux is that there are many Linux
distributions that run just fine on computers with modest hardware
capabilities. This means that an older computer that has reached
the end of its useful life as a Windows machine can find new life as a
Linux machine. Many people have at least one such computer sitting
around their house, not being used, and awaiting a trip to the dump or a
computer recycling center. If you have one of these, this is the
cheapest and easiest way to get going with Linux. If you don't
have one, you might see if a friend has one he or she would be happy to
give you to save himself or herself the trouble of disposing of the
computer. (Be sensitive to the fact that the friend might want to
erase his or her files on the old computer before giving it away, even
though you will be completely wiping the drive clean when you
install Linux.)
Another approach would be to find out if your local solid waste
authority has an procedures for recycling old computers that people
bring in for disposal. Sometimes an old computer can be obtained
at the landfill or transfer station for free or a nominal fee.
Finally, an old computer can also be purchased at a Salvation Army or
Goodwill thrift store for a modest cost, sometimes.
-
Buying a New Computer
If you want to buy a new computer to put Linux on you have a number of
options. There are a number of commercial sellers of Linux systems (for
example
System
76,
Dell
and many others) or you can build the computer yourself. This guide will
not cover how to do that, but there are many resources on the web to
help you.
-
Wubi
Wubi
is a free program that will install Ubuntu on your computer without
changing partitions and such. When you boot you can choose between
Ubuntu and Windows and you can just uninstall it from windows when you
are done. A
Cnet
video walks you throught the steps.
-
Installing the Software
-
The Options
More options can be found at places like
Distro
Watch, but this guide will only cover three.
Ubuntu - Lots of guides, tons of users
http://www.ubuntu.com
Ubuntu is great to start out on because it is very user-friendly and has
many, many tutorials and other help avaliable due to it's huge user
base.
Fedora - Great artwork, lots of help though not quite as much
http://www.fedoraproject.org
Fedora has great artwork and lots of users as well as using SELinux,
which helps secure your system. If you feel fairly comfortable with
Linux this is a great distro, although if you still feel you need a lot
of help it might not be quite as appealing. Not that it is hard to get
help for Fedora! Not for old computers also, though.
Damn Small Linux (DSL) - Small, runs on old computers
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
DSL is great for an old computer, because it is less then 50MB and
requiring very low system specs. If you have an old PC that will not run
Ubuntu or other distros, try DSL.
-
Installing It
To install most Linux distributions you need to burn a live CD (see
above) and reboot into it. There is normally an icon on the desktop to
install it. From there it will ask a few simple questions and then
install it. If you need more help you can search for specific tutorials
(I was unable to find a site with normal tutorials for lots of
distributions) or you can look at the
Linux
Install Podcast which helps you install many Linux distributions in
an audio format.
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-
Using Linux
-
The Basics
Before you start using Linux there are a few things you need to know
about how the different distributions (or distros) work. A Linux
"distro" (e.x. Ubuntu, Fedora, Redhat) is a variation based on the same
underlying technology. Because of this there are many OSs that are all
"Linux" and feel very similar, but are somewhat different. Another
important difference between distributions is what desktop environment
they use. The two most common are GNOME and KDE and because these are
the most visible and variable part this guide will cover them separately
below.
-
How Open Source Works
Another important part of Linux is that almost all of the code is
free and open. This means that you can download the code, modify,
etc. at no cost. The reason I say almost is because a few Linux
distributions package in non-open code such as drivers (pieces of
software that make your hardware work). You may already be using
open source programs as open source is not specific to Linux.
Firefox, for example, is an open source project.
Another question many people have about open source software
(sometimes called OSS) is how it works. How do the developers make
money? Why do they do it? Well, the answer is they often don't make
money (although they can sometimes, for example selling support or
simply accepting donations), instead they do it because they love
free and open software and want to contribute back.
-
GNOME
Here is Ubuntu's default desktop and a fairly standard GNOME desktop.
Also note the two squares at the bottom right. These let you switch
between work spaces. See above. Also access to the trash can is
available here too by clicking the trash icon or you can drag files to
it to delete them. At the top right from left to right are the network
icon, the volume icon, the time and date, and the shutdown/restart/log
off button.
Here is the applications menu. All of your programs are here ordered by
their category. You can drag these applications to the desktop to make a
shortcut to them or drag them to any part of either menu to make a
shortcut on the menu.
At the bottom of the applications menu there is an item "Add/Remove...".
This allows you to add and remove software as the name implies. Just
find the application (by category or by searching) and check (to
install) or uncheck (to uninstall) the check box and press OK.
Open applications show in a taskbar-like menu at the bottom. To the left
is a button to hide/unhide all the windows. Also note that you can see
the windows in the workspace switcher.
The places menu provides access to different places on your hard drive.
Your home folder is like your My Documents folder.
The system menu lets you change system settings. This is similar to
control panel (Windows) or system preferences (Mac).
- KDE
KDE
is another common type of desktop environment. The screenshot
below shows the desktop for Fedora with the KDE interface (Fedora is
normally a GNOME distro, but is avaliable with KDE too).
Fedora presents a very clean and attractive opening screen, with a
single shorcut icon for Trash visible in the upper left hand corner of
the screen, the name "fedora" in the lower right hand corner, and a
horizontal panel across the bottom.
The horizontal panel at the bottom of the screen is like the
Windows Task Bar. Iinitially, it shows three icons at
the left hand side, followed by four boxes labeled "1," "2," "3,"
and "4," and at the far right hand side, icons for a
Klipboard, for energy saving control settings, and a clock. Any of these
icons can be opened (expanded) with a single left click of the
mouse; other options are typically presented in response to a right
click on the icons.
The first of the icons, at the far left, is the
K-menu, from which you can access programs and system
controls. These are arranged in three overall categories titled:
"Most Used Applications," "All Applications," and
"Actions." The majority of the Applications and Actions items
are headers for groups of related programs, and the sub-menus
associated with each header can be viewed by hovering the mouse over each
item in the main list, as illustrated in the screenshot below:
Moving to the right on the bottom panel, the
next icon encountered is for the Home folder. This is like the My
Documents folder in Windows, and it is intended to organize and hold
the user's files. Initially, the Home folder has sub-folders for the
desktop itself, as well as sub-folders for documents,
downloads, music, pictures, "public," templates, and videos. Double
clicking will open any of these subfolders, and navigation back out or
back up to the top folder can be accomplished with the arrow buttons in
the upper left of the open window (see screenshot below).
If these arrow buttons reminid you of navigation buttons
on web browsers, that is not entirely coincidental because
the KDE interface contains an application called Konqueror that
serves both as your interface for navigating among files on your
computer and for navigating among web pages.
The third icon from the left on the bottom panel provides access to
information about Fedora. Opening this icon provides access to
things like a user guide and useful web links to the Fedora community.
The next four icons labelled 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent virtual desktops
that can be in use simultaneously. As with Windows, a desktop can
have two or more programs running simultaneously. But with multiple
virtual desktops, one can have a different set of programs running on each
virtual desktop. For example, Desktop 1 might have a word processor
and a spreadsheet running simultaneously, while Desktop 2 might have card
game running. This situation is illustrated in the screenshot below.
Notice, in the above screenshot, that the Desktop icons for Desktops in
use now suggest the visual appearance of each desktop, as an aid in
remembering which programs are running where. Also, the names of
all the running programs on all Desktops appear on the bottom panel.
Hovering the mouse over each of these names reveals which Desktop the
program is running on, and whether there are unsaved changes in the
running program. Programs with unsaved changes cannot be closed
without encountering a "save or discard" dialogue box.
The clipboard tool, known as Klipper, is an enhanced version of the
clipboard in windows. It is enhanced insofar as it retains multiple
items put onto the clipboard (until cleared) and makes it possible to
search for items on the clipboard.
To the right of the clipboard tool, is the energy saving power
settings control icon. This allows you to control power
management settings for the computer display, as well as some other power
control features primarily useful on a battery powered laptop.
Lastly, in the right corner is the clock, which is pretty
self-explanatory.
-
-
Other
There are also other desktop environments, especially found in distros
designed to be small, too. Some are similar to GNOME, other resemble
Windows more, but all are fairly easy to learn, so it is best to
experiment.
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FAQ
Q: What if I have a problem and need help?
A: Unlike with Windows and Mac OS X you can't just call a tech support line
... and listen to bad music for an hour before getting hung up on (OK,
sometimes somebody actually answers the phone, and maybe
even speaks English). For Linux users, often the best and
fastest way to get help is to on the Internet. You might find a guide that
specifically addresses the issue you are dealing with. Or you might look
for a "forum," which is a place where you can "post" a question
and other people can answer the question. You can continue to talk to those
people if they need addition information about the issue or if their
proposed solution didn't work. Most distributions have their own forum or
there are general Linux forums, such as
LinuxQuestions.org.
The Linux community is pretty passionate about Linux, and members of that
community are often exceptionally talented individuals (who could make a
lot of money working for MicroSoft, but choose not to), so the quality of the
help you get is often startlingly good.
Another way to get support is to buy it from a commercial company.
Canonical, the company affiliated with Ubuntu, offers support over the phone
and by email. This type of service is not free though. At time of writing,
desktop phone and email support for business hours on weekdays is $250 for one
year.
Q: Are their other things I need to know before I start using LInux?
A: For the most part you will discover everything you need to know just by using Linux, but if you do get stuck, go ahead and look for help (see above) or check out one of the tutorials listed on the guides and tutorials page of this website. Here are a few of the tutorials listed there that might help you get started:
Beginner's Linux Guide/FAQ
Beginner's Guide to Installing and Using Linux
An Introduction to the Linux Command Line
Copyright 2007-2008 Thomas Teisberg - Contact
