Author Archive

It’s happened. My significant other has finally moved her laptop into my home. She’s running Windows 95, however, and wants to connect to my Linux machine to make use of our printer and the larger hard disks. I have both the Applix and StarOffice suites installed, so I can import and export Word and other Microsoft files, which she can use in Windows. Her office PC is able to share disks and printers and files on the company’s network, but can we do the same thing on my home network?

You have mastered the intricacies of the X Window System, your sound card is finally working, Linux is installed successfully, and everything seems fine — everything except that one final, nagging question: How do you get that darned modem to work?

Linux’s graphical user interface is improving, but there comes a time when we all must descend into that scary and obscure world of the Linux command line. Though communicating with your computer via keyboard rather than mouse can be a bit intimidating at first, most people find that picking up just a few simple commands can go a long way toward making them much more efficient and happy Linuxniks.

One of the most important skills for any Linux newbie to develop is the ability to know when and where to look for help. While Linux is much easier to operate than it used to be, chances are that some day you’re going to run into a situation where you will need advice from someone who has been there, done that, and received the proverbial T-shirt.

This month, let’s talk about e-mail. E-mail really is a huge subject, and there are lots of books written about what it is, how it works, and the underlying software involved. Luckily, as a newbie, you don’t need to know about most of the information contained in those books. For now, we’ll leave the details to the gurus and just cover some of the basics.

When you get a Linux distribution, you are really getting
more than just the Linux kernel (see the What’s a Kernel sidebar below), you are getting an operating system, a desktop environment, and a large number of development and administration tools, and even some applications. This is quite a lot of software, and it’s all packaged together in what’s called a distribution. All of these pieces fit together to make your Linux machine both powerful and user-friendly. It’s important to note, however, that these pieces don’t have to go together. Each individual piece can be added or removed at any time. To make Linux usable for the largest number of people, these pieces are all packaged and distributed together, but you are free to customize your Linux system as much as you like, and each individual piece of the system can be independently upgraded.

In this edition of Newbies, we’re going to talk about a number of administrative tasks that are essential for getting the most out your new Linux system. While some distributions do have slightly different administrative tools available, most versions of Linux are pretty much the same under the hood.

What if you have only one computer, and you want to be able to run Linux as well
as Windows? Well, you can — through something called dual booting. Dual booting is an either/or
proposition. You can’t really run Windows and Linux at the same time. This month’s column will be of most
use to Windows 3.x/95/98 users. If you’re running NT, you should purchase the commercial product,

Whether you use your
computer
to play games or to write letters, chances are you’re going to want to
connect to the Internet to use the Web or send and receive e-mail.
That’s the topic for this month: Getting connected.

The last two months, this column provided an overview of Linux and a
step-by-step installation process. This month, we’re going tell you a little about Linux’s windowing
interface — The X Window System.

Last issue in this space, I provided
an overview on installing Linux. I wrote about system requirements, disk
partitions, and most importantly, backing up your hard drive. In this column, I
will take you through a detailed, step-by-step installation process.

This column is an introduction to installing Linux onto your computer, getting
it running, and beginning to explore the best OS in the universe.