INTRODUCTION TO THE LINUX GUIDES

February, 11 2005


©2004-2005 Daniel Brodzik

These guides are licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License version 1.2 or later, with no front-cover texts, no back-cover texts, and this document being the invariant section. A copy of this license is included in the file 'fdl.html'.


Introduction

Thank you for looking at my Linux beginners' guides. I sincerely hope you will find them useful. :)


I wrote these guides for many reasons. The first one is frustration with the lack of easy-to-follow beginner documentation. While the Linux Documentation Project has several HOWTO guides, very few of them are targeted at total newbies. When I started using Linux in February of 2004, I had no clue how anything worked. After several days of searching on the Internet for easy-to-understand, step-by-step directions for the things I needed to learn, I just couldn't find much. The guide that helped me the most was the Linux Newbie Administrator Guide. These guides are placed on the Internet in the hope that I can prevent somebody from going through the frustration that I did. I read that most Linux users who give up do so because of the lack of newbie documentation. I hope I can help change that.


Another reason I wrote these guides is that one of the teachers mentioned on my website, Mrs. Hasler, said I write well and that I should write about computers. I thank her for helping me discover that talent, among many other things. :) Read about her and other great teachers I've had on the tributes page of my website. Go figure; it was the phy ed teacher and not the English teacher... As a side note, one of these teachers has a subtle reference in one of the guides. That's all I'll say...


Aside from all that, Linux is truly the best operating system I've ever used. I have used many operating systems from PC's and Apples, and, of all of them, Linux is my favorite. While Linux isn't quite as flashy as Windows is, it is more powerful. I have always hated Micro$oft because their software is so fragile, underpowered, and overpriced, Micro$oft is not doing business in a fair way, and I don't agree with their license agreements. Linux is released under a very permissive open-source license agreement known as the GNU General Public License, a copy of which is included with these guides in the file 'gpl.html'. I persisted in looking for Linux documentation because I wanted to get away from Windows. I think that was one of the best decisions I've ever made. :) Read more at http://www.linux.org.


These guides were written for Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, but most of them except the Debian installation guides will apply to any Linux distribution. I chose Debian because of the fact that it comes with a lot of real software, all of it being open-source under the GPL or something less restrictive. It only cost me $15 US to buy the seven CD's from http://www.almostfreelinux.com.


I wrote the first versions of many of these guides during my lunch time in high school. I typed them on my TI-83 Plus Silver Edition using a TI Keyboard. While I was typing them, some fellow students around me were talking about my keyboard for my calculator. Anyway, I used TiLP, a TI Linking Program for Linux, to transfer the files from my calculator to my computer. Then, I used my program 'nf2txt' under FreeDOS to convert the calculator files to text format. After that, I used OpenOffice.org, a free/open-source M$ Office-compatible office suite, and NEdit, a great free/open-source text editor, under Linux to make the HTML documents you see here. So, as you can see, none of the documents you see here were made using any Micro$oft code! :)


By the way, I do not mean to minimize the importance of Richard Stallman and the GNU project by calling the entire GNU/Linux system "Linux". In fact, if it were not for Richard Stallman in the first place, I would still be using Windows or another proprietary operating system. So, I would like to thank him very much for his tremendous contribution to the world of software and by keeping the spirit of free software alive.


Disclaimer

Even though I have made every effort to ensure that the information in these guides is accurate and correct, I cannot be held responsible for anything that happens to you, your computer, your free time, your cat, your hamster, your guinea pig, your dog , your sanity, your car, your TV, your husband/wife, or anything else you can think of due to following the instructions in these guides. Yes, I have to say that—this is a sue-happy world. :(


Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows is a trademark of Mi¢ro$oft ¢orporation. All other trademarks mentioned here are property of their respective owners.


Assumptions

To make things as easy on you as possible, I assume you have NO experience or knowledge whatsoever about Linux or any other Unix. From time to time, I assume you have had some experience with Windows 95, 98, Me, or XP. In addition, I assume you are computer literate (that is, you should know what the various outer components of a computer are, what most of them do, and how to turn on a computer). These directions were written mostly for home users of Linux, but most of it will be directly applicable to business users of Linux as well.


I would like to note that I did not write these guides with a specific gender and/or race in mind. I hope these guides will be just as helpful to women as they are to men (and vice-versa), and I hope these guides are just as helpful to one race as they are to any other.


Editing/Revision History

June 15, 2004


July 11, 2004


July 13, 2004


September 4, 2004


October 13, 2004


December 4, 2004


February 11, 2005


Table of Contents

Here, you will find all the guides listed in alphabetical order.


Command Line BASH—a guide to using the command line in Linux. This is a must-read for any serious Linux user. The GNU Bourne Again Shell, BASH, is the primary command-line shell used in Linux and other GNU-based systems. Bash is available on any Unix system and on a few non-Unix operating systems, including DOS (!), Windows NT, and OS/2. The DOS version is available at http://www.delorie.com/djgpp.


Compiling the Linux kernel—a guide to compiling the Linux kernel. This may be required if you need to add support for more hardware, upgrade the kernel, trim down the kernel size, etc. Tested instructions for Debian and non-Debian systems are included.


Disk Images—Forget the days of using your unregistered $hareware copy of WinImage Pro (or whatever the heck it's called now). Disk images are very easy to manipulate under Linux—and all the functionality needed to use them is built into the operating system!


DOS and Windows Compatibility—Ready to ditch Windows for good? After you read this guide and follow the directions given, you will learn how to run DOS programs with DOSemu (at quite close to full speed, I might add) and Windows programs with Wine. You don't need any proprietary code to get many programs to run! These two programs might be Redmond's worst nightmare come true! :)


FAT and NTFS Partitions—Do you want to have access to FAT12/FAT16/FAT32 or NTFS partitions under Linux? Then read this guide!


File System Hierarchy and File Permissions—This is probably my masterpiece. :) If you're confused about the layout of the file system in Linux or you're confused about how file permissions work, then you'll need to read this guide.


Installing Debian on a 486—These are my instructions for installing Debian 3.0 (Woody) on a 486 or 386 computer.


Installing Debian on a Pentium or better—Just what the name suggests.


Installing Programs from Source Code—How do you install a program for which no pre-compiled binaries exist? Compile it from source code! This method is actually safer and more secure because a) viruses can only infect executable binaries, and b) the author cannot easily hide malicious code in human-readable source code. Compiling from source code is usually much easier than it sounds!


Networking with a LapLink Parallel Cable—This is a very fun and easy (once you know how) way to transfer large amounts of data between two Linux-based computers. No prior experience with networking (under any operating system) is required to understand this guide!


Networking-With-Ethernet.html—This is almost as easy as using a parallel cable, and it is much faster. This guide explains how to use Ethernet cards to network multiple computers together for a fast connection using RJ45 crossover cable, or possibly a coaxial connection. An RJ45 cable is the kind that looks like a fat phone cable, and the older coaxial connection looks like a cable TV connection.


Using TiMidity under Linux—TiMidity is a software wavetable MIDI synthesizer program for Unix, Windows, and Macintosh.


Using TrueType Fonts under Linux—Do you want to install new TrueType fonts under Linux? Read this!


For Further Reading

If, after reading these guides, you wish to find out more about that great operating system called Linux, you can follow these links:


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