Contents

 
• 1 Introduction to Linux
  • 1.1 About this book.
  • 1.2 A brief history of Linux.
  • 1.3 System features.
  • 1.4 Software features.
    • 1.4.1 Text processing and word processing.
    • 1.4.2 Programming languages and utilities.
    • Introduction to the X Window System.
    • 1.4.4 Introduction to Networking.
    • 1.4.5 Telecommunications and BBS software.
    • 1.4.6 World Wide Web.
    • Interfacing and MS-DOS.
    • 1.4.8 Other applications.
  • 1.5 Copyright issues.
  • 1.6 The design and philosophy of Linux.
  • 1.7 Differences between Linux and other operating systems.
  • 1.8 Hardware requirements.
  • 1.9 Sources of Linux information.
    • 1.9.1 Online documents.
    • 1.9.2 Linux on the World Wide Web.
    • 1.9.3 Books and other published works.
    • 1.9.4 Usenet newsgroups.
    • 1.9.5 Internet mailing lists.
  • 1.10 Getting Help with Linux.
• 2 Obtaining and Installing Linux
  • 2.1 Generic installation.
    • 2.1.1 Major Linux distributions.
    • 2.1.2 Common concerns.
    • 2.1.3 Hardware.
    • 2.1.4 Planning.
    • 2.1.5 System planning worksheet.
    • 2.1.6 Mice.
    • Considering Hard drives and CD-ROMs.
    • 2.1.8 Disk drives under Linux.
    • 2.1.9 Installing The X Window System
    • 2.1.10 Networking hardware.
    • 2.1.11 Planning, Part 2.
    • 2.1.12 Partitioning strategies.
    • 2.1.13 The swap partition.
    • 2.1.14 Repartitioning.
    • 2.1.15 Backing up your old system.
    • 2.1.16 FIPS.EXE
    • 2.1.17 Preparing to boot Linux.
    • 2.1.18 Creating a Linux boot disk under DOS.
    • 2.1.19 Creating a Linux boot disk under Linux.
    • 2.1.20 Partitioning the hard disk: fdisk and cfdisk.
  • 2.2 Linux distributions.
  • 2.3 Debian GNU/Linux.
    • 2.3.1 Debian GNU/Linux installation features.
    • 2.3.2 Getting floppy images.
    • 2.3.3 Downloading the packages.
    • 2.3.4 Booting from floppies and installing Debian GNU/Linux.
    • 2.3.5 Running Debian GNU/Linux.
    • 2.3.6 dselect.
    • 2.3.7 dpkg.
    • 2.3.8 About Debian GNU/Linux.
    • 2.3.9 Mailing lists.
    • 2.3.10 Bug tracking system.
    • 2.3.11 Debian Acknowledgments.
    • 2.3.12 Last note.
  • 2.4 Red Hat Linux.
    • 2.4.1 Red Hat Linux installation features.
    • 2.4.2 The RPM package management system.
    • 2.4.3 A note about upgrading Red Hat Linux.
    • 2.4.4 Creating the installation floppies.
    • 2.4.5 Installation media.
    • 2.4.6 Customizing your NFS or hard drive installation.
    • 2.4.7 Recommended minimal installation.
    • 2.4.8 How much space do you really need?
    • 2.4.9 Installation.
    • 2.4.10 Installation media revisited.
    • 2.4.11 Walking through the rest of the installation.
    • 2.4.12 After installation.
  • 2.5 Caldera OpenLinux
    • 2.5.1 Obtaining Caldera OpenLinux.
    • 2.5.2 Preparing to install Caldera OpenLinux.
    • 2.5.3 Creating boot/modules floppies.
    • 2.5.4 Preparing the hard disks.
  • 2.6 Slackware
    • 2.6.1 Slackware is not for you. (Or maybe it is.)
    • 2.6.2 A quick history.
    • 2.6.3 Why, then?
    • 2.6.4 Upgrade? Think twice!
    • 2.6.5 Select an installation method.
    • 2.6.6 Boot disks: always a good thing.
    • 2.6.7 Slackware setup worksheet.
    • 2.6.8 Making Slackware happen.
    • 2.6.9 Build some boot disks.
    • 2.6.10 Boot into action.
    • 2.6.11 The Slackware setup program.
    • 2.6.12 Is that all?
    • 2.6.13 Troubleshooting difficult deliveries.
    • 2.6.14 Basking in the afterglow.
    • 2.6.15 Consider reinstalling!
    • 2.6.16 Secure the system.
      • 2.6.16.1 Back up.
  • 2.7 S.u.S.E.
    • 2.7.1 Beginning the installation.
    • S.u.S.E Post-installation.
    • 2.7.3 Getting X up and running.
    • 2.7.4 Later upgrades.
  • Post-installation procedures.
  • 2.9 Running into trouble.
    • 2.9.1 Problems with booting the installation media
    • 2.9.2 Hardware problems.
    • 2.9.3 Problems installing the software.
    • 2.9.4 Problems after installing Linux.
• 3 Linux Tutorial
  • 3.1 Introduction.
  • 3.2 Basic Linux concepts.
    • 3.2.1 Creating an account.
    • 3.2.2 Logging in.
    • 3.2.3 Virtual consoles.
    • 3.2.4 Shells and commands.
    • 3.2.5 Logging out.
    • 3.2.6 Changing your password.
    • 3.2.7 Files and directories.
    • 3.2.8 The directory tree.
    • 3.2.9 The current working directory.
    • 3.2.10 Referring to home directories.
  • 3.3 First steps into Linux.
    • 3.3.1 Moving around.
    • 3.3.2 Looking at the contents of directories.
    • 3.3.3 Creating new directories.
    • 3.3.4 Copying files.
    • 3.3.5 Moving files.
    • 3.3.6 Deleting files and directories.
    • 3.3.7 Looking at files.
    • 3.3.8 Getting online help.
  • Accessing MS-DOS files.
  • 3.5 Summary of basic UNIX commands.
  • 3.6 Exploring the file system.
  • 3.7 Types of shells.
  • 3.8 Wildcards.
  • 3.9 Linux plumbing.
    • 3.9.1 Standard input and standard output.
    • 3.9.2 Redirecting input and output.
    • 3.9.3 Using pipes.
    • Non-destructive redirection of output.
  • 3.10 File permissions.
    • 3.10.1 Concepts of file permissions.
    • 3.10.2 Interpreting file permissions.
    • 3.10.3 Permissions Dependencies.
    • 3.10.4 Changing permissions.
  • 3.11 Managing file links.
    • 3.11.1 Hard links.
    • 3.11.2 Symbolic links.
  • 3.12 Job control.
    • 3.12.1 Jobs and processes.
    • 3.12.2 Foreground and background.
    • 3.12.3 Backgrounding and killing jobs.
    • 3.12.4 Stopping and restarting jobs.
  • 3.13 Using the vi editor.
    • 3.13.1 Concepts.
    • 3.13.2 Starting vi.
    • 3.13.3 Inserting text.
    • 3.13.4 Deleting text.
    • 3.13.5 Changing text.
    • 3.13.6 Commands for moving the cursor.
    • 3.13.7 Saving files and quitting vi.
    • 3.13.8 Editing another file.
    • 3.13.9 Including other files.
    • 3.13.10 Running shell commands.
    • 3.13.11 Getting vi help.
  • 3.14 Customizing your environment.
    • 3.14.1 Shell scripts.
    • 3.14.2 Shell variables and the environment.
    • 3.14.3 Shell initialization scripts.
  • 3.15 So you want to strike out on your own?
• 4 System Administration
  • 4.1 The root account.
  • 4.2 Booting the system.
    • 4.2.1 Using LILO.
  • 4.3 Shutting down.
    • 4.3.1 The /etc/inittab file.
  • 4.4 Managing file systems.
    • 4.4.1 Mounting file systems.
    • 4.4.2 Device driver names.
    • 4.4.3 Checking file systems.
  • 4.5 Using a swap file.
  • 4.6 Managing users.
    • 4.6.1 User management concepts.
    • 4.6.2 Adding users.
    • 4.6.3 Deleting users.
    • 4.6.4 Setting user attributes.
    • 4.6.5 Groups.
    • 4.6.6 System administration responsibilities.
    • 4.6.7 Coping with users.
    • 4.6.8 Setting the rules.
    • 4.6.9 What it all means.
  • 4.7 Archiving and compressing files.
    • 4.7.1 Using tar.
    • 4.7.2 gzip and compress.
    • 4.7.3 Putting them together.
  • 4.8 Using floppies and making backups.
    • 4.8.1 Using floppies for backups.
    • 4.8.2 Backups with a Zip drive.
    • 4.8.3 Making backups to tape devices.
    • 4.8.4 Using floppies as file systems.
  • 4.9 Upgrading and installing new software.
    • 4.9.1 Upgrading the kernel
    • 4.9.2 Adding a device driver to the kernel.
    • 4.9.3 Installing a device driver module.
    • 4.9.4 Upgrading the libraries.
    • 4.9.5 Upgrading gcc.
    • 4.9.6 Upgrading other software.
  • 4.10 Miscellaneous tasks.
    • 4.10.1 System startup files.
    • 4.10.2 Setting the host name.
  • 4.11 What to do in an emergency.
    • 4.11.1 Recovery with a maintenance diskette.
    • 4.11.2 Fixing the root password.
    • 4.11.3 Trashed file systems.
    • 4.11.4 Recovering lost files.
    • 4.11.5 Trashed libraries.
• 5 The X Window System
  • 5.1 X Window Hardware requirements.
    • 5.1.1 Video display.
    • 5.1.2 Memory, CPU, and disk space.
  • 5.2 XFree86 installation.
  • 5.3 Probing the hardware configuration.
  • 5.4 Automatically generating the XF86Config file.
  • 5.5 Configuring XFree86.
  • 5.6 Filling in video card information.
  • 5.7 Running XFree86.
  • 5.8 When you run into trouble.
• 6 Networking
  • 6.1 Networking with TCP/IP.
    • 6.1.1 Configuring TCP/IP on your system.
    • 6.1.2 SLIP configuration.
  • Dial-up networking and PPP.
    • 6.2.1 What you need to get started.
    • 6.2.2 An overview of the steps involved.
    • 6.2.3 Creating the connection scripts.
    • 6.2.4 Editing the supplied PPP startup scripts.
    • 6.2.5 Starting PPP at the server end.
    • 6.2.6 If your PPP server uses PAP (Password Authentication Protocol).
    • 6.2.7 Using MSCHAP.
    • 6.2.8 Shutting down the PPP link.
    • 6.2.9 Troubleshooting common problems once the link is working.
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