Learning Red Hat Enterprise Linux & Fedora

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Welcome to Linux, the operating system everyone's talking about. Unlike the weather—which proverbial wisdom says you can't do anything about—you can do something about Linux. You can run it on your own PC, so that you can see firsthand what the talk is about and perhaps contribute suggestions to its future development.

This chapter is the first leg of your journey into the land of Linux. Here, you'll learn whether this particular journey is right for you and what you can expect down the road. If you're impatient to get started, you can jump ahead to the next chapter, which helps you prepare your PC for installing Linux. But, if you'd like to know more about the history and capabilities of Linux, read on.

This book explains Release 3 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS and Release 1 of Fedora Core. As explained in the following sections, Red Hat offers several Linux products, or distributions as they're called. Moreover, other companies sell or freely provide Linux distributions. Why, then, does this book focus on Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS and Fedora Core?

From the standpoint of market share, Red Hat is the leading provider of Linux distributions in the U.S. and worldwide. To many people, Red Hat Linux is Linux. And, among the various Linux distributions provided by Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS and Fedora Core stand out as the most appropriate distributions for desktop users, especially those in corporate environments. To understand why this is so, it's necessary to understand more about Linux, operating systems, and open source (http://www.opensourece.org) software.

Linux is an operating system, a software program that controls your computer. Most PC vendors load an operating system—generally, Microsoft Windows—onto the hard drive of a PC before delivering the PC; so, unless the hard drive of your PC has failed or you've upgraded your operating system, you may not understand the function of an operating system.

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This book explains Release 3 of Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS and Release 1 of Fedora Core. As explained in the following sections, Red Hat offers several Linux products, or distributions as they're called. Moreover, other companies sell or freely provide Linux distributions. Why, then, does this book focus on Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS and Fedora Core?

From the standpoint of market share, Red Hat is the leading provider of Linux distributions in the U.S. and worldwide. To many people, Red Hat Linux is Linux. And, among the various Linux distributions provided by Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS and Fedora Core stand out as the most appropriate distributions for desktop users, especially those in corporate environments. To understand why this is so, it's necessary to understand more about Linux, operating systems, and open source (http://www.opensourece.org) software.

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Linux is an operating system, a software program that controls your computer. Most PC vendors load an operating system—generally, Microsoft Windows—onto the hard drive of a PC before delivering the PC; so, unless the hard drive of your PC has failed or you've upgraded your operating system, you may not understand the function of an operating system.

An operating system handles user interaction with a system and provides a comfortable view of the system. In particular, it solves several problems arising from variation among hardware. As you're aware, no two PC models have identical hardware. For example, some PCs have an IDE hard drive, while others have a SCSI hard drive. Some PCs have one hard drive; others have two or more. Most PCs have a CD-ROM drive, but some do not. Some PCs have an Intel Pentium CPU, while others have an AMD Athlon, and so on.

Suppose that, in a world without operating systems, you're programming a new PC application—perhaps a new multimedia word processor. Your application must cope with all the possible variations of PC hardware. As a result, it becomes bulky and complex. Users don't like it because it consumes too much hard drive space, takes a long time to load, and—because of its size and complexity—has more bugs than it should. Operating systems solve this problem by providing a standard way for applications to access hardware devices. Thanks to the operating system, applications can be more compact, because they share the commonly used code for accessing the hardware. Applications can also be more reliable, because common code is written only once—and by expert systems programmers rather than by application programmers.

As you'll soon learn, operating systems do many other things as well; for example, they generally provide a filesystem so you can store and retrieve data and a user interface so you can control your computer. However, if you think of a computer's operating system as its subconscious mind, you won't be far off the mark. It's the computer's conscious mind—applications such as word processors and spreadsheets—that do useful work. But, without the subconscious—the operating system—the computer would cease breathing and applications would not function.

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Notwithstanding its high points, Linux is not for everyone. You should approach your decision to use Linux as you'd approach any decision, by evaluating the pros and cons. Here are several reasons to run Linux:

You want a stable and reliable computing platform. No popular operating system is more stable and reliable than Linux. If you're tired of crashes and hangs and the lost time and data they entail, you're a candidate for Linux.
You want a high-performance computing platform. Linux can coax blazingly fast performance out of hardware below the minimum required to load and run other popular operating systems. And with ample memory and a fast CPU, Linux goes toe-to-toe with anything Microsoft or other vendors offer. If speed is your thing, Linux is your hot rod.
You need a low-cost or free operating system. If you're on a budget or if you need to set up many systems, the low cost of Linux will let you reserve your hard-earned capital for hardware or other resources. Linux is the best operating system value on the planet.
You're a heavy network or Internet user. If you use networks, especially the Internet, Linux's advanced support for TCP/IP may light up your life. Linux makes it easy to construct firewalls that protect your system against hackers or routers that let several computers share a single network connection.
You want to learn Unix or TCP/IP networking. The best way—perhaps the only way—to learn more about Unix or TCP/IP networking (or computers generally) is through hands-on experience. Whether you're interested in such experience owing to personal curiosity or career ambition (system administrators are often handsomely paid), Linux affords you the opportunity to gain such experience at low cost, without leaving the comfort of your home.

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Before installing Linux, you must first gather some data about your system. This chapter presents information you need to know and tasks you need to perform before the installation of Linux. It helps you make certain that your IBM-compatible PC meets the minimum hardware requirements for Linux. It shows you how to document your Windows operating system configuration so that you can respond to questions presented by the Linux install procedure. And, finally, it shows you how to prepare your hard disk for Linux.

Various Linux distributions have somewhat different hardware requirements. To avoid tedious repetition, I refer to Red Hat Enterprise WS 3 and Fedora as simply "Linux" throughout this chapter. But, please bear in mind that the information in this chapter may not accurately apply to Linux distributions other than Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS 3 and Fedora.

Linux supports a wide range of PC hardware, but not even Linux supports every known device and system. Your PC must meet certain minimum requirements in order to run Linux, which I describe in the following sections. For the latest and most complete information, you should check Red Hat's hardware compatibility web site, http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl. This site will also help you determine whether Linux supports the devices installed in your system. If you're not familiar with PC hardware, check out Robert and Barbara Thompson's PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (O'Reilly), an excellent introduction and reference to PC hardware.

Linux does not support the Intel i386 and earlier processors. However, it fully supports the Intel i486, Celeron, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, and Pentium IV processors and compatible processors manufactured by others, such as AMD's Athlon, Athlon XP, and Athlon MP. Such processors are members of what is known as the

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Linux supports a wide range of PC hardware, but not even Linux supports every known device and system. Your PC must meet certain minimum requirements in order to run Linux, which I describe in the following sections. For the latest and most complete information, you should check Red Hat's hardware compatibility web site, http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl. This site will also help you determine whether Linux supports the devices installed in your system. If you're not familiar with PC hardware, check out Robert and Barbara Thompson's PC Hardware in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (O'Reilly), an excellent introduction and reference to PC hardware.

Linux does not support the Intel i386 and earlier processors. However, it fully supports the Intel i486, Celeron, Pentium, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, and Pentium IV processors and compatible processors manufactured by others, such as AMD's Athlon, Athlon XP, and Athlon MP. Such processors are members of what is known as the x86 family of processors. Linux also supports non-Intel processors such as AMD's AMD64 processor, IBM's PowerPC processor, and certain processors used in IBM mainframes. And, it supports Intel's Itanium processor.

Although Linux supports processors other than members of Intel's x86 processor family, special measures are required to install it on such processors. This book describes the installation, configuration, and use of Linux on only the x86 family of processors.

Apart from the processor model, there's the issue of processor speed. You should generally have a 400 MHz Pentium II or faster processor for satisfactory results using Linux desktop applications.

The motherboard is the main part of a PC. It holds the CPU, RAM, and other internal computer components, linked by several buses. Linux supports the standard ISA, EISA, PCI, and VESA (VLB) system buses used on most IBM-compatible PCs, as well as the AGP, and USB auxiliary buses. Fedora Core includes limited support for the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) bus. However, the related software components are largely untested.

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Before you launch into the installation process, you should collect some basic information about your system. Generally, Red Hat's installer will successfully probe your system and discover its configuration, but when it fails to do so, you must be prepared to supply the required information. Otherwise, you'll be forced to terminate the installation procedure, obtain the information, and then start all over again.

Table 2-1 specifies the configuration information you need and gives you space to conveniently record the information as you gather it. If your system currently runs Windows, you can obtain much of the needed information by using Windows utilities, as explained in the next section. To obtain the remaining information, you can consult your system documentation and the documentation for any devices installed by you. If your documentation is missing or incomplete, you may need to contact your hardware vendor or manufacturer. Alternatively, you may be able to find the needed information on the manufacturer's web site; use a search engine such as Google (which is powered by Linux) to discover the URL of the web site.

Sometimes, you'll need to examine your system's BIOS settings or open your system's case and examine the installed hardware; consult your system documentation to learn how to do so. Finally, if you're installing Linux in a large organization such as a business or a university, your system administrator is likely to be an excellent source of the information you need.

Table 2-1: Configuration information needed to install Linux
Device	Information needed	Your information

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To prepare your hard disk for installing Linux, you must allocate the space in which Linux will reside. You'll learn how to do so in this section. First, I'll explain how hard disks are organized, followed by how to view the structure of a hard disk. Finally, I'll describe how to alter, or partition, the structure of your hard disk in preparation for installing Linux.

Let's start by reviewing facts you've probably learned by working with Windows. Most operating systems, including Windows 95/98, 2000, and XP, manage hard drives by dividing their storage space into units known as partitions. So that you can access a partition, Windows associates a drive letter (such as C: or D:) with it. Before you can store data on a partition, you must format it. Formatting a partition organizes the associated space into what is called a filesystem, which provides space for storing the names and attributes of files as well as the data they contain. Windows supports several types of filesystems, such as FAT, FAT32, and NTFS.

Partitions comprise the logical structure of a disk drive, the way humans and most computer programs understand the structure. However, disk drives have an underlying physical structure that more closely resembles the actual structure of the hardware. Figure 2-6 shows the logical and physical structure of a disk drive.

Figure 2-6: The structure of a hard disk

Mechanically, a hard disk is constructed of platters that resemble the phonograph records found in an old-fashioned jukebox. Each platter is associated with a read/write head that works much like the read/write head on a VCR, encoding data as a series of electromagnetic pulses. As the platter spins, the heads record data in concentric rings known as

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This chapter shows you how to install Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora Core by following a simple, step-by-step procedure. During the installation, you'll need to refer to the information you collected in Table 2-1 of Chapter 2. Most users will be able to complete the installation procedure without difficulty; however, this chapter includes a section that describes how you can obtain help if you encounter installation problems. Once you successfully complete the installation procedure, you'll have your own working Linux system.

To install Linux, attach any optional devices you plan to use, such as a PCMCIA network card or external floppy drive, to your PC. Then, follow this simple step-by-step procedure:

Start the installation.
Select installation options.
Create partitions.
Configure the boot loader.
Configure networking.
Configure language support.
Configure the system time.
Set the root password.
Select packages.
Install packages.
Configure X (Red Hat Enterprise Linux only).
Complete the video configuration (Red Hat Enterprise Linux only).
Create boot diskette (Fedora Core only)
Complete the installation.

Although the Linux installation procedure is generally trouble-free, errors or malfunctions that occur during the installation of an operating system can result in loss of data. You should not begin the installation procedure until you have backed up all data on your system and determined that your backup is error-free. You should also create boot floppies or other media that enable you to boot your system even if the boot information on the hard disk is damaged.

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To install Linux, attach any optional devices you plan to use, such as a PCMCIA network card or external floppy drive, to your PC. Then, follow this simple step-by-step procedure:

Start the installation.
Select installation options.
Create partitions.
Configure the boot loader.
Configure networking.
Configure language support.
Configure the system time.
Set the root password.
Select packages.
Install packages.
Configure X (Red Hat Enterprise Linux only).
Complete the video configuration (Red Hat Enterprise Linux only).
Create boot diskette (Fedora Core only)
Complete the installation.

Although the Linux installation procedure is generally trouble-free, errors or malfunctions that occur during the installation of an operating system can result in loss of data. You should not begin the installation procedure until you have backed up all data on your system and determined that your backup is error-free. You should also create boot floppies or other media that enable you to boot your system even if the boot information on the hard disk is damaged.

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To begin installing Linux, you must boot your system from the installation media. Most recently manufactured PCs can boot the Installation CD 1 CD-ROM. However, unless you generally boot from a CD-ROM—which is quite unlikely—you'll need to reconfigure your PC's BIOS so your PC is able to boot from a CD-ROM. To do so, enter your PC's BIOS screen and look for a configuration item titled something like Boot Order or Boot Priority. Change the configuration so that the CD-ROM drive has the highest boot priority. Consult your PC's documentation for details on entering and using its BIOS configuration screens.

If your PC can't boot from a CD-ROM, you must create a boot floppy disk. Creating a boot floppy requires some special measures; you can't simply copy files onto a disk and then boot it. To create a Linux installation boot floppy by using a PC that runs Microsoft Windows, perform the following steps:

Format a floppy.
Insert Disc 1 of Linux into your system's CD-ROM drive.
Click My Computer and then your CD-ROM drive. Navigate to the d:\dosutils\rawritewin directory, where d is the drive letter associated with your CD-ROM drive. Double-click the program rawwritewin. The RawWrite dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 3-1. Specify the floppy drive and image file (images\bootdisk.img or other), and click Write. It takes perhaps a minute or so for the rawrite utility to create the floppy diskette.

Figure 3-1: Using rawrite to make a boot diskette

If your PC requires one or more PCMCIA or unusual SCSI devices during boot up, you must follow a somewhat more complicated procedure. See the README file on Installation CD-ROM 1 for details.

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When you boot your system for the first time, the Firstboot service is launched to help you configure your system. Figure 3-30 shows the Welcome screen the service displays. Click Next to continue.

Figure 3-30: The Firstboot service Welcome screen

The License Agreement screen (Figure 3-31) requires you to consent to Red Hat's or the Fedora team's license agreement, according to the operating system you chose to install; otherwise you'll be unable to complete the configuration of your system. To consent to the agreement, click the radiobutton labeled "Yes, I agree to the License Agreement" and then click Next.

Figure 3-31: The License Agreement screen

The Date and Time screen (Figure 3-32) lets you specify the current date and time. You can also specify a time server to which your system can synchronize, so that your system's time is highly accurate. If necessary, revise the date and time. If you want to synchronize your system's time, enable the checkbox labeled Enable Network Time Protocol and select a time server from the list labeled Server. Click Next to continue.

Figure 3-32: The Date and Time screen

The User Account screen (Figure 3-33) lets you create a personal user account. You should generally create a personal user account and use it to log into your system, reserving use of the root account for configuring and administering the system. Doing so will help keep your system secure. To create a user account, specify a username, the full name of the user, and a password that will be used to authenticate the user. The screen requires you to enter the password twice, to help avoid mistyping the password. Click Next to proceed.

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The login screen should resemble the one shown in Figure 3-37. To log in, type root, or the name of another user account you created, in the text box labeled Login and press Enter. A second login screen appears, requesting your password. Type the password you earlier assigned to the user and press Enter.

If you chose to install the KDE desktop rather than the GNOME desktop, the appearance of your login screen will differ somewhat from that shown in Figure 3-37. However, the GNOME and KDE login screens are functionally similar.

Figure 3-37: The GNOME login screen

The GNOME desktop (Figure 3-38) appears. If you like, click around the desktop and see what you can discover. Chapter 5 explains how to use the GNOME desktop. However, you should read Chapter 4 before reading that chapter.

Figure 3-38: The GNOME desktop

To shut down your system, click the red hat at the lower left of the desktop. Then click Shutdown and click OK. Wait for your system to power down; now you're ready to move on to Chapter 4 to begin learning how Linux works.

You may see a flashing red ball at the lower right of the GNOME desktop. The ball is associated with the Red Hat Network Alert Notification facility, which you'll learn about in Chapter 8.

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If your system fails to boot or if you're unable to complete the Linux installation process, don't despair: this section will help you troubleshoot your installation.

Sometimes, the graphical startup or login fails. This is more likely if your system wasn't manufactured recently or if it's a laptop rather than a desktop.

If you don't see either display manager's screen, it's likely that your X configuration isn't appropriate for your system's video hardware. It could be that your X configuration requires revision. In the worst case, your system's video hardware may not be compatible with X; in that event, you'll nevertheless be able to run nongraphical Linux applications.

If you see a scrambled image rather than text or images on your monitor, immediately switch off the monitor. If your monitor is an older model, it can be damaged by the incorrect configuration. Using the resources described in the following section, seek help in configuring X to work with your system's video adapter and monitor.

As much as I'd like to help you solve your problems in installing Linux, I get too much email to be able to respond personally. But don't fret: the help you need is probably close by, in one of these sources (roughly ordered by importance and value):

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide: http://www.redhat.com/docs

This guide is distributed with boxed copies of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It's also available online. It provides a step-by-step guide to installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux that includes a few details not given in this chapter. Unfortunately, no similar guide has yet been developed for Fedora Core 1.

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Before you can effectively use a desktop environment, you need to know some Linux fundamentals. This chapter explains basic Linux concepts that underlie graphical and nongraphical system use. It describes Linux user accounts and how Linux organizes data as filesystems, directories, and files. This chapter also explains how to use the X Window System (often known simply as X). Because both GNOME and KDE are built on top of X, an understanding of X is central to using either desktop environment. Even though you're probably eager to get working with your new system, I suggest you at least skim this chapter. I also predict that you'll come back to it when you have some more experience and run into something confusing.

Like other multiuser operating systems, such as Windows NT/2000/XP, Linux uses user accounts to identify users and allocate permissions. Every Linux system has a special user known as the root user. The root user is analogous to the Windows user known as Administrator. The rootuser can perform privileged operations that are forbidden to other users. For instance, only the root user can perform most system administration operations. By default, the username associated with the rootuser is root.

You should be judicious in your use of the root account. For instance, you should safeguard the associated password so that no one uses it to compromise your system. Also, you should log in as the root user only when performing privileged operations; that is, special administrative operations that can be performed only by the root user. Following this advice will help you avoid disasters such as accidentally deleting important files that are protected against access by ordinary, non-root users.

In order to make the most effective use of your Linux system, you must understand how Linux organizes data. If you're familiar with Windows or another operating system, you'll find it easy to learn how Linux organizes data, because most operating systems organize their data in similar ways. This section explains how Linux organizes data and introduces you to several important Linux commands that work with directories and files.

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Like other multiuser operating systems, such as Windows NT/2000/XP, Linux uses user accounts to identify users and allocate permissions. Every Linux system has a special user known as the root user. The root user is analogous to the Windows user known as Administrator. The rootuser can perform privileged operations that are forbidden to other users. For instance, only the root user can perform most system administration operations. By default, the username associated with the rootuser is root.

You should be judicious in your use of the root account. For instance, you should safeguard the associated password so that no one uses it to compromise your system. Also, you should log in as the root user only when performing privileged operations; that is, special administrative operations that can be performed only by the root user. Following this advice will help you avoid disasters such as accidentally deleting important files that are protected against access by ordinary, non-root users.

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In order to make the most effective use of your Linux system, you must understand how Linux organizes data. If you're familiar with Windows or another operating system, you'll find it easy to learn how Linux organizes data, because most operating systems organize their data in similar ways. This section explains how Linux organizes data and introduces you to several important Linux commands that work with directories and files.

Linux receives data from, sends data to, and stores data on devices. A device generally corresponds to a hardware unit, such as a keyboard or serial port. However, a device may have no hardware counterpart: the kernel creates several pseudodevices that you can access as devices but that have no physical existence. Moreover, a single hardware unit may correspond to several devices. For example, Linux defines each partition of a disk drive as a distinct device. Table 4-1 describes some typical Linux devices; not every system provides all these devices and some systems provide devices not shown in the table. The device name often appears in messages and filenames on the system.

Table 4-1: Typical Linux devices
Device	Description
audio	Sound card
cdrom	CD-ROM drive
console	Current virtual console

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X is the standard graphical user interface (GUI) for Linux. Like other GUIs, such as Windows and Mac OS, X lets you interact with programs by using a mouse (or other pointing device) to point and click, providing a simple means of communicating with your computer.

Despite its age, X is a remarkable and very modern software system offering a cross-platform, network-oriented GUI. It runs on a wide variety of platforms including essentially every flavor of Unix, such as Solaris, Linux, and the BSDs (FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD). X clients are available for use, for example, under Windows 3.x, 9x, NT, 2000, and XP. The sophisticated networking capabilities of X let you run a program on one computer while viewing the graphical output on another computer via a network connection. X was designed to provide room for experimentation with new interfaces, so a wide variety of X-based window managers and desktops is available for every taste. On the other hand, this variety can provoke some minor confusion, as interfaces and behaviors vary slightly from one system to another.

Most Linux users run XFree86, a freely available software system compatible with X, which is distributed with Red Hat Linux. XFree86 was developed by the XFree86 software team, which began work in 1992. In 1994, the XFree86 Project, Inc. (http://www.xfree86.org) assumed responsibility for ongoing research and development of XFree86.

Using X means interacting with Linux on several different levels. X itself merely provides the graphics facility for displaying components of a GUI: X draws the screen, draws objects on the screen, and tracks user input actions such as keyboard input and mouse operations. To organize the desktop into familiar objects like windows, menus, and scrollbars, X relies on a separate program called a window manager. But even more functionality is required. A window manager alone doesn't provide tight integration between applications of the sort required by drag-and-drop operations; that higher degree of integration comes from what's called a desktop environment. While X itself is a single program, X under Linux supports several popular window managers and two popular desktop environments, GNOME and KDE.

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora Core support two desktops, GNOME and KDE. This choice is consistent with the Linux philosophy of having it your own way. But the reasons behind having multiple desktops have more to do with history and law than technology.

At one time, parts of KDE were distributed under a license that some believed required commercial users to pay a license fee. Because Red Hat wanted Red Hat Linux to be freely redistributable and usable, Red Hat included only GNOME in the Red Hat Linux distribution. Red Hat also assisted in the development of the GNOME desktop. However, the KDE license was eventually clarified. At that point, Red Hat warmed toward KDE and included it in the Red Hat Linux distribution. Many users prefer KDE to GNOME, finding it in many ways more mature than GNOME. But GNOME retains a somewhat favored status in Red Hat's eyes, as indicated by the installation program's default choice of GNOME as the desktop. If you want to install KDE, you must manually select the KDE package group.

To minimize the confusion that might otherwise result from dueling desktops, Red Hat has worked to give GNOME and KDE a more consistent look and feel. This has upset many KDE fans, who prefer KDE's native look and feel to that imposed by Red Hat. An advantage of Red Hat's decision is that most applications work properly under both GNOME and KDE. However, a disadvantage of Red Hat's decision is that KDE now includes applications that lack the distinctive look and feel that unites the KDE desktop.

I'm not much interested in justifying or attacking Red Hat's decision. The decision has been made, and the goal of this book is to describe Red Hat Enterprise Linux as it is, rather than as it might be. Therefore, this chapter describes both desktops, devoting roughly equal space to each. My personal recommendation is that you try each desktop for a while and use the one you prefer.

Some readers of earlier editions of this book complain that I favor one desktop over the other. Yes, I do have a personal favorite. However, almost all such readers have incorrectly identified my preference. And, my preference has recently changed. So, I believe that my presentation of the desktops is reasonably fair and unbiased.

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When you first log in to your Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Fedora Core system, you will see the GNOME desktop (Figure 5-1). The contents of your desktop may be slightly different, of course.

Figure 5-1: The GNOME desktop

If you want to launch a GNOME session, but KDE is configured as the default desktop environment, select Gnome from the Session menu of the system login screen. Of course, GNOME must be installed in order for this to work.

To log out of GNOME, left-click on the main menu, which resembles a red hat. From the pop-up menu that appears, select the Log Out menu item (Figure 5-2). A Log Out dialog box (Figure 5-3) appears and asks you to confirm your decision to log out. Clicking OK terminates your GNOME session. If you enable the checkbox titled Save Current Setup, the GNOME session manager will save the state of your desktop and restore it when you log in again to GNOME.

There are two other options in the Log Out dialog box. Select the Shut Down button to shut down your system, or the Restart the computer button to restart it.

Figure 5-2: Logging out of GNOME

Figure 5-3: The Log Out dialog box

The term desktop can be used in either of two senses. It can refer either to the entire GNOME display, or to the empty area of the display where no windows or icons appear, as indicated in Figure 5-4. To keep straight these meanings, GNOME desktop will be used when referring to the entire display and desktop will be used when referring to the empty area of the display.

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As explained at the beginning of this chapter, Red Hat Linux initially included only GNOME; however, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora Core support both GNOME and KDE. Figure 5-13 shows KDE's desktop. If your system is configured to use GNOME and you want to launch a KDE session, select KDE from the Session menu of the system login screen. Of course, KDE must be installed in order for this to work.

Figure 5-13: The KDE desktop

KDE has a main menu icon in its panel, at the lower left of the screen. The icon is identical to that associated with GNOME's main menu, a red hat. Clicking the icon reveals a menu that includes a Logout menu item. You can use the Logout menu item to terminate KDE.

Right-clicking the KDE desktop causes a pop-up menu to appear. From this menu, you can create desktop shortcuts and perform a variety of other functions. The desktop includes a variety of icons and folders. The specific icons and folders that appear may vary depending on the software installed on your system and your KDE configuration. The most common icons are described in the following subsections.

Section 5.2.1.1: Start Here icon

By double-clicking the Start Here icon, you can launch Konqueror, KDE's file manager, to view a folder that contains several useful icons. Double-clicking any icon in the folder launches a window containing icons that provide access to KDE facilities. You can access the same facilities by using the KDE menu. The icons within the Start Here folder include:

Applications: The Applications icon lets you launch various applications.

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora Core include a plethora of applications. This chapter introduces you to several of the most popular and useful applications. These include: OpenOffice.org, a desktop suite; Evolution, an email client and personal scheduler; and Kpilot, an application for syncing a personal digital assistant (PDA) with your system. This chapter also explains how to use the Nautilus file manager to burn CDs.

OpenOffice.org is a desktop suite that functionally resembles Microsoft Office. That is, OpenOffice.org can perform many of the functions performed by Microsoft Office and includes many of the familiar features of Microsoft Office, along with a few features not found in Microsoft Office. The distinctive advantage of a desktop suite is that its component applications are designed to work together. The applications of a desktop suite have a similar look and feel, which makes them easy to learn and use.

Linux users have long had access to applications that help them prepare documents. However, development of Linux desktop suites has lagged behind that of Microsoft Office. The applications and suites have tended to be somewhat clumsy to use, unreliable, and poor in features. OpenOffice.org sets a new standard for Linux desktop suites, providing features and capabilities that are adequate to satisfy most computer users, not merely Linux fans.

OpenOffice.org began as a commercial desktop suite known as StarOffice, created by StarDivision. When Sun Microsystems acquired StarDivision in 1999, Sun soon thereafter released a freely available version of StarOffice. More recently, Sun has made certain StarOffice technologies available to the open source community, which created the freely redistributable OpenOffice.org desktop suite. Sun plans to continue development of StarOffice, which is a component of Sun's Java Desktop System, as a commercial product. At the same time, the open source community plans to continue development of OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org is a multi-platform product, and is currently available for Linux, PPC Linux, Solaris, Windows, and Mac OS X (under Apple's X11). Work is underway to support other platforms, including FreeBSD, OpenVMS, and IRIX. OpenOffice.org is also a global product, currently supporting 32 languages. Support for new languages is added regularly.

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OpenOffice.org is a desktop suite that functionally resembles Microsoft Office. That is, OpenOffice.org can perform many of the functions performed by Microsoft Office and includes many of the familiar features of Microsoft Office, along with a few features not found in Microsoft Office. The distinctive advantage of a desktop suite is that its component applications are designed to work together. The applications of a desktop suite have a similar look and feel, which makes them easy to learn and use.

Linux users have long had access to applications that help them prepare documents. However, development of Linux desktop suites has lagged behind that of Microsoft Office. The applications and suites have tended to be somewhat clumsy to use, unreliable, and poor in features. OpenOffice.org sets a new standard for Linux desktop suites, providing features and capabilities that are adequate to satisfy most computer users, not merely Linux fans.

OpenOffice.org began as a commercial desktop suite known as StarOffice, created by StarDivision. When Sun Microsystems acquired StarDivision in 1999, Sun soon thereafter released a freely available version of StarOffice. More recently, Sun has made certain StarOffice technologies available to the open source community, which created the freely redistributable OpenOffice.org desktop suite. Sun plans to continue development of StarOffice, which is a component of Sun's Java Desktop System, as a commercial product. At the same time, the open source community plans to continue development of OpenOffice.org.

OpenOffice.org is a multi-platform product, and is currently available for Linux, PPC Linux, Solaris, Windows, and Mac OS X (under Apple's X11). Work is underway to support other platforms, including FreeBSD, OpenVMS, and IRIX. OpenOffice.org is also a global product, currently supporting 32 languages. Support for new languages is added regularly.

OpenOffice.org includes translation filters that let you share documents with users of Microsoft Office and other popular applications. It also includes convenient features such as Print to PDF (Adobe Portable Document Format); AutoPilot, which assists you in creating complex documents; and Stylist, which helps you take control of the look of your document.

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Ximian's Evolution is an email client and personal scheduler. Previously, Evolution was available from Ximian as an add-on to Red Hat Linux. However, conflicts between Ximian's RPM packages and those distributed by Red Hat sometimes made life complicated for Ximian users. Evolution is now part of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Fedora Core, so Ximian users can expect more trouble-free operation and fewer problems when upgrading to new Linux versions. You can learn more about Evolution at http://www.ximian.com.

Evolution has four main functions:

Email client: Receives email from POP and IMAP servers and sends email via SMTP servers.
Calendar: Provides daily and monthly calendars to help you plan your time.
Task list: Provides a to-do list that helps you keep track of projects and deadlines.
Contact database: Provides a contact list that you can conveniently use when composing email.

Evolution is available via the Internet → Email submenu of the GNOME and KDE menus. It also has a convenient panel icon, which resembles a postage stamp superimposed on an envelope. When launched for the first time, Evolution provides a wizard to help you configure its operation, as shown in Figure 6-7.

Figure 6-7: The Welcome panel of the Evolution setup wizard

Click Forward to move on to the Identity panel. There, you specify your full name and email address. Optionally, you can specify the name of your organization, a plain text email signature file, and an HTML email signature file.

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux includes gnome-pilot, a tool that lets you synchronize your Palm or Handspring PDA (personal digital assistant) with your Linux system using your system's serial or USB port and your PDA's hot sync cradle. By default, Red Hat Linux is configured to enable you to back up your PDA to your Linux system or restore a backup from your Linux system to your PDA. You can also synchronize Evolution's calendar, task list, and contact

Table of Contents

Section 5.2.1.1: Start Here icon