Fedora® 8 and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® Bible

Chapter 9. Using the Internet and the Web

In This Chapter

• Understanding Internet tools

• Browsing the Web

• Communicating via e-mail

• Participating in newsgroups

• Using Pidgin Instant Messaging

• Using BitTorrent cooperative software distribution

• Using remote login, copy, and execution commands

With your Fedora system connected to the Internet, you can take advantage of dozens of tools for browsing the Web, downloading files, getting e-mail, and communicating live with your friends. In most cases, you have several choices of GUI and command-line applications for using Internet services from your Linux desktop or shell.

This chapter describes some of the most popular tools available with Fedora for working with the Internet. These descriptions cover Web browsers, e-mail readers, instant messaging clients, and commands for login and remote execution. With the consolidation of Fedora Core and Fedora Extras software repositories that took place with Fedora 7, many specialty applications (such as BitTorrent file sharing) are now available to Fedora users from the single, common Fedora repository.

Overview of Internet Applications and Commands

When it comes to features and ease-of-use issues, applications that come with Fedora for accessing the Internet can rival those of any operating system. For every major type of Internet client application, there are at least three or four graphical and command-line tools to choose from.

While Linux has offered high-quality servers for Web, mail, FTP, and other Internet ...