How to Use This Book

This book tells you how to install, configure, and customize a Linux desktop system. Although you can do most things in Linux these days by pointing and clicking, you still may want to try using Linux at the command prompt — where you type detailed instructions to load or configure software, access files, and do other tasks. In this book, input appears in monospace type like this:

 rmdir/etc/bin/devone                                                

When you type Linux commands or other related information, be sure to copy the information exactly as you see it in the book, including uppercase and lowercase letters, because that’s part of the magic that makes Linux behave properly.

A failure to follow instructions exactly can have all kinds of unfortunate, unseemly, or unexpected side effects.

The margins of a book don’t give you the same amount of room as your computer screen; therefore, in this book, some URLs and lengthy commands at the command prompt may appear wrapped to the next line. Remember that your computer sees these wrapped lines as a single set of instructions, or as a single URL — so if you’re typing a hunk of text, keep it on a single line. Don’t insert a hard return if you see one of these wrapped lines. We clue you in that it’s supposed to be all one line by breaking the line at a slash mark or a natural word break (to imply “Wait — there’s more!”) and slightly indenting the overage, as in the following silly example:

 www.infocadabra.transylvania.com/nexus/plexus/lexus/                
					 praxis/okay/this/is/a/make- ...

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