Basic UNIX 3:
Linux for Windows Users

Where we're going:

Windows vs. Linux: differences vs. similarities

Getting Started

Working at the Desktop(s)

Managing Files

Finding Applications

Getting Help

Iowa State University Information Technology Services
Last Update 10/06/06 by jbalvanz

Differences between Windows and Linux

Choice of GUI vs. Command Line

Monolithic vs. Modular Design

Administrator/User Dichotomy

GUI vs. Command Line Administration

Choice of GUI vs. Command Line

Windows has only one user interface

Linux has lots of choices

X Windows (graphical user interfaces) with a variety of window managers

Text console (good for remote access, small machines, servers without monitors)

Monolithic vs. Modular Design

Windows: "everything" is incorporated into the kernel (Explorer, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc.)

Linux: more modular; desktop manager, Web browser, media players run on top of the Kernel and cannot take down the system if they crash (well, at least not as easily) and can be customized by the user

Administrator/User Dichotomy

Ordinary users do not have power to install software or change system settings

Adminstrators can install software, change system settings, kill processes, read/write files in any directory

This ability is actually in Windows 2000/XP, but seldom used (especially in home systems) because of legacy Windows compatibility

GUI vs. Command Line Administration

Windows administration almost always done from a GUI (Control Panel, Administrative Tools or Microsoft Management Console)

Linux adminstration usually done from a command line

Easily done remotely (Linux servers don't need monitors, keyboards)

Easily scriptable and automated

Logging In

Usernames and passwords

Assigned by the system administrator, or (on Iowa State Linux boxes) your ISU NetID and password

Choose your window manager

Choose your language

Logging In

Usernames and passwords

Choose your window manager

Default RHEL installation includes GNOME, KDE and FailSafe (a very minimal WM)

Choose your language

Logging In

Usernames and passwords

Choose your window manager

Choose your language

Linux can be installed to include support for many languages

Gnome Desktop

Desktop icons open in Nautilus

username's Home (/home/username)

Computer (all drives)

Trash

Top Edge Panel ( functions of Start Menu and System Tray)

Bottom Edge Panel (select windows and virtual desktops)

Applications Menu ( = Windows All Programs)

Top Edge Panel

Applications Menu ( = Windows All Programs)

Actions Menu (run application, logout, screen shot, etc.)

Top Edge Panel

Applications Menu ( = Windows All Programs)

Actions Menu (run application, logout, screen shot, etc.)

Application Launchers

Top Edge Panel

Top Edge Panel

Applets

Bottom Edge Panel

Clear Desktop button

Bottom Edge Panel

Clear Desktop button

Buttons for open windows

Bottom Edge Panel (right)

Virtual Workspace selector

K Desktop Environment (KDE)

Icons open in Konqueror

CD Recorder (drag-and-drop burning)

Trash

KDE Panel ( = Windows Taskbar)

KDE Panel

K Menu ( = Windows Start Menu)

KDE Panel

K Menu ( = Windows Start Menu)

Application Buttons

KDE Panel

K Menu ( = Windows Start Menu)

Application Buttons

Pager (switches virtual workspaces)

KDE Panel

K Menu ( = Windows Start Menu)

Application Buttons

Desktop Switcher

Buttons for open windows

KDE Panel

K Menu ( = Windows Start Menu)

Application Buttons

Desktop Switcher

Buttons for open windows

Applets

Switching Between Windows

Varies; most modern WM accept the Windows <Alt/Tab>, clicking on the window or clicking on the appropriate button in the Panel

Clicking on the button of an open window will minimize it and bring another to the top

Some window managers (like Blackbox and TWM) insist that you click on the window titlebar or use arrows on the manager bar

Manipulating windows

Moving and resizing windows much like MS Windows except for:

A window can be forced “On Top”

Commands for moving window to other workspaces (Move to Workspace Right, Move to Another Workspace)

Virtual Workspaces

Separate semi-independent workspaces on the same machine

<Alt/Tab> switches between windows on the same workspace

Click on the Pager or press <Ctrl/Tab> to change workspaces

To move a window to another workspace, click upper-left-hand button and choose a workspace

Closing windows

To close a window:

Choose File -> Exit in the application

Click the close box (upper right-hand corner)

Press <Alt/F4>

In a terminal window, press <Ctrl/D>

Mouse actions

Most window managers use all three buttons!

Copy/paste -- may be different from Windows and may vary from DM to DM

Highlighting is copying

Middle-click is paste (left-and-right click, if you only have two buttons, or wheel-click will work with wheel mice)

Most applications and window managers provide right-click contextual menus as well.

File Managers

The default file manager will vary with Desktop Manager

KDE -> Konqueror

Gnome -> Nautilus

Others...

As always, you have a choice; you can run Nautilus under KDE, etc.

Nautilus has problems with OpenAFS; use Konqueror for AFS volumes instead.

File Managers

And there's always the shell...

Console commands always work in a terminal window, even if you're in an unfamiliar window manager

Look for Konsole, Gnome Terminal, xterm, or rxvt

Using Konqueror

To start, choose KDE Menu > Home

Initially starts in user's home directory; use Up button if you want to see upper-level directories

Use Up and Back buttons to navigate

Double-click to open, right-click on files for action menu

More on Konqueror

Drag-and-drop between windows works, or use copy-and-paste

Web and ftp servers can be opened as well (use URL)

Several views are available in the View menu

Location -> New Tab allows you to open more than one directory in the same window

Removable Disks

Disks must be unmounted before you remove them.

Under Gnome, CDs and DVDs will automatically mount and create a desktop icon when they're inserted; right-click and select "Eject" to unmount

Under KDE, the CD icon appears on the desktop; right-click and select "Eject" to unmount.

Floppies must be mounted by double-clicking in Computer (Gnome) or under Devices in Konqueror before using them; right-click and select "Unmount volume" before you remove them.

More on Removable Disks

Removable disks appear in the directory tree under the /media directory.
Floppy = /media/floppy
CDROM/DVD = /media/cdrom
CD-RW = /media/cdrecorder

Before removing the disk, right-click on the disk and choose “Unmount” or (as root) enter the command eject /media/device

Nautilus

Default file manager in Gnome Desktop, or invoke from command line with nautilus &

Double-clicking a folder or drive opens a new window

Choose "Computer" from Places menu to see drives

Drag-and-drop moves files by default (except when leaving your machine); to choose, drag-and-drop with the middle button

More on Nautilus

To delete a file, highlight and press {Delete}, or drag to Trash

Places menu includes "CD Creator", which allows you to drag files to a window and burn them to a CD

Formatting a Floppy

Insert a disk

Choose System Tools -> Floppy Formatter (Gnome only) or run the command gfloppy

Enter a volume label

Click Format.
You'll still need to mount the floppy after formatting it.

File Associations

Konqueror can identify files by extension, by MIME type, or by analysis

Where possible, Konqueror will display thumbnails of the file

In Konqueror, choose Settings > Configure Konqueror > File Associations

Enter a pattern or select a filetype, then choose the application to open it with and move it to the top of the list

File Associations

Nedit -- Notepad on Steroids

Nedit is a GUI text editor looking at first glance like Notepad

Edit menu includes case switching, indentation

Programmer's editor features include syntax highlighting for standard languages

Search and replace includes regular expressions

Selected text can be fed into a shell command (like grep and awk)

Living with Linux
in a Windows World

Accessing Windows shares

Equivalent and/or compatible applications

WINE (run some Windows applications)

Crossover Office (run Microsoft Office)

Accessing Windows Shares

Works in either Nautilus or Konqueror

Enter an URL in the form:
smb://username@servername/sharename/path

Nautilus also has the
File -> Connect to
Server command, which
puts an icon on the
Desktop as well. (You
should unmount these
when you're finished.)

Equivalent/compatible applications

Microsoft Office

OpenOffice.org / StarOffice

Abiword/Gnumeric

Microsoft Outlook

Ximian Evolution

Photoshop

Gimp

http://www.linux.ie/newusers/alternatives.php

WINE (WINE Is Not an Emulator)

WINE allows you to run some Windows software under Linux by translating Windows API calls to equivalent Linux/X library calls

WINE doesn't run all Windows software, but the list is growing rapidly.

Install apps with wine setupcommand, run with wine appfilename

http://www.winehq.com

Where are Wine's files?

Each user gets a private “machine” located at
/home/username/.wine

The Windows hard disk is under “c_drive”

*.reg files are the Windows Registry

The actual UNIX filesystem is under “dosdevices/z:”

Wine Demo

Type the following commands:
cd winstuff
wine sol.exe
curl -O http://tech.ait.iastate.edu/linux/linuxed\
/exercises/Opera_9.10_Classic_Setup.exe
wine Opera_9.10_Classic_Setup.exe

Wine a security risk?

Users can install a wide variety of Windows applications, including potential security risks, without a root password!

Good news: apps run with the user's privileges, they still can't modify system files other than their own

Crossover Office

Crossover Office is an enhanced (commercial)version of WINE specifically designed to run Microsoft Office, including Internet Explorer and Access, and other applications.

A server edition allows thin client machines to run Windows apps without having software installed locally (and without CALs)

http://www.codeweavers.com

Locating software

Databases of free and commercial applications

http://sourceforge.net/softwaremap/trove_list.php

http://freshmeat.net (login required)

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/

http://www.linux.org/apps/index.html

http://linux.about.com/od/soft

Getting Help

KDE Help system
KDE Menu -> Help

Man pages
man commandname or browse in KDE Help

Red Hat Linux manuals
http://www.redhat.com/docs/

Linux Documentation Project
http://www.tldp.org

Linux Newbie Help Files
http://www.tuxfiles.org/

This section of the class makes the assumption that you are comfortable with Microsoft Windows, but want to deal with Linux on your own terms. While the hardcores who've been using UNIX forever may laugh at us, some of us prefer dealing with Linux through a graphical desktop. That's okay. In this section, we'll contrast Windows and Linux, then show you how working at the Linux graphical desktop is like and unlike Windows, building on your Windows experience. Finally, we'll take a brief look at the art of being compatible with Windows, show you where to look for new software, and how to get help.

While they appear similar at the desktop, Linux and Windows are very different "under the hood". Linux lets you choose how to you want to work with it, and the underlying structure makes it more secure and easier to administer by design.

While Windows has a single user interface, Linux has many choices. The graphical desktop uses X Windows, which was designed from the start to work both locally and over a network connection. A number of different graphical desktop managers are available to fit your machine and your working style. If bandwidth concerns, machine horsepower or disabilities make working with the graphical desktop a problem, a wide variety of console applications let you manage servers remotely and/or do useful work with a text terminal.

The Microsoft Way is to incorporate many features into the Windows kernel. Internet Explorer, for example, is intimately integrated into Windows -- so much so that fixing a security problem with IE may require rebuilding much of Windows (and a couple of months), and crashing IE will take Windows down. Linux, on the other hand, is modular; the graphical environment, desktop manager, Web browser and media players are separate programs that run on top of the Linux kernel. Crashing one of them (like the Web browser) shouldn't kill the Kernel, and making changes to them is much easier.

UNIX has always made a distinction between users and administrators. Only an administrator ("root") can install software or make modifications to system settings; ordinary users can change their own preferences and install software in their own directories but can't affect anyone else. This greatly reduces the spread of viruses and the hassles of management. Windows does provide this feature in Windows 2000 and XP, but many Windows applications can't be run correctly by a non-privileged user, so hardly anyone uses the feature (especially on home systems). Linux applications, on the other hand, have always been designed with this in mind. That makes Linux just a little bit more secure than Windows, as a non-privileged user can't infect the machine with a virus or mess up other people's settings.

Windows machines are really designed to be managed from graphical tools. That's great for a few machines, but difficult when you manage many servers or desktops. Almost all management tasks in Linux can be done from a text console (i.e., remotely) and a wide variety of scripting tools are available. That's better if you're managing lots of servers; servers don't even need keyboards and monitors, and can be managed over a network or even a dialup.

Most Linux distributions require a username and password to log in to the machine. If you don't have one, contact the administrator of the machine. Machines with Iowa State Linux installed use the ISU Kerberos system to govern access to the machine; your ISU NetID and password will be enough if you're on the machine's access control list. (Again, see the machine's administrator.)

If you want to use the default window manager (Gnome) and the default language (English) you can just log in now. However, you may want to wait a bit...

Before you enter your username and password, you can select a different window manager from the default. Some of the choices:

Gnome Desktop (the default on RHEL)

K Desktop Environment (KDE, the default for many of us)

Fallback (a very minimal window manager)

Because Nautilus has problems with Iowa State Linux, we tend to use KDE. Older machines may be happier with stripped-down WMs like IceWM or WindowMaker.

[ Exercise: begin by selecting Gnome. ]

Linux by default supports a wide variety of languages (especially important for those in Europe, where much of Linux is written). You can select a language on the login screen, and that language will be used in menus and icon names.

[ Exercise: you'll have to stick with English in the training lab, as we didn't install language files for everything. When you install your own Linux machine, however, you can add the support for any language in the list. Now go ahead and log in using the username and password we gave you. ]

The Gnome desktop looks much like the Windows desktop. As with any UN*X system, your files are stored in your home directory (/home/username). This directory can be on another disk, or even on another machine; Iowa State Linux uses your AFS home directory. The Gnome Desktop gives you an icon for this directory, as well as a "Start Here" directory containing links to applications, preferences and system settings. There's also a Trash icon to which files may be dragged to dispose of them, and at the bottom of the screen the Gnome Panel (which is analogous to the Windows Taskbar).

The Gnome Panel consists of several areas (from right to left):

The Gnome Menu (just like the Start Menu);

[ Exercise: click on the Gnome Menu icon and take a minute to explore the categories. A couple of notes:

Most of the menus include a “More...” submenu. The most popular items are placed at the first level in the Gnome menu, but others appear under “More”, including items that require the K Desktop Environment.

Most of the items under “System Settings” and “System Tools” will require the root password, as they make changes to the system as a whole.

Nearly all of the items installed here are included with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, including OpenOffice.org, Ximian Evolution and all the games. Almost all the software you'll need to do useful work is already installed at no extra charge.

The K Desktop Environment looks much like the Gnome Desktop, with a couple of exceptions. KDE gives you icons for removable drives (like the floppy) that automatically mount the disk when you double-click on it (about which more later). The KDE Panel also has some significant differences from the Gnome Panel, not the least of which is different items in the K Menu.

[ Exercise: log out of the Gnome Desktop by choosing “Log Out” from the Gnome Menu. Notice that “OK” is on the right side of the dialog box, an annoying trait for Windows users (for whom OK is usually on the left). Once you've logged out, choose “KDE” from the Session menu and log in to the K Desktop Environment using the username and password you were given. ]

The primary difference between the KDE Panel and the Gnome Panel is the ability to change the size of areas in the KDE Panel. Just drag the separator bars around to allocate more or less space to each area

Otherwise, things are much the same (except for different items in the Kmenu).

[ Exercise: Click on the KDE Menu and notice the differences between it and the Gnome Menu you just looked at. If you've used KDE before the last applications you ran will appear at the top of the menu, and there's a useful “Lock Screen” towards the bottom. ]

As in the Gnome Menu, moving the mouse over a button displays the name of the application the button starts.

Once again, we'll talk about this later.

[ Exercise: if you don't have any windows open, go to the KDE Menu and open Home and perhaps an accessory or two, so you can see what these buttons look like and what they do. ]

Applet behavior here is just like the Gnome Panel; click on, click off.

Switching between windows is much like Windows; either <Alt/Tab> between windows [in the same workspace, about which more later], click on the window you want, or click the appropriate button in the Panel. Clicking the button of an open window will minimize it into the Panel.

Some (more primitive) window managers may demand that you click on the titlebar to select a window. Most modern WMs don't.

[ Exercise: if you haven't opened a couple of windows, open two or more and use the various techniques to switch between them.]

Most of the Windows rules for moving and resizing windows work in most window managers:

Click, hold and drag the title bar to move the window;

Click, hold and drag an edge to resize a window;

Click in the close box to close the window;

Click the minimizer box to move the window to a panel button.

Click the maximizer box to blow up the window to screen size.

There are a couple of non-Windows tricks that KDE and Gnome can do:

Double-clicking on the title bar or choosing “Shade” from the left-corner menu will roll the window into the title bar.

The “Always on Top” button forces the windows to appear on top even if another window is the active window;

The “To Desktop” or “Move to workspace” choice lets you move the window to another virtual desktop/workspace.

[ Exercise: play a bit with the windows you've opened. ]

Are you one of those people who get too many windows open at once, and you can't figure out which window is which? Almost all window managers allow you the use of virtual desktops or virtual workspaces. You can move windows that belong together to another workspace, and <Alt/Tab> will only switch between the windows on that workspace. Just click on the upper-left-hand corner of the window and choose the desktop you want to move the window to. (You can also specify that the window appear in all desktops – handy for instant messaging clients.) Then use the Workspace Switcher to go to that desktop, or use <Ctrl/Tab> instead.

[ Exercises:

Move to another desktop and back;

Pick a window and move it to another desktop;

Verify that <Alt/Tab> doesn't show that window in the marquee;

Switch to the other desktop and move the window back to desktop 1. ]

The Windows rules for closing windows also work in most window managers:

Select Exit from the first menu;

Press <Alt/F4>;

Click in the close box to close the window.

If you're working in a terminal window, you can also close that window by pressing <Ctrl/D>; that's the end-of-file character in UN*X, and that means you've quit input to the shell, so it closes automatically.

[ Exercise: close the windows you've opened using these techniques. Select System Tools -> Terminal from the KDE Menu to open a shell window, then press <Ctrl/D> to close it again. ]

Ideally, you'll have a three button mouse to work with Linux as the windows managers use all three, but hardly anyone ever does. So:

Left-and-right click = middle click (that's tricky)

Wheel-click on a wheel mouse = middle click

The biggest difference to get used to is the fact that the simple act of highlighting copies the highlighted text into the Clipboard. And middle-clicking pastes the text in the cursor location. No menu choice, no <Ctrl/C>, nothing. (Most applications also support the Windows-style copy and paste, but you'll miss this in Windows once you get the hang of it in Linux.)

[ Exercise:

Use the Launcher button to start Mozilla.

From the KDE Menu, select Accessories -> More Accessories -> Text Editor.

Switch to the Mozilla window and highlight some text.

Switch to the Text Editor window and middle-click to paste. ]

The program used to move, copy, open and delete files is a file manager. (In Windows, it's EXPLORER.EXE, though hardly anyone knows that.) In Linux you have lots of choices. Each window manager (KDE, Gnome, etc.) has a default choice (as shown above) but you can still use whatever file manager you like. (Because Nautilus has problems with OpenAFS, we tend to steer away from it even in Gnome.)

True, hardcore UN*X geeks can still move, copy and open files from a command shell (just like old DOS hackers can do it from the Command Prompt in Windows).

[ Exercise:

Use System Tools -> Terminal to open a Konsole window.

Choose Run Command, then run xterm to open a different kind of console window.

Use the ls command in both windows to display your home directory's files.

Use <Ctrl/D> in both windows to close. ]

Your files will be in your home directory (/home/username). (That directory may be on your machine, or it might be on a server somewhere. It doesn't matter to Linux.) To work with your files, just choose Home from the KDE Menu or double-click on the Home icon. The Konqueror window looks a bit like the Explorer window; a list of directories appears on the left, with file and folder icons for the selected directory on the right. You can double-click on a file or folder to open it or right-click on a file to present an action menu. The shift and control keys let you select multiple files just like Windows.

The Up button shifts the active window to the directory above the current one, while the Back button takes you back to the previous directory you were in (wherever that was).

[ Exercise: Select Home from the KDE Menu and use the navigation buttons to explore the system. ]

If you want to copy or move files, you have several choices:

Open another Konqueror window and drag-and-drop the files from one window to another;

Copy the file(s) with the right-click menu, change directories, then right-click and choose Paste.

Open another Tab with the New Tab button, change directory and paste into the new tab.

Right-click on the file(s) and select “Copy to...” and the appropriate folder.

Konqueror is not only a file manager but a Web browser. You can open Web servers, ftp sites, etc. in a window and copy and paste just like you do with directories.

[ Exercises:

Open another Konqueror window, then copy a file from a directory other than home in the first window you opened to the second one.

Open the ISU ftp server (ftp://ftp.iastate.edu) in the first window and copy the README file to your home directory. ]

Since all your files are in your home directory, you shouldn't need to use a removable disk unless you're (a) moving files to/from another computer without a network, (b) backing up your home directory or (c) installing software from a CD/DVD. Those are things that can cause insecurities, so Linux normally demands that root mounts and unmounts removable disks before they can be used. The icons on the Desktop can break that rule, so that you can mount and unmount floppies and Zip disks. So:

Inserting a CD or DVD will cause the disk to be mounted automatically, and a Konqueror window will appear.

Before trying to use a removable that doesn't automount, double-click on its Desktop icon to mount it (if one is visible).

[ Exercise: insert a diskette in the machine's drive, then double-click on the “Floppy” icon to mount it. ]

Don't press the buttons on the drive to remove a removable disk! Before removing a removable disk, right-click on its icon and choose "Unmount" to unmount it. Files and data may be lost if you don't. Then right-click again and choose "Eject" to get Zips and CDs out. Or you can unmount and eject any removable disk with the shell command
eject /mnt/device.

[ Exercise: close the Konqueror window for the floppy disk, then right-click on the floppy and choose “Unmount”. Remove the floppy from the drive. ]

Formatting a disk involves the potential destruction of data, so Linux gets really paranoid about it. Only root can format a floppy, so you'll need to enter the super-user password. If you want to format a floppy from a terminal window, type the su command, then type kfloppy to run the floppy formatter.

Windows determines what a file is and what application should open it by its extension, the characters that follow the last period in the filename. Konqueror (and other file managers) can use that, but it doesn't stop there. It can analyze the files in a directory using the file command to determine what they are. Because of this, Konqueror will use the correct applicationto open the file even if it's misnamed -- unless, of course, you've used the Konqueror settings to tell it to use the wrong one. Unless you've installed more than one application that can open the same file, you shouldn't need to worry about it.

If you want to specify an application to open a particular type of file, choose Tools -> Configure Konqueror -> File Associations. Select the type of file (they're sorted by MIME type, so images will fall under image/something) and you'll see a list of applications that Konqueror knows can open the file. All of these applications will appear when you right-click and select “Open With...”. Move the one you want to use for the Open command (or double-clicking) to the top of the list with the “Move Up” button.

[Exercise: In Konqueror, choose Tools -> Configure Konqueror. Now click on File Associations in the left pane of the window, then choose image/png as the file type. Move the bottom application in the list up to the top by highlighting it and using the “Move Up” button. ]

There are a huge number of free and proprietary software packages available for Linux for every conceivable purpose. The fact remains, though, that Linux users are a minority in a Windows-dominated world. We have to be compatible with Windows users and their applications to coexist. Fortunately, there are alternatives. We can run compatible and equivalent applications wherever possible, or we can run Windows applications when necessary.

For Microsoft Office compatibility the logical choice is OpenOffice.org (aka StarOffice). If you have an older machine with less than 64 MB of memory, a better match might be “GnomeOffice”, i.e., the Abiword word processor and the Gnumeric spreadsheet. These have good (but not perfect) compatibility with MS Office. Other applications have equivalents as well. The URL http://www.linux.ie/newusers/alternatives.php is a link to a database of Linux equivalents to common (and not so common) Windows applications.

Wine is a tool that attempts to let you run Windows applications under Linux. It's not perfect, and it works better if there's a copy of Windows installed on the machine so it can utilize DLLs from the Windows install, but it does allow some Windows applications to run. You can run applications that need Wine with the command
wine applicationfilename
If the program has to be installed in Windows, just run the setup routine from Wine first, then use the wine command to start whatever the executable file is. You can get Wine (and information on what programs run with it) from http://www.winehq.com.

Simple Windows applications seem to work well under Wine, but Microsoft Office isn't simple. Crossover Office is an enhanced version of Wine that is specifically designed to run Microsoft Office. This works remarkably well for this purpose; unfortunately, it costs money. (It will be available in the new 139 Durham Linux lab, along with Microsoft Office). There's also a server edition that allows thin client machines running little more than an X server to run Office on a Linux server machine – without the Client Access Licenses (for Windows Terminal Server) required by the Windows 2003 Server solution.

While there's a lot of software included in a Linux distribution, it doesn't have everything. Finding software for a Linux machine can be a bit more difficult than finding it for Windows; they don't get stocked as much at the bookstore or local computer place. The URLs above are indexes to Linux software, both Free and Open Source software and commercial packages. SourceForge (sourceforge.net) and FreshMeat (freshmeat.net) catalog Open Source software projects for Linux and other operating systems, and are a good first place to look for problem solutions.

What about help? There's help for KDE in the KDE Menu under “Help”. Also available in KDE Help are the “man pages”, the help for Linux commands used in a command shell. You can also read that help in the shell window with the command man commandname. For Red Hat Linux users, the manuals are all available online at http://www.redhat.com/docs. For more help, the Linux Documentation Project organizes all of the “Howto” and “FAQ” documents covering hundreds of Linux topics. Those documents can be difficult to understand for the Linux newcomer. For those folks, the Newbie Help Files are a little easier to understand (though the author does tend to make fun of Microsoft a lot). Many books on Linux-related topics are available in print and online from O'Reilly Media (see http://www.oreilly.com/). And if all other help fails, you can purchase Linux for Dummies (along with a host of companion Linux ??? for Dummies books) at your favorite vendor of computer books.

2004-11-03T16:27:44