Learn About Linux (Round II) *VOTE HERE*

A few months back, we asked you what about Linux you wanted to know more about. Some of those ideas were implemented in stickies, but it has come time again to ask again. Please VOTE and post in this thread. Thanks to those who posted new ideas last time, which are now part of this poll.

 

I voted for "Wine/VMWare." I plan to buy a notebook this summer, and install a debian based linux distro on it. I have a windows desktop at home that I would like to be able to use remotely from my linux notebook, as there are some applications I need that are Windows only. I don't know if I would use a VMWare client, or something like TightVNC to accomplish this, but I know I am most likely going to be looking for guidance when the time comes to set all of this up.

 

I also voted for the Wine/VMWare option. I'm curious as to how to get that stuff working...

 

Voted for the Linux Filesystem Overview here. If you're looking for a good list of Linux applications, you can check www.linux.org. The driver help might not be a bad idea either.

 

I voted the FS and driver help. Both are interesting topics, and have a lot less coverage than Linux programs.

 

I still think the whole tarball thing is foreign to many newbs. Perhaps teaching them about alien and how to create .deb packages from source code might be useful for many.

 

Come on people, VOTE and/or add in your OWN ideas!

 

AuroraS took the words right out of my mouth. I now know a good deal about about the rest of choices listed on poll, but I never got around to learning how to create .deb packages.

WINE sucks IMO ....... I use VMWare with XP almost every time I log on Ubuntu. I don't think I can live without it. It's the answer to SYNCing my Windows Mobile Smartphone via USB, Using Office 2007, Paltalk, MS Streets, ETC: on Linux.

I'm pretty familair with the file system at this point, but it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of file system chart. I think it would help newbies and experts.

 

I voted for Linux Drivers. Learning how to properly set up some drivers would, in my opinion, have a direct impact on the performance of the machine.

 

I'd like to know how to configure/install Linux. Yeah, some distros have nice graphical automated installers, and then what? Now I want to change my default shell to something other than bash (we use tcsh at uni by default, I've gotten used to that). How do I do that?
Which of the several hundreds of script/config files do I need to fiddle with if I want to change the default window manager?
Basically, how do I customize the system?

For that matter, how exactly are programs installed. Yeah, on some distros you can *usually* just do apt-get or emerge, but what if you just grab a package off the web? Or compile it from source code?

Where do each bit of the application end up when it's installed? And where should I look if I want to remove all traces of a program again?

 

Hello all:
I am looking for the Linux equivalents to Act! and Quick Books. Any suggestions?

 

Thank you for bumping this thread.

Here is the answer to your Quickbooks problem
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/linux-applications/22839-linux-equiv-quickbooks.html

Crossover will probably run it. Of course you can get it running through a VM

 

i voted for vmware because i think most ppl need such guide. if we need help installing drive, we can ask in forum.

 

Gautam, do you happen to know when exactly is this poll going to be closed and when will the actual material be posted on the forum?

 

Yes, this poll publicly states that (at the top of the page, check it out)

"This poll will close on 06-24-2007 at 11:19 AM"

and we will try to get the information published within a month, since it's summer, and we students have some time off.

 

1.
I'd like to know how to configure X, by editing xorg.conf.
Eg, take the following segment from
http://lunapark6.com/debian-40-etch.html

How does one go about knowing these things ? Is there some tutorial on this ?
I've never been comfortable with manual edits of xorg.config files.

2.
Configuration of firewall. What programs are there, and how does one go aout setting them up ? IP filter / shorewall ? I've heard of them. I'd like a primer on these.

 

I can answer most of these (I'm a bit surprised you dont know all this stuff )

Changing default shell : Use the command

Code:

chsh

Changing the default window manager.
It can normally be done by selecting the appropriate window manager in the login screen, and saying yes to the option of making it default.
If that is not available, then, create a file

Code:

.xinitrc

in the home directory, and put in the window manager you want to start on log in.
Eg, for fluxbox:

Code:

exec startfluxbox

This assumes startfluxbox in your path, if not, then give the full name.

The commands for starting some popular window managers and desktop environments
are:
* KDE =

Code:

startkde

* Gnome =

Code:

 gnome-session

* Blackbox =

Code:

blackbox

* FVWM =

Code:

fvwm

(or, for FVWM2 it's

Code:

fvwm2

* Window Maker =

Code:

wmaker

* IceWM =

Code:

icewm

*XFCE =

Code:

 startxfce4

Installing programs
Lets assume we have downlaoded an archive foo.tgz that contains the installtion files.
Download it to some place, /home/jalf/Foo say.
Suppose you want to install it in /home/jalf/inst/Foo
untar it:

Code:

 tar xvfz foo.tgz

This will unpack it, (and usually create a directory like foo-3.9

Code:

cd /home/jalf/Foo/foo-3.9

This will have a README or INSTALL file for installtion instructions.
90% of the time, the installtion instructions are as follows:

Firstyou have to configure. Configure script has a deafult path to install the program, which is in the system directories. If you want to install it in your directory of choice, you have to give it the prefix option:

Code:

./configure --prefix=/home/jalf/inst/Foo

The configure script will run and make the correct makefile if there are no problems.
Then do:

Code:

make

Make will compile the programs.
Finally you need to put in the executables in the installtion directory:

Code:

make install

This will typically put in the executable, say "foo" in /home/jalf/inst/Foo/bin/foo
To excute it, cd into the directory and execute:

Code:

cd  /home/jalf/inst/Foo/bin
./foo

Or, you can add /home/jalf/inst/Foo/bin to your path and directly execute foo.

If you're compiling from scratch as above, its preferabel to install it in your home directory as shown. That way you know for sure where the installtion files are.
For system installations, apt-get (or the preferred aptitude), or .rpm installs are preferable. To find where the files are, do

Code:

locate jalf-file

Locate maintains a database of the files in the system.
Or if the output of locate flys by

Code:

locate jalf-file | less 

Eg, on my system:

Code:

$ locate javac
/etc/alternatives/javac
/etc/alternatives/javac.1.gz
/usr/bin/javac
/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0_10/bin/javac
/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/SCons/Tool/javac.py
/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/SCons/Tool/javac.pyc
/usr/share/doc/packages/gettext/examples/build-aux/javacomp.m4
/usr/share/doc/packages/gettext/examples/build-aux/javacomp.sh.in
/usr/share/man/man1/javac-java-1_5_0-sun.1.gz
/usr/share/man/man1/javac.1.gz
/usr/share/vim/vim64/compiler/javac.vim
/usr/share/vim/vim64/syntax/javacc.vim
/var/lib/rpm/alternatives/javac
/windows/C/Program Files/Java/jre1.5.0_06/bin/javacpl.exe
$

 

Don't do the equivalents to Windows programs; there are numerous lists dedicated to this.

http://www.linuxalt.com/
http://www.linux.ie/newusers/alternatives.php
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software_equivalent_to_Windows_software

How to operate WINE is important because many people have that one program they can only run in Windows, causing them to hold back from switching.

 

Haha, well, they were just examples, and some of it I have figured out myself before.
But I've never been a linux fanatic. We use it at university, and I've got it installed on both my desktop and laptop, but I still primarily use Windows.
And essentially, while I quite like using it at uni, and more or less feel at home with it (I know about both make, less and locate from your examples, and have run into the configure script several times before), I still don't know that much about what goes on behind the scenes, where to look to troubleshoot problems or tweak/adjust some feature.

It's not *using* Linux I have problems with, it's knowing how to get it set up the way I want, essentially.
At uni, I have a nice pre-configured setup and it works well. At home, I have to configure it myself, and that's where the questions start popping up

Or, if I do something silly and screw up a program, or even the system as a whole, how do I go about recovering? How do I completely rid myself of all traces of a program, or how do I know whether a program still has corrupted config files lying around that will mess up any new installation I make of the program? Which files do I need to edit to get back to where I were? (Not asking about anything specific here, just a general overview of what is defined where)

Again, just examples of what I'm getting at. Using Linux is easy. Configuring it and maintaining it isn't. (or as you asked above, editing the xorg config file is another good example)

Anyway, thanks for the effort. I appreciate it

 

Maintaining Linux is even easy. It's just if you want to change your configuration that things might get a bit hairy. If you just get on and surf the web, email and chat, then it's perfect for you.

The problem is that Linux is great for the really low end users, and for the really high end user/administrators, but not as much so for the great unwashed masses

 

Er, how can it be easy to maintain, if changing configuration gets hairy?

Oh, another add-on question (I'll just keep adding things as I think of them)
Just how do desktop-, window- and session managers play together? Which one does what, how do I set up each of them (assuming I don't just go with a generic "throw KDE or Gnome at everything" setup), how do they interact, and what if I want to use, say, Gnome's desktop manager with some other window manager?

 

You know, you could google it?

I don't think NBR is supposed to be an advanced Linux knowledge repository. The point of these guides is to help new users get their stuff working, not to help advanced users tweak their setup. The are plenty of other sites on the internet for that.

 

Let me quote the title of this thread...

Want it in bold too? Pardon me if I misunderstood something, but I figured with a title like that, we were allowed to say... what we wanted to know about.
Yes, I could google it. Yes, I have googled most of it. And yes, I would like to see a comprehensive guide explaining some of these things, especially if it were written by the very clever people around here.
If that is a problem, feel free to ignore my posts.

 

Hi Friends:

Let's get along with each other and allow people to post what they want here. I want to spread the word about free, open source to all people, advanced and novices alike. I think all Linux people should strive for that, but I realize it's ambitious.

Thanks to everyone who posted a question, or a suggestion on ANYTHING they want to learn about, regardless of difficulty level.

regards,
gautam

 

We got a lot of votes this time! The poll was truly a success.

Now, to divvy up the writing! Who wants to do what, Pita, ftw, Lysander, BigV (where has he gone?), Twilight? (Sorry if I missed anyone!)

 

I can tackle common WINE programs if you want, include how to install patches.

 

I'll do the free equivalents to Windows software part.

 

I'll write up the filesystem thing

 

Wow, my Linux brethren are such nice people, too!

Thanks guys!

I guess I can tackle the driver information.

 

If any of y'all want me to proofread and fact-check your stuff, feel free to pm me or email me a draft I used to be an editor on the school newspaper, so I can at least do spelling and grammar... hehe

 

Edit: Well scratch that, cause I did a quick search and found a link for Wine... maybe I'll just try that instead *DUH*

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine

 

I will try to have my part knocked out this week. I've got a test Monday and Tuesday, so I'm a little busy right now. But I'm trying to get to it as soon as possible.

 

Take your time, ftw! Thanks for doing this, once again.