What This Book Contains

What This Book Contains

SUSE Linux 10 Unleashed is organized into six parts , covering installation and configuration, everyday usage, Internet access and usage, basic and advanced system administration, and programming. The idea is to work from the very basics of using the OS into more difficult and advanced tasks . With the accompanying CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, you have everything you need to get started.

New Linux users will find the first three parts most helpful. You'll get valuable information on the following topics:

• An overview of SUSE Linux.

• Getting help through the printed and online documentation provided with SUSE Linux 10, through the Internet, and through Linux User Groups (LUGs).

• Planning for your installation by looking at the reasons and tasks you have for your computer, and then examining your hardware.

• A detailed walk-through of the installation process.

• Preserving an existing Windows installation for dual-boot launching.

• Configuring and using the X Window System, the Linux graphical interface, and the two primary desktop environments for Linux—KDE and GNOME.

• Making friends with your command line.

• Printing in Linux.

• Running OpenOffice and other productivity tools.

• Accessing the Internet.

• Managing email, Usenet, and file transfer with both FTP and peer-to-peer protocols.

• Playing music, video, and games .

• Burning CDs and DVDs.

• Turning your PC into a personal video recorder a la TiVo.

• Creating your own websites and weblogs.

Parts 4 and 5 are about system administration. New users should at least review Part 4 to learn how to manage data and users and use YaST and other tools to keep the system updated. Professional system administrators can go deeper, with material on the following:

• Managing the boot process.

• Securing your system and network.

• Managing the kernel and its modules.

• Setting up networks.

• Working with Samba to network Linux and Windows systems together.

• Running the Apache web server.

• Managing Internet domains.

Part 6 covers programming in SUSE Linux. You'll learn about these topics:

• Tools for the C, C++, and Java programmer.

• Managing databases and using them in programming.

• The LAMP web programming "suite": Linux, Apache, MySQL, and the scripting languages Perl, Python, and PHP.

The appendixes describe the various permutations of SUSE Linux offered by Novell and deliver an expanded list of Internet resources for learning about the topics introduced here.