List of Figures

Chapter 4: Preinstallation Steps

Figure 4-1. You can view your disk’s partitions using Windows XP’s Disk Management tool.

Figure 4-2. SUSE Linux needs free disk space in which to install, so you might need to clean up your Windows partition.

Figure 4-3. Don't forget to back up "hidden" data, such as Internet passwords.

Chapter 5: Installing SUSE Linux

Figure 5-1. Before starting, you should make sure your computer can boot the DVD-ROM.

Figure 5-2. Select to install SUSE Linux from the DVD-ROM boot menu.

Figure 5-3. The installation program speaks many languages; select which is best for you.

Figure 5-4. SUSE Linux makes default installation choices, which you can edit if you wish.

Figure 5-5. The default software selection is adequate, but you can add more choices manually.

Figure 5-6. You can resize the Windows partition to make space for SUSE Linux.

Figure 5-7. Setting the time zone means that SUSE Linux can adjust to daylight saving time.

Figure 5-8. When you're happy with the installation choices, click the Yes, Install button to start copying files.

Figure 5-9. You can monitor the installation and read messages about the features of SUSE Linux.

Figure 5-10. After the files have finished copying across, the installation program will perform some updating and configuration tasks.

Figure 5-11. SUSE Linux defaults to eight-character passwords, but you can change this by selecting a different encryption method.

Figure 5-12. You should wait until Linux has finished installing and booted up before configuring network devices.

Figure 5-13. Selecting the correct user authentication mode is easy; most users should select Stand-Alone Machine.

Figure 5-14. You should create a user account for day-to-day use.

Figure 5-15. SUSE Linux will automatically probe and configure most of your PC hardware.

Figure 5-16. Once installation has finished, your system will boot, and you should be greeted by the desktop!

Chapter 6: Solving Installation Problems

Figure 6-1. SaX2 will try to autodetect the best settings, and most of the time, it's correct.

Figure 6-2. VESA monitor settings will work with virtually any make and model.

Figure 6-3. Don't forget to test your new settings before saving them!

Chapter 7: Booting Linux for the First Time

Figure 7-1. The default choice is fine on the boot menu, so press Enter to start SUSE Linux.

Figure 7-2. Select your username from the left side of the screen, type in your password, and click Login.

Figure 7-3. Feel free to experiment with the SUSE Linux desktop and see what you can discover.

Figure 7-4. The K menu is accessed by clicking the green gecko icon. It is very similar to the Windows Start menu.

Figure 7-5. You can run programs by clicking the appropriate desktop icon or shortcut.

Figure 7-6. Two virtual desktops are set up by default, but you can have as many as 16.

Figure 7-7. If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can use it as a third button in SUSE Linux to bring up an extra context menu.

Figure 7-8. The system tray provides quick access to common functions.

Chapter 8: Getting Hardware Up and Running

Figure 8-1. To configure your system using YaST2, you'll need to click the Administrator Mode button and type in your root password.

Figure 8-2. Enter your DNS server addresses into the relevant fields. They should take the form of two IP addresses (numbers separated by dots).

Figure 8-3. Most wireless cards rely on an aerial of some kind.

Figure 8-4. Ask your system administrator for an encryption key if your Wi-Fi network uses WEP protection.

Figure 8-5. SUSE Linux contains details of many ISPs around the world.

Figure 8-6. To go online, simply click the KInternet icon or right-click it and select Dial-in.

Figure 8-7. Getting SpeedTouch DSL modems to work under SUSE Linux requires some additional configuration.

Figure 8-8. Simply click Modify to alter the default account that Kmail sets up for you.

Figure 8-9. You can check what authentication types (if any) your SMTP server supports.

Figure 8-10. Kopete supports the majority of instant messaging protocols.

Figure 8-11. YaST2 should select your printer model automatically, but check to make sure.

Figure 8-12. Adding a network printer is easy: just click Add Printer/Class.

Figure 8-13. You can try to find out what make and model a network printer is by connecting to it using your web browser.

Figure 8-14. Enter the name of the shared printer as it appears on the network.

Figure 8-15. When the card reader or camera has been mounted, it will be available under My Computer on the desktop as USB Hard Disc.

Figure 8-16. Select your camera from the list, and you should find that the technical settings are chosen automatically.

Figure 8-17. YaST2 will let you know if it cannot automatically detect your scanner.

Figure 8-18. Select your scanner from the list.

Figure 8-19. Once you've previewed the image with Xsane, you can adjust the brightness and contrast to get a better scan.

Figure 8-20. NVIDIA 3D graphics can be installed using the SUSE Linux update service.

Chapter 9: Securing Your System

Figure 9-1. An antivirus program for Linux

Figure 9-2. As a limited user, you cannot delete files outside your personal area.

Figure 9-3. Usually, if you attempt an action that needs root privileges, you will automatically be prompted for the root user password.

Figure 9-4. Use SUSEWatcher to ensure your system is always up-to-date and therefore secure.

Figure 9-5. SUSE Linux will find an update site near you automatically.

Figure 9-6. Configuring the firewall is simply a matter of following a step-by-step wizard.

Figure 9-7. For a desktop PC, you can leave all of these services unchecked, although you might want to enable SSH later on.

Chapter 10: Personalizing SUSE Linux: Getting Everything Just Right

Figure 10-1. If you're used to double-clicking, SUSE's single-click program launching often means you start the same program twice.

Figure 10-2. The styling applied to aspects of a program window, such as scroll bars and title bars, is referred to as the "theme."

Figure 10-3. SUSE Linux can do a passable imitation of the Windows look and feel.

Figure 10-4. You can choose from various Windows-style color schemes or pick something more colorful.

Figure 10-5. Right-click a blank spot on the Panel and then select Configure.

Figure 10-6. The Configure - Panel screen contains a wealth of options related to customizing your system's appearence just the way you want it.

Figure 10-7. Want to get rid of single-click program activation? Tweak the mouse settings.

Figure 10-8. If you have a Synaptics touchpad, choose Synaptics from the list within SaX2.

Figure 10-9. Creating a new desktop shortcut is easy: just click and drag from the K menu.

Figure 10-10. You can move any item on the Panel to any location.

Figure 10-11. Altering power-saving features avoids wear and tear on your PC components and saves electricity.

Chapter 11: Using Linux Replacements for Windows Programs

Figure 11-1. OpenOffice.org Writer

Figure 11-2. OpenOffice.org Calc

Figure 11-3. OpenOffice.org Impress

Figure 11-4. Kontact, Calendar view

Figure 11-5. Konquerer

Figure 11-6. KsCD

Figure 11-7. XMMS

Figure 11-8. Kaffeine Media Player

Figure 11-9. K3b

Figure 11-10. The GIMP

Figure 11-11. If you ever need a calculator, you'll find one on the K menu, under the Utilities heading.

Chapter 12: Managing Your Files

Figure 12-1. SUSE Linux filenames are case-sensitive, so many similar filenames can exist, differing only in which letters are capitalized.

Figure 12-2. Your personal area on the hard disk is in the /home directory and is named after your username (/home/knthomas, in this case).

Figure 12-3. You can browse to your own personal file storage area by clicking the Home link on the K menu.

Figure 12-4. You can perform most file operations by right-clicking, as in Windows.

Figure 12-5. Konqueror will automatically provide thumbnail previews of your digital images.

Figure 12-6. You can select which program to use to open a file by right-clicking and selecting Open With.

Figure 12-7. You can run programs you've installed yourself by using the Run Command option on the K menu.

Figure 12-8. If you've chosen to dual-boot, you should find the contents of your C: drive available in the /Windows/C/ folder. If you have multiple Windows partitions, the next one would be under /Windows/D/, and so on.

Figure 12-9. You can browse Windows network shares by typing smb: //, followed by the IP address of the share, into Konqueror.

Figure 12-10. Under My Computer on the desktop, you'll find all your removable storage drives.

Figure 12-11. Formatting floppy disks is done using the Kfloppy tool.

Chapter 13: Dealing with Problems

Figure 13-1. If a KDE program crashes, it will ask you to file a bug report. This will help produce better software in the future.

Figure 13-2. Type root as your username and then enter your root password.

Figure 13-3. Find the misbehaving program in the list, press k, then type its PID number.

Figure 13-4. You can attempt to unfreeze a crashed machine by connecting to it over the network.

Figure 13-5. Computing.Net is just one of a great many web sites that aim to help Linux users of all levels.

Figure 13-6. You can use KNode to connect to newsgroups that provide help for Linux newbies.

Chapter 14: Introducing the BASH Shell

Figure 14-1. The Konsole terminal emulator can be quickly started by clicking the icon on the toolbar.

Figure 14-2. Most commands contain built-in help to give you a clue as to how they're used.

Figure 14-3. The ls command lists the files in the current directory.

Figure 14-4. You can also use the mv command to rename files.

Chapter 15: Understanding Linux Files and Users

Figure 15-1. Hardware devices under Linux are accessed as if they were files and can be found in the /dev folder.

Figure 15-2. Your personal directory within home is your area on the hard disk. This is enforced via file permissions.

Figure 15-3. The file permissions part of a file listing can be broken down into four separate parts.

Figure 15-4. Details of all frequently mounted file systems are held in the /etc/fstab file.

Figure 15-5. The find command is useful for finding files but isn't problem-free.

Figure 15-6. The du command shows the size of a file, and the df command can be used to gauge the amount of free space on the disk.

Chapter 16: Working with Text Files

Figure 16-1. tail can be very useful for viewing the last few lines of a log file.

Figure 16-2. In vi, the central mode is Command mode.

Figure 16-3. Use vi's Insert mode to add and edit text.

Figure 16-4. Use vi's Command-Line mode to issue commands.

Figure 16-5. grep is a powerful tool that can search for text within files.

Chapter 17: Taking Control of the System

Figure 17-1. The top program gives you an eagle's eye view of the processes running on your system.

Figure 17-2. You can normally identify a program by its name in the process list.

Figure 17-3. You can see at a glance how many zombie processes are on your system by looking at the top right of top's display.

Chapter 18: Cool Shell Tricks

Figure 18-1. Autocompletion makes using BASH much easier.

Figure 18-2. BASH history completion is very useful but can also be confusing.

Figure 18-3. Piping the output of the history command into the less command lets you read the output fully.

Chapter 19: MP3s and CDs

Figure 19-1. XMMS mirrors the look and feel of Winamp under Windows, and operates in a very similar way.

Figure 19-2. Right-clicking anywhere on the XMMS program window will bring up a wide range of options and preferences.

Figure 19-3. Grip will not only sense the insertion of an audio CD, but will even look up the track names online!

Figure 19-4. Ripping a CD with Grip

Figure 19-5. From 40MB to 2.6MB—encoding WAV files to Ogg means smaller file sizes and negligible loss of quality.

Figure 19-6. KsCD can look up the names of your CD tracks online.

Figure 19-7. KRecord is a powerful little program that can record audio from a microphone, line-in, or another source. If necessary, you can use KAMix to set input sound levels.

Figure 19-8. K3b mirrors the look and feel of Windows CD-burning programs, so is very easy to use.

Chapter 20: Viewing Movies and Video

Figure 20-1. Kaffeine Media Player can play back a variety of video files, both online and offline.

Figure 20-2. RealPlayer comes with SUSE Linux and can be used to view streaming video online.

Figure 20-3. The kdetv program lets you watch TV on SUSE Linux, provided you have a TV card installed in your PC.

Chapter 21: Image Editing

Figure 21-1. The GIMP's main toolbar window

Figure 21-2. Paths allow for more elaborate and intricate selections, such as those that involve curves.

Figure 21-3. The opacity of various layers can be set by clicking and dragging the relevant slider in the Layers dialog box.

Figure 21-4. The Levels function can be used to accurately set the brightness levels across an image.

Figure 21-5. You can use the Crop tool to remove any irrelevant details surrounding the subject of your photo.

Figure 21-6. Sharpening an image can give it a professional finish by adding definition.

Figure 21-7. The Colorify filter can be used to add a sepia-like effect to a picture.

Figure 21-8. The Glass Effects ® Lens Effect filter can be used to imitate a fish-eye lens.

Figure 21-9. The Artistic effects can be used to give images an oil painting effect.

Chapter 22: Making the Move to OpenOffice.org

Figure 22-1. All the OpenOffice.org components are fully compatible with Microsoft Office file formats.

Figure 22-2. Vital Microsoft fonts are just a download away via the YaST2 Online Update service.

Chapter 23: OpenOffice.org Overview

Figure 23-1. The OpenOffice.org interface

Figure 23-2. Adding a new function to the toolbar is very easy within OpenOffice.org.

Figure 23-3. OpenOffice.org's main configuration dialog box can be accessed by selecting Tools ® Options.

Figure 23-4. Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) lets you incorporate one OpenOffice.org document into another.

Figure 23-5. All the programs in the suite can export files in Adobe PDF format.

Chapter 24: In Depth: Writer

Figure 24-1. When you hover your mouse over an icon, a tooltip appears to explain what it does.

Figure 24-2. Writer includes many elements found in desktop publishing packages, such as the ability to create drop caps.

Figure 24-3. Any words you're going to use frequently, but which Writer doesn't recognize, can be added to your personal dictionary.

Figure 24-4. A picture can be "anchored" to the page, pa ragraph, or a character. This affects how it responds to the paragraphs surrounding it.

Figure 24-5. Just select the Insert Table icon on the Main toolbar and drag the mouse to define the size of the table; click when you're finished.

Figure 24-6. You can quickly create mail merge data within a spreadsheet. Just make sure you create data headings at the top.

Figure 24-7. The final mail merge stage is to create the personalized letters from the merged data.

Figure 24-8. Automatically updating data, such as page numbers, can be inserted into headers and footers.

Chapter 25: In Depth: Calc

Figure 25-1. You can automate the entering of data sequences by clicking and dragging.

Figure 25-2. Creating formulas is easy using the AutoPilot wizard.

Figure 25-3. Data can be sorted so that it's in alphabetical or numerical order.

Figure 25-4. Creating a chart is easy within Calc and adds a professional flourish to your spreadsheet.

Figure 25-5. Filters allow you to selectively hide or show rows of data in a spreadsheet.

Chapter 26: In Depth: Impress

Figure 26-1. The Impress AutoPilot guides you through the creation of a new presentation.

Figure 26-2. The Presentation floating palette lets you quickly and easily insert new slides.

Figure 26-3. A wide variety of animation effects is available for on-screen elements.

Figure 26-4. The Fontwork tool can help bring some special effects to your presentations.

Figure 26-5. You can apply textures to any object, basically meaning that pictures are wrapped around the item.

Figure 26-6. You can save any presentation as a Flash animation, which can be played back in a suitably equipped web browser.

Chapter 27: In Depth: Rekall

Figure 27-1. To avoid accidents, you can make Rekall confirm the deletion of more than one data record at any one time.

Figure 27-2. The first step is to let Rekall know where you want to store its own files.

Figure 27-3. The first step in making a table to hold your data is to create a primary key.

Figure 27-4. Add data columns for every piece of data you want to store in your database.

Figure 27-5. Add all the data columns to the field, with the exception of the Primary Key.

Figure 27-6. Enter the name of the data column you created under the Control Name and Display Expression headings.

Chapter 28: Running Microsoft Office under SUSE Linux

Figure 28-1. To get Windows programs working under Wine, some configuration is necessary.

Figure 28-2. It's entirely possible to run Microsoft Office programs under SUSE Linux using Wine.

Figure 28-3. Although it often takes a bit of effort, virtually any Windows application can be made to run under SUSE Linux.

Chapter 29: Installing Software

Figure 29-1. The SUSE installation DVD is packed with prepackaged programs from SUSE.

Figure 29-2. You can search for programs on the DVD-ROM using the YaST2 program.

Figure 29-3. You may want to add the main SUSE FTP site as an installation source if you won't always have the DVD on-hand.

Figure 29-4. If you try to remove a program that other programs need, YaST2 will offer various solutions.

Figure 29-5. Installing programs at the command prompt can be done via YaST.

Figure 29-6. The rpm command offers all the power you need to install software on SUSE Linux.

Figure 29-7. When tracking down library dependencies, a good search engine like Google helps enormously.

Figure 29-8. To compile software, you'll need the C++ package set, as well as development versions of various software.

Figure 29-9. The ./configure command will test your system for compatibility, so keep an eye on the output.

Chapter 30: Managing Users

Figure 30-1. Creating new users is easily done via the central YaST2 configuration program.

Figure 30-2. Ordinary users can change their own passwords, but there are rules on size and style.

Figure 30-3. The sudo command can give ordinary users root powers, but it must first be set up correctly.

Chapter 31: Optimizing Your System

Figure 31-1. Reducing the boot menu delay can speed up the time taken to start your system.

Figure 31-2. Removing services makes for a speedier bootup, but remove only those that you're sure you can do without!

Figure 31-3. Benchmarking your hard disk will let you see the results of any tweaks you make later.

Figure 31-4. The prelink program is able to shorten the time taken to start your applications.

Figure 31-5. By downloading and installing the kernel source, you can build your own optimized kernel.

Figure 31-6. SUSE provides a graphical configuration tool that lets you choose which kernel options you want to include.

Figure 31-7. Adding a boot menu entry for your old kernel will let you boot back into SUSE Linux if your new kernel doesn't work.

Chapter 32: Backing Up Data

Figure 32-1. Most of the configuration files for programs are hidden—literally—in your /home/ folder.

Figure 32-2. The System Backup tool works on the basis of exclusion, so you must identify directories you don't want backed up.

Figure 32-3. Konserve is a simple but useful tool that you can use to back up personal data in your /home/ directory.

Chapter 33: Scheduling Tasks

Figure 33-1. Editing crontab lets you schedule tasks using the vi text editor.

Chapter 34: Accessing Linux Remotely

Figure 34-1. When logging in via ssh for the first time, you'll need to confirm acceptance of the encryption key.

Figure 34-2. You can run GUI programs on a remote machine across an ssh connection.

Figure 34-3. Before inviting others to make a remote desktop connection, the service must be activated within YaST2.

Figure 34-4. Before the remote user can connect, you'll need to agree to that user having access.