Chapter 2: Fedora 2 Basics

Overview

Now that you have successfully installed Fedora Core 2 on your machine, it is time to familiarize yourself with your new operating system. With Fedora, Red Hat, Inc., has introduced a more aesthetically pleasing interface with improved usability over earlier Red Hat Linux versions. Rather than expose all possible tools available for all tasks , the approach seems to be to expose the best tool for a certain function.

The result is an operating system in which applications are neatly organized according to their function, with a centrally manageable configuration and a uniform interface across all applications that are part of the distribution.

Despite the intuitive nature of the desktop, newcomers to Fedora, specifically Microsoft Windows users, must be aware of several concepts before they can use the desktop effortlessly and customize it to their needs. This chapter quickly familiarizes you with the most frequently used components of the desktop. Many of the concepts covered briefly in this chapter are explained in greater depth in later chapters.

This chapter equips you with the tools and know-how to do the following:

• Navigate throughout the desktop and access the various applications that you require for your day-to-day activities

• Navigate through files and directories (folders) using either a graphical user interface (GUI) or a command line interface (CLI)

• Examine and adjust the hardware and system configuration of your installation

• Manage the various processes running on your system

• Manage the users on your system