Red Hat Linux Networking , System Administration (P6) ppt

Table 5-1 Performing Tasks Using Nautilus Move an item Click item and drag it to desired location.. Rename item Right-click and choose Rename from the contextual menu.. Move to trash Rig

Figure 5-9 The Edit Bookmarks dialog box.

2 Select the bookmark from the list on the left side of the dialog box

3 Change the name and location as desired If you enter a different tion, you can click Jump to to immediately go to that location

loca-4 Click Close to finish editing the bookmark

Deleting Bookmarks

To delete a bookmark:

1 Choose Bookmarks ➪ Edit Bookmarks from the menu bar The EditBookmarks dialog box opens

2 Select the bookmark that you want to remove

3 Click the Remove button

4 Click the Close button to close the dialog box

Managing Your Files and Folders

You can take many actions when managing your file system with Nautilus.Table 5-1 briefly explains the action that you want to perform and how youshould do it

Table 5-1 Performing Tasks Using Nautilus

Move an item Click item and drag it to desired location.

Copy an item Click item and hold Ctrl while dragging item.

Link to an item Click item and press Ctrl+Shift while dragging.

ACTION METHOD

Select single item Click item.

Select contiguous In icon view, click and drag box around items In list view, items press Shift; click the first item, and then click the last.

Select multiple items Press Ctrl; click desired items.

Select all items Choose Edit ➪ Select All Files from menu bar.

Create folder Right-click and choose Create Folder from contextual menu.

Rename item Right-click and choose Rename from the contextual menu.

Move to trash Right-click and choose Move to Trash from the contextual

menu.

Delete item Right-click and choose Move to Trash.

Change permissions Right-click, choose Properties, and click the Permissions tab.

Display trash Right-click the Trash icon and choose Open from the

contextual menu.

Restore trashed item Open Trash folder and drag item to desired location.

Empty trash Right-click the Trash icon and choose Empty Trash.

Add emblem Right-click, choose Properties, click the Emblems tab, and

choose desired emblem.

Change single icon Right-click, choose Properties, click Select Custom Icon,

and choose desired icon.

Change item size Choose Zoom In or Zoom Out from toolbar.

Customizing the Nautilus File Manager

A very nice feature of Nautilus is that you can configure it to make it work theway you want it to You can change many preferences; in this section, I tell youabout them and how to change them

Editing File Manager Preferences

To open the Nautilus File Management Preferences dialog box, choose Edit ➪Preferences from the menu bar in a Nautilus window The dialog box shown inFigure 5-10 appears

Figure 5-10 The Nautilus Preferences dialog box.

On this dialog box are five tabbed pages:

■■ Views— Preferences on this tab give you options for setting the defaultview parameters for Nautilus, such as icon view, sort order, and show-ing hidden files

■■ Behavior— Preferences on this tab are concerned with the way tilus handles executable files and trash You can also choose betweensingle- and double-clicking here

Nau-■■ Display— This tab lets you decide what information you want played with your icons, such as size, date created, date modified, anddate format

dis-■■ List Columns— The settings on this tab let you choose what tion is displayed as well as its order, when you choose list view

informa-■■ Preview— The settings on this tab determine how your files are played in their folders For example, you can decide here whether youwant thumbnail views of graphic files

dis-T I P You can change many preferences to alter the appearance and performance of Nautilus You have seen only a few of them, so experiment with them to see for yourself what they do.

Changing the File Manager Background and Icon Emblems

Another nice feature of Nautilus is the ability to display colors and patterns inthe File Manager window For example, I like to change the background colorfor my home directory to light blue That way, I can tell immediately when I’m

in my home directory when I see the blue background You can also assign

emblems to icons Emblems are small graphics that are used to make your icons

more meaningful You can easily change the colors and patterns or addemblems by doing the following:

1 Choose Edit ➪ Backgrounds and Emblems from the Nautilus menubar to open the Backgrounds and Emblems dialog box, as shown in Figure 5-11

2 Click the Patterns, the Colors, or the Emblems button on the left side ofthe dialog box

3 Click and drag the pattern, color, or emblem from the right side of thedialog box to where you want to place it You can drag a color or pat-tern to the large, right pane of the File Manager window to change thecolor or pattern You can drag an emblem to an icon to attach it to theicon Click close when you are finished

T I P You can also drag the patterns or colors directly to the desktop and drop them there Your desktop will change to reflect your new color or pattern.

Figure 5-11 The Background and Emblems dialog box.

Showing and Hiding Views

You can decide what you want to view and what you don’t in your File ager You can view or hide the side pane, the status bar, the toolbar, and thelocation bar by clicking the appropriate item from the View menu on the menubar These items are toggled items If the item is checked, it is available forviewing; if not checked, it is not available Clicking the item toggles it on or off

1 Choose Applications ➪ Preferences ➪ Screensaver in Enterprise Linux

or Desktop ➪ Preferences ➪ Screensaver in Fedora Core The saver Preferences dialog box, as shown in Figure 5-12, opens

Screen-2 Choose the mode for the screensaver by making your choice from thedrop-down list

3 Select the image or images that you want for your screensaver by ing the check box in front of your choice

select-4 Pick the times that you want to use

Figure 5-12 Configure the screensaver here.

T I P Also be sure to look at the Advanced tab to see whether you want to change any items there Items on the Advanced tab include image manipulation, display power managements, color map, and diagnostic settings.

5 When you finish making choices, test your screensaver by clicking thePreview button

T I P Don’t forget to have a look at the settings for the screensavers that you chose (Click the Settings button to see them.) In many cases, you can create some interesting effects by changing the settings For example, you can change the speed of the screensaver or the number of colors displayed.

6 Click the Close button when you’re finished Your new screensaver isenabled

Logging Out

After you finish working in GNOME, you should log out before leaving the

PC Logging out is always a good idea to prevent anyone from using your tem You can log out of GNOME as follows:

sys-1 Choose Actions ➪ Log Out in Enterprise Linux or Desktop ➪ Log Out

in Fedora Core

2 From the Log Out dialog box, you can choose to log out, restart the tem, or shut down the system by selecting the radio button in front ofyour choice

sys-3 After making your choice, click OK to execute it

Taking a Look at KDE

The default desktop in Fedora Core and Enterprise Linux is GNOME, butanother desktop — KDE — is available if you want to give it a try If you want

to use it, you’ll have to make sure that it is installed on your system because thedefault installation of Fedora Core and Enterprise Linux does not install KDE

In this section, we give you a brief overview of KDE just to make you aware

of it and perhaps tempt you to try it We will briefly explain the KDE desktop,show you the Applications menu where you can find some applications to try,and tell you about the Konqueror File Manager After that, you are on yourown to explore if you like

You can check whether KDE is installed from the graphical login screen.Click Session (refer to Figure 5-1) and select KDE from the choices If KDE isnot a choice, it isn’t installed — but you can easily install it by using the Pack-age Management tool.

After selecting KDE for your session, enter your username and password tologin You will see the KDE desktop, as shown in Figure 5-13

The KDE desktop has an appearance similar to other well-known desktopenvironments such as GNOME or MS Windows or Mac OS X If you can usethese desktops, you will easily master KDE in a short time Notice that theKDE desktop has a rather clean appearance with little desktop clutter — justone icon at the top and a panel at the bottom A description of the KDE desk-top is in order here

At the bottom of the desktop is a gray, horizontal bar This area of the

desk-top is the panel and is similar to the taskbar in Windows On the far left of the

panel is the Applications icon, indicated by the Red Hat icon To the right ofApplications are icons representing programs that were installed during thesystem installation You can start any of these programs by clicking them fromthe panel Just move your mouse over any icon, and a contextual menuappears with a description of the program represented by the icon

Figure 5-13 The KDE desktop after logging in.

To the right of the program icons on the panel is a square gray area — theWorkspace Switcher — that is divided into four sections When you first log in

to KDE, the leftmost section of Workspace Switcher should be white, ing that you are in workspace one You can switch between four workspaces inKDE, so you actually get four distinct desktops that you can use You can opendifferent programs on the different desktops and switch between them byclicking the Workspace Switcher for the desktop that you want to see Opensome programs on the various desktops and then try clicking each of the foursquares to see the effect of changing to a different workspace

indicat-On the far right of the panel is a display of the current date and time Theopen area on the panel between the Workspace Switcher and the date and timedisplay is used to show any programs that you’re running on your desktop.You can switch between programs running on a single desktop by clicking theprogram name from the bottom panel Also shown in this area are icons that

you can add to the panel as well as applets Applets are applications that

pro-vide some type of useful information or entertainment

Managing Applets

The icons on the bottom panel are small programs called applets that have avariety of uses For example, there is a weather applet that you can place onthe panel to give you weather forecasts for any area you desire In addition tothe applets that are already on the panel, you can add your own You also canmove applets that are already there or delete them to make more room

To add applets to the panel, do the following:

1 Right-click an empty area of the panel

2 Choose Add to Panel from the contextual menu

3 Choose the application that you want to add

4 Click Add to add it to the panel

To move applets to another location on the panel:

1 Right-click the applet that you want to move

2 Click Move from the contextual menu

3 Drag the applet to the desired location

4 Click to release the applet to its new location

To remove an applet from the panel:

1 Right-click the applet that you want to remove

2 Choose Remove from Panel from the contextual menu

To modify the properties of an applet (or the panel):

1 Right-click the applet (or an empty area of the panel)

2 Choose Properties from the contextual menu

3 Change the parameters in the Properties dialog box

T I P Right-clicking the panel or any applets on it presents a contextual menu, which gives you access to Help and some useful utilities for panel configuration Contextual menus are different depending on the type of applet that you’re selecting.

Choosing Applications from the Applications Menu

The Applications menu, represented by the Red Hat icon, is on the far-left ner of the bottom panel The Applications button gives you access to a largenumber of applications Click the Red Hat icon to open the Applications menu,and you see a menu, as shown in Figure 5-14, listing the many categories ofapplications from which you can choose

cor-Figure 5-14 The Applications menu on the KDE desktop.

Notice that many of the categories contain a right-pointing arrow Movingyour cursor over categories with a right-pointing arrow opens additionalmenus from which you can choose even more applications in that category.There are probably more than 100 applications from which you can choose,many more than I can describe in this book However, I do provide a briefdescription of the main category of applications here so you can have someidea what they do Begin by starting at the bottom of the menu and work yourway toward the top.

T I P Your Applications menu might not be exactly as described in this section, depending on the type of Fedora Core installation or version of Enterprise Linux you have installed.

■■ Logout— This menu item gives you a quick way to get to yourdesktop It is really useful when you have several windows open andwant to go to the desktop without having to close the open windows

Choosing Logout opens a dialog box giving you the option to log out

or cancel Select the radio button of your choice and then click OK

■■ Lock Session— This menu option starts your system screensaver andlocks your desktop Move your mouse or press a key to open a dialogbox that lets you enter your password to unlock the desktop

■■ Run Command— This menu item opens a dialog box where you canenter the name of a program that you want to run

■■ Home— This menu item is a link to the user’s home directory

■■ Help— This menu item opens the Help browser You can get help onusing KDE by choosing this item

■■ Control Center— The Control Center is used for making configurationchanges to the KDE desktop

■■ System Tools— This menu choice gives you access to many EnterpriseLinux system administration utilities Tools for configuring your net-work and printers are located here

■■ System Settings— This menu item contains Enterprise Linux systemadministration utilities and some KDE configuration utilities as well

Some of the tools here can be used to configure your Web server as well

as other servers

■■ Sound & Video— Choosing this item gives you access to programsand utilities related to system sound and video For example, if youwant to adjust the system volume, use the utility here

■■ Programming— This menu item gives you access to some programsthat can be used for debugging programs.

■■ Preferences— This menu choice opens the System Preferences dow Most of the GNOME settings can be modified with this menuchoice Selecting this from the menu is the same as double-clicking theComputer icon on the desktop

win-■■ Office— This menu choice gives you access to the OpenOffice.orgoffice suite The OpenOffice suite contains word processing, spread-sheet, and presentation software, and much more You can also startseveral of the OpenOffice applications by clicking the icons on the leftside of the panel

■■ Internet— Here you will find applications related to the Internet Forexample, the Web browsers and FTP program are located here

■■ Graphics— This menu choice contains graphical programs Here youfind image viewing and editing applications

■■ Accessories— Here you can find applications that don’t fit well intothe other categories, like the calculator, as well as some text editors

Using the Konqueror File Manager

The Konqueror File Manager is a graphical shell for KDE You can use queror not only to manage the files and directories on your system but also as

Kon-a Web browser to Kon-access the Internet

To start the Konqueror File Manager, shown in Figure 5-15, select Homefrom the Applications menu

A brief explanation of the items on the Konqueror File Manager window is

in order:

■■ Menu bar— At the top of the window is the menu bar, similar to menubars from other programs From the menu bar, you can access tools toperform various actions

■■ Toolbar— Below the menu bar is the toolbar The toolbar holds buttonsthat you can use to perform the action indicated by the button, such asback, forward, or reload The toolbar also has a zoom-in and a zoom-out button (magnifying glass icons) with which you can change the size

of items Finally, the toolbar contains icons that let you choose how youwant to view the items in the folder

Figure 5-15 The Konqueror File Manager window.

■■ Location bar— The location bar contains a text field where you canenter a file, folder, or URL to go to

■■ Window panes— Beneath the location bar, the Konqueror window isdivided into two panes The left, smaller pane shows information aboutthe icon selected from the far left side of the File Manager window

Moving your mouse over an icon displays information about the icon

Clicking an item from the list in the left pane displays items in thelarger, right pane If you choose the Root Folder icon, you can see yourentire file system tree in the left pane

The larger, right pane displays the contents of the files or directories that

you’re viewing Note: All directories appear as folders in Konqueror You

can view the contents of folders as either a list or as icons by choosingfrom the View As icons (in the toolbar) You can also access Web or FTPsites by entering the URL into the location text field

■■ Status bar— At the bottom of the Konqueror window is the status bar,which displays status information about the files or folders that you areviewing

Logging Out of KDE

After you finish working in KDE, you should log out before leaving the PC.Logging out is always a good idea to prevent anyone from using your system.You can log out of KDE as follows:

1 Choose Applications ➪ Log Out

2 From the Log Out dialog box, you can choose to log out or cancel toreturn to the desktop

3 After making your choice, click OK to execute your choice

Summary

In this chapter you took the express tour of the two most common desktopsprovided with Fedora Core and Enterprise Linux The GNOME desktop is thedefault desktop that is installed when the system is installed GNOME is verypowerful, and you can use it as is or configure it to your liking as you saw insome of the examples in this chapter The KDE desktop is not installed bydefault but can be selected to be installed during system installation, or afterthe system is already installed KDE is also a very powerful graphical envi-ronment as you saw from some of the examples in this chapter

System Startup and Shutdown

IN THIS CHAPTER

■■ Examining the Boot Process

■■ Exploring Runlevels

■■ Starting Programs at System Boot

■■ Shutting Down the System

■■ Changing the GRUB Configuration

All Red Hat systems, whether Fedora Core or Enterprise Linux, use a similarprocedure for starting up the operating system As the system boots, the oper-ating system loads programs in an orderly fashion You are able to makechanges to the programs that load and their configurations after the systemhas booted The changes you make will then affect the boot process the nexttime and all subsequent times that your system boots

The process of shutting down the system also follows a consistent, orderlymethod that you can customize as you desire For a clear understanding ofhow your system works, it is good to know the methodology behind theorderly process of bringing your system up as well as shutting it down Byknowing this process in depth, you can make any desired changes to the con-figuration files and gain total control over the functionality of your system.You will also be able to easily find problems that may be keeping your systemfrom booting properly and quickly correct them This chapter gives you thedetails about what happens when your start and shut down your system

C H A P T E R

6

Examining the Boot Process

There are some basic steps that all systems must perform to boot When youturn on your PC, it runs a program called the basic input/output system(BIOS) The BIOS is the only way to communicate with the system componentsuntil the operating system is up and running and able to take over systemmanagement functions Unlike the operating system, which is installed on auser-writable disk, such as a floppy, CD-ROM, or hard drive, the system BIOS

is typically installed on a read-only memory (ROM) chip physically attached

to the system board This ROM chip is a type of chip usually referred to as anelectronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) chip,meaning that it is not normally writable by the end user It is possible torewrite an EEPROM BIOS chip, but this requires a program from the chipmanufacturer and is not a process that should be taken lightly as any errorshere could make your system totally unusable

After the BIOS loads, it performs some diagnostics on the hardware, checksthe installed components to be sure they are functioning, and checks the sys-tem RAM Next, the BIOS tries to find a system drive from which it can loadthe boot program to begin the process of starting the operating system Youcan specify the search order for the drives by changing the settings in the sys-tem BIOS configuration, which you can typically access by entering some keycombination while the system is performing its power-on self test (POST) Ifyou don’t make any changes to the BIOS configuration, most systems bydefault will look for a bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM before moving on tothe system hard drives Usually the first hard drive that boots is the masterIDE device of the primary IDE bus, but you can also change this setting in theBIOS if you desire The first sector of the drive has an area called the MasterBoot Record (MBR), which holds the program that is used to begin the actualloading of the operating system As soon as the BIOS finds the MBR, it gives

up control of the boot process In the case of Fedora Core and Enterprise Linux,

a program called a boot loader begins the loading of the operating system The

boot loader program used is called the Grand Unified Boot loader, or GRUB In

the next section you take a closer look at GRUB and how it works

The Boot Loader

The GRUB program used by Fedora Core and Enterprise Linux uses a step process to begin loading the operating system These two steps are typi-cally referred to as stages one and two In stage one, a program on the MBR isused to find the second stage program that will begin the process of loadingthe operating system into system memory GRUB uses a configuration file