Running Linux

Matt Welsh is a computer scientist with research interests spanning many aspects of complex systems, including operating systems design, distributed systems, networking, and parallel computing. Matt is a long-time Linux advocate and developer, a role in which he has fielded questions from thousands of Linux users over the years. He was the original coordinator of the Linux Documentation Project and author of the original Linux Installation and Getting Started guide. He completed his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley and is currently a researcher at Intel Research Labs in Berkeley, and will be joining the faculty of the Computer Science department at Harvard University in July 2003.Matthias Kalle Dalheimer is an independent author, translator, and software consultant in Northern Germany. After studying computer science and general linguistics, he worked for Star Division, where he was responsible for porting the office suite StarOfficeTM to Linux. Kalle mainly uses Linux for his development work and uses XEmacs 20.4 for most of his programming and writing tasks. In his spare time, he helps write the K Desktop Environment, a free desktop for Unix systems. Terry Dawson is an amateur radio operator and long time Linux enthusiast. He is the author of a number of network related HOWTO documents for the Linux Documentation Project, co-author the 2nd edition of O'Reilly's Linux Network Administrators Guide and is an active participant in a number of other Linux projects. Terry has 15 years professional experience in telecommunications and is currently engaged in network management research in the Telstra Research Laboratories. Lar Kaufman is a documentation consultant living in Concord, Massachusetts. He began writing about UNIX in 1983 and since then has written on System V, BSD, Mach, OSF/1, and now Linux. His hobbies include interactive media as art/literature, homebuilt and antique aircraft (he's a licensed aircraft mechanic), and natural history. Formerly a BBS operator, in 1987 Lar founded the Fidonet echoes (newsgroups) Bi sphere and BioNews. He is currently leading a project to establish a global biological conservation network, using a Linux host as the mail, news, and file server.

Preface; How to Contact Us; 1. Introduction to Linux; About This Book; A Brief History of Linux; Who's Using Linux?; System Features; Software Features; About Linux's Copyright; Open Source and the Philosophy of Linux; Sources of Linux Information; Getting Help; 2. Preparing to Install Linux; Distributions of Linux; Preparing to Install Linux; 3. Installation and Initial Configuration; Installing the Linux Software; Post-Installation Procedures; Running into Trouble; 4. Basic Unix Commands and Concepts; Logging In; Setting a Password; Virtual Consoles; Popular Commands; Shells; Useful Keys and How to Get Them to Work; Typing Shortcuts; Filename Expansion; Saving Your Output; What Is a Command?; Putting a Command in the Background; Manual Pages; File Ownership and Permissions; Changing the Owner, Group, and Permissions; Startup Files; Important Directories; Programs That Serve You; Processes; 5. Essential System Management; Maintaining the System; Booting the System; System Startup and Initialization; Single-User Mode; Shutting Down the System; The /proc Filesystem; Managing User Accounts; 6. Managing Filesystems, Swap Space, and Devices; Managing Filesystems; Managing Swap Space Device Files; 7. Upgrading Software and the Kernel; Archive and Compression Utilities; Upgrading Software; General Upgrade Procedure; Building a New Kernel; Loadable Device; Drivers; Loading Modules Automatically; 8. Other Administrative Tasks; Making Backups; Scheduling Jobs Using cron; Managing System Logs; Managing Print Services; Setting Terminal Attributes; What to Do in an Emergency; 9. Editors, Text Tools, Graphics, and Printing; Editing Files Using vi; The Emacs Editor Text and Document Processing; Graphics Configuring and Using Linux; Audio Printing; 10. Installing the X Window System; X Concepts; Hardware Requirements; Installing XFree86; Configuring XFree86; Running XFree86; Running into Trouble; 11. Customizing Your X Environment; Basics of X Customization; The K Desktop Environment; KDE Applications; The GNOME Desktop Environment; GNOME Applications; Other X Applications; 12. Windows Compatibility and Samba; Sharing Disks with MTools; Sharing Partitions; Running MS-DOS and Windows Applications on Linux; 13. Programming Languages; Programming with gcc; Makefiles Shell Programming Using Perl Java; Other Languages; 14. Tools for Programmers Debugging with gdb Programming Tools Integrated Development Environments; 15. TCP/IP and PPP; Networking with TCP/IP; Dial-up PPP PPP over ISDN; ADSL NFS and NIS configuration; 16. The World Wide Web and Electronic Mail; The World Wide Web Electronic Mail; 17. Basic Security; A Perspective on System Security; Initial Steps in Setting Up a Secure System; TCP Wrapper Configuration; Firewalls - Filtering IP Packets; 18. LAMP MySQL PHP The LAMP Server in Action; A. Sources of Linux Information; B. Installing Linux on Digital/Compaq Alpha Systems; Bibliography; Index