Linux Mint Essentials

Cover......Page 1
Copyright......Page 3
Credits......Page 4
About the Author......Page 5
About the Reviewers......Page 6
www.PacktPub.com......Page 9
Table of Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 16
Chapter 1: Meet Linux Mint......Page 22
Why choose Linux?......Page 23
What is a distribution?......Page 24
Is Linux hard to learn?......Page 26
What Mint does differently......Page 28
Releases and support......Page 29
Mint-specific tools......Page 30
Interacting with the Linux Mint community......Page 31
Meet the community......Page 33
Summary......Page 34
Chapter 2: Creating Boot Media and Installing Linux Mint......Page 36
Which version to download......Page 37
The Linux Mint KDE edition......Page 38
The Linux Mint MATE edition......Page 39
The different methods of installing 
Linux Mint......Page 40
Activity – creating a bootable DVD......Page 41
Activity – creating a bootable USB 
flash drive......Page 42
Testing your live media......Page 44
Planning your partitioning scheme......Page 45
The installation process......Page 49
To encrypt or not to encrypt......Page 56
Summary......Page 57
Chapter 3: Getting Acquainted 
with Cinnamon......Page 58
Getting familiar with Cinnamon......Page 59
Logging in to Cinnamon......Page 60
Launching programs......Page 61
Monitoring tasks......Page 64
Utilizing workspaces......Page 66
Notifications......Page 67
Creating launchers......Page 69
Bundled applications......Page 70
File management with Nemo......Page 73
Configuring the settings of Cinnamon......Page 75
Activity – changing the default search engine in Firefox......Page 78
Activity – changing themes......Page 80
Summary......Page 84
Chapter 4: Introduction to the Terminal......Page 86
Why should we use the terminal?......Page 87
Accessing the shell......Page 88
Activity – executing commands......Page 90
Navigating the filesystem......Page 92
Managing files......Page 98
Activity – the nano text editor......Page 101
Reading manual pages with the man command......Page 102
Searching for files......Page 104
Using the watch command......Page 105
Activity – introduction to scripting......Page 107
Summary......Page 109
Chapter 5: Utilizing Storage and Media......Page 110
Accessing removable media......Page 111
Activity – formatting flash drives......Page 112
Mounting and unmounting volumes......Page 115
Automatically mounting volumes at 
boot time......Page 117
Activity – analyzing disk usage......Page 120
Understanding gibibytes versus gigabytes, and mebibytes versus megabytes......Page 122
Burning CDs and DVDs......Page 123
Using the USB Image Writer......Page 126
Understanding how Universally Unique Identifiers work......Page 127
Summary......Page 128
Chapter 6: Installing and 
Removing Software......Page 130
Using the Mint Software Manager......Page 131
Activity – installing new applications......Page 133
Frozen Bubble......Page 134
FileZilla......Page 135
Minitube......Page 136
Steam launcher......Page 137
Removing applications......Page 138
Using the Synaptic Package Manager......Page 139
Configuring software sources......Page 143
Advanced package management......Page 147
Keeping your system up to date......Page 148
Summary......Page 151
Chapter 7: Enjoying Multimedia on Mint......Page 152
Understanding issues concerning codecs......Page 153
Playing music files......Page 155
Activity – ripping an audio CD......Page 157
Editing MP3 tags......Page 160
Playing a DVD......Page 162
Viewing photos......Page 163
Editing photos with GIMP......Page 164
Accessing your webcam......Page 165
Recording your desktop......Page 166
Summary......Page 169
Chapter 8: Managing Users and Permissions......Page 170
Creating new users......Page 171
Changing passwords......Page 175
Revoking access temporarily......Page 177
Removing user accounts......Page 178
Running commands or programs as other users......Page 179
Administrative access via sudo and visudo......Page 180
Understanding file and directory permissions......Page 183
Modifying file and directory permissions......Page 188
Summary......Page 189
Chapter 9: Connecting to Networks......Page 190
Connecting to a wired network......Page 191
Setting up a static IP......Page 193
Connecting to a wireless network......Page 195
An introduction to SSH......Page 197
How to access your system via SSH......Page 198
Accessing FTP servers......Page 200
Sharing files with Samba......Page 204
Sharing files with NFS......Page 206
Summary......Page 208
Chapter 10: Securing Linux Mint......Page 210
Choosing secure passwords......Page 211
Encrypting your home folder......Page 212
Configuring and testing the iptables firewall......Page 214
Installing and configuring ClamAV......Page 217
Blocking access to specific websites......Page 220
Backing up and restoring important data......Page 221
Creating and restoring snapshots......Page 224
Hardening your system......Page 228
Summary......Page 230
Chapter 11: Advanced Administration Techniques......Page 232
Creating command aliases......Page 233
Making aliases persistent......Page 234
Killing processes......Page 236
Setting up cron jobs......Page 240
Preparing to move to a new release......Page 243
Exporting and importing package lists......Page 245
Using variables and conditional statements in Bash......Page 246
Monitoring resource usage......Page 249
Monitoring CPU temperatures......Page 250
Sending system reports via e-mail......Page 251
Summary......Page 254
Chapter 12: Troubleshooting Linux Mint......Page 256
Performing the initial triage......Page 257
Troubleshooting in Software Rendering Mode......Page 258
Diagnosing boot issues......Page 260
Recovering data......Page 262
Perusing system logs......Page 263
Reinstalling GRUB......Page 265
Testing the RAM......Page 267
Pinpointing audio issues......Page 270
Solving problems with networking......Page 273
Solving slow frame rates in games......Page 274
Getting help from the community......Page 275
Summary......Page 276
Appendix A: Reinstalling Mint While Retaining Data......Page 278
Why an upgrade utility isn't included......Page 279
Preparing for the migration......Page 280
Installing Linux Mint while retaining /home......Page 282
Importing a list of packages for reinstallation......Page 285
Summary......Page 287
Introducing MATE......Page 288
Understanding the differences between MATE and Cinnamon......Page 289
Launching applications......Page 293
Desktop background......Page 295
Panel applets......Page 296
Desktop themes......Page 297
Summary......Page 298
Appendix C: Using the KDE Edition 
of Linux Mint......Page 300
Understanding the KDE desktop......Page 301
Using Dolphin–KDE's file manager......Page 304
Adding Plasmoids to the desktop......Page 305
Discovering Mint KDE's default applications......Page 307
Utilizing Activities and Virtual Desktops......Page 309
Configuring network connections......Page 310
Summary......Page 312
Index......Page 314