Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks: A Pain-Free, Project-Based, Get-Things-Done Guidebook

Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks......Page 1
Acknowledgments......Page 19
Introduction......Page 21
Who Is This Book For?......Page 22
Version Compatibility......Page 23
Concept and Approach......Page 24
About the Projects in This Book......Page 27
1: Becoming a Penguinista......Page 29
What Is Linux?......Page 30
Why Should I Use Linux?......Page 31
But Is Linux Really Ready for the Desktop?......Page 32
What Is Ubuntu?......Page 33
Why Ubuntu Then?......Page 34
When Research Is Required......Page 35
Hardware Requirements......Page 37
Speaking Ubuntu......Page 38
Where Do I Go from Here?......Page 39
2: Wading and Diving......Page 41
Going in for a Dip......Page 42
Single- or Dual-Boot Setup?......Page 43
Usernames and User Passwords......Page 44
Doing the Deed......Page 45
3: A New Place to Call Home......Page 51
The Top Panel......Page 52
The Menus......Page 53
The Bottom Panel......Page 54
3A-1: Adding Utility Buttons to the Panel......Page 55
3A-2: Adding Amusing Applets to the Panel......Page 56
3A-3: Adding a Program Launcher to the Panel......Page 57
3A-4: Changing Panel Launcher Icons......Page 58
3A-5: Adding a Drawer to the Panel......Page 59
3A-6: Adding Program Launchers to the Drawer......Page 60
3A-8: Moving Things Around on the Panel......Page 61
3B-1: Changing Icons Within Menus......Page 62
Virtual Desktops......Page 64
Moving Running Applications Between Virtual Desktops......Page 65
Wanda Revisited-GNOME Easter Eggs......Page 66
Shutting Down......Page 67
4: More Than Webbed Feet......Page 69
Setting Up a Cable or Ethernet Connection for Providers Not Utilizing DHCP......Page 70
Hardware......Page 72
Activating Your Wireless Card......Page 73
Releasing and Renewing Your Wireless Connection......Page 74
Setting Up a Dial-Up Connection......Page 75
What to Do if Your Modem Isn’t Compatible......Page 76
Controlling Browser Window Clutter with Tabs......Page 78
Other Firefox Features: Popup Manager......Page 79
4A-1: Downloading and Installing the Forecastfox Extension......Page 80
Project 4B: Installing the Flash Plugin......Page 82
Email with Evolution......Page 84
An Email Alternative: Thunderbird......Page 85
Other Internet Applications......Page 86
5: Rounding Out the Bird......Page 87
Project 5A: Installing Applications via Synaptic......Page 88
5A-1: Adding APT Repositories via Synaptic......Page 89
Adding New Repositories to Synaptic......Page 90
5A-2: Installing Monkey Bubble......Page 91
Removing Applications via Synaptic......Page 92
Project 5B: Installing Applications via GNOME App Install......Page 93
5B-1: Selecting Applications for Installation......Page 94
5B-2: Downloading and Installing Selected Applications......Page 95
Performing System Upgrades via the System Update Panel Applet......Page 96
If an Update Ruins Your Day . . . or System......Page 97
6: A Tidy Nest......Page 99
The Side Pane......Page 100
Creating, Naming, and Renaming Folders......Page 102
Tabbed Browsing in Nautilus......Page 103
Bookmarks Within Nautilus......Page 104
What’s in All Those Other Folders?......Page 105
Using Nautilus as a Network Browser......Page 106
File and Folder Permissions Within Nautilus......Page 108
Burning Data CDs and DVDs......Page 111
Dealing with CD-RW Disks......Page 113
Duplicating Data CDs......Page 114
Burning Subsequent Sessions......Page 115
USB Storage Devices......Page 116
Putting USB Storage Devices to Work......Page 117
Project 6: Creating and Extracting Compressed Files......Page 118
7: Dressing Up the Bird......Page 121
Project 7A: Creating a New User Account......Page 122
Logging In to Your New Account......Page 124
7B-1: Creating Folders......Page 126
7B-2: Adding Emblems to Folders......Page 127
7B-3: Setting Window Backgrounds (and Emblems Again)......Page 128
7B-4: Dolling Up the Side Pane (and Emblems Yet Again)......Page 129
7B-5: Changing the Desktop Background......Page 130
7B-6: Downloading and Installing the Art Manager (GNOME Art)......Page 132
7B-7: Changing Window Borders, Controls, and Icon Sets......Page 133
7B-8: Installing Additional Window Borders, Controls, and Icons......Page 135
Project 7C: Placing Home and Trash Icons on the Desktop......Page 137
7D-2: Installing Your New Login Manager Theme......Page 138
7E-2: Installing New Splash Screens......Page 140
Choosing a Screensaver......Page 141
Project 7F: Wrapping Things Up-Installing and Applying Firefox Themes......Page 142
8: Simple Kitten Ways......Page 145
Meet the Terminal......Page 147
Some Goofy, Yet Useful, Fun with the Command Terminal......Page 148
$ finger......Page 149
$ pwd......Page 150
$ ls......Page 151
$ locate......Page 152
$ mkdir......Page 153
$ cp......Page 154
$ rmdir......Page 155
$ chmod......Page 156
$ apt-get......Page 157
$ ln......Page 158
$ tar......Page 159
Project 8A: Creating a Plan......Page 160
Project 8B: More Command Practice with pyWings......Page 161
8B-3: Extracting the pyWings Tarball......Page 163
8B-6: Creating a Launchable Link for pyWings......Page 164
8B-7: Running pyWings Again......Page 165
Project 8C: Command Practice Review with Briscola......Page 166
8C-3: Preparing the Briscola Script......Page 167
8C-5: Creating a Launchable Link for Briscola......Page 168
Playing Briscola......Page 169
Customizing the Terminal......Page 170
Tabbed Shell Sessions in the Terminal......Page 172
9: Automatix and Not So Automatix......Page 173
9A-2: Running Automatix......Page 174
9A-3: Installing Software with Automatix: Skype......Page 176
Project 9B: Converting RPMs to DEB Packages Using Alien......Page 177
9B-2: Getting the TuxCards RPM......Page 178
Compiling Programs from Source......Page 179
What Is Source?......Page 180
Installing the Tools You Need......Page 181
Project 9C: Compiling and Installing Xmahjongg......Page 182
9C-1: Downloading and Extracting the Xmahjongg Files......Page 183
9C-2: Running configure and make for Xmahjongg......Page 184
9C-3: Installing Xmahjongg......Page 185
9C-4: Running Xmahjongg......Page 186
9D-1: Installing the Java Runtime Environment......Page 187
9D-3: Running Risk......Page 188
Running Windows Applications with Wine......Page 189
Installing and Checking Out Wine......Page 190
Installing a Windows Application in Wine......Page 191
Installing Microsoft Internet Explorer......Page 192
10: Gutenbird......Page 195
Setting Up Your Printer......Page 196
For the Driverless Among You......Page 199
Printing Details......Page 200
Project 10: Creating a Virtual PDF Printer......Page 201
10-2: Setting Up Your Virtual PDF Printer......Page 202
Canceling a Print Job......Page 203
Scanners......Page 204
Scanning with XSane......Page 205
Why Are My Scanned Images So Big?......Page 206
11: Font Feathered Frenzy......Page 209
11A-2: Installing the Fonts......Page 211
11A-3: An Alternative Approach to Installing Fonts Locally......Page 212
11B-1: Installing Individual Fonts Globally......Page 213
11B-3: Uninstalling Globally Installed Fonts......Page 214
Project 11D: Installing Microsoft Core Fonts from Your Windows Partition (for Dual-Booters)......Page 215
11D-2: Mounting Your Windows Partition......Page 216
11D-3: Installing Fonts from Your Windows Partition......Page 217
Customizing Your System Fonts......Page 218
Creating Your Own Fonts with FontForge......Page 219
Downloading, Installing, and Running FontForge......Page 220
12: Polyglot Penguins......Page 221
Typing Nonstandard Characters......Page 222
Using the Compose Key Option......Page 223
Using the Keyboard Indicator......Page 224
Viewing Your System in Another Language......Page 225
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Input......Page 226
Japanese......Page 227
Project 12: Installing Asian Language Input Support for SCIM......Page 228
12-2: Typing in Asian Languages with SCIM......Page 229
12-3: Installing Additional Input Methods......Page 230
13: Penguins Back at Work......Page 231
OpenOffice.org Applications......Page 232
Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org File Compatibility......Page 235
Getting to Know the Buttons......Page 236
Word Processing Done Lightly with AbiWord......Page 240
Sticky Notes......Page 241
Tomboy......Page 242
Scribus......Page 243
Project 14A: Digital Cameras......Page 245
14A-1: Connecting Your Camera and Starting the Import Process......Page 246
14A-2: Setting Up and Cleaning Up Before Importing the Images......Page 247
Viewing Your Images with gThumb......Page 248
Project 14B: Creating Web Albums with gThumb......Page 249
14B-3: Copying Images and Page Layout Options......Page 250
14B-6: Creating and Viewing a Web Album......Page 251
14C-2: Adding the Newly Sized Image to the Emblem Collection......Page 253
Getting Arty with the GIMP......Page 254
Using the GIMP to Resize Images and Convert File Formats......Page 255
Dialogs......Page 256
XPaint......Page 257
Sodipodi......Page 258
14D-1: Downloading and Installing the Picasa Package......Page 259
14D-2: Running and Setting Up Picasa......Page 260
F-Spot Photo Manager......Page 261
QCad......Page 262
Tux Paint......Page 263
Audio File Formats......Page 265
Project 15A: Installing MP3 Support for Audio Apps......Page 266
Sound Juicer......Page 267
Rhythmbox......Page 269
Exaile-An amaroK-like Audio Player for GNOME......Page 274
Burning Audio CDs with Serpentine......Page 277
Project 15B: Listening to RealMedia Streams with RealPlayer......Page 278
Installing RealPlayer......Page 279
Going to Town with RealPlayer......Page 280
Other Audio Players......Page 281
Audacity......Page 284
16: Pluggin’ In the Penguin......Page 287
iPod Filesystem Formats......Page 288
Reformatting Your iPod......Page 289
(Not) Auto-Updating Your iPod......Page 290
Managing Your iPod’s Audio Files with Rhythmbox......Page 291
Managing Your iPod’s Audio Files in gtkpod......Page 292
Floola and YamiPod......Page 295
Setting Up Your System to Automatically Launch Floola, YamiPod, or gtkpod......Page 297
Photo Transfer with GPixPod......Page 298
Converting Audio File Formats......Page 299
Other MP3 Players......Page 300
Playing Video Streams with RealPlayer......Page 301
DVDs......Page 302
Can I Play Foreign DVDs?......Page 303
Switching Totems......Page 304
Making Things Look a Bit Better in Totem......Page 305
Totem as an Audio Player?......Page 306
Capturing and Editing Digital Video with Kino......Page 307
Other Video Apps......Page 310
18: Defending the Nest......Page 311
The First Line of Defense......Page 312
Software Firewalls......Page 314
ClamAV: Antivirus Software, Linux Style......Page 316
Using the ClamAV/ClamTk Duo......Page 317
18-2: Running and Using avast!......Page 318
Downloading and Burning Ubuntu Desktop CD ISOs to CD......Page 321
Burning the ISO to CD in Windows......Page 322
Burning the ISO to CD in OS X......Page 323
Ordering an Install Disk from Other Online Sources......Page 324
Forums......Page 325
Blogs......Page 326
Applications and Other Packages......Page 327
Books......Page 328
Ubuntu CDs......Page 329
Index......Page 331
Updates......Page 350
About the CD......Page 351
Back Cover......Page 353