THE HOBBY OF THE KLIMAS FAMILY

ALWAYS UNDER DEVELOPMENT

LINUX NEWBIE ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE LNAG
by Stan, Peter, Marie, and Barbara Klimas

Easy Answers to the Questions Frequently Asked by the Beginner Users of Linux who Install Linux on their Home Computers or Administer their Home Network

Distributed under the General Public Licence http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html.  Your feedback, comments, corrections, and improvements are appreciated. Send them to bklimas@magma.ca
(Generated from the html version of the Linux Newbie Administrator Guide)


Introduction

  We (the Klimas family) are relative Linux newbies (with Linux since Summer 1998).  We run RedHat mostly -> the solutions might not be directly applicable to other Linux distributions (although most of them probably will).  Hope this helps, we try to be as practical as possible. Of course, we provide no warranty whatsoever!

Part 0: For the Undecided (Linux Benefits)
If you wonder what are Linux pros and cons, and whether Linux is for you.

Part 1: Before Linux Installation
What distribution should I use, how to obtain it,  Linux hardware requirements,  how to partition your hard drive, about dual boot, and how to login the very first time.

Part 2: Linux Resources, Help and Some Links
If you would like to know how to  access the Linux documentation, wonder if Linux has a help command, or wanted to visit some Linux-oriented newsgroups or websites.

Part 3: Basic Operations FAQ
After you installed Linux, here are answers to some questions that Linux newbie users/administrators may have when trying to perform every-day tasks: how to run a program, shut down your computer, set up the path, add users, work with file permissions, schedule jobs with "at" and cron, set up the swap space  ...

Part 4: Linux Newbie Administrator FAQ
More easy answers to questions that Linux newbie administrators frequently encounter: LILO issues, mounting drives, using X-windows, setting up network, ppp connection, printer, soundcard, remote access to your computer ...

Part 5: How to upgrade the kernel (by Alesh Mustar)
All you need to know to upgrade the Linux kernel.

Part 6: Linux Shortcuts and Commands
Maybe this should come first. A practical selection of Linux shortcuts and commands in tabular form. Perhaps this is everything what a newbie Linuxer really needs.

Part 7: Essential Linux applications (proprietary or not)
Essential and/or famous Linux applications are mentioned with some hint/comments (this is just started and will be expanded).

Acknowledgments

The master copy of this page: http://sunsite.auc.dk/linux-newbie/ (Denmark, Europe)
Mirror:  http://www.magma.ca/~bklimas/ (Ontario, Canada)
Mirror:  http://www.linsup.com/newbie/  (Australia)
A Russian translation (ver. 0.10 ):  http://www.college.balabanovo.ru/rider/book/ (Russia)
A Chinese translation of the "Linux Shortcuts and Commands" (ver. 0.32) is available here.

Penguin from Deep River, Ontario :-)
We are proud Canadians of Silesian background.