Suse Linux 9.3 For Dummies- P1 ppsx

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by Naba Barkakati
SUSE Linux
®
9.3
FOR
DUMmIES
‰

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SUSE Linux
®
9.3
FOR
DUMmIES
‰

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by Naba Barkakati
SUSE Linux
®
9.3
FOR
DUMmIES
‰

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SUSE Linux
®
9.3 For Dummies
®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
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dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United
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ISBN-13: 978-07645-9615-5
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About the Author
Naba Barkakati is an electrical engineer and a successful computer-book
author who has experience in a wide variety of systems, ranging from
MS-DOS and Windows to UNIX and Linux. He bought his first personal
computer — an IBM PC-AT — in 1984 after graduating with a PhD in electrical

engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. While pursuing
a full-time career in engineering, Naba dreamed of writing software for the
emerging PC software market. As luck would have it, instead of building a
software empire like Microsoft, he ended up writing successful computer
books. Currently, Naba is a Senior Level Technologist at the Center for
Technology and Engineering in the U.S. Government Accountability
Office (GAO).
Over the past 16 years, Naba has written over 25 computer books on a
number of topics, ranging from object-oriented programming with C++ to
Linux. He has authored several best-selling titles, such as The Waite Group’s
Turbo C++ Bible, Object-Oriented Programming in C++, X Window System
Programming, Visual C++ Developer’s Guide, Borland C++ 4 Developer’s Guide,
and Linux Secrets. His books have been translated into many languages,
including Spanish, French, Polish, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and
Korean. Naba’s most recent book is Linux All-in-One Desk Reference For
Dummies, also published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Naba lives in North Potomac, Maryland, with his wife Leha, and their chil-
dren, Ivy, Emily, and Ashley.

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Dedication
I would like to dedicate this book to my wife Leha, and daughters Ivy, Emily,
and Ashley.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Terri Varveris for getting me started on this book — a For
Dummies guide about the up and coming SUSE Linux. As the project editor,
Linda Morris guided me through the manuscript-submission process and
kept everything moving. I appreciate the guidance and support that Terri and

Linda gave me during this project.
I would like to thank Susan Douglas for reviewing the manuscript for techni-
cal accuracy and providing many useful suggestions for improving the book’s
content.
Thanks to everyone at Wiley Publishing for transforming my raw manuscript
into this well-edited and beautifully packaged book.
Of course, there would be no reason for this book if it were not for Linux. For
this, we have Linus Torvalds and the legions of Linux developers around the
world to thank. Thanks to Christian Egle, Andreas Jaeger, and others at
Novell for providing beta copies of SUSE Linux and for the Special Edition
DVD that’s bundled with this book.
Finally, and as always, my greatest thanks go to my wife, Leha, and our
daughters, Ivy, Emily, and Ashley — it is their love and support that keeps me
going. Thanks for being there!

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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at
www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial,
and Media Development
Project Editor: Linda Morris
Acquisitions Editor: Terri Varveris
Copy Editor: Linda Morris
Technical Editor: Susan Douglas
Editorial Manager: Carol Sheehan
Media Development Manager:
Laura VanWinkle

Media Development Supervisor:
Richard Graves
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Foxworth
Cartoons: Rich Tennant,
www.the5thwave.com
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Shannon Kepshire
Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Andrea Dahl,
Lauren Goddard, Joyce Haughey,
Heather Ryan
Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Jessica Kramer,
Carl William Pierce, Charles Spencer,
TECHBOOKS Production Services
Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

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Contents at a Glance
Introduction 1
Part I: Getting to Know SUSE 7

Chapter 1: What Is SUSE Linux? 9
Chapter 2: Installing SUSE Linux 23
Chapter 3: Starting SUSE for the First Time 39
Chapter 4: Taking Stock of What’s in SUSE 55
Part II: Test Driving SUSE 63
Chapter 5: Exploring the SUSE Desktops 65
Chapter 6: Finding and Organizing Files 81
Chapter 7: I Want My Internet, Now! 105
Chapter 8: Setting Up an Ethernet LAN with Wireless Access 123
Part III: Doing Stuff with SUSE 139
Chapter 9: Browsing the Web 141
Chapter 10: E-Mailing and Instant Messaging in SUSE 155
Chapter 11: Reading Newsgroups 169
Chapter 12: Preparing Documents and Spreadsheets in SUSE Linux 183
Chapter 13: Doing Even More Office Stuff in SUSE Linux 205
Chapter 14: Playing Music and Burning CDs 217
Chapter 15: Working with Photos and Images 227
Chapter 16: What’s a Shell and Why Do I Care? 243
Part IV: Becoming a SUSE Wizard 253
Chapter 17: Look Ma, I’m a Sysadmin! 255
Chapter 18: Updating SUSE and Adding New Software 273
Chapter 19: Securing SUSE Linux 287
Part V: The Part of Tens 309
Chapter 20: Ten Frequently Asked Questions about SUSE 311
Chapter 21: The Ten Best Things about SUSE 321
Chapter 22: Ten Great Web Sites for SUSE Maniacs 327
Chapter 23: Ten Most Commonly Used SUSE Commands 331
Appendix: About the DVD-ROM 341
Index 345

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Table of Contents
Introduction 1
About This Book 2
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You Don’t Have to Read 3
Who Are You? 3
How This Book Is Organized 3
What’s on the DVD? 4
Icons Used in This Book 4
Where to Go from Here 5
Part I: Getting to Know SUSE 7
Chapter 1: What Is SUSE Linux? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Getting a Handle on Linux 9
Discovering SUSE Linux 12
Making sense of Linux version numbers 12
What’s in SUSE Linux? 13
GNU software 13
GUIs and applications 14
Networks 15
Internet servers 16
Software development 16
Online documentation 17
Figuring Out What You Can Do with SUSE Linux 17
Disks, CD-ROMs, and DVD-ROMs 19
Peripheral devices 19
File systems and sharing 20
Networking 20

Getting Started with SUSE Linux 21
Install and configure SUSE Linux 21
Explore SUSE Linux 22
Use SUSE Linux 22
Chapter 2: Installing SUSE Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Introducing the Installation Steps 23
Checking Your PC’s Hardware 24
Installing SUSE Linux 26
Booting your PC from the DVD/CD-ROM drive 26
Installing SUSE Linux from CDs or DVD 26

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Chapter 3: Starting SUSE for the First Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Powering Up SUSE Linux 39
Getting GUI 41
Setting Up Printers 45
Managing DVDs and CD-ROMs 48
Playing with the Shell 48
Starting the bash shell 48
Understanding shell commands 49
Trying a few Linux commands 50
Shutting Down 52
Chapter 4: Taking Stock of What’s in SUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Discovering the Internet Applications 55
Introducing the Office Applications 57
Exploring the Multimedia Applications 58
Cataloging the Image and Graphics Applications 60
Part II: Test Driving SUSE 63
Chapter 5: Exploring the SUSE Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
Discovering the Common Features of the Desktops 65

Desktop context menus 67
Icon context menus 68
The panels 69
The Main Menu or Programs Menu 70
Exploring KDE 74
Getting to Know GNOME 76
Chapter 6: Finding and Organizing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Figuring Out the Linux File System 81
Using GUI File Managers 85
Conquering the file system with Konqueror 85
Roaming the file system with Nautilus 88
Using Linux Commands to Manipulate Files and Directories 93
Commands for directory navigation 94
Commands for directory listings and permissions 95
Commands for working with files 98
Commands for working with directories 99
Commands for finding files 100
Commands for mounting and unmounting 101
Commands for checking disk-space usage 102
Chapter 7: I Want My Internet, Now! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
What Is the Internet? 105
Deciding How to Connect to the Internet 106
SUSE Linux 9.3 For Dummies
xii

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