Text 1761, 362 rader
Skriven 2004-12-05 14:09:14 av Pascal Schmidt (1:153/401.2)
Ärende: Linux FAQ (1/5)
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Linux FAQ
| Version: 05 Dec 2004 0.99
Posted almost monthly on LINUX
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Table of Contents
0.1 Introduction
0.2 Copyright
0.3 Contact
0.4 Where to get the FAQ
0.5 Structure of this document
0.6 A short note on echo "rules"
1 Introduction to Linux
1.1 What is Unix?
| 1.2 What is Linux?
1.3 What are distributions?
1.3.1 What is the meaning of SuSE???
1.4 Where can I get Linux?
2 New users guide to the system
2.1 How do I get started?
2.1.1 Where do I find documentation?
2.1.2 How do I?
2.1.3 How do I get out?
2.1.4 Useful programs for newbies
2.2 What's all this file system business?
2.2.1 How do I mount a drive?
2.2.2 Is there a standard file system layout?
2.2.3 What about my DOS/Windows/OS/2/... file systems?
2.3 How do I manage packages on my system?
2.3.1 RPM-based package management
2.3.2 DEB-based package management
2.3.3 TGZ-based package management
2.4 I come from DOS. Is there a DOS-to-Linux command map?
2.5 Is there a way NOT to type in silly long names like
StarOffice.5.1.a.rev-2.i386.glib2.1-4.rpm?
2.6 What about those permissions?
2.7 What about Office software for Linux?
3 What hardware does Linux need?
3.1 Does my <insert-name-here> device run under Linux?
3.2 Will my WinModem or WinPrinter run on Linux?
3.3 Specific things
3.3.1 How do I configure my sound card?
3.3.2 What about large hard disks?
3.3.3 How do I configure my parallel port?
3.3.4 What about ISA PnP cards?
3.3.5 How much RAM do I need to install Red Hat?
4 Configuration issues
4.1 How do I get internet access with Linux?
4.2 Help! My prompt confuses me!
4.3 How do I customize the bootup process?
4.4 How do I turn the screen saver off?
4.5 Help! The output of program <insert-name-here> just flies by!
4.6 How do I handle those tar.gz files?
5 References
5.1 Software
5.1.1 BBS packages
5.1.2 Fidonet software
5.1.3 Distributions
5.2 Other info sources on the net
5.3 Books
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0.1 Introduction
This is the Linux FAQ, the frequently asked questions list of the
LINUX echomail conference on FidoNet. It contains frequently asked
questions and answers, most taken from mails on the conference. This
document is intended to be help to new users of Linux and the LINUX
echomail area. The FAQ does not try to answer software-specific
questions - there would be quite a lot of matter to cover. Most
things here refer to operating system and kernel issues.
The original version of this document was written and maintained by
Francois Thunus, 2:270/25.2, francois(at)telematique(dot)org
This version is in many parts based on his work, although I've taken
the freedom to rewrite or omit a few parts. Speaking of me, I am
Pascal Schmidt, 1:153/401.2, der.eremit@email.de
and the maintainer of this FAQ for now.
| In the text version only, changes from the last version of the FAQ
| are indicated by pipe symbol on the left hand side of the text. This
| also applies to the table of contents above, where all section that
| were changed are marked.
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0.2 Copyright
I assert copyright on this document. I encourage you to distribute
it widely, but only in its complete and original form and if you do
not make any money out of it. I've taken some time thinking about
making the FAQ GPLed, but I think this is not necessary or even
desireable for this FAQ.
Note that if you print it out on paper, you may still charge for the
paper... unless it's toilet paper or something. ;-)
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0.3 Contact
If you have any suggestions, bug reports, or questions and answers
you would like to see listed in this FAQ, feel free to send mail to
me or to the LINUX echo. My FidoNet address is
1:153/401.2
but you can also reach me via email at
der.eremit@email.de
Contributions and bug reports are welcome!
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0.4 Where to get the FAQ
As you are reading this now, you may already have gotten it by one
way or another. The FAQ is posted almost monthly in the Linux echo,
but this of course depends on the maintainer's spare time to do the
dirty work. You can also get the FAQ by FidoNet file request, with
the magic name "Linuxfaq", from the following systems (purely nume-
rical order):
1:13/25 Regional Mail Gate, Alexandria VA
1:270/615 Tanstaafl BBS, Palmyra PA
1:202/745 Ocean Beach BBS, Ocean Beach CA
1:340/204 T-Shirt 'N Genes, Duncan BC
2:206/145 The Gate, Knivsta
2:270/25 CTServe, Luxembourg
2:292/2219 Oriental BBS, Liege
2:301/118 ( not on my nodelist %-| )
3:640/891 Dog on Fire, Carseldine Qld Australia
Please note that some of these file request addresses may no longer
be available. Your FAQ maintainer does not have the possibility to
check file requests at the moment.
Or by FTP from:
ftp://ftp.telematique.org
ftp://ftp.idkent.org
Or by email:
Send email to jim@idkent.com with "Linuxfaq" in the subject, a
copy will be sent to you by the autoresponder.
Send email to fileserv%tanstaaf@frackit.com and put a line in
the body of the message that says "get linuxfaq.zip" to get an
uuencoded version of the zip file.
On the World Wide Web:
http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~pharao90/faq/
http://www.tzi.de/~pharao90/faq/
http://www.idkent.com/~linux
Please do not send email to anybody listed in this FAQ asking them
to send them the latest version. We have lives to live, so please
try the methods listed above.
If the date at the top of this FAQ is more than a couple of months
in the distant past, there is probably a new version available.
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0.5 Structure of this document
The first two parts of the FAQ describe in general what Linux is and
then give a brief overview over the system. Then we enter the realm
of hardware installation and configuration, take a brief sidestep
into software configuration, and finally give a few pointers for
further reading.
Don't take this as gospel, though. There may be a few oddities in
this ordering, and some things might ever fall completely out of
order. I'm only human. :)
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0.6 A short note on echo "rules"
You are of course free and even invited to join us on the LINUX
echomail area. If you have questions about Linux, there are a lot of
people there that can try to help you. Be warned, however, that
asking questions already answered in this FAQ may or may not be a
wise thing to do. The response will depend on general mood of the
person questioned, and also, of course, on the phase of the moon.
The usual "netiquette" for FidoNet applies - do not annoy others and
try not to be easily annoyed yourself. This seems to be an obvious
principle for communicating with people, but there still seem to be
a few of us around who haven't yet heard it.
One thing about quoting (that is, including parts of the message you
are answering to) - please try to keep only those parts of other
messages which are needed to understand what you are saying/writing.
Short messages stand a better chance to be read than those rivalling
the bible in length.
Remember the "think first - then send mail" rule!
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1. Introduction to Linux
Now we start with the important and interesting part of the FAQ. ;)
Here you'll find an overview over Unix/Linux in general.
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1.1 What is Unix?
Contributed by: Francois Thunus
Unix is one of the first portable(*) operating systems that were
created. It was based on a project called "Multics" in the late
60s. The first Unix version was created in 1969 at the AT&T labs.
Unix is therefore a mature OS (Operating System) which has been
around for about 30 years. The OS itself is text-based, but most
version include a graphical layer, called X Window. The OSes that
were developed afterwards more or less heavily borrowed from the
features of Unix. Unix had multi-tasking and multi-user capabilities
right from the beginning. Other popular OSes include DOS, MacOS,
OS/2, NeXT, TOS, and Windows NT. X was developped by the Athena
Project at the MIT and DEC. The current version is 11, revision 6
(X11R6), from April 1994. The X Window system is the property of the
X Consortium, but a free clone called XFree86 is often distributed
along with Linux.
(*) the first one written in C
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1.2 What is Linux?
Contributed by: Francois Thunus
Linux is a free Unix-like system. Unlike FreeBSD or 386BSD which are
based on the Berkeley distribution of Unix, Linux started its life
based on Minix, a free Unix implementation for the Intel platform.
| Version 1 was released in May 1994. The current version is 2.6.9.
The numbering scheme works like this: first digit is the major,
second number is the minor version number. The third number denotes
intermediate releases, which contain only bugfixes or small feature
additions and updates. If the minor version is even, it is a stable
version of Linux, with odd numbers indicating development versions
(those are not always safe to use and may have disastrous bugs in
them). Currently, there is no development version as 2.6 is fairly
| fresh and the developers are still working on making it better. The
| idea is to delay starting the 2.7 development cycle until something
| major comes up.
When asking questions on the echo, it may sometimes be a good idea
to tell the people what Linux version you are running. You can look
it up with the command
uname -r
Linux now exists in various stages of development for the DEC Alpha,
SGI (MIPS processors), the PowerPC, the Motorola 680x0 chips, and
many other systems. Consequently, this means you can make Linux run
on a PC, but also on a Mac, an Amiga, or an Atari machine. There is
a special version of Linux called ELKS that will work on Intel
machines with 8086/80186/80286 processors (Linux itself needs at
least an 80386). There are also Linux ports for the USR palmtop and
the Psion 5.
The Linux project was started by Linus Torvalds from Finland, hence
the name. Linux is free (as in free speech) and comes with its
source code.
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1.3 What are Distributions?
Contributed by: Pascal Schmidt, Martin Prieto
It is possible to get a Linux system running entirely from scratch.
This involves getting all the source codes, compiling them, putting
all the programs into the right place and so on... so this is some-
thing almost nobody would want to do just to get an operating system
to run.
This is where the distributors come in. They collect all the stuff
needed to make a Linux system, put it all on one (or more) CD(s)
with a nice installer program, and sell or give the end result to
you. The end result is what we call a Linux distribution. There are
both free and commercial ones. Some are very small, some quite big
(SuSE now comes on DVD!). They are all quite different.
What distribution is best is a question not easily answered. It
depends a great deal on what you want to do with your system and
how much work you want to spend on it. The question itself often
leads to holy wars rivalling those held over editor preference (The
number one reason for holy wars in the Unix community).
One thing that might be suggested to Linux newcomers is to find out
what the local Linux gurus in your area are using. Then try to get
the same distribution. Your fellow users will then be familiar with
the way your system is set up, and can help you a lot easier.
Chosing a distribution to run is quite an important choice. You will
likely stick with the one you choose for quite a long time, so make
sure you pick the right one for you. Of course, you can always
switch to another distribution later - but once you got used to the
way one distribution handles things, you will probably have some
initial difficulties when you change distribution.
What distribution you are using can also be an information of great
value when you ask questions on the Linux echo! ;)
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1.3.1 What is the meaning of SuSE???
Contributed by: Francois Thunus
SuSE was known as S.u.S.E. before, and this makes it more obvious
that it is just another acronym. It stands for "Software und System
Entwicklung". That's German for those who haven't noticed by now. An
English equivalent would be "Software and System Development".
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1.4 Where can I get Linux?
Contributed by: Francois Thunus
There is a multitude of sources for Linux. Many magazines include
one version or another, once in a while, on their accompanying CD.
Many shops carry Linux on CDs, which may be easier for a start.
Otherwise there is the internet, or some BBSes. Linuxcentral.com is
cheap and reliable. It also features a 4 CD archive which saves
hours of internet hunting and downloading.
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2 New users guide to the system
In this section you'll find an overview of how to start getting
used to Linux. This includes pointers of where to find help on the
system, what programs might come in handy for new users, and how
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* Origin: Priority override. Tears of Ra. (1:153/401.2)
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