UbuntuPocket Guideand Reference KeirThomas UbuntuPocketGuideandReference(PDFEdition) Version:PDF1.1 www.ubuntupocketguide.com  Copyright©2009byKeirThomas Allrightsreserved.  This book is distributed in two editions: as a printed book (“Print Edition”), andasaPDFcomputerfile(“PDFEdition”).  NopartofthePrintEditionofthisworkmaybereproducedortransmittedin anyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopying, recording,orbyan yinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withouttheprior writtenpermissionofthecopyrightowner.  Permission is granted to redistribute electronically the unmodified and complete computer file that comprises the PDF Edition of this work. This permissiondoesnotimpairor restricttheauthor’smoralrights,orgrantan y additionalpermissions.Withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthecopyright owner any or all of the following is not permitted: (i) altering, editing, or otherwisemodifyingthe filethat comprisesthe PDFEdition of thiswork;(ii) printingorpublishingthisworkinanyform(includingbutnotlimitedtopr int‐ on‐demand services); (iii) selling, retailing, or offering in exchange for any kindofcompensationthe filethatcomprises the PDF Editionof thi sworkor any of its content; (iv) redistributing some or all extracted or excerpted contentfromthiswork;(v)redistributingsomeorallcontentofth isworkina differentformat(forexamplebutnotlimitedtoHTMLorplaintext).  ISBN(EAN‐13):978‐1440478291  TheUbuntu logo isaregisteredtrademarkofCanonicalLtdandisusedwith permission.  Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with eve ry occurrence of a trademarked name, we use th e names onlyin aneditorialfashion andto the benefit of thetrademark owner, with nointentionofinfringementofthetrademark.  For information on translations and/or licensing, please email licensing@ubuntupocketguide.com.  The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basi s without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author nor publishers shall have any liability to any personor entitywithrespectto any loss ordamagecaused orallegedto be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in th is work.  iii Contents Abouttheauthor ix Abriefintroduction xi WhatisUbuntu? xi GNU xi TheLinuxkernel xii Linuxdistros xiii WhatmakesUbuntuspecial xiii Focusondesktopusers xiv Philosophyandcommunity xiv Easeofuse xv WhatUbuntuoffers xvii Howtoreadthisbook xvii Typingcommands xviii Menuoptions xviii Whattoclick xviii Ubuntuversions xviii CHAPTERONE:InstallingUbuntu 1 Typesofinstallation 1 #1:Dual‐booting 1 #2:InstallingwithinWindows 2 #3:Virtualcomputer 2 PreparingyourPCforUbuntu 2 Ensuringenoughdiskspaceisfree 2  Defragmentingtheharddisk 3 CheckingtheWindowsfilesystemforerrors 3 GettingUbuntu 4 Choosingaversion 4 Choosingarelease 6 DownloadingUbuntu 7 CreatinganinstallCD 8 Step‐by‐step:In stallingUbuntu 9 Standard(repartitioning) 9 WithinWindows(Wubi) 13 Virtualcomputer 15 Problematicinstallations(alternateinstall) 16 GettingUbuntuontoanAppleMac 17  iv CHAPTERTWO:ConfiguringUbuntu 19 Gettingstarted 19 Keyboardandmouse/trackpad 20 Switchingkeyboardlanguages 20 Mouse 20 Graphics 21 Changingscreenresolution 21 Installingproprietarydrivers 21 Activatingdesktopvisualeffects 22 Configuringasecondmonitor 23 Changingscreenbacklighting 24 Screensaver 24 Sound 24 Gettingonline 25 Wireless 25 Wired(Ethernet) 26 Printers 27 Printingatestpage 27 Settingdefaultprintoptions 27 Managingprintjobs 28 Installinganetworkprinter 28 Removablestora ge 29 Scanners 30 Bluetooth 30 Pairing(Ubuntu8.10) 31 Pairing(Ubuntu8.04) 31 Transferringfiles 31 CHAPTERTHREE:Gettingtogripswiththedesktop 33  Loggingin 33 Wubi(Windowsinstall) 34 Dual‐boot 34  Thelayoutofthedesktop 35 Panels 35 Mainmenus 35 Iconsandapplets 36 Virtualdesktops 37  Personalizing 38 Themes 38 Fonts 38 Loginscreen 39 Configuringmenus 39 Customizingdesktopicons 40 Usefulapplications 40  v Cutting,copying,andpasting 40 Desktopsearch 41 Deskbar 41 Keyboardshortcuts 44 Addingnewusers 44 Makingprogramsstartautomatically 46 Dealingwithcrashedprograms 47 Changingthetime&date 47 Rebootingandshuttingdown 48 CHAPTERFOUR:Usersandthefilesystem 49 HowUbuntuhandlesfiles 49 Paths 49 Mounting 50 File&foldernames 50 Importantfilesystemlocations 51  Hiddenfilesandfolders 52 Fileextensions 53  Understandingusers 54 Rootuser 54 Filepermissions 54 Nautilus:Anoverview 56 Day‐to‐dayfilemanagement 61 Linksandlaunchers 61 Bookmarks 62 Tabbedbrowsing 62 Searchingforfiles 64 Specialbrowsinglocations 64 FileAssociations 64 Filecompression 65 CHAPTERFIVE:Hands‐onatthecommand‐line 67 Allabouttheshell 67 bashedabout 67 ToDOSornottoDOS 68 Understandingtheprompt 68 Startingacommand‐linesession 68 Knowingwhoyouare 69 Knowingwhereyou’rebrowsing 69 Howcommandswork 70 Arguments 70 Commandoptions 71 Complexfilenames 72 Relativeandabsolutepaths 72 Runningprograms 74  vi Usefuleverydaycommands 75 Workingwithrootpowers 77 Usingsudo 77 Temporarilyswitchingtoroot 77 Enablingrootlogin 77 Filepermissionsindepth 78 Thebasics 78 Executepermission 79 Folderpermissions 79 Whatpermissionslooklike 81 Changingownershipsandpermissions 83 bashproductivitytricks 87  Keyboardshortcuts 87 Commandhistory 88 Jobmanagement 89 Managingprocesses 90 Workingwithcompressedfiles 91  Zipfiles 91 tararchives 92 Advancedbashtechniques 94 Redirection 94 Piping 95 Braceexpansion 95 Wildcards 96 CHAPTERSIX:Softwaremanagement 97 Allaboutpackagemanagement 97 What’sinapackage? 97 APTanddpkg 98 Softwarerepositories 98 Dependencymanagement 99 Synaptic:Anoverview 101 Typicaltasks 103 Installingsoftware 103 Uninstallingsoftware 105  Reinstallingsoftware 105 Manuallyinstallingapackage 106 Command‐linesoftwaremanagement 108 Installingsoftware 108 Uninstallingsoftware 110  Reinstallingsoftware 110 Manuallyinstalling/uninstallingpackages 110  Workingwithrepositories 112 Addingarepository 112 Addinganewrepositorykey 113 Compilingfromsourcecode 113  vii CHAPTERSEVEN:Securingthesystem 115 Systemupdates 115  UpdateManager 115 Updatingatthecommand‐line 116 Configuringthefirewall 117 InstallingandconfiguringFirestarter 117 Creatinginboundrules 118 Creatingoutboundrules 120 Turningoffdiagnostictoolresponses 121 Installingantivirus 121 InstallingClamTK 122 Scanningforviruses 122 Encryptingfilesandfolders 123 Creatinganencrypted /privatefolder 124 Encryptingindividualfilesandfolders 125 Enhancingwebbrowsersecurity 127  Enablingamasterpassword 128 Avoiding“executablecontent”attacks 129 APPENDIXA:Glossaryofterms 131 APPENDIXB:Learningmoreandgettinghelp 141 Booksandmagazines 141 Onlinehelp 142 Forums 142 Mailinglists 143 Built‐indocumentation 143  Understandingmanpages 143 READMEsandotherdocumentation 146 Index 147  ix Abouttheauthor Keir Thomas is the one of the world’s most prolific authors writing about Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is his third Ubuntu book, and his award-winning comprehensive guide to Ubuntu—Beginning Ubuntu Linux (ISBN 978-1590599914)—recently reached a third edition. Thomas is also the author of Ubuntu Kung Fu (ISBN 978-1934356227), a unique book containing over 300 tips, tricks, hints, and hacks for Ubuntu. It regularly tops the Amazon.com best-seller list in the Linux category. He has written books on the subjects of SUSE and Fedora Linux, and edited books on subjects ranging from enterprise e-commerce to Ruby programming. In a previous life he edited several top-selling computer magazines, including PC Utilities and Linux User & Developer, and has written for many more. He lives in the United Kingdom and his pastimes include hiking, cycling, and gardening. He wishes to thank the technical reviewers of this book: John Southern, Matthew Helmke, and Ryan Troy. 10 Ifyou likeUbuntu PocketGuideandRefe rence, whynotgetthe PRINTEDITION? Only $ 9.94fromAmazon.com AddittoyourAmazonordernow!  Other books by Keir Thomas…   UbuntuKungFu ThePragmaticProgrammers ISBN978‐1934356227 Over300tips,tricks, hints,andhac ksforthe world’sfavoriteLinux.   BeginningUbuntu Linux, ThirdEdition/Apr ess ISBN978‐1590599914 Comprehensive,award‐ winningguide.Fromzero toheroinover700pages! [...]... system to your own tastes and needs TIP    Ubuntu works well on older hardware. The minimum realistic  requirements for Ubuntu 8.04 are a 700MHz processor, 384MB of  memory,  and 8GB  of  disk  space.  You  might  consider  installing  Ubuntu on  an  older  PC  to  evaluate  it,  before  installing  it  on  your  day‐to‐day computer.  How to read this book Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is concise... #1: Dual-booting If you intend to switch to Ubuntu full-time, installing Ubuntu by repartitioning your computer’s hard disk is best This involves shrinking the existing Windows partition and creating new partitions alongside for Ubuntu Following this, Ubuntu is installed and a menu added so you can choose between Ubuntu and Windows at boot-time Having Ubuntu and Windows side-by-side on a PC is called... the Internet, it got named after him and became known as Linux—a hybrid of “Linus” and “Unix” Crucially, Torvalds chose to release his kernel as Free Software, and invited any interested party to give him a hand They did Thousands of people around the world got involved As the years went by, the project became more and more important, and grander in its design and outlook Today, the Linux kernel receives... more  about  the  Ubuntu philosophy  at  www .ubuntu. com/community/ubuntustory/philosophy,  and read  more  about  the  Free  Software  Foundation’s  principles  at  www.gnu.org/philosophy/free‐sw.html.   What Ubuntu represents is freedom—freedom to use and share the software, to do what you want with it, and to learn The community The Ubuntu community arose directly out of the Ubuntu philosophy Put... editing and creation software See http://ubuntustudio.org similar to Gnome but tends to offer more configuration options It might be argued that Kubuntu is popular with power users Kubuntu differs from Ubuntu in that it uses Konqueror for Web browsing and Kontact for email/PIM (although Firefox and other Ubuntu standard programs can be installed) There are a handful of other key differences too, particularly... easy virtual computing, and is ideal for trialing Ubuntu Here are the steps required: 1 Head over to www.vmware.com/products/player and download VMware Player Install it once downloaded Then head over to www.ubuntupocketguide.com/vmware.html and download an empty virtual computer container zip file 2.  Extract the contents of the virtual computer zip into a new folder and copy the Ubuntu ISO image file... explanations, so is perhaps the best choice at this stage.   Kubuntu: This is a version of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop environment (www.kde.org) instead of Gnome KDE is mostly 4  : Installing Ubuntu Table 1‐1. Ubuntu derivatives.   Ubuntu version  Details  Edubuntu Includes educational software and a child-friendly user-interface Intended for use in educational environments See www.edubuntu.org for more information Gobuntu... information, see www .ubuntu. com/products/whatisubuntu/serve redition Mobile and Embedded Designed for devices—for handheld more and ultra-portable information, see www .ubuntu. com/products/mobile MythBuntu Features the MythTV digital video recording software For details of MythBuntu, see www.mythbuntu.org For details of MythTV, see www.mythtv.org Ubuntu Studio Includes multimedia editing and creation software... It’s published by Apress (June 2008; ISBN 9781590599914) and provides a complete guide to Ubuntu xvii  Figure i‐1. Checkboxes and radio buttons.  Typing commands Sometimes I might ask you type something at the command-line Usually this will appear on a line of its own, like this:  mv /home/keir/Desktop/report.doc /home/keir  Some commands are long and won’t fit on a single line of the page If this is... tools, although the underlying system is still 100% Ubuntu NOTE   Versions of Kubuntu prior to 8.04 used the older v3 series  of  KDE  releases.  8.04  was  released  in  both  v3  and the  newer  experimental  v4  series,  but  from  8.10  onwards,  Kubuntu  has  standardized entirely on the v4 series.  Installing Ubuntu :  5  Xubuntu: This version of Ubuntu is based on the Xfce desktop environment (www.xfce.org) . Ubuntu Pocket Guide and  Reference KeirThomas Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference (PDFEdition) Version:PDF1.1 www.ubuntupocketguide.com  Copyright©2009byKeirThomas Allrightsreserved.  This. prolific authors writing about Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is his third Ubuntu book, and his award-winning comprehensive guide to Ubuntu Beginning Ubuntu Linux (ISBN 978-1590599914)—recently. partition and creating new partitions alongside for Ubuntu. Following this, Ubuntu is installed and a menu added so you can choose between Ubuntu and Windows at boot-time. Having Ubuntu and Windows