UBUNTU REPORT NUMBER TWO

September 29, 2006

By Helen Dunn Frame

This report is taking a different direction than I planned. As I mentioned during the last PC Club meeting, I will read in its entirety “Ubuntu for Non-Geeks” before working with the CD live again. Despite a very busy schedule, I have read up to chapter four and will summarize some things I learned. If I copy anything, because every page of the book is copyrighted, I’ll put those in quotes.

Introduction

Some projects and actions in the book cannot be performed using the CD live because some must access the hard disk which isn’t possible from the CD.

Chapter One

This book is geared to the person that has installed Ubuntu but much of it will work with the CD live. Let me repeat, this book is geared to the person that has installed Ubuntu but much of it will work with the CD live. However, nothing can be saved when working live unless you save something to another recording device like a thumb drive and then transfer it to your hard drive.

When you see the Penguin logo, it was chosen by Linus Torvalds, the creator, as the Linux mascot. (An interesting side note is that Linus wanted a bear, but his wife wanted a docile animal and picked the penguin. They are Finnish so they are at home with cold weather animals.)

Companies, universities, user groups and private individuals are the entities that create the Linux system and application collections called distributions or distros. (New word)

Other new words include “Warty Warthog, Henry Hedgehog, Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake” plus in the future “Edgy Eft.” The CD is Dapper Drake. If the other words are explained later in the book, I’ll give you definitions. It certainly appears that the programmers are creative and have a sense of humor.

Some of the traits of Ubuntu : Easy to install and use; some distros are updated slowly; others are kept on the cutting edge. Ubuntu tries to adhere to a six-month release cycle. “ Ubuntu is based on the Debian distribution, which means that it utilizes Debian’s very convenient DEB package system for application handling and installation.” Two built-in, preconfigured graphical package installers facilitate installing applications. Ubuntu is dependable and resilient enough to withstand the new user. GNOME’s desktop environment is user friendly.

In the last article we discussed checking your BIOS to make sure the CD drive was first and to determine that your system can handle Ubuntu. Basically all Pentium chips and AMD processors are equipped to use Ubuntu. About 2 GB (gigabytes) is the minimum space required but 10GB is better. While the minimum of 128 MB of RAM is cited, double that is better. The CD will NOT work on PowerPCs.

Chapter Two

This chapter deals with using the CD live for part of it. It then assumes you will get the bug and install it. In the last report, I explained how to load the CD for live sessions. When I have tried the exercises, I will let you know my experiences every step of the way.

In the meantime think about a password to be used anytime you are performing any administrative function, like installing new software, as this is what makes Linux so safe from attack. For security, it should be a minimum of 8 letters and numbers, upper and lower case. Apparently the installer will alert you if your password is unacceptable. Write it down and put it in a safe place; if you forget it, you will be locked out of your system.

It notes that Ubuntu disables by default the root account. However, there are ways to get around this if having a root account is important to you. According to Chuck: This is part of what makes Linux safe also; only the root administrator with the right password can make basic changes to the system. Not having a root, with a special password, is what allows all the viruses and worms to get into Windows and wipe out files.)

Before you install Ubuntu as a dual-boot setup, make sure everything dear to you is backed up and run defrag to make the partitioning phase of the installation faster and safer. On my computer in Windows XP I click on Start, All Programs, Accessories, System and Defrag.

While I will detail the installation process later, assuming I proceed, it is interesting to note that when you install Ubuntu, you install the operating system AND most of the applications you ever will want or need to use.

Chapter Three

When you boot the CD live, you will see the GNOME Desktop with an icon labeled Install and a folder called Examples.

The GNOME desktop has two panels with the top one “where all the action is.” As I explained before, they are the following menus: Applications, Places and System. Also Firefox (or browser) and something called Ximian Evolution, which is a Linus e-mail program, scheduler and task manager that should appear after the installation. (Note I installed Firefox separately so I had that icon.)

The Bottom Panel will contain Show Desktop, Window List (applications you have open similar to window based programs), Workspace Switcher and Trash.

NOTE: If you are working live, you won’t be able to save any settings. This will become a learning experience so you will be better equipped to customize the desktop panel after installing Ubuntu.

The following is a description of how to change the standard configuration features of the desktop.

Once again, until I go through these exercises, I will only list important utility buttons. The first is the Force Quit button which allows you to deal easily with non-responding windows. This will happen occasionally as it does in Windows. The Run Application applet will facilitate installing programs that don’t automatically install. You can opt to use keyboard shortcuts, pointing or clicking, or pressing Alt-F2 to access the applet.

The chapter also deals with adding amusing applets to the panel, like Wanda … more to come. Apparently through Wanda, you can find “Easter Eggs . . . (which are) hidden snippets of code that programmers seem to love to sneak into their programs.” To learn more about this go to www.dvdeastereggs.com.

It is possible to change icons to make them more distinctive and to add a “ ;drawer,” which is a drop-down panel where you can store launchers you don’t want in your GNOME panel. Be aware you may move things in a panel to where you want them to be, perhaps putting the ones you use frequently first. Icons can be changed within menus too.

To shut down, go to the System menu and select Log Out. (Once you have installed Ubuntu, you will be able to add an icon in the top panel that allows you to shut down directly.) You will have six options: Log Out, Lock Screen, Switch User, Hibernate (not with CD live), Restart and Shut Down. If nothing happens after clicking OK, press in unison CTRL-Alt-Backspace which will return to the login screen. Click the “Shut Down” Button and then OK when it asks if you are sure. Afterwards the system should power down but if it doesn’t, press the power button which it is safe to do at this point.