FOSS: A General Introduction to Linux

wikibooks ^ | 1991 | Multiple sources

[ShadowAce]

Introduction

Welcome to Linux! GNU/Linux is descended from the UNIX operating system, but is open source software, which means that you can view its source code and change it to suit your needs. Of course since this book is geared to those new to Linux, we stay away from very technical issues that are more suited to Linux veterans. This book is going to try to be geared toward the person who has heard about Linux and might be considering trying it out or perhaps the person who has already "taken the plunge" and is looking for more information or wondering where to start now that they have Linux installed. But first, a little history lesson.

The name "Linux" technically refers to an operating system "kernel", a single but key component of a complete operating system. In everyday use, the term "Linux" is frequently used to refer to a complete operating system which consists of the kernel and some of the thousands of other programs required to make an operating system useful. Much of the important system software that is typically installed on a Linux system comes from The GNU Project, a project to build an operating system made entirely of free software.

The first Linux kernel was created by Linus Torvalds. It was first released on 5 Oct 1991. It was started as an x86-only, single-processor operating system, but grew to become one of the most ported pieces of software. Other parts of a complete GNU/Linux system come from other projects such as the GNU project, and are integrated into a complete GNU/Linux OS by your supplier. Usually your supplier will assign their own version number to the integrated whole.

The GNU Project is overseen by the Free Software Foundation, founded by Richard Stallman, who believes that the people should use the term "GNU/Linux" to refer to such an operating system, because so many of the required programs were in fact, written as part of the GNU Project.

Distributions

A distribution is a type of Linux. Linux comes in a large number of distributions, some of which are designed for everyday use, and others designed with a specific task or device in mind. We'll discuss some of those differences below.

Most Linux distributions have a special type of CD, called a live CD. If you insert this CD and then restart your computer, the live CD will run Linux on the computer while avoiding changing anything on your computer as much as possible. For example it won't normally install any files on your PC, but run only from the CD. You can give the operating system a try to see if you like it without the risk of installing anything on your hard drive. You should remember that linux typically runs very fast - if the system seems slow, it is because it is running off your CD drive, not your hard drive.

Choosing a Distro

There are dozens of different Linux distributions. Here are some ways to help you narrow down the options to a short list.

How do you intend to use the system?

Desktop or server? This distinction is probably the most important. Distributions for the desktop will have a graphical user interface, while server distributions won't.

Specific hardware requirements

Try out a few LiveCDs of different distributions. Does it recognize and work properly with your hardware?

If you intend to install Linux on a low-end specification computer, or you have other peculiar hardware compatibility problems or requirements, your choice might be influenced by this need. Most linux distributions should run fine on all but the lowest end of the spectrum.

Application support

Which applications or desktop environment are important to you?

Does a given distribution install those programs by default or is it easy to install and integrate them with the rest or your system?

Does the distribution have a good package management system, and suitable software repositories?

Support

What options will be available for getting support? Is commercial (paid) support available? Is there free community support? If the distribution has a small user base, you will have a harder time getting distribution-specific support, as compared to a more widely-used distribution.

Desktop environment

For desktop systems, you'll need to feel at home. Check out Linux Guide/Desktop environments for information on some common ones. GNOME and KDE are the two most popular.

Try a distro chooser, like http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/. Often several different distributions will meet all your requirements. Your final choice from the short list may be based on whim or personal taste.

Getting Linux

Use an Existing system

The easiest way to begin using a Linux system may be to use an already running system. For example, some systems may be available in various educational or work environments. In this case you only need to contact the appropriate administrator and obtain a user ID and password. You will only be able to explore the system to a certain extent, but the first steps can be taken without having go through the installation process.

Another trouble-free way of obtaining a Linux system is to buy a computer with Linux pre-installed. The number of vendors selling such systems is constantly increasing.

Download a Linux ISO

After choosing a distribution, you should download it. Normally this will be an ISO image. An iso is all the data on a CD - after downloading the iso file, you will burn it to either a CD/DVD or a USB flash drive so you can use it. A USB is the recommended option these days as they are more reliable than CD/DVDs and virtually all modern systems support bootable USBs.

Creating a bootable USB on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux

1. Go to http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net and download UNetbootin for Windows or Mac OS X and run it. Existing Linux users are recommended to download UNetbootin from their distro's repository.
2. Once it is opened, click the ... button to browse for your iso, next choose your drive letter in the "Type" column and click OK..
3. The image will begin to be copied to your USB. Once it is done, your USB will be made bootable. You can now reboot the computer.

Creating a bootable USB on Linux (command line method)

WARNING:This procedure will erase all data presently on the flash drive, make a backup first.
1. Launch a Terminal window.
2. Type lsblk.
3. Note that there will be an entry for your flash drive, similar to this :
sdb 8:16 1 2.0G 0 part /media/NO NAME Note down the sdX, in this example sdb, NOT sdb1 etc.
4. Unmount your USB with this command:

sudo umount /dev/sdX1

5. Browse to the directory where you downloaded the iso with the cd command and type this command. (Assuming the iso image is ubuntu-gnome-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso and your drive is sdb)

sudo dd if=ubuntu-gnome-16.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

6. The command will work in the background, when you return to a prompt, it will be finished.

Creating a LiveCD/DVD

A live CD/DVD is not recommended, use this procedure only if you do not have a computer that can boot from USB.

Windows (7 and later)

1. Insert a blank disc in your drive
2. Right click on the iso file and click "Burn image"
3. Select your drive.
4. Click Burn
5. Wait for it to finish
6. Done

Mac OS X

1. Insert a blank disc in your drive
2. Browse to your file in Finder
3. Click "File" -> "Burn Disk Image to Disc"

Linux

K3b, Brasero etc. all have a function to burn images to CD/DVDs.

Boot From LiveCD

Live CD distributions allow you to "get your feet wet" by running Linux on your own PC at home without worrying about installing it or losing data.

Live CDs don't need to be installed to your hard drive for you to use them. Instead, you simply load the Live CD into your CD-ROM drive, restart your computer and a complete running Linux system should boot up with little, if any, intervention. There are some difficulties for some distributions working with certain sets of hardware, but most systems will boot with little to no problems.

A system running a Live CD often tends to be a little slow. This is because information must be fetched from the CD-ROM (which is much slower than a hard drive) and because the Live CD must store a lot of information in memory that would normally stay on the hard disk. Don't let this fool you into thinking that Linux is a slow operating system though. Linux systems are normally very fast and reliable. If you try a Live CD, it is recommended (unless you are trying a MiniLinux) that the computer you use be a relatively recent one with a generous amount of memory (256MB or more). For most people, this should provide a trouble free way to begin to get to know Linux. Sometimes the entire Live CD can be loaded into RAM if a sufficient amount is available (say around 1GB) and this will offer excellent responsiveness.

Live CDs are a great way to test whether certain hardware is likely to be compatible with Linux. Just pop the disk into the CD-ROM drive of the system in question and reboot as described above. Most hardware problems (if there are any) should make themselves obvious during normal use.

If The Live CD Didn't Work

If your Live CD is ignored and you find yourself booting into your normal operating system, you may need to alter some settings in your BIOS. While this may sound daunting for some users, it's actually a lot easier than it sounds.

Begin by restarting your PC and when the boot process begins again you will need to strike a particular key on your keyboard. The key you need to strike will usually be displayed on the computer screen and is often the 'Del' key. Common alternatives are 'F1', 'F2', 'F10' and 'Esc'. The proper key will vary with your computers manufacturer. Once the proper key is struck your computer screen will display the 'BIOS' or 'Setup' editor. There are usually some simple instructions on the bottom of the screen, or off to one side, telling you how to navigate around the various choices and make changes. Be sure to read these before continuing, then look for something labeled 'Boot' or 'Boot order'. Using the instructions you read a moment ago, change this so that your CD-ROM is the first item in the boot order. If you think you've made a mistake, there is usually an option to 'Exit without saving changes'. If you don't see that option, holding down the 'Ctrl' and 'Alt' keys and pressing the 'Del' key should save the day. If all goes well 'Save and Exit' and your computer should boot up, checking the CD-ROM for your Live CD as it does so. If you have run a Linux Live CD and have rebooted to use your regular operating system and have arrived at a notice declaring "Missing Operating System" or "Error on System Disk", or any scary notice stopping you from loading up as normal, it is likely that the computer has "forgotten" that you normally load up from the hard drive and has started to look for your operating system in the CD Drive. To fix this, follow the instructions above accordingly to your system but instead of selecting your CD drive as the boot device, select your hard drive.

Install Linux

After testing the system, you'll want to install it to your hard drive permanently. This does not require you to get rid of the current operating system, even if you have only a single hard disk. We will explore this topic in more detail in the next tutorial, Installation Walkthrough.

[daniel1212]

The 18.3 installer does do this.

I would be surprised if it actually created the 3 partitions it wants if you chose a different large location under "Something else," rather the default. From my past experience, its either you let Linux take the whole disk, or do any "alongside" install on the partition it wants, you must create all 3 and correctly identify everything to do so. I have done this before, as with Puppy, but did not want to get into it this time.

It gives you the option to do it manually or auto with a slider if I remember right.

The slide comes in the along side" image,

id you play with the windows dual boot options at all first?

No.

I don’t know man. All three of my installs went fine and did what it was supposed to do smoothly over default undoctored windows. Over three different Windows OS versions, one XP 32 bit emachine, One win 7 64 bit AZUS, and one brand new win 10 HP. I hope you find the issue so that we all know what hung it up. That kind of information is priceless

Actually with all the flavors of Linux then its forums show plenty of issues relative to the number of uses, including dual booting problems.

The solution that i choose is described here , which is to simply use EasyBCD edit to add a new entry to the Windows bootloader itself (it would be helpful if Linux provided and made that a clear option in the Linux installation).

I used EasyBCD edit yeas ago, and what this edit to the Windows 7 boot menu does is add Linux to it, after Win 7, and choosing the former results in the Grub2 boot menu which has Linux Mint on the top, and auto boots to it after a few secs. And since the keyboard on the laptop does not respond quickly to the boot menu, and the Grub2 has a lot of entries (which I know can be edited someplace), then the Windows bootloader edit is a better option.

I tested both, and both boot fine, thanks to be God, though this took too much time. I hope to customize Linux later. Thanks fo you feedback.

[Openurmind]

Sorry you had so much trouble, honestly the first I have heard of that much trouble. Please let me know what you think of it after you use it a bit!

[daniel1212]

Dual booting problem are not that uncommon .

Thanks. If anyone knows of a comparable software that enables adding many functions to the desktop right click menue Right-Click Extender 2.0 that it could help.

What i usually do among other things, if the OS is for my use, is install Firefox ESR (to prevent the greatly-reduced functionality Quantum from taking it over, disable wireless, and install FF ESR, launch and go to Tools>Options>Advanced and check Never update..., and close and enable wireless and restart FF), then and hack the Firefox shortcut -no-remote -p in order to run multiple profiles, and migrate my profile folder from Windows (Linux should not require running a terminal to enable this) and merge or create a new profile using this one.

Likewise installing Apache Open Office and or Libre, and merging certain user files from the Windows install (Autocorrect, toolbars, dictionary, colors etc.). Or just moving the whole user folder into the right location before installing the new OO one.

And more important, I install Wine and then BPBible (better than what Linux offers in its class), which also means importing some user files, once I find out where they go.

As my fingers are rather stiff (I must lift up my hand and type with my middle finger for each letter - then fix typos), and i do much copy and pasting, then I use AutoHotKey to remapp CapsLock to coy (ctrl+c) and Esc to paste, and NumLock to Esc, which is much much faster for me. Only on one (Fedora) or two Linux distros (many searches and attempts) was this possible via the keyboard shortcuts route.

As this laptop is intended for someone else, then I am not sure if he would want this hack, but i find it very useful They is a Linux program called AutoKey, but it is hardly capable it seems.