A week or so ago I said I’d write a short tutorial on installing a couple of Linux distros on your computer and I’ve decided I’d just show you the various ways for Ubuntu, because the other distros are very similar to install and there’s tons of tutorials out there. Anyway on with the how-to. There are a couple of ways to install Ubuntu:

• Live CD from Canonical (or the manufacturer of your chosen distro. This option uses a Live CD made by Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu. This is by far the easiest way to install a distro.
• Live CD created by you. Slightly more difficult than option 1, with more room for error but not that hard.

Option 1 is by the easiest of them all. You just send off for a disk from Canonical (for Ubuntu), shove it in your CD drive on your computer/laptop, boot up and some options will come up. But before the options come up you must press F-, one of the F- keys along the top of your keyboard. This will depend on your machine, mine if F9. The computer will say, usually in the left hand bottom corner, something like ‘Boot options F5′ and you press that key, select the boot device (the CD) and away you go. You can choose to install the distro straight to your hard drive, or, and this is a very nifty, little idea, you can ‘try before you buy’. This involves booting up the disk and checking out the distro to make sure that everything works with your machine and that sort of stuff.

Option 2 is marginally harder than the above. What you will need is a blank CD, a CD creator drive, a CD burner program and of course the distro ISO. An ISO is basically the file that contains everything needed to run the OS on your computer. It is called an image and is usually around 650MB. You can find it by typing the distributions name into Google, bringing up their site and clicking on download. Right on to the creation. Start you CD burner program, such as Nero and click ‘create CD-ROM ISO’ or something along these lines. Then browse through to where you you saved the .iso file, for example Computer>Documents>Downloads, select it and click create. This will burn the disk and you just do the same as in option 1. It also gives you the option to test before you install it.

So good luck with the installation, and have fun with Linux.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux

distrowatch.com/

Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for any part of this process going wrong or damaging your computers hardware or software. You use this tutorial at your own risk.

Visit my site http://alexworld12.blogspot.com for more information on this and many other related topics.

Author: Alex Davies
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

Okay, so you have this old computer system hanging around and you’re not quite sure what to do with it. Maybe you’re a small company and you think disposing of it might be a waste yet the idea of paying an extraordinary amount of money in new software licensing isn’t appealing. Perhaps you’re an individual and you want to pass along your old laptop to one of your kids. Maybe you’re a non-profit and need to make use of every resource you have. Regardless, you have a very simple need: you want this computer functional so that it’s easy to use, can browse the Internet, edit common office documents, instant messaging, and can read email – and you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg to do it. Certainly it can’t be that hard to turn this old worthless machine into something useful again?

And in fact, it’s not. Here’s a practical approach to creating an Open Desktop using free solutions that you can download today from the Internet.

1. Operating System. Download Ubuntu Desktop Edition.

2. Internet Browser. Download Mozilla FireFox.

3. Productivity Application. Download OpenOffice.

4. Email Application. Download Mozilla ThunderBird.

5. Instant Messaging Application. Download Jabber.

A full 32-bit operating system, Ubuntu is quick and easy to install, performs better than Microsoft Windows ®, and you don’t need a degree in computer science to be able to use it. It comes with a familiar graphic user interface and a friendly wizard-driven setup process.

OpenOffice is a free productivity suite capable of handling word processing, spreadsheets, database, and presentation graphics, and is fully compatible with Microsoft Office ® documents.

Meanwhile, ThunderBird is a simple to use email client that has similar capabilities to Microsoft Outlook Express ®.

Mozilla FireFox and OpenOffice comes with Ubuntu so no extra downloading is necessary; you can get the latest versions by downloading them directly from their respective websites after installing Ubuntu.

Finally, Jabber is a cross-platform instant messaging solution. Use Jabber if you have multiple instant messaging accounts with the likes of Google Talk, Yahoo! IM, or MSN Messenger to bring all of that messaging into one place.

Through installing these applications in the order presented, you can turn that doorstop of a computer into something useful again. Bear in mind that the Open Desktop won’t be able to run some of your favorite Microsoft applications, but if you want something that connects to the Internet and performs some very rudimentary functions, this configuration is easy to implement. We’ll see you online!

Russell Mickler works a technology consultant in Battle Ground, WA, USA. With over fourteen years of experience, Mickler teaches for numerous colleges and universities. Mickler holds a CISSP, MCSE, and Masters’ Degree in Information Technology. His website can be found at http://www.micklerandassociates.com he can be contacted at mickler@micklerandassociates.com

Author: Russell Mickler
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Creditcard Currency Conversion Fee

General geekiness found me trying to get the Chrome OS running this weekend. It took quite a bit of time to work through all the resources including some conflicting instructions and bad software. It all worked out though and I now have the OS running on a netbook. This post is a brief summary of what was involved and doesn’t include the numerous dead ends and problems I encountered.

Basically this is Google’s attempt to develop a small-footprint control system for netbooks running web-based apps. The core plumbing is Linux and the UI is a variant of the Chrome browser. Whether or not this will find large-scale mindshare won’t be determined for quite awhile. The official release will probably be a year from now. But it is an interesting concept and I wanted to get my arms around it. If it does become popular then it will be something that user assistance professionals will need to understand in order to effectively support their apps.

The two major elements are the device hardware and the Chrome OS software.

The pre-release version of Chrome OS has a lot of hardware dependencies. So I did some web research to pick a device on which the OS has been successfully installed. There were a number of candidates. I picked the Asus Eee PC Seashell because it met the requirements and also looked like a nice netbook.

The netbook comes with Windows 7 installed. In order to use the Chrome OS you need to boot from a USB flash drive that has an image of the software on it.

The page referenced below by Jorge Sierra provides instructions, a Chrome build, and an image writing tool. I already had a couple of the tools mentioned in the article.

I did all of the flash disk processing on my Toshiba/Vista laptop.

The Sierra article provides a link to a Bit Torrent package with the Chrome OS and an image writing tool. There are other Chrome OS builds available but this one worked fine.
I ran the torrent and the download took about ten minutes. I opened the zip file that was in the torrent package and then extracted the Chrome OS build: chrome_os-img.

The next step was to format a flash drive. Since the image file was close to 3 GB, I purchased a 4 GB SanDisk Cruzer. Any brand will work but I wanted one with an LED so I could tell there was activity on it. I used the HP Disk Storage Format Tool to format the USB drive using the NTFS setting. The Format Tool is available from a number of sites.

I checked the formatting using the Windows Manage command. Click Computer/Manage/Storage/Disk Management. If the formatting went correctly you should see the USB drive listed and a “Healthy” message.

Next I used the Win32 Disk Imager utility to install the image file on the USB drive. This was included in the Sierra package but I had it already. After launching the utility I pointed to the chrome_os.img file. My USB drive (E) was already selected. Click Write and the process begins. When the Progress bar is full the copying is complete. The USB drive is now ready to be used.

After unpacking the netbook I first activated the Windows 7 Starter kit which is included on the device. I don’t think you need to do that but I wanted the device to work with Windows anyway. And I wanted to test the wifi connection. The wifi found my network just fine and I powered it down.

The last step requires a change to the BIOS so the netbook boots from the USB drive.

I plugged the USB drive into the netbook. I pressed the power button and tapped the F2 key until the BIOS setup appeared. The BIOS key is probably different from device to device. BTW, I had to tap the F2 key rather than holding it down.

The boot instructions I found on the web didn’t quite work for me. I had to make two changes in the BIOS. The following instructions worked for this Asus netbook.

From the Boot menu select Boot Device Priority. The first option should be the device HDD hard drive. Press enter and you should see Removable Dev as an option. Select that by pressing enter.

Below Boot Device Priority is the option Hard Disk Drives. The 1st Drive was the HDD hard drive. My USB was listed by name (SanDisk Cruzer) as the 2nd Drive. Pressing enter on the 1st drive brought up a pop menu. I selected the USB drive and it swapped places in the list with the HDD. Then F10 to save and exit from the BIOS setup.

The device immediately booted to the Chromium OS logon screen. I used the username and password provided by Jorge Sierra: “chronos” and “password”. I believe this is a logon applied by Jorge for his specific distribution. I saw instructions for a different Chrome OS distribution and the logon was different.

The first thing to appear is the Chrome browser. The same browser you have on Windows or Mac. The OS doesn’t automatically recognize your wifi. A small icon in the top right corner of the screen has a wifi menu. Click that and select your network. I also tested out my ethernet cable and that worked fine. Once that was done I could begin browsing the web.

All of that work and to this point I hadn’t accomplished anything that you couldn’t do in any other OS with any browser. The OS definitely loads really fast, much faster that the Windows 7 Starter.

There is a page that operates as an application dashboard. You can see a screen capture on the Sierra web page. A Chrome icon in the top left corner of the screen launches that page. From there I launched Facebook, Google Docs, etc and put in my logons for each. I couldn’t change or add any items to the control panel. I assume that will change. For unlisted applications, like LinkedIn, I launched them in the browser and set bookmarks.

There was an important OS feature that you could test – Cut and Paste. I was able to cut and paste between the various web apps without a problem. While we take this for granted on Windows, Mac, etc, that is the type of behavior that you need an OS for.

Another important behavior is printing. This apparently isn’t supported right now. I tried using the print commands in the various apps. Mostly I received error messages. In Gmail the only choice was Print to File. I didn’t really expect there to be support for explicit printers. That will be a difficult proposition for Google, I think. But probably a necessary one.

I had set the date and time in Windows. The date was recognized in Chrome OS but not the correct time. There was a menu item to change time options but the dialog box did not have a way to change the time. Only the time zone.

There is no OFF button in the OS. I just used the power button. However, the next time I booted, Chrome showed a message that the system hadn’t been shut down correctly. I assume there will be some fix for that.

When I pulled out the USB drive and powered up again, Windows started just fine. However, that also resets the BIOS to the original settings. That was kind of irritating. I have to repeat the BIOS adjustments every time I want to use Chrome after having used Windows. The adjustments only take a couple of seconds but you have to remember to hit F2.

So that’s how I spent my Sunday afternoon. Feel free to send me a note if you have any questions about this.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-google-chrome-os-and-run-on-a-real-computer/

If you’re not familiar with the Chrome OS you can find the official Google pitch here:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing-google-chrome-os.html
There have also been numerous reviews in the tech trade press.

Author: Joe Welinske
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Electric Pressure Cooker

When it comes to security, versatility and stability, there is no better solution in information technology than open source. From operating systems to Web development to just about any common application, the open-source revolution finally has taken hold.

Businesses have started to truly understand the benefits of opting for open source, not only to save money, but also for the peace of mind it brings to their IT environment.

The term “open source” has a variety of meanings in the IT world. It is used to describe initiatives and collaborations ranging from software projects to enterprise environments with source code that is accessible to anyone. It stands as perhaps the ultimate example of the process of continuous improvement by encouraging everyone to make it better – and share how they did it.

Many open-source-based solutions like RedHat, Ubuntu and Suse are becoming down-right mainstream, drawing offers for proprietary partnerships from hardware giants like Dell, HP and IBM. So far, each has maintained its autonomy and reiterated its commitment to furthering “the movement” rather than its bottom line.

The issue of support no longer keeps businesses from buying in to open-source technology either. Most are fully supported, either through packages by their distributors, as in the case of RedHat and Suse, or via the well-rounded Internet network.

Open-source now is possible – and pragmatic – for every new Web development project. By using LAMP – that’s Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP – an open-source solution can be created that is versatile and secure.

Author: Aaron Wittersheim
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

Are you old enough to remember the 1992 Janet Jackson song entitled The Best Things In Life Are Free? Or maybe you are so old that you can remember the 1956 Hollywood movie of the same name. In any case we do not guarantee that you will find Damn Small Linux and our associated tutorials to be among the best things in your life. But we do guarantee that they are both completely free. Well, wait a minute. They are both free, but…

You may have to shell out some of your hard-earned cash to learn Linux, especially if you are downloading the software and running the tutorials on your home computer. Yes, you will have to pay for an Internet connection at least during the time devoted to downloading the files. Now by today’s bloated standards Damn Small Linux is really small; it weighs in at a mere 50 Megabytes. So downloading this software distribution is fairly quick, especially if you have a high-speed connection. And yet as we all know, sometime during the following month your Internet Service Provider will want money.

Once you have downloaded Damn Small Linux you won’t need the Internet to run it. But you may want to activate one or both of the Internet browsers that are part of this distribution. And you may want to download additional applications; there are lots of them and since this version of Linux is so small, you should still have scads of disk space available.

Your Linux costs don’t end with the Internet. I don’t think that the electricity that powers your computer is free. And the longer your days and nights spent in front of the computer the higher your light and heat bill. Furthermore, the more time you spend on Linux the more money you may end up spending on snacks, new eyeglasses, and taxis when you miss the bus to work because you just couldn’t tear yourself away from the computer in time. I think you get my drift. But we repeat. Linux, this website, and many of the references on the web are free. Should you outgrow Damn Small Linux the larger versions of Linux are free, or at least quite inexpensive when compared to ostensibly similar versions of Microsoft Windows.

Most people don’t run operating systems for their features but for the applications they enable. Reason number two: Damn Small Linux provides lots of free applications.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: PCB Prototype & Manufacturing

The Linux operating system has experienced huge growth in the past few years. With excellent stability. flexibility and the free price tag. People are realizing that Linux is a great alternative. Just like Windows, users would have to learn how to use Linux. Linux developers have taken note, and have come up with several ways to allow people to try Linux without getting rid of your Windows installation. Here are a couple of ways you can get a taste of what Linux has to offer.

Live CD
Linux distributions like Ubuntu offer a feature called Live CD. Live CD allows you to boot off of the install CD instead of your hard drive. All you have to do is burn the CD, keep it in your CD drive when booting your computer and press the option to boot from CD. Now each computer is different so consult your PC manufacture for instructions to boot from CD. Once booted you will be able to use almost all of the functionality of the Linux distribution that you have on CD without impacting your Windows installation. There are two drawbacks: You cannot save your settings once you turn off your computer and the operating system tends to run slow because CD drives access data slower than hard drives. If you like what you see you can install to your hard drive from the live CD. Get more on Ubuntu’s website.

Wubi
Wubi is great. What Wubi does is creates a virtual hard drive in one folder stored on your Windows partition. Then Wubi gives you the option to boot into Windows or Linux upon booting by changing your boot record. Installation is easy. Just download the install file. Select the install path and what install of Ubuntu you would like. That’s it. Once complete you will have the option to boot into Linux or Windows. If you want to remove Linux just go to add/remove programs and uninstall Wubi. That’s it. No mess. There is a small risk of damage to your boot record but I have never seen it. Check out Wubi by doing a Google search.

Virtualbox
Virtualbox is really cool. Virtualbox is a piece of software that you can install in Windows and Linux that will allow you to emulate another operating system while running another. For example, if you use Windows you can install Virtualbox and install Ubuntu then run Ubuntu in a small window or full screen while being able to use everything in Windows. I hope that makes sense. The only drawback Virtualbox has is it runs slow because it has to share system resources with your host operating system. So you won’t be playing any games while running Virtualbox. If you want just learn this is a great solution. Once you are done you can close up Virtualbox to free up system resources. For more information check out VirtualBox’s website.

That’s it! You have three free ways to get your feet wet with Linux. If you like Linux give it an install as your main operating system. There are too many things to explore with Linux to fit in one article. I recommend trying out Ubuntu.

Author: Mike Man
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rate

When it comes to the environment do you want to be part of the solution and not part of the problem? If you don’t want to be part of the problem avoid tossing that supposedly outdated computer onto a landfill. Did you know that your outcast computer remains will take decades to biodegrade and leach scads of poisonous chemicals into the environment during the process?

Several years ago the Utah Department of Environmental Quality estimated that by 2004 more than 300 million computers would be considered obsolete, generating well over 1 billion pounds of lead, 2 million pounds of cadmium, 1 million pounds of chromium, and 400,000 pounds of mercury. Municipal incineration is the largest point source of dioxins into the US and Canadian environments and among the largest sources of heavy metal contamination of the atmosphere. Of course the year 2004 is long gone, and these horrible numbers have undoubtedly been far surpassed in spite of efforts such as corporate trade-in programs.

Why do people toss their computers? That’s simple; given the computer industry’s unending performance advances there is a widespread perception that you can no longer DO anything worthwhile with your old computers. This dangerous assumption is simply not true.

Do you really need Giga-everythings to get your work done and have your fun? Microsoft seems to think so. I remember when 128 Megabytes was a lot of memory. Of course I also remember when “Why would anyone ever need more than 640 Kilobytes of memory?” was the official party line expressed by none other than William Gates III himself.

I’m told that Damn Small Linux requires only 50 Megabytes of disk space, a 486 processor (do you remember what that is?) and 8 Megabytes of RAM. If you want to browse the Internet, you’ll have to move up to 16 Megabytes of RAM and use the Dillo browser. The popular Firefox browser requires additional memory. Frankly, I wouldn’t use such an underpowered computer for moderate or heavy Internet usage. But you can run Linux commands and learn how operating systems work on such computers. And you can play a multitude of games.

For every individual trying to resuscitate a 486 computer there are dozens trying to know what to do with an old Pentium such as my Pentium III 450 Megahertz computers with 128 Megabytes of memory purchased in 1999 or more powerful computers purchased several years later. Without extensive upgrades many of these computers won’t run Windows Vista and may not run Windows XP. But they will run Damn Small Linux or other Linux versions alongside a full range of today’s applications. Let’s put them to work, learn Linux, and do our bit saving the environment.

We next see how Linux lets you control the computer, “obsolete” or not.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Pressure Cooker

Introduction
Google, the world’s premier Search Engine Company have announced the development of a new operating system labeled Google Chrome.

The company unveiled plans to develop the new system on the 7th of July. Google has now officially made clear their intentions of directly competing with Microsoft in the Operating System market.

Chrome is listed as being a Linux derivative and will be free to use. It will first be launched with netbooks, with a mid-2010 release schedule.

Manufacturers working with Google include:

Acer
Adobe
ASUS
Freescale
Hewlett-Packard
Lenovo
Qualcomm
Texas Instruments
Toshiba

The graphical design is based on the Google Chrome browser, launched 9 months ago, and is being developed as a lightweight operating system with the Internet as its primary priority.

Chrome is focused on consumers who place a lot of emphasis on using the Internet.

Security & Privacy
Google has claimed that the security built into Chrome will shift from the dependence upon Security updates, and that Chrome users won’t have to deal with virus and malware infections. They claim that it will just work!

Their bold claims however remain to be seen. It’s foreseeable that for the time being no computer system can be completely impervious to security problems.

Some individuals have also questioned their privacy and the protection of personal information by Google. We should bear in mind, however, that similar concerns have been raised about other companies that operate in this field.

A Brief History of Google
The Google Search Engine was started in 1996 as a research project by Larry Page, latterly joined by Sergey Brin. Together they devised an algorithm with which to rank websites according to relevancy in Internet searches.

In 2000, the advertising product AdWords was launched. AdWords enabled businesses to purchase keywords for small adverts which could be placed alongside search results.

2004 saw the birth of Google Earth, the result of an acquisition of Keyhole, Inc who pioneered the initial software.

In 2006 Google bought online video repository YouTube.

Since it’s small beginnings Google have continued to offer more services, like iGoogle, GMail, Google News, Talk!, Picasa, AdSense and many more products.

FAQ’s
Q. What is Google Chrome Browser?
A. Chrome Browser is Google’s answer to competing web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera.

Q. What is Linux?
A. Linux was developed to be a free alternative to the once widely used commercial UNIX operating system, and is now also competing with Microsoft. In 1991, Linus Torvalds began work on the Linux Kernel (The ‘brain’ of a computer’s control software).

Q. What are Netbooks?
A. A netbook is a low-cost type of laptop computer designed mainly for wireless communication and access to the Internet.

Conclusion
Expect to hear more news about the development of Chrome OS later this year, we’re waiting with anticipation to see what Google’s’ offering will bring.

Author: Richard P Harrison
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Latest trends in mobile phone

There are several options when it comes to choosing an operating system for your computer. Of course Windows is the overwhelming heavyweight in the market place and it isn’t a bad choice in some ways, especially for those not interested in the nuts and bolts of things. Also looking for users are Linux, BSD and Leopard.

1. Windows

The good side of Windows is that it is made to operate programs. The rich variety of software that works here is a huge selling point. You don’t have to be a programmer or even a techie to be a user. Everything comes from a disc or a download. Click the install button and away you go. Word processors, Spreadsheets, Games, Synthesizers, Photo Editors, Art Creators, Email Handlers, Bookkeepers and Website Makers are some of the most common. Then there are the not so popular yet also intriguing out of the mainstream volumes such as File Converters, Iso File Makers, Virus Hunters, Adware Killers and endless utilities you may discover once you start looking. There is a small utility that saves clips (as many as you want) that can be pasted anywhere so you don’t have to retype all the time.

That’s the good side of Windows. Just so you know it’s not all roses and candlelight you should know there are some drawbacks too. Everything you do on Windows should be backed up regularly. Why? Because just about the time your five week project is within a few paragraphs of completion, Windows will have a hiccup and lose the whole thing or some virus will erase your hard drive, or you’ll press the delete button accidentally. Boom, it’s all toast. Another thing about Windows is that it’s already programmed, you have to accept it as it is. If it doesn’t have a feature you need, you’re out of luck. If the button arrangement is not convenient (although there is some flexibility), you must adapt. Don’t need all the bells and whistles? Your stuck with them. Then there are the slow days when it all just seems to sit there and mock you taking it’s sweet time. It’s no wonder someone occasionally tosses one out the 10th story window.

2. Leopard

So, what are the other options? Well, first is Leopard which is the Macintosh operating system. Macintosh is made by Apple Computers. If you don’t know who Steve Jobs is, you must live in a dark and deprived world. Macs, as they are known, cost a little more than others systems (about twice the price of a Windows machine). I will tell you right here that I have yet to meet a Mac user that has a bad word to say about his or her machine. If you get one, you are practically guaranteed to love it. They are the choice of graphic artists almost universally. The local ad sheet for the city is made on them, so they make commercially viable tools.

The negative side. Not a lot really. There isn’t as much software made for them, but the ones you get are extremely well made. A lot of the less popular stuff doesn’t exist for Macs. That along with the higher price are the main hitches.

3. Linux

Another option is Linux. The Linux operating system is actually free at this time so the price is right. There are many flavors (versions) of Linux, so you don’t have to use the same thing everyone else has. Some that I know of are:

* Red Hat
* Ubuntu
* Suse
* Damn Small

Each one has advantages and limitations because they are geared toward a certain area such as games or internet or servers. They have a ways to go to become popular, yet are making great strides in market share. Also, if you can do the programming, Linux offers wonderful access to the code. In the last year or so, it has become quite easy to obtain and install Linux on any computer. In fact it will coexist right alongside Windows, so now there is little excuse for not trying it out. They offer a GUI similar to Windows and Leopard which is fairly intuitive. Some software is quite comparable to the bigger fish. OpenOffice will take Office on and come through looking pretty good. Gimp has a learning curve, but can do much of what Photoshop does for free.

The downside is that Linux is just not as developed. It is a terrific platform for geeks that love to swim through code and troubleshoot glitches. The creative potential is unlimited which is the main drawback at the same time. Most people want something ready to go, not something they have to create before they can operate. The number of programs (though growing) is quite limited.

4. BSD

The last of our operating systems to consider is BSD. Just like Linux, it is free (though there is a commercial version). The major selling point is that it is the most modern system. It doesn’t have the backward compatibility issues of Windows. So many advances in hardware have been made since windows was introduced that you wouldn’t believe some of it. BSD was created to take advantage of these advances. It has the most potential of all these systems because of it’s modern design. It is quite compatible with and similar to Linux, just more modern.

That at the same time is it’s largest problem. Most of the accessories that go with an operating system (software and interface) are lacking at this time. It’s like having a Ferrari engine and framework without the rest of the drive train.

Author: Dean Walden
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Smart cooker

Unlike Windows, Linux users must have an account. This account is accorded permission to do things such as read and write files and execute programs. For ease in account management, accounts are combined into groups. Users belonging to a group may be assigned additional permissions that smooth the process of accessing common files. Let’s take a closer look at how Linux handles these users. Another article will examine permissions and groups.

Linux provides two categories of users, ordinary users essentially restricted to working with files of their own creation, and the superuser, or root, who administers the system and is allowed to do almost anything. The real situation is a bit more complex. For example, ordinary users may be accorded restricted access to additional files deemed to be of interest to everyone. The superuser can assign some privileges to deputies reducing an otherwise crushing workload.

The root user is the only one authorized to run the adduser or the more complicated useradd command. If you have downloaded Damn Small Linux you can test these commands on your Windows computer. In response to the adduser command Linux requests the user name, the password, and then a few optional fields that may be skipped. An organization with many users has or should have a policy for composing user names.

The password is a key element in protecting the computer’s security. We could easily write an article discussing the password and password selection. Remember that Linux distinguishes between lower-case and upper-case letters. If you’re new to computing you may try working with easily remembered passwords at first. But to protect your account and account information you will have to choose passwords that no one can guess.

As Linux creates your account it creates a directory whose name is easy to remember. If your account name is lucy then your working directory is /home/lucy . I’m leaving it up to you to find out the location of lucy’s working directory when she uses Windows systems.

Damn Small Linux shares an interesting feature with many other Linux systems. If the system administrator wants new users to have copies of some directories and folders, she or he simply places them in the /etc/skel directory before launching the adduser command.

How is the system administrator supposed to handle creating dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of new users, for example at the beginning of the semester? He or she won’t have the time to undertake this backbreaking task. And there is no way that the root password should be revealed to the employee who is assigned this task. The answer is simple: write a program to create these new accounts. This program can even spiff up the account creation interface and perhaps grab some necessary information from sources such as the student registration file.

Of course we don’t want to create users without the possibility of removing them. The live process is fairly complicated and includes removing the user’s password from the /etc/passwd directory, removing all files from the user directory, and other activities such as making backups of essential information. The next article discusses the related concepts of permissions and groups.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

Installation and Usage:

1. You can download directly to the vendor’s website (link download will appear in the bottom of this article) and choose the Operating System you have used. I am using OS SUSE Linux 11.0. For speed installation, I choose RPM package file Linux i386.

2. After downloading these files, click testdisk-6.10-1.i386.rpm and type your password as a root user, you can wait while the installation is in process. To check the testdisk has been installed or not, just type ‘rpm -qa | grep testdisk‘ (without quote) in the console window. TestDisk-6.10-1 has been successfully installed.

3. Still in Console window, login as a root and type ‘su‘ (without quote) then type your root password, type ‘testdisk‘ (without quote). TestDisk 6.10 Data Recovery Utility will run. Press Enter.

4. Testdisk will detect your storage media/hard drive include my flashdisk Kingston DT Mini Slim. In this case I want to recover my files which have been deleted from my Flashdisk. Choose media using the Arrow keys on your keyboard, then press Enter.

5. Choose the partition type, I choose Intel.

6. Choose Analyse, then press Enter.

7. Choose Quick Search, then press Enter.

8. Type ‘Y‘ (without quote)

9. Press Enter.

10. Type ‘P‘ (without quote) to List/Preview Files

11. You can see, there are 2 different color text in the Console window, Red and White text, the red text is mean the deleted files (which will be restored soon) and the white text is mean the currently files. Type ‘h‘ (without quote) to hide the red text if you want.

12. Select the files you want to restore then press ‘c‘ (without quote) to copy it, and choose the destination of files you want to copy it to, using Arrow keys, then press ‘y‘ (without quote) to confirm the copy process.

13. To copy another files you can select the files and press ‘c‘ (without quote) again, this process is absolutely simple, it’s not difficult. 14. Well done, you have recovered/restored your deleted files.

Note: The usage of Testdisk is not limited for recovery deleted files only. According to the vendor’s website, you can use this tool to repairing harddisk which have bad sector, repairing hard disk which can not boot or bootable, etc. I hope in the next article I will try to explore the usage of this tool more deeper than before.

Author: Harun Abdurrazaq
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Bumper guardian

Isn’t it great that the open source world gives you a lot of choices? When it comes to Linux distributions, shortly known as distros, there are hundreds of them. Once you have selected a distro, you are up against a decision regarding the desktop. You need to know enough about the pros and cons of these choices so that you can pick the one that is right for you.

Let us briefly revisit the requirements for a successful migration.

You have to meet three requirements before installing Linux on your home PC:

1. You have identified a demonstrable benefit you can gain by migrating to Linux
2. You have done your prep work
3. You have realistic expectations

By following these three steps, you will maximize your chances of success.

However, there is a mind boggling variety of Linux distros available.

Let us try and shortlist the Linux distros based on the following five criteria:

1. Is it backed by a commercial vendor?
2. Is desktop Linux for home a stated focus area for this vendor?
3. Is a retail product available in the form of a CD/DVD?
4. Are branded PC vendors shipping this distro pre-installed?
5. Is paid support available, if needed?

We find that there are only two Linux distros that meet these five qualifications largely – Ubuntu and SUSE Linux.

Ubuntu

• Sponsored by Canonical.
• You can download it free, buy it on DVD from Amazon or get a free CD shipped (takes 6 to 10 weeks).
• Starter support for Ubuntu Desktop Edition is available for one year at $ 54.99 (as of Sept 2009).
• Security update is available for 18 months from release.

SUSE

• Sponsored by Novell.
• You can download it free, buy it on DVD from Amazon.
• You can buy a package from Novell consisting of a DVD with printed manual and 90-Day installation support (by phone or e-mail) for $59.95 (as of Sept 2009).
• Security update is available for 2 years from release.

Can I buy Linux pre-installed from a branded PC vendor? Dell offers PCs for the home and home office market pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux. HP and MSI offer PCs with Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop pre-installed. Asus offers notebooks with Xandros Linux pre-installed. Acer offers notebooks with Linpus Linux.

Can I get Linux pre-installed from another vendor? Zareason, Berkley, CA and System76, Denver, CO sell Ubuntu Linux desktops and laptops.

Which desktop? Though there are other options available, we will restrict our selection to the two leading desktops, namely GNOME and KDE.

GNOME

• GNOME is a very mature and stable desktop.
• The GNOME project has well defined human interface guidelines to make the desktop and applications easy to use. Most GNOME applications follow these guidelines, resulting in common usability between applications.
• GNOME doesn’t provide a graphical interface for some of the settings. Users will have to use the command line interface for these.

KDE

• KDE is also a very mature desktop. However, KDE 4 was completely rewritten and so had some issues. The recent 4.3 version seems to be more stable.
• KDE is also better for new users switching from Windows, and relies less on the command line interface.
• Unfortunately, KDE does not use Firefox as the default web browser or OpenOffice as the default office suite. You will have to install Firefox and OpenOffice subsequently.

If you are planning to use an older machine and just require stability and an uncluttered approach then you can go with GNOME. However, if you have a newer machine, looking for a desktop closer to Windows and avoid the command line interface, then KDE is your best bet.

Author: Ashok Ramachandran
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger