Web Design Programs, Jsp, Tomcat, J2Ee, Hibernate Programming Blog

3.Click the Add User button. The Create New User dialog box opens, as shown in Figure 7-2.4.Enter a name for your new user in the User Name field. In Linux, the case of the user account is important, so note the case asyou type the information. Typically, people use all lowercase so thatthey don t have to keep track. 5.Fill in the user s full name (as you want it to in an e-mail From header, for example) or nickname in the Full Name field. 6.Enter the password in both Password fields. Figure 7-2: The CreateNew Userdialog box inthe UserManagerapplication, in FedoraCore 3.136Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet Creating good passwordsGood passwords consist of the following: A combination of numbers, letters, and evenpunctuation marks Uppercase and lowercase characters No dictionary words Six or more characters No family or pet names, friends names, birthdays, anniversaries, or other items thatsomeone can easily guess about you11_

135Chapter 7: Configuring Linux Knoppix: From the main menu, choose .System.KUser to open the KDEUser Manager. Linspire:From the main menu, choose Settings.User Manager opensthe KDE User Manager. Mandrake:From the main menu, choose System.Configuration. Other. User Administration opens the Userdrake tool. SuSE:From the main menu, choose System.YaST opens up YaST. (See theupcoming section SuSE tools for more on YaST.) On the left, chooseSecurity and Users. Then, on the right, choose Edit And Create Users toopen the User And Group Administration dialog. Xandros:Choose Launch.Control Center opens up the Xandros ContolCenter. From here, click the plus next to System Administration to expandthis menu and then click User Manager to open the KDE User Manager. While these tools aren t identical from distribution to distribution, they re allquite similar and work in essentially the same way. After all, each applicationhas pretty standard steps to creating user accounts. I walk you through howto create user accounts in Fedora Core, and most of the same steps applyelsewhere. To create a new user account in Fedora: 1.Choose Applications.System Settings.Users And Groups. Because you re (hopefully) using a regular user account, the Passwordfor root dialog appears. 2.Enter the root password and click OK. The User Manager window opens, as shown in Figure 7-1. When theapplication opens, the user account you created during installationalready appears. Figure 7-1: The UserManagerapplication, in FedoraCore 3.11_

134Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet Avoiding rootThe root user,also known as the superuseror just root, has access to anythingand everything on your machine. There is no blocking root from a directory, file, command, or device. Because of this factor, many Linux beginners figurethat they may as well use the root account all the time because it s so convenient. However, for lots of good reasons, you shouldn t use the root account foreveryday use: You don t always need root-level access. Root-level access is as much a curse as it is a blessing. If you mess up asa regular user, you mess up only the stuff in your account. If you mess upas the root user, you can wipe out everything all the files on your entireLinux system! That s why some Linux distributions like SuSE give you anasty red background when you re in the root account (in the GUI) asa dire warning. In fact, Mandrake doesn t even give you root as one ofthe options to select in the GUI login. SuSE doesn t give you a graphicaloption for root, but you can type it into the Username text box. Don t think that you can wipe out everything? Many experienced Linuxadministrators tell horror stories about the day they made a fatal typoor weren t paying attention to what they were doing and completelydestroyed an installation. If you send e-mail or news posts as root for anything other than seriousadministrative business, people think that you don t know what you redoing or are showing off. Root comes with too much temptation. The superuser can read otherpeople s e-mail messages and files, which introduces a few tiny ethicalissues. Linspire has a slightly different philosophy. You have only one account whenyou re using Linspire, by default. However, in the next section, I show youhow to create new accounts so that you don t have to use root or let someone who s borrowing your computer for a moment to browse the Web do it under root! Creating user accountsMost Linux distributions include a graphical interface application for creatingand managing user accounts. Here s how you can find this application foryour distribution: Fedora Core:Choose Applications.System Settings.Users And Groupsopens the User Manager.

Chapter 7Configuring LinuxIn This Chapter Creating user accounts Setting up your printing Finding cool configuration toolsThe doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clientto plant vines. Frank Lloyd Wright (1869 1959) Unlike both the architect and the doctor, the computer user isn t stuckwith configuration mistakes. You can tweak and change things untilyou re happy with them! Because the first thing a lot of people like to do witha new system is get it set up just right, I thought I d spend this chapter shar- ing some of the core bits of knowledge that can help you do just this. Youstart by finding out more about user accounts and why I am so insistent thatyou create a special one for your own personal use in Chapter 3. Then, youfind out how to set up your machine to talk to your printer. I also show youwhere the cool configuration tools are for your distribution so that you canget down to some serious customization. Accounts Great and SmallLinux is a multiuseroperating system. It allows everyone to have a uniqueaccount and allows more than one user to log on at the same time. Typically, even if you re the only user on a system, you need an account of your ownthat isn t the root user s. (I explain why in the next section). In addition, having multiple accounts is especially fun for experimenting with differentuser setups. That way, you can create a main account to be more careful withand a goofing around account to completely mess around with.

132Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet

Fedora Core:Click the Session icon on the lower part of your loginscreento bring up a dialog box where you can choose which GUI youwant to use. Mandrake:After you select your username, you re given more loginoptions. Choose the GUI you want to use from the Session Type drop- down list box. SuSE:After you enter or select your username, click the Menu button toopen its context menu. Choose Session Type and then, from that sub- menu, choose GNOME, KDE, or one of the others if you want to playaround with your options. 131Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_

The logout, restart, or shut down tool. The Switch User tool, as discussed in the Mandrake KDE section. The clock and calendar. The Panel compression arrow. Table 6-9 breaks down the Xandros main menu. Table 6-9The Xandros 2.5 Main MenuMenu EntryWhat You FindApplicationsAll your programs. FindTwo search utilities, one to search your filesystem and the other to search for particular computers if you re on alarge network. Control CenterThe Xandros/KDE Control Center, which is great for customizing your system. Xandros File ManagerThe file manager, open to your home directory. Xandros NetworksThe system updater and software installation interface. HelpThe Xandros Desktop Help Center. Recent DocumentsMenu to open documents you recently opened using the file manager. Run CommandThe Run Command dialog box, which is similar to the one covered in earlier section The Run Application tool. Switch UserThe same as Switch User in the previous sections. Log OutThe same as Log Out in the previous sections. Switching between GNOME and KDEWhen a distribution offers you a choice between desktops, and you installedboth desktops, you can typically select which one to use when you log in. Here s how you do so from the login window in the distributions that supportthis feature: 130Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet

Quick Start Guide:Launches the Xandros Quick Start Help guide. Web Browser:Launches the Mozilla Web browser (see Chapter 9). Xandros Networks:Launches the software update and adding tool (see Chapter 12). Your Xandros Panel, from left to right, launches The main menu. Mozilla Web browser. The Mozilla e-mail client. The Xandros file manager to your home directory. Xandros Desktop Help. The desktop clearing tool, letting you minimize everything on your desktop all at once. The task bar, where the programs you re running appear. The Workplace Switcher, as discussed earlier in this chapter in the section The Panel. The desktop locking tool. Figure 6-9: The defaultXandros 2.5 desktop. 129Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_

128Part I:Getting Your Feet Wet Table 6-8The SuSE 9.2 Main Menu ContentsMenu EntryWhat You FindGamesGames! GraphicsDrawing tools, image editors, and more. InternetInternet-related tools. MultimediaCD, DVD, jukebox, TV and other multimedia tools. OfficeWork-related office tools. SystemTools for managing your system. UtilitiesHandy utilities. Control CenterThe KDE Control Center, which is a great central place to customize your system. Find FilesThe filesystem searching utility. HomeThe Konqueror file browser open to your home directory. SuSE help-centerSuSE help information. BookmarksYour Web browsing bookmarks. Run CommandThe Run Command dialog box, which is similar to the one covered in the GNOME section The Run Application tool. Switch UserThe same as Mandrake s Start New Session option. Lock SessionThe same as everyone s Lock Screen option. LogoutThe same as Mandrake s Logout option. Xandros KDEFigure 6-9 displays the default Xandros desktop. As you can see, Xandrosoffers another customized version of KDE. A vertical row of icons sits to the left of your desktop. These icons are, fromtop to bottom: Trash:The KDE trash can, which works similarly to the GNOME trashcan. (See the earlier section Playing with desktop icons. ) Home:The Xandros File Manager (see Chapter 10) opening to yourhome directory s contents.

The desktop icons are, starting with the horizontal row on the left: Trash:The KDE trash can, which works similarly to the GNOME trash. (See the section Playing with desktop icons, earlier in this chapter.) SuSE:The Welcome to SuSE Linux 9.2 tool. Office: The OpenOffice.org launcher (see Chapter 17). Beneath the horizontal row is another row of desktop icons, which are (fromleft to right): Netword Browsing:Opens the Konqueror file manager to a list of allyour network file shares, including Windows Network shares. My Computer:Opens the Konqueror file manager to a list of removablemedia, such as your CD-ROM drive. Beneath these icons, you see the Printer icon, which opens the KDE printmanager. Moving down to your panel, you find, from left to right, many familiar items ifyou look up at the Mandrake section: The SuSE main menu. The Konqueror file manager opening your home directory. The KDE command-line terminal. The SuSE Help Center. The Konqueror Web Browser. The Kontact e-mail program (see Chapter 9). The Workspace Switcher (described many times throughout this chapter). The taskbar, where each program has an entry. A sextet of tiny icons. The top left is the battery monitor if you re using a laptop. The bottom left is the Klipper clipboard tool. The top middle is the PCMCIA profile manager. The bottom middle is the SuSEWatcherupdater tool. The top right is the volume control, and the bottom right is the SuSE hardware management tool. The KDE clock. The SuSE main menu is detailed in Table 6-8. As always, what you find in thismenu depends on which software you have installed. 127Chapter 6: Checking Out Those Desktops10_