Introduction
I envy the fine, new adventure that you are about to embark on! Red Hat Linux 6 is not your father's Unix: the interface is visual, user-friendly, and completely customizable to the way you like to work.
Powerful personal productivity applications—such as Gnomecard, Gnotepad+, and the Gnumeric spreadsheet—ship with Red Hat Linux 6 and are ready to run. Familiar programs such as the Netscape Communicator suite and Corel WordPerfect can be used to browse the Web, send and receive email, and create word-processing documents. And there is so much more! To take just one example, the GNU Image Manipulation Program (affectionately called the "Gimp") ships with Red Hat Linux 6. The Gimp most certainly gives Adobe's expensive program Photoshop quite a run for the money.
But these applications are only the beginning. Red Hat Linux 6 is a powerful server operating system. It is capable of performing workhorse duties as a file and print sharer in a small home or office. It can be used to manage large, enterprise-class networks. Combined with Apache, the most widely used Web server software, it can be used to host world-class World Wide Web sites.
Even if money were no object, Red Hat Linux 6 would be a superb operating system choice for almost any application. Obviously, the price is right. No wonder so many people are deciding to run Linux as their operating system of choice, making it the world's fastest growing major operating system.
Red Hat Linux 6 is as good as it gets!
What is Linux?
Linux was originally created by Linus Torvalds, then a Finnish college student in his early twenties. It is a Unix-like operating system that runs on Intel's x86 microprocessor architecture (commonly called PCs, or Windows PCs).
The term Linux is actually used in two ways:
To refer to the Linux kernel, the heart of the operating system.
To more generally refer to a collection of applications that run on top of the Linux kernel. This is also called a distribution. Red Hat Linux 6 is one of the leading examples of a distribution.
While Linus Torvalds retains creative ownership over the Linux kernel, Linux as we know it today has been developed with the assistance of programmers from around the world.
Unlike any other desktop operating system—and like other versions of Unix—Linux is a true multi-tasking and multi-user operating system.
Understanding the General Public License
The Linux kernel is freely distributable under the General Public License (GPL) developed by the Free Software Foundation. (For the full text of the GPL, see Appendix B. This license is also called The GNU General Public License.)
It is the intention of the GPL to promote free distribution and open development of software. The Free Software Foundation is at pains to point out that free under the GPL does not mean the same thing as "no cost." In fact, you are allowed to sell software licensed under the GPL, but you cannot place restrictions on others reselling what you have sold to them. As the Linux evangelists say, think free speech, not free beer.
Hence, the word "free" is really being used in a political, or visionary, sense. It means liberated from licensing restrictions, and intellectually free. This is in keeping with the vision of the Free Software Foundation: its goal is to create a complete operating system with all necessary applications and utilities that can be distributed without restriction.
What is Gnome?
Gnome is short for GNU Network Object Model Environment.
The Gnome project has built a complete, user-friendly visual desktop made up of large applications and smaller utilities. The visual desktop is referred to as the Gnome Desktop Environment. Applications that were written as part of the Gnome project generally start with a 'G' for example, the Gimp and Gnotepad+. Gnome and GNU applications are pronounced with a hard "G"—for example, "guh-notepad."
Gnome applications and the Gnome Desktop Environment share a common look and feel. The Gnome Desktop Environment and related applications are free software, available under the GPL.
What is Red Hat Linux 6?
Red Hat Software's distributions of Linux are the most popular and best-known Linux distributions available.
In addition to the Linux kernel, Red Hat Linux 6 includes installation programs written by Red Hat, the Gnome Desktop Environment, and many, many applications and utilities.
What makes Red Hat Linux 6 revolutionary compared to previous Linux distributions—including those from Red Hat—is the seamless inclusion of Gnome, a world-class visual desktop. The transition from previous versions of Linux could well be compared with the transition from DOS to Microsoft Windows.
Who should read this book?
If you have purchased Red Hat Linux 6 Visual QuickPro Guide, it is a safe assumption that you own a copy of Red Hat Linux 6 (Publisher's Edition)—because you'll find it in the back of this book.
If you are simply curious about Linux, and how it compares to Microsoft Windows, this book will help satisfy your curiosity.
You should read this book if you are installing Linux, or Red Hat Linux 6, for the first time. This book will help you get up and running quickly with Gnome applications, Netscape Communicator, and programs such as Corel WordPerfect for Linux.
If you are already up and running with Linux, there is also plentiful information about more advanced topics. Perhaps you'd like to know how to work with the SQL database server that ships with Red Hat Linux 6. Or how to work with the Bash shell, and the Linux command line. Or get quickly up and running with a Linux network or Web server.
It's all here!
How this book is organized
Red Hat Linux 6: Visual QuickPro Guide is organized in four parts:
Part I, Installing Red Hat Linux 6, takes you through installing Red Hat Linux 6, configuring the Gnome Desktop, getting up and running with email and the Web, and finding documentation.
Part II, Doing Windows in Red Hat Linux 6, explains how to use Gnome personal productivity applications and programs such as Corel WordPerfect for Linux and PostgreSQL.
Part III, Working with Linux on the Command Line, explains the Bash shell, covers many Linux commands and shows you how to get started with shell scripting.
Part IV, Networking and the Web, covers configuring Red Hat Linux 6 as a server. It also explains how to work with Apache, the world's most widely used Web server.
How to use this book
Red Hat Linux 6 Visual QuickPro Guide presents easy, step-by step directions and illustrations to help you install, configure, and enjoy Red Hat Linux 6.
If you are a first time Linux user, I'd suggest browsing Parts I and II to begin with. Then, follow the step-by-step directions to help you quickly get up and running.
More experienced users should regard Red Hat Linux 6: Visual QuickPro Guide as a reference guide that will help you achieve specific tasks.
You may notice that in some places in the text—mostly examples involving Linux commands that you are supposed to enter—I've used a special character, _, to indicate line continuation. When you see the line continuation character, it means that the text should be entered (or read) all on the same line.
Contacting the author
I have made every effort to be as accurate as possible. However, it is inevitable in life that some errors may have crept in. I'd greatly appreciate any corrections. Drop me a line at
A Web page for the book will be available on the publisher's Web site:
http://www.peachpit.com/vqp/linux/
Onward and upward
Red Hat Linux 6, with its user-friendly, fully-integrated Gnome desktop, opens up a whole new world to novice and experienced users alike. Red Hat Linux 6 lets you control and customize the operating system any way you prefer. Why wait? Why not get started now…and welcome to the amazing world of Red Hat Linux 6!