Spring into Windows XP Service Pack 2

359 Pages·2005·5.72 MB·English

by  Culp, Brian

spring into
Linux
spring into series
Spring Into… a series of short, concise, fast-paced tutorials for professionals
transitioning to new technologies.

Find us online at www.awprofessional.com/springinto/
Spring Into Windows XP Service Pack 2
Brian Culp
ISBN 0-13-167983-X
Spring Into PHP 5
Steven Holzner
ISBN 0-13-149862-2
Spring Into HTML and CSS
Molly E. Holzschlag
ISBN 0-13-185586-7
Spring Into Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists
Barry J. Rosenberg
ISBN 0-13-149863-0
Spring Into Linux®
Janet Valade
ISBN 0-13-185354-6
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From the Series Editor
Barry J. Rosenberg
A few years ago, I found myself in a new job in
which I had to master many new skills in a very
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tent.
I went to the bookstore but was shocked by how
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place where wit and intelligence had once been
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happened? Photograph courtesy of Ed Raduns
Well, I made a few phone calls, got Aunt Barbara to sew up a few costumes, and con-
vinced Uncle Ed to let us use the barn as a stage. Oh wait… that was a different prob-
lem. Actually, I made a few phone calls and got some really talented friends to write
books that clever people wouldn’t be ashamed to read. We called the series “Spring
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With Spring Into…, we feel that we’ve created the perfect series for busy profession-
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spring into
Linux
Janet Valade
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Library ofCongress Catalog Control Number:2005920919
Copyright 2005 Pearson Education,Inc.
All rights reserved.Printed in the United States ofAmerica.This publication is protected
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ed reproduction,storage in a retrieval system,or transmission in any form or by any
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regarding permissions,write to:
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ISBN 0-13-185354-6
Text printed in the United States on recycled paper at R.R.Donnelley in Crawfordsville,
Indiana.
First printing,April,2005
To my mother,with thanks for passing on a writing gene,
along with many other things.
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Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
About the Series Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
CHAPTER 1 Understanding Open Source Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Open Source Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Open Source License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Linux Is Open Source Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What Is GNU? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
CHAPTER 2 Choosing a Linux Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Distribution Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Red Hat/Fedora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Mandrake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
SuSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Other Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Live CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER 3 Getting Ready to Install Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Hardware Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Purchasing Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Downloading Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Planning Your Computer System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Running Linux with Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Examining Your Hard Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Making Room for Linux During Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Making Room for Linux Before Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Booting from the CD or from a Floppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30