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Point and Click Linux
SimplyMepis is a KDE-centric Live CD Linux which is also well suited for hard-drive installation. Before talking about Point and Click's text, Mepis itself deserves some description, because it's the basis for the examples in this example-laden book.
Not many years ago, books that came with a Linux distribution usually had the user prepare an initial pair of floppies, cross his fingers, and sacrifice at least a hard drive partition just to try it out by installing either from a CD or over the network. If the user wanted to keep an existing Windows partition, things were even more complicated, because there were no newbie-friendly non-destructive partition editors. Having bored (suffered) through that process, and seemingly tried every possible combination of boot+root floppy images before hitting the one that actually worked all my hardware enough to let the installation begin, I'm a big fan of Live CD Linux distros: this is progress.
Until sometime last winter, I would have suggested that any Linux book come with a copy of Knoppix, which is so astoundingly useful it's nearly impossible to overpraise. (I'm glad to see that several books are now coming bundled with it. Marcel Gagne's Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye and Knoppix Hacks both come with pressed versions of Knoppix.) Mepis, though, deserves the acclaim that's been heaped on it in the last several months, and makes a perfect choice to include with a book for Linux newcomers. And while a Live CD has obvious advantages, a user can follow the bulk of this book with any computer running KDE under Linux (or one of the BSDs, for that matter).
Mepis is at present my most-used distribution; I've used it recently to:
- Rescue data from a friends' grandmother's malware-hobbled Windows PC, on which the Windows goo was so thick that even booting up was at best a sometimes thing. (Switching her to Linux entirely is the next project.)
- Install Mepis's version of Debian on several of my computers; in fact, Live CDs like Mepis and Knoppix are the only way I've installed Linux for the past year.
- Show some kids TuxKart. (One of them beat my all-time high on his first attempt. Beginner's luck.)
Compared to Knoppix and most other live CDs, Mepis has what I consider a slightly friendlier feel; in particular, it gathers several of the more annoying and potentially intimidating sysadmin tasks into two groups, each with an icon on the desktop: the "System Center," for tweaking display, network and mouse parameters; and "User utilities," which for now contains only a "Clean User Space" program to clear one's browser history and cache, as well as purge the current bash history and recent documents. (Most people, at birth, don't even know what "sysadmin" means; having desktop icons to common admin tasks is considerate of new users.)
Though it will work on a wide range of x86 machines, like any Live CD (and any OS, really) Mepis benefits from running on a fast system with lots of RAM. 128MB of free RAM is what I'd call a realistic minimum; my system is perfectly run-of-the-mill by current new-PC standards (Sempron 2800+ processor, 512MB of RAM), and far more than necessary.
Get clicking
Point and Click Linux is aimed squarely at those new -- including perfectly new -- to using Linux at all, and it would make a fine non-intimidating manual for someone sitting down at his first computer.
To that end, Roblimo does not assume that the reader will be installing Mepis onto his hard drive; the whole point of the book is that all the point-and-click magic can be tried on a typical Windows PC with nothing more than a reboot. That said, current hard drives are much faster than current optical drives, and a system installed to a hard disk makes saving files a simpler process. I had brand-new system bought from a local megastore which was all set for a Free operating system, and decided to put this version of Mepis onto it. I used this book as my guide to the system, as I suspect a new user would -- as an actual step-by-step guide, not a random-access source of knowledge. So I installed the system and then tried the examples throughout.
The first four chapters make up a section called "Getting Started." Chapters here stray toward the short and snappy rather than comprehensive; all four of these might be condensed into a single chapter in a book meant for technophiles. Getting Started details some of Linux's advantages (lack of spyware, quick bug fixes, low price), booting Mepis from the CD-ROM drive (or installing it to hard disk) and working with KDE. The level is perfect for a literate but ignorant user: Roblimo explains in simple terms how to log in to the system (user "demo," password "demo" for the live CD), moving about on the KDE desktop, and using the KDE panel and K menu. He sneaks in one application in this section, too (KWrite), not so much as an application in itself, but because it demonstrates how other well-behaved KDE programs should act when it comes to opening and saving files, navigating the directory structure, etc.
An early snag: Chapter 4's instructions on reformatting a hard drive to let Windows and Linux both exist happily on the same PC didn't work for me. I was installing onto a brand new hard drive, and I thought I'd give dual-booting a shot to see what Windows was like nowadays, and so followed the instructions on setting up a machine to dual-boot. The disk-partitioning and formatting program QTParted (as user friendly as anything I've seen in that category on any platform) recognized the Windows partition that came with the machine, and let me shrink it to make room for installing Linux. But after divvying up the hard drive space and actually copying Mepis onto the drive, the machine would happily start Linux, but never actually booted Windows -- only generated an error message that it couldn't. I repeated the whole process, with the same result. It could be a quirk of my hardware (or more likely, pilot error, since I don't see similar complaints in the Mepis forums), but I never did get it to boot into Windows.
For many users, though, a functioning Windows install is probably a non-negotiable requirement. If any readers run into the same problem I did, and can't just shrug and toss Windows completely, my happy-overkill advice would be to invest in a second hard drive and skip all the hassles of dual- or multi-booting. (Storage is cheap, and it's hard to have too much of it.) If your drives are big enough, it also means you can back up the important data from each one onto the other, which is a nice bonus. Since Windows is to me only a curiosity, I decided not to pursue the partitioning problem -- I did the install one more time, this time choosing to use the entire hard disk.
That hitch aside, the book is straightforward, practical and accurate. It's also limited to a small subset of tasks and activities, which is perfectly reasonable given the intended audience.
Section II, "Linux Applications" is the book's largest, mostly because here too chapters are divided by application, rather than throwing several apps into a small number of longer chapters. It's also the most important, in my view, because the point of using Linux -- for most people, at least -- is not to simply appreciate its aesthetics, but to get things done. ("Getting things done" includes playing games!)
The applications covered start with Kppp (also given its own video segment on the DVD) -- a handy choice, because while Mepis will automatically detect and set up a DHCP broadband connection, readers who don't have broadband set up will benefit from many of the other apps (email, web-browsing, IM) only if they have a working Internet connection. Since I'm using a DSL connection, I didn't need to follow the advice here, but as a long-time Kppp user, I can vouch for the accuracy of its instructions. Yes, readers will need a Linux-friendly ISP and a phone line; the book as well as the video address this reality.
With Internet connection in place, the section proceeds apace, introducing Mozilla across not one but four separate chapters. (An introductory chapter to the Mozilla suite, followed by one apiece on Mozilla as a browser, email client, and web-page editor.) Firefox and Thunderbird are given a quick mention, but for the purposes of this book, Mozilla it is. I've recently moved almost completely to Firefox as a web browser, and I wish that Firefox had been emphasized instead, but the same principles apply at any rate. Windows users unused to browsers besides IE are likely to be pleased with the lucid instructions on blocking pop-up ads.
Chapters 10 through 15 also introduce a software suite in several easy chunks, this time the OpenOffice.org applications. While 5 chapters in 30-some pages is clearly not enough to make anyone an expert, it is plenty to establish the basic operations it takes to create and manipulate documents containing text, numbers and graphics in OO.o. The short (one-page!) Chapter 15 succinctly addresses working with Microsoft Word: "But don't expect 100% compatibility with MS Office. You won't get it. Instead, expect to get enough compatibility for everyday work, with some of the 'frills' left out."
The other chapters introduce some of the other Linux standbys included with Mepis: the multi-IM wonder Kopete (my current favorite AIM client), The GIMP, Frozen Bubble (fair warning is given about its addictive nature) and more. Especially worthy of note is the finance application called CheckBook Tracker, which is simpler than GNUcash but allows for low-key tracking and balancing of passbook accounts, and is a good start for putting money management on a computer. I'd never heard of it before reading this book, and I'm impressed.
A third section, "Beyond the Basics," is still pretty basic by Linux-world standards, but provides some appetite-whetting for new users, with instructions on the rudiments of installing new software using Kpackage, changing the look of one's desktop, cooperating with Windows (using Samba, Win4Lin and CrossOver Office), and customizing the included firewall application. Worms and the viruses aren't the problem under Linux that they are for Windows users, but they certainly could become more of a problem, and it's good to have some information on limiting outside access to one's PC.
While Kpackage is a perfectly competent package, I hope that the next version of Mepis will include by default the even-friendlier Synaptic as well as Kpackage. This section is one where I wish the short chapters had been at least a bit longer, because much of the coolest software for Linux is out there waiting to be grabbed. Maybe that's for the next set of readers up the totem pole, though.
However, a nice chapter (written by Joe Barr) at least gives some of the command-line rudiments that readers will need to get beyond pointing and clicking, which even in a book about getting along with the GUI is useful information.
A few appendices round out the book; one gives additional information on Mepis, and the other two list currently popular distributions and books, for readers who want to take the next steps toward Linux proficiency.
The small screenThe included video -- 13 short videos, actually -- are fun, and a nice touch. They illustrate in what will for experienced users be excruciating detail the same things the book talks about. When Roblimo says "put it in your computer's CD drive," you see his hand putting the disc into his computer's CD drive. When he says to move the mouse to a certain point, you see his pointer (helpfully highlighted with a translucent yellow circle) move to the appropriate spot.
For new users especially, I think it's much easier to follow something being done on screen than it is to interpret written instructions. The production on the DVD is what you might expect from the guy who for years ran a site called cheapcomputing.com; strictly functional and a bit rough around the edges, with adequate but lo-fi sound and picture, including Roblimo's web-cam captured face as he talks the user through each step. Having a human face on screen blunts the strangeness of watching someone else's disembodied pointer move around the screen pointing and clicking away, which is the case with some video-training material.(One wrinkle: unless you have both a CD ROM drive and a DVD drive in your PC, you won't be watching the videos and running Mepis as a live CD at the same time. Mepis will be occupying at least one optical drive until you decide to exit it completely.)
You can probably tell already whether Point and Click Linux is suited for you, and the answer is likely No. Just the same, I discovered a few things about Linux and KDE that I'd never tried before reading the book, and know at least a dozen people I think would benefit from a copy.
You can purchase Point and Click Linux from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Being a linux newbie myself, I purchased this book and it was a great read. Much easier to read than some other tech books. I'd recommned it anyone, cept the hardcore power users.
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An early snag: Chapter 4's instructions on reformatting a hard drive to let Windows and Linux both exist happily on the same PC didn't work for me. I was installing onto a brand new hard drive, and I thought I'd give dual-booting a shot to see what Windows was like nowadays, and so followed the instructions on setting up a machine to dual-boot.
:)
That's because Linux doesn't play well with NTFS (mounts it read-only), and NTFS (or some variant thereof) lies under WinXP. If you were truly starting with a new hard drive, your best bet is to set up your partitions ahead of time, install XP where you want XP and Linux where you want Linux.
Messing around with the partition-size probably hosed whatever checksum XP does on the partition, and it refused to boot from it.
Not really newbie-friendly, is it?
The only surefire protection against Microsoft infections is abstinence. - The Onion
Yup. Minus the $2,000 that is. Here's a pretty good article (linked to from MEPIS.org) that basically says if you have the cash, go get a G5. If not, use linux - specifically MPEIS. I don't know how many people I could also speak for, but I definitely fall into the G5-dreaming but linux-using group. Maybe once I'm out of college...
No, it isn't. I'm sorry that you evidently don't understand why, but this is not the forum to discuss why there is a large number of people that prefer the Linux UI to the Macintosh UI. Given the immense amount of advocacy from people like you, you can rest assured that they are more than aware of the alternative and have made their choice deliberately.
There's always a community waiting to help you. If it's an everyday task then more than likely someone has figured out how to do it quickly and easily. I would be more than happy to personally help you out as much as I can with any questions you may have.
LilMikey.com... I'll stop doing it when you sto
Excuse me Mr Pot, but the Kettle has asked me to point out that:
- Christmas should be capitalized. Regardless of your feelings on the subject, it is the proper name of a holiday.
... Santa bring you all... should be Santa bring you each (unless of course you meant that one would suffice for all of them, in which case the "all" is extraneous)- You are using "can" where "may" belongs, which is generally acceptable in modern usage, BUT
...you are, in essence, asking the direct object of your sentence if the subject of the sentence will perform a certain service. If you want Santa to do something, you should ask Santa.
A more grammatically appropriate expression of your sentiments is:Dear Slashdot "Editors" - I certainly hope each of you has asked Santa for an unabridged grammar reference and a spell-checker for Christmas this year!
That being said, I rather suspect that the aforementioned editors are primarily responsible for article selection. To expect copy editing from a free and continuously updated website seems just a bit extravagant.
There is a known problem with the combination of specific version of parted, the 2.6 kernel, LBA disks and certain bioses. From what I've read, due to changes in how the 2.6 kernel "sees" the partition table, parted creates a munged partition table that will happily boot linux but results in a dead windows partition. To avoid this, you can upgrade libparted or simply create the partitions using fdisk before running the install utility.