Introducing UNIX and Linux

Installing Linux

Overview
Starting out
Preliminaries
      Collecting information about your system
      Installation options
Single boot
Dual boot
      Booting from CD/floppy
      Booting from your hard disk
      A partitionless install
      A dedicated Linux partition
Emulators
      VMware
      WINE
Installing Linux
      Installer software
      Linux partitioning
            Typical partitions
            User accounts
      LILO
The window manager
KDE
      Desktop help
      Applications
      The KDE Control Center
      File access and the command prompt
Summary

The window manager

One of the main benefits of Linux is the ability to select and configure your desktop environment so that it suits your working needs. This has been made possible through the development of a component-based windowing system.

At the core of the Linux desktop is the X windows system, a portable, network-transparent graphical user interface whose design since the mid-1980s has been geared towards its use with the UNIX operating system.

The design of X windows is different from that of Microsoft Windows in that it separates the 'what to do' part of a graphical application from the 'how to do it'. This means that the part that interfaces with your computer hardware is not mixed up with the application itself. The Linux world has made good use of this and, as a result, has developed the 'what to do' application-side in the form of a number of so called window managers. The window managers look different and provide a range of different behaviours. Better still, each is highly customisable and so can be tailored to suit your needs. One of the best known UNIX window managers is the Tab Window Manager (Sometimes called Tom's Window Manager, after its principle author Tom LaStrange) TWM and its virtual-desktop counterpart VTWM (see www.visi.com/~hawkeyd/vtwm.html). Though dated, this still provides a good GUI interface to Linux for little hardware overhead. Another of the older and more stable window managers is FVWM (www.fvwm.org) which, through its development, has acquired lots of customisable elements known as themes.

A new breed of Linux desktop environment has been developed in response to the growth in the number of custom environments and the increased impact of Windows. These desktop environments, like Windows, are now highly developed and provide a range of integrated applications to the user as well as a more comprehensive interface to Linux.

The window manager and/or desktop environment that is provided with your Linux download will vary. Three of the more popular options include KDE (www.kde.org), the Common Desktop Environment CDE (www.opengroup.org/desktop/) and GNOME (www.gnome.org)

KDE is the default interface for many of the Linux downloads. It provides an excellent graphical front end to UNIX as well as a window manager, a help system and a number of developed utilities. We will consider KDE in more detail below.

GNOME is also cutting-edge, though currently less stable than KDE. GNOME not only provides a desktop environment, but also a development platform - providing tools, libraries, and components with which to develop UNIX applications - and GNOME Office, a set of office applications.