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Mandriva 2009.1: Network Applet

There are a lot of reasons for choosing a Distro, one of them may be features that are available for setting up and administering your network configuration.  Mandriva 2009.1 offers a number of administrative tools that work well and are easy to use.  One of those features is the network Applet.  Go to system/Administration and NetApplet to start the applet and place it on your panel.  Here you can see the Applet with a check mark indicating that networking is up and functioning.

If you right click the Applet you will get several options:

Disconnect
Monitor Network
Interactive Firewall
Configure Network
VPN
Settings
Help

What is nice about this is you have everything at your fingertips.  If you select Monitor Network you will get this screen.  This will allow you to Monitor or Configure.

If you choose Monitor you will be able to see the activity on the network that is current and also an average.  This gives you a good idea about what is actually happening on your network for troubleshooting.

If you choose to configure you can set up DHCP or you can set up Manual IP Address.

Advanced settings allow you to turn off IPV6 for instance that can give you some issues.

Summary:

It is refreshing to use a network tool that works and provides so many options in one place.  This is an excellent reason for considering Mandriva.

2

Using the Shell

The Shell is the Linux equivalent of the CMD screen in Windows. Where it differs is that in Linux it is the heart of the system. It is rare that you use the CMD windows during normal operation in Windows, but once you are up to speed with Linux it will become second nature.

The Shell is also referred to as Bash (Bourne Again Shell) in Debian, but there are other versions of it around. The Shell is a command line interpreter, meaning it takes your command, turns it into Linux speak, processes the command, then produce the result.
To start the shell you can use the Terminal menu option from the GUI menu in Debian. You should then see a window much like the one above although it may be a different color.

You will see one of two prompts. A $ which is the general user prompt, or a # for the root user. I would hope that especially during your first weeks with Linux you will be logging in as a general user and only using root when you need to.
The following are some basic commands to get you used to navigating the system. None of them will hurt anything, especially if you are in user mode. Note you don’t have to type the $.

$ pwd                  Will tell you what directory you are in.
$ cd                      Takes you to your home directory.
$ ls                        Lists the contents of your current directory
$ ls –l                   Displays the contents of the current directory in long format
$ ls –al                  Will show the long version of the directory including any hidden files
$ mkdir ‘name’     Will create a directory where ‘name’ is what you call it
$ rm ‘filename’     Deletes the file
$ rm –r ‘dirname’      Deletes the directory
$ cp file1 file2       Makes a copy of file1 and calls it file2
$ cp –r dir1 dir2     Makes a copy of directory1 and calls it dir2
$ mv file1 file2       This will move file one to file2
$ touch ‘filename’      Updates the file
$ more ‘filename’     Displays the contents of the file
$ head ‘filename’      Displays the first ten lines of the file
$ tail ‘filename’    Displays the last ten lines
Those are some of the basic file commands you can use to navigate and manipulate your files. How about a few command that give you information about your current machine and configuration?
$ date        Shows the current date
$ cal       Brings up the system calendar
$ uptime     Shows how long your system has been up. Useful for servers
$ df    Displays your disk usage
$ du   Displays your directory space usage
$ free   Displays your memory and swap file usage, again useful for servers
The shell is a massive subject, and one you should become familiar with over time. It is an extremely useful and powerful tool once you get the hang of it. Despite not being as pretty and as interactive as using the GUI, it seems to get things done quicker and in a no-nonsense kind of way.

2

Dual Booting Debian Lenny

If, like me you were a little dubious about your first forays into Linux, then dual booting is an option I would suggest. I wanted to try Debian, but wasn’t confident enough to leave my precious XP behind completely. I decided to go down the dual booting route, and although it may sound complicated it actually isn’t.
You will need to back up all your important stuff before doing anything, as we need to set up a partition in your hard disk to install into. Then download a freeware program called Easeus.
First thing you need to do is boot into XP and start Easeus. What you will see here is a graphical representation of your system drives. Choose the hard drive you want to install Linux on and resize it. You can either click on the relevant disk and choose the resize option at the top, or drag the slider on the disk pane. Ensure it is set as a Primary disk and you don’t have to worry about formatting it, just give it a drive letter and a name if you so desire. I called mine Debian so I would recognize it when I came to install it.

Once you have what you want, click Apply. Your system will reboot a couple of times while the changes are made, then it will boot into XP.
Now when you open up Easeus again you should see the changes that you made. The disk may appear as blank or empty if you decided not to format it, don’t worry about that as it will be formatted very soon!
Insert the Debian CD and set your machine up to boot from it. This is generally done from the Bios when the PC first starts. Depending on your PC it may be called something like Boot Options.
Boot into the Debian setup and follow the installation instructions. Make sure you choose the correct partition otherwise you might write over important files!
The install process is fairly straightforward, and the default settings should be sufficient for a new user. The install takes around thirty minutes, depending on your hardware and you are asked for input during the process, so don’t go anywhere!
The first time you reboot you should see the Grub boot loader screen with your options on it. At least one of them should be Debian and another Windows XP. You will get this option each time you boot your machine.
This can become a pain if you tend to turn on your PC and let it boot while you do something else like I used to.  GRUB, quite rightly, automatically selects Debian as the operating system to load, so if you want to boot into your old Windows install, you need to hang around for a few seconds to tell it to.