xiv Introduction
Figure 4 Installing Documentation Files
Scroll through the right side of the file manager screen and look for files beginning with the letters
"rhl" (as shown in Figure 4, Installing Documentation Files. There will be one file for each of our
four manuals. The file names contain the abbreviations IG, RG, CG, and GSG, corresponding to the
Installation, Reference, Customization, and Getting Started guides respectively.
Now, open a terminal by clicking on the Terminal Emulation Program button on the panel at the
bottom of your desktop. Type the following at the command line:
cd su
Now press [Enter]. You will be asked for your root password. Enter the password at the command line
and press [Enter]. You are now logged in as root. To install all four manuals, type the following:
rpm -ivh rhl-*.rpm
Press [Enter].
If you only want to install certain manuals, replace "rhl-*.rpm" with the full file name (as shown in
the right window of the file manager) of the manual that you want to install. For example, the file
name for the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide will look something like rhl-gsg-en-7.2-
[Link], so you would type the following to install the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started
Guide on your computer:
Section 0.6:Sign Up for Support xv
rpm -ivh [Link]
Press [Enter]. Type exit at the command line and press [Enter]. This takes you out of the root login
and back to your user account.
Now go to Main Menu =>Programs => Documentation => Official Red Hat Linux and select the
manual you want to open. It will automatically open in a Web browser.
View manuals online (HTML).
Look under RH-DOCS in the file manager tree. The file that ends with the letters "html" opens the
manuals for viewing in a Web browser without installing them on your system. Double-click on the
.html file in the file manager and you will see a screen with links to all of the manuals. At the bottom
of this page, there is a link to the opening page of the documentation CD. The opening page has links
to a variety of Linux documentation resources.
Of course, you can also go to [Link] and bookmark the site. All of
the manuals are available there in PDF and HTML format.
We Need Feedback!
If you spot a typographical error in the Official Red Hat Linux Getting Started Guide, or if you have
thought of a way to make this manual better, we would love to hear from you! Please submit a report
in Bugzilla ( [Link] against the component rhl-gsg.
Be sure to mention the manual’s identifier:
rhl-gsg(EN)-7.2-Print-RHI (2001-09-12T11:19-0400)
If you mention the manual’s identifier, we will know exactly which version of the guide you have.
If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try to be as specific as possible when de-
scribing it. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of the surrounding
text so we can find it easily.
Sign Up for Support
If you have an official edition of Red Hat Linux 7.2, please remember to sign up for the benefits you
are entitled to as a Red Hat customer.
Depending on which Official Red Hat Linux product you purchased, you can receive any or all of the
following benefits:
• Official Red Hat support — Get help with your installation questions from Red Hat, Inc.’s support
team.
xvi Introduction
• Red Hat Network — Use Red Hat Network to automatically retrieve and install system and secu-
rity updates, as well as other packages.
• Under the Brim: The Official Red Hat E-Newsletter Red Hat Linux Every month, get the latest
news and product information directly from Red Hat.
To sign up, go to [Link] You will find your Product ID on the black,
red and white registration card in your Official Red Hat Linux box.
And for even more support, go to [Link] where you will find plenty of in-
formation on documentation, support programs, updates, and more.
Good luck and enjoy your new Red Hat Linux system!
The Red Hat Documentation Team
Part I The Basics
Section 1.1:Logging In 19
1 Getting Started
Time to get started. The first thing you have to do is log in. When you log in, you are basically
introducing yourself to the system.
Linux is Case Sensitive
Like UNIX, Linux is case sensitive. That means that typing "root" refers to
a different account than "Root". As far as Linux is concerned, the lowercase
"root" refers to the root login, or system administrator.
When you installed Red Hat Linux, you had the opportunity to install the X Window System (also
simply called X), which provides the display of graphical information. You were also asked whether
you wanted to use a graphical screen, rather than a console (or shell prompt) to log in. A graphical
screen has icons, lots of menus, and is generally more approachable for a new user. A console, or
shell prompt, resembles an MS-DOS screen and requires the use of specific phrases or commands,
which the user types at the command line. Although our emphasis throughout this book will be on
navigation and productivity using X, we will cover both the graphical and console methods of logging
in and starting the X Window System.
1.1 Logging In
Unlike some other operating systems, your Red Hat Linux system uses accounts to manage privileges,
maintain security, and more. Not all accounts are created equal: some accounts have fewer rights to
access files or services than others.
If you have already created a user account, you can skip ahead to Chapter 2, The GNOME Desktop
Environment. If you created only the root account, read on to learn how to set up a user account.
CAUTION
Because your Red Hat Linux system creates the root account during instal-
lation, some new users are tempted to use only this account for all their ac-
tivities. This is a bad idea. Since the root account is allowed to do anything
on the system, you can easily damage your system by accidentally deleting
or modifying sensitive system files. You may be tempted to forego creating
and using a user account during or after installation, but this is risky.
20 Chapter 1:Getting Started
1.1.1 Logging In As Root
If you did not create a user account during installation, you must log in as root. Regardless of whether
you have chosen a graphical or console login screen, you will have to supply a login account name
and the password associated with that account.
From a shell prompt, for example, you will see something like:
Red Hat Linux release 7.0
Kernel [Link] on an i686
localhost login:root
Password:yourrootpassword
Unless you have chosen to give your machine its own hostname, which is primarily used in a network
setting, your machine will probably be called localhost.
To log in to the root account, type root at the login prompt and press [Enter]. Then type the root
password you chose during installation at the password prompt and press [Enter].
Figure 1–1 The Graphical Login Screen
If you see a shell prompt (instead of the graphical desktop as shown in Figure 1–1, The Graphical
Login Screen) you can start the X Window System by typing startx as follows:
[root@localhost /root]# startx
Section 1.1:Logging In 21
Changing Your Login Screen
To find out how you can change from a console to a graphical login screen
see Section 13.14, Changing Login from Console to X at Startup.
Once you start the X Window System, you will find a desktop similar to Figure 1–2, A GNOME
Desktop in GNOME or Figure 1–3, A KDE Desktop in KDE.
Figure 1–2 A GNOME Desktop
22 Chapter 1:Getting Started
Figure 1–3 A KDE Desktop
1.1.2 Opening a Terminal Window
Both GNOME and KDE offer quick launch buttons on their panels to open a terminal window, also
referred to as a shell prompt.
Figure 1–4 The GNOME Panel
On the GNOME panel, the button that launches a shell prompt looks like:
Similar to GNOME, the KDE panel prominently features a quick launch button for a shell prompt.
The launcher looks like:
You can also find the launcher from the KDE main menu under System=> Terminal.
Section 1.2:Creating a user account 23
1.2 Creating a user account
When you installed Red Hat Linux you were given the opportunity to create user accounts. If you did
not create at least one (not including the root account) you should do so now. Working in root when
you do not absolutely have to is a bad idea.
There are two ways to create new and/or additional user accounts: from a GUI, using the user config-
uration tool; and from a shell prompt.
Figure 1–5 The User Configuration Tool
To create a user account from a GUI:
1. Log in. If you only have a root account, you must log in as root. If you are already logged in to
a user account and want to create more accounts, you do not have to change to root; you will be
prompted for the root password later.
2. In GNOME, click on the Start Here button on the panel at the bottom of your desktop. In the
new window that opens, click on the System Settings icon and then on the icon for the user con-
figuration tool (if you are not logged in as root, you will be prompted to enter the root password).
In KDE, go to Main Menu => System => User Manager.
3. When the configuration tool opens (Figure 1–5, The User Configuration Tool), click on New
User.