Ubuntu Questions Answered

                     Here are some questions that got asked about the Linux Operating System.

                     People just like yourself needed help and I hopefully I found the answers you was looking for.

                    In the pages that follows and that are linked to this page may provide or give you some guidance.

                  This is only  navigational to the resources and perhaps some tips and tricks I may provide you.

KUBUNTU

What is Kubuntu?

(Excerpt Source Wikipedia)

Kubuntu is an official derivation of the Ubuntu distribution of the Linux operating system using the KDE environment instead of GNOME. It is part of the Ubuntu project and uses the same underlying system. Kubuntu and Ubuntu can work alongside each other by installing the ubuntu-desktop and kubuntu-desktop packages. Every package in Kubuntu shares the same repositories as Ubuntu [1]. Starting with the 6.06 Dapper release, Kubuntu CDs can be ordered free of charge through the Shipit service.

Kubuntu means "towards humanity" in Bemba and is pronounced /kùbúntú/ (koo-BOON-too)

Why? Because it's FREE and it works!

The most recently release as of 10/29/2007 is Version 7.10 known as "Gutsy Gibbon" To download or get cd / dvd click it.

KUBUNTU Guide

(Note must use SUDO (space) Then your command)

To use sudo when using the command line, simply type "sudo" before the command you wish to run. Sudo will then prompt you for your password

Root And Sudo

The root user in GNU/Linux is the user which has administrative access to your system. Normal users do not have this access for security reasons. However, Kubuntu does not include the root user. Instead, administrative access is given to individual users, who may use the "sudo" application to perform administrative tasks. The first user account you created on your system during installation will, by default, have access to sudo. You can restrict and enable sudo access to users with the Users and Groups application (see the section called "Users and Groups" below for more information).

When you run an application that requires root privileges, sudo will ask you to input your normal user password.

This ensures that rogue applications cannot damage your system, and serves as a reminder that you are about to perform administrative actions which require you to be careful!

To use sudo when using the command line, simply type "sudo" before the command you wish to run. Sudo will then prompt you for your password.

Sudo will remember your password for a set amount of time (15 minutes by default). This feature was designed to allow users to perform multiple administrative tasks without being asked for a password each time.

Users and Groups

To add users or groups to your system, you can use the Users And Groups application located in K-menu->System Settings->Users and Groups .

Note

You will need to change into the "Administrator Mode" to make changes to Users and Groups.

To add a new user, click on New..., fill in the data fields then click OK. To edit the properties of each user, click the Modify... button located in the main Users window.

To add a new group, select the Groups tab and click New....

hoose a name for the new group and, if you want, change the default value for the Group ID. If you try to allocate a Group ID that is in use, the system will warn you.

You can add users to the newly created group by selecting a user from the left menu and clicking on the Add button. Removing a user from a group is as simple as adding one: select the user from the right menu then click Remove. When you are ready, click OK and the new group with its users, if inserted, will be created.

To edit the properties of a group, from within the Groups main window, choose a group name and click on the Modify... button.

To remove a user or a group from the system, select the user or group you want to delete and click Delete....

Start a Program Manually with Root Privileges

Sometimes it is necessary to run a program with root privileges. This is easy to do with the Run Command dialog.

Warning

Please be careful while running applications with root privileges as you may damage your system. See the section called "Root And Sudo" for more details.

·         Open the Run Command dialog by typing: Alt-F2

·         Enter the name of the program you wish to run, prefixed with kdesu and press Enter

For example, to launch the file manager Konqueror with root privileges, type kdesu conqueror

Commands

Finally, every package installs with readmes and HTML documentation that the Help index may not have picked up. Find these by listing all the files in a package:

What if you're not sure of the package name? Either of these commands will help. For example, suppose you're not sure of the name for the KDE front end to cron:

Aha, it's Kcron! dpkg tells you the status of installed packages, and apt-cache search shows you all possible installation candidates.

Login automatically to KDE when the computer starts

It is possible to login a user automatically when the computer boots. This is not recommended for most computers, as it is not secure and may allow other users access to your information.

·         K-Menu->System Setting->Login Manager

·         Click on the Administrator Mode... and enter your user password to gain administrator privileges.

·         Select the Convenience tab. Check the Enable Autologin and select the user to autologin from the drop down menu and select an appropriate time delay.

Restart KDE without rebooting the computer

·         Save and close all open applications.

·         Use the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace shortcut keys to restart KDE.

·         If Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is disabled, type

sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart

Preventing the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace shortcut keys from restarting X

·         Make a backup copy of your existing /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup

·         Open /etc/X11/xorg.conf for editing.

kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf

·         Add the following lines to the end of the file:

Section "ServerFlags" Option "DontZap" "yes" EndSection

·         Save the edited file.

Automatically turn on Num Lock when KDE starts

·         K-Menu->System Setting->Keyboard

·         Under the NumLock on KDE Startup, enable the Turn On checkbox. Click on Apply to save your settings.

The change will take effect the next time you log in to KDE. If you want to test it right away, turn off NumLock and restart KDE (see the section called "Restart KDE without rebooting the computer")

Handle help:// links in Firefox

You may want to be able to open the help:// protocol from within Firefox.

·         Start Firefox by choosing K-Menu->Internet->Firefox

·         Type about:config in the address bar.

·         Right click on the list, select New->Boolean Type network.protocol-handler.external.help as Preference Name and true as Value

·         Right click again on the list, select New->String Type network.protocol-handler.app.help as Preference Name and khelpcenter as Value

Edit K-Menu

Kubuntu comes with the KDE Menu Editor, so you can customize your menus and add entries for applications that don't automatically appear after they are installed.

To add a new menu entry:

·         Open KDE Menu Editor by right-clicking on K-menu and choosing Menu Editor.

·         In KDE Menu Editor's left-hand pane, choose the submenu the new entry should appear in.

·         Choose File->New Item. In the New Item window, choose a Name

To change the order of menu entries, click and drag the entry in the KDE Menu Editor window.

Macromedia Flash for Konqueror

The following instructions are only for i386 computers.

·         To view flash graphics from the Konqueror web browser, you need to install the flashplugin-nonfree package from the Multiverse repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications).

·         To download and install the plugin, enter the following command in a terminal:

sudo update-flashplugin

·         The plug-in will be available the next time you start Konqueror.

Getting More Software

Ubuntu has several software package repositories: Main, Restricted, Universe, and Multiverse. The first two are officially supported and are available by default. Universe contains free and open source software that is not officially supported. Multiverse contains nonfree/open source software. Kubuntu follows the Debian model of placing non-FOSS packages in a separate repository, so that users can easily choose what they want to use.

Enabling the Universe package repository (and Multiverse as well, if you like) is simple. There are two ways to do this: use System -> Package Manager (Adept), or edit /etc/apt/sources.list directly.

In Adept, go to Adept -> Manage Repositories and right-click on deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy universe main restricted universe, and then left-click on Enable. Scroll down and do the same for deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu breezy-security universe. (Do the same for the Multiverse lines if you like.) Click on the Apply button at the bottom, and then on Fetch Updates at the top to download the latest package lists.

In /etc/apt/sources.list, uncomment the lines you want, and then save and close the file. Then run the command:

Now you have access to a much wider range of packages.

Setting Up a Firewall

There is no option during installation to configure a firewall, and Kubuntu includes no graphical firewall configurators. Kubuntu installs with no open ports, so strictly speaking it doesn't need one. A running service, like a web or mail server, creates an open port. No open ports means nothing to attack. While this viewpoint is valid, I think it's a bit shortsighted, because hardly any installation remains unmodified. Also, no matter how careful you are with application-level security and strong passwords and such, layered defenses are good and protect you from your own mistakes. About the only reasons not to set up a firewall are if your PC was not connected to any other networks, or you had an external firewall.

Iptables comes with all Linuxes and is the basic tool for building a firewall. However, building an iptables firewall from scratch requires a significant learning curve. Fortunately, plenty of nice utilities can ease the creation of personal firewalls, such as Guarddog, Firestarter, fwbuilder, KMyFirewall, and Lokkit. Lokkit is probably the simplest to use. KMyFirewall is almost as easy, and it creates clean, understandable iptables scripts--so it's my choice here.

Update your package lists, then install it:

KMyFirewall requires root privileges, so press Alt-F2 to bring up the Run Command dialog, and type kdesu kmyfirewall. kdesu brings up the password dialog box, which you can use to start any graphical application that needs root privileges. Enter your own password, not the root password.

In KMyFirewall, go to File -> New and start the wizard. KMyFirewall tries to be educational and includes a lot of good information. To create a firewall for an internet-connected computer running no services, click on Next five times; on the last window check All Done, and then click on Finish. You can preview the new firewall script in this window. It also lists all the files created, so you can copy this list and take a look at it as a study tool. While KMyFirewall requires KDE to run, it creates firewall scripts that you can use on any Linux.

When you're back in the main KMyFirewall menu, save your new rule set with File -> Save As. You can now surf the Web, do email, SSH to remote hosts, use IRC, anything you want. However, the firewall now blocks connection attempts that originate from outside your PC, except for ICMP echo_request. This allows network services to ping your PC to make sure it's up. Some folks like to block all pings, but that isn't a good idea because so many network services depend on it. KMyFirewall also limits the number and frequency of ICMP echo_requests, to help prevent denial-of-service attacks.

What if you want to be able to SSH into your PC, or run other public services like DNS, mail, or a web server? No problem. Just check the appropriate boxes in the wizard.

Managing Services

It's a good idea to review system services and turn off anything you don't want. Unnecessary services consume system resources, slow down boot time, and create potential security holes. Open System Settings -> System Administration -> Services. Click on Administrator Mode and enter your password.

What if this doesn't work and it won't go into Administrator mode? This is known bug on some systems. You can get around it by using the old KDE Control Center--Alt-F2, kdesu kcontrol, System Administration -> System Services.

The first item to look at is the Run Level drop-down menu near the top. There are seven runlevels, 0 to 6. These all are different states that the computer can boot into. The Debian default is 2, so that's the one I will review. I'm not going to get deeply into runlevels, but here are a couple of quick tips:

1. Don't mess with runlevels 0, 1, or 6 until you have attained sufficient knowledge.
2. Runlevels 2-5 are fair game, but you can still make a big messy hash of things. Save one in its default state, like runlevel 5. Then if you gum up the others to the point of despair, enter runlevel 5 with sudo init 5. This way you'll have a functioning system until you figure out how to make repairs.

Every item that you see in the System Services menu has a corresponding start script in /etc/init.d/. Make sure to enable several services to start at boot:

You could even do away with power management and sound if you wanted to. At a minimum, be sure to start anacron, cron, dbus, kdm, and the logging daemons at boot.

Other services are optional, so start them at boot only if you know you need them:

Guarddog Firewall

A firewall protects a computer system from unauthorized access. It is not normally necessary to install a firewall on a Kubuntu system, because by default, access to the system is closed. However, if you run any services which you allow other computers to access (for example, the Apache web server), it is advisable to install a firewall. Guarddog is a program which allows you to control Linux's firewall through a graphical interface.

·         Install the Guarddog package from the Universe repository (see the section called "Managing Repositories").

·         After it is installed, run the Guarddog by choosing K-Menu->System->Guarddog

·         Enter your password in the Run as root -KDE su dialog box which pops up.

·         Click the Help in the Firewall Configuration window for details on using Guarddog.

What are Repositories?

There are thousands of programs freely available to install on Kubuntu. These programs are stored in software archives (repositories) and are made available for installation over the Internet. This makes it very easy to install new programs in Linux, and it is also very secure, because each program you install is built specially for Kubuntu and checked before it is installed. To organize the software, Kubuntu repositories are categorized into four groups: Main, Restricted, Universe, and Multiverse.

The rationale used to determine which software goes into which category is based on two factors:

·         The level of support software development teams provide for a program

·         The level of compliance the program has to the Free Software Philosophy

You can find more information about the Repositories available on the Ubuntu website.

The standard Kubuntu Install CD contains some software from the Main and Restricted categories.

Removing the CD-ROM Repository

The Kubuntu Install CD-ROM is included in the repositories after installation. This can cause Adept to ask for the CD-ROM when installing packages. It is possible to disable this repository so that Adept relies solely on the internet repositories.

To disable the CD-ROM repository:

·         Start Adept by choosing K Menu->System->Adept (Package Manager) from the Desktop menu system.

·         Select View->Manage Repositories in the Adept package manager window.

·         Find the repository line that starts with "cdrom:", right click the line, and select Disable.

Click Apply to save your changes, and then exit using Close.

Adding Extra Repositories

To enable the extra repositories:

·         Start Adept by choosing K Menu->System->Adept (Package Manager) from the Desktop menu system.

·         Select View->Manage Repositories in the Adept package manager window.

·         To enable the Universe repository, find the repository line with the Universe Component, and right click the line and select Enable.

Note

Adding this repository will mean that the majority of the Free Software universe will be available to install on your system.

http://linux.about.com/od/kubuntu_doc/

Install Extra Fonts

This section describes how to install extra fonts from the Kubuntu archives.

·         For international fonts, install the following packages from the Universe repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications):

xfonts-intl-arabic xfonts-intl-asian xfonts-intl-chinese xfonts-intl-chinese-big xfonts-intl-european xfonts-intl-japanese xfonts-intl-japanese-big xfonts-intl-phonetic

·         For Microsoft TrueType core fonts, install the msttcorefonts package from the Multiverse repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications).

·         For Ghostscript fonts, install the gsfonts-x11 package (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications).

·         After installing any new font, rebuild the font information files by typing the following at a terminal prompt:

sudo fc-cache -f -v

If you prefer to download individual fonts by hand, you can install them easily by opening Konqueror and typing fonts:/// into the location bar. Then you can install the font, either system-wide or for personal use by dragging and dropping into the respective folders.

Add/Remove Programs

Add/Remove Programs is a simple graphical way of installing and removing applications in Kubuntu. To launch Add/Remove Programs, choose K Menu->Add/Remove Programs from the desktop menu system.

Note

Running Add/Remove Programs requires administrative privileges (see the section called "Root And Sudo").

To install new applications select the category on the left, then check the box of the applications you want to install. Click Apply and your chosen programs will be downloaded and installed automatically, as well as installing any additional applications that are required.

The default selection is restricted to the KDE suite, but GNOME applications can be installed by selecting them from the dropdown menu at the top.

Alternatively, if you know the name of the program you want, use the Search tool at the top.

Software from additional repositories may be installed by enabling the Show: unsupported and Show: proprietary software checkboxes if they are enabled in your repository list. For more information, see see the section called "Managing Repositories"

Install/Uninstall .deb files

The package files associated with Kubuntu have the .deb suffix because of Kubuntu's close relation to the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. You can download and install individual .deb files. You will need administrative privileges to do this (see the section called "Root And Sudo").

·         To install a .deb file, simply Right click on the .deb file, and choose Kubuntu Package Menu->Install Package.

·         Alternatively, you can also install a .deb file by opening a terminal and typing:

sudo dpkg -i package_file.deb

·         To uninstall a .deb file, remove it using Adept, or type:

sudo apt-get remove package_name

Convert .rpm files to .deb files

Another type of package files is Red Hat Package Manager Files which have the .rpm suffix. It is not recommended to install these on an Kubuntu system. In almost all cases, a native Kubuntu .deb package is available. However, if absolutely necessary, an .rpm file can be converted to a .deb package using the program alien.

·         Install the alien program (Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications).

·         Run the following command in a terminal, with administrative privileges:

sudo alien package_file.rpm

Although the preferred method of installing programs is via the package managers described in Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications, you can also download and install individual package files containing software. There are many different kinds of Linux package files. Most of these are associated with the package managers of specific Linux distributions.

If you find a packaged application that you wish to install, it is recommended that you check if there is a native Kubuntu package of the application available through a package manager, and that you install that version instead.

This guarantees that the program is completely compatible with your system. If there is no package available through the package manager, you can install it manually. The installation procedure depends on the type of package file.

Install from Source

Files with the .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 suffix are package files known as tarballs or source packages which are widely used in Linux. If there is no native Kubuntu package available in any of the Kubuntu repositories, you can try to compile the package from source. For tips on compiling software, look at the Prev page on the Ubuntu Wiki.

Updates

Sometimes the Kubuntu developers release feature and security updates for applications and packages within the Kubuntu system.

When these updates are available, Kubuntu will inform you with a red warning icon in the system tray. To update your system, click the red button, enter your password and click Fetch List of Updates.

The Adept Updater program will list the available updates: to download and install these updates click Apply Updates. Kubuntu will then download and install the available updates from the Internet.

When Adept Updater has finished updating your system, close the pop-up window by clicking the Quit button.

Note

After installing some important updates, it may be necessary to restart your compute if so, Kubuntu will inform you with a pop up and an icon in your system tray.

APT

APT (Advanced Packaging Tool) is a powerful package management system, on which the graphical programs Add/Remove Programs and Adept are based. APT automatically handles dependencies and performs other operations on system packages to allow the installation of the desired packages.

Note

Running APT requires administrative privileges (see the section called "Root And Sudo").

Some common commands that can be used with APT:

·         Install packages:

sudo apt-get install packagename

·         Remove packages:

sudo apt-get remove packagename

·         Search for packages:

apt-cache search keyword

·         Retrieve new lists of available packages:

sudo apt-get update

·         Upgrade system with available updates:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

·         List further commands and options:

apt-get help

Running Windows Programs from Linux
Please note that this page will soon be revised to include many NEW options using WINE. Today you can run many Windows software from Linux native using Wine. Just try a google search on sites like: http://frankscorner.org/

Beginners, you may also benefit from this new article: Windows to Linux: A Hand Holding Guide

This page brought you by the folks at Really Linux.

For those with dual boot systems, we show you a way to run a few of your basic Windows programs from Linux. But there is much more and so please come back to re-read the revised article. This Tip is Rated Intermediate.

Free Tool for running Windows Programs in Linux called WINE
WINE is available for free download from the project website you can access by clicking here. (For Windows users, you should make sure to get in your download the three files needed for running WINE properly: winerpm, updated wine.conf, user.dat file.)

A lot of work and many hours of effort have paid off, and Linux users actually can download and install a free emulator that runs many Windows programs without any issue under Linux.

In some cases, you do still need Windows installed on the same machine, since otherwise, there is no way to "install" your Windows software that sometimes may require a specific Windows install utility to run. Currently WINE is tuned for Windows98 and Windows 2000 programs.

Using WINE to Run Windows Programs
If you've followed the very first step above and downloaded and installed WINE on your Linux machine, then you are ready to try running your Windows program!

1. Check to see that the WINE program is truly installed by typing the command: locate wine You should see a list of files with WINE.
2. Be sure you have properly mounted your Windows drive. If you don't know how then click here for brief help.
3. Edit the file /etc/wine.conf by changing the line under [Drive C] to read exactly: Path=/mnt/win
4. Save the edited wine.conf file and then make sure you also copy the file user.dat to your Windows directory c:/windows/profiles/
5. If you plan on running a game or other program that uses your midi then Linux midi-sequencer needs to be installed
6. Now type: cd "/mnt/win/Program Files/Accessories" then type: wine ./calc.exe
7. This will run Windows Calculator on your Linux! You can load any other programs by using similar commands, adjusting for directory names and file names as needed.

A few tips. First of all disregard all of the detailed error information that may be displayed while you run Wine. Only on occasion do these error messages help you troubleshoot why a program does not run under WINE. Second, many programs will not run properly under WINE unless your LINUX has been configured for sound and graphics. There are lots of details to this we can not explain breifly here. You can contact us or read up on details from your Linux installation guide. Finally, remember that you need to type the commands exactly as they appear, for instance when using long directory names you need to have begin and end " marks. When you try to run a program you should include the leading ./ infront of the executable program name.

WINE Doesn't Run What You Need
As always, you get what you pay for! In the case of WINE you get a very good simple emulator for free. No it won't be able to run your latest version of Microsoft Office XP! In fact, if you're looking for commercial software that allows this then we highly recommend you check out both VMWare and also Win4Lin websites. These companies have made a lot of progress for folks like you!

AMAZON BOOKS

The Ubuntu Book comes with a DVD

Burn Copies and Hand Them Out to Your Friends and Neighbors or Anyone You Want to It is All Open Source and Free to Distribute

Applications and Software That Are Installed By Default

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