Using the Fedora System

We will be Covering ...

Using the file manager

Accessing the floppy and CD-ROM

Connecting to the Internet

Modem setup

Browsing the Internet

Using email

Setting up the printer

Playing audio and video

Viewing and manipulating images

Files and Folders

Data stored in an electronic file

Folder or directory contains collection of files

Folder may have sub-folders or sub-directories

Entire files, folders, sub-folders make up the hierarchical file system

File manager manages and manipulates file system

folder

sub-folder

file

file

file

The File Manager

Files and folders can be created, copied, moved and deleted

Folders are organised in a hierarchical manner

Each user given a home directory

Upon logging in placed in her home directory

File manager used to manipulate and manage files, folders and the file system

Using the File Manager

File manager may be used to:

Open, copy, move, rename, delete files and folders

Create new folders

Launch applications

Navigate the file system

The trash folder

Holds items deleted by the file manager

Ability to restore deleted files (undelete)

The Floppy Drive

Necessary to mount the diskette first

Right-click on desktop and select

Disks --> Floppy

Floppy icon appears on desktop, double-click on floppy icon to access

Treat floppy as another folder:

/mnt/floppy

Unmount floppy after use

Format floppy before use

The CD-ROM Drive

CD-ROM automounted

If not, right-click on desktop and select

Disks --> CD-ROM

CD-ROM icon appears on desktop, double-click on icon to access

Treat CD-ROM as a RO folder:

/mnt/cdrom

Unmount CD-ROM after use

The USB Thumb Drive

Right-click on desktop and select

Disks --> thumbdrive

Thumb drive icon appears on desktop, double-click on icon to access

Treat thumb drive as a folder:

/mnt/thumbdrive

Unmount thumb drive after use

Accessing the Internet – Dialup Access

Dial-up access

Need to configure the modem

Require

telephone number to dial

Internet account username and password

Use Internet Configuration Wizard tool from the Main Menu, need to supply root password to continue

Follow instructions on screen

Internet Set-up Wizard

Accessing the Internet – Dialup Access

After configuration, activate modem:

Main Menu --> System Tools --> Network Device Control

Accessing the Internet – Dialup Access

The modem will dial and connect to the ISP

Check on connection

To disconnect use the Network Device Control tool again and select deactivate

Accessing the Internet – ADSL Access

ADSL access

Use Internet Configuration Wizard tool from the Main Menu

Select xDSL

Follow instructions on screen

Supply login name and password

Browsing the Internet

Mozilla web browser

Familirise yourself with the navigation toolbar and menu bar

Use the side bar to manage your bookmarks and personal toolbar

Try out the navigation tab feature

Customise the browser settings

Email

Webmail and POP3 email

Differences

Advantages and disadvantages

Parameters for POP3 mail client config

POP3 server name

SMTP server (relay) name

POP3 account username and password

Ximian Evolution – POP3 mail client

Ximian

Configuring Ximian

Email address: (fill in your email address)

Server type: POP

Host: (fill in name of your POP3 server)

Username: (fill in username of your POP3 email account)

Server type: SMTP

Host: (fill in name of your SMTP server)

Using Ximian

Online mode

Offline mode

Printer Setup

Click on printer icon on panel

Perform printer setup

Follow instructions on the screen

Use:

Queue type – locally connected

Printer device - /dev/lp0

Printer model - ????

Print test page

Multimedia

Playing audio CDs

Playing audio digital files

Different file formats e.g. Ogg Vorbis, MP3

Playing video VCD/DVD

Xine Control Panel

CD Player Control Panel

Image Viewer

Several image viewers available

gThumb - view and manipulate images

gThumb image viewer

Thank You!

Colin Charles, Nah Soo Hoe, William Wong

byte@aeon.com.my, nsh@pop.jaring.my,

wengyeew@yahoo.com.sg

http://training.bytebot.net/linux/

Data created and accessed by a user in the computer is stored in what is called a file. This concept of an electronic file to store electronic data mimics the physical world usage of a file to store data written on paper. This mimicry is carried further by the organisation of these electronic files into electronic folders or directories. Like a physical folder, an electronic folder can contain very many files. A folder may also have sub-folders or sub-directories.

Files and folders can be created, copied, moved (i.e. transferred) and deleted. The folders themselves are organised in a hierarchical manner starting at the root of the file system. Each user is given a home directory and upon logging in, the user is placed in his home directory. As it is possible for a user to create and store hundreds and thousands of files and folders, a file manager is needed to assist the user to manage and manipulate these files and the file system on which it resides.

For details on using the file manager consult the “Help” application on the Main Menu. From the Help application choose:

Desktop --> Nautilus File Manager

Exercise

Use the file manager to perform the following:

Create a new folder called testdir under the home directory

Copy the following files into the folder testdir:

/etc/services, /etc/hosts

Access the testdir folder:

Open the two files there to view their contents, then close them

Rename the file hosts to hosts.backup and services to services.copy

Move the file hosts.backup to the /usr/tmp directory

Delete the file services.copy

Move up to the home directory

Delete the folder testdir

Launch the application xeyes found in the folder /usr/X11 R6/bin

Check the trash folder and restore the deleted file(s) there

If the write-protect tab on the diskette is enabled, then the diskette can be used for reading only, i.e. you can read the contents of the files on it only

After using the diskette, you will need to umount it before you take off the diskette from the floppy drive. To unmount the diskette, right-click on the floppy icon on the desktop and select “Eject”. This will unmount the diskette and the floppy icon will disappear from the desktop. Once this has happened, you can safely remove the diskette from the floppy drive.

It is important that you unmount the diskette before removing it from the floppy drive, especially if it has been mounted for writing. failure to do so may result in incomplete data being written to the diskette and corruption of the file system on the diskette.

To format the diskette use the floppy formatter selection from the Main Menu.

Main Menu --> System Tools --> Floppy Formatter

If the system cannot detect the modem you will be prompted to enter the modem device name and related communication information. You can choose as follows:

Modem device:	/dev/modem

Baud rate:	460800

Flow control:	Hardware (CRTSCTS)

Modem volume: Medium

Exercise

Perform an Internet dial-up connection using the modem on the system

Determine that you have Internet connectivity by accessing some well known websites

Disconnect from the Internet

xDSL covers ADSL, IDSL and SDSL

Some DSL providers require you to obtain an IP address through DHCP using the Ethernet card. For this type of connection, select Ethernet Connection and DHCP from the Configure Network Settings screen.

Some providers require you to configure a PPPoE connection with an Ethernet card. For this type of connection, select xDSL Connection.

If you need a username and password chances are that you are using PPPoE to connect.

Exercises

Perform the same Internet connectivity tests as done previously with the dial-up modem connection

Exercise

Customise Mozilla with the following settings:

Display blank page on start-up

Block unrequested pop-up windows

Disable cookies

Disable Javascript

Clear the cache

There are two main types of Internet email systems: webmail and POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3)

Webmail makes use of a web browser to read, compose, send and manage your mail on the server housing your mailbox

POP3 email makes use of a POP3 email client to download your email from a server housing your email mailbox.

The main difference between a webmail system and a POP3 email system is that for the former, generally, you have to be online to the server housing your mailbox to access and manage your mail. For the POP3 system, you need to be online to the server only to download your mail, after that you can go offline to read, reply and manage your local mail storage. You only need to go online again when you want to send out your email.

Webmail needs only a web browser and Internet access to work.

For POP3 email you will need have a POP3 email client software running on your computer.

Exercise

Start up Ximian and configure it for your email address

Compose an email and send it out to anyone@example.com

Note the differences between working online and offline

Exercise

Edit the printer properties to change it to another printer

Exercise

Play an audio CD using the CD Player

Play an audio digital music using xine

Play a VCD using xine

Exercise

Use gThumb for the following:

View the images in the following folder:

/usr/share/backgrounds/images

View a slide show of the images in the folder above

Copy one of the images from the above folder into your home directory and scale it down to 25% of its original size and save it.

Colin Charles

2004-03-21T15:33:11