Grokdoc:PostInstallation
From Grokdoc
==Usability questions== (this is what this page is really about)
Directory Structure
One thing I think a lot of us Windows or Apple computer types new to Linux/Unix need to learn is where the hell files are supposed to go - best practices.
For example: I want to add FireXXX to my installation. I download it, untar it and... what directory do I put it in? Not what direectories COULD I put it in, but where should it be to maintain a lean system and one other people could walk up to and maintain or use?
Unless you have direct access to a Linux geek this is a question that is almost impossible to find the answer to online.
Network setting & different terminology
My newbie user could easily set up a home network using MS WindowsXP/98SE but was not able to do so using MS WindowsXP/SUSE Linux. Having a list of Linux equivalents of common MS Windows terminology would be good. It isn't easy to use the help in Linux to solve such problems if the Linux terminology is not known to the user. For my newbie the Linux help system should contain a reference to Internet Connection Sharing (with an explanation of the Linux terminology so as to slowly educate the newbie).
Edit as root
Ok, one of the biggest limitations I'm having with my Linux experience is trying to configure stuff such as the /etc/fstab, the /etc/inittab an whatever. I know one of the pros that Linux has is the existence of a 'root' user who 'owns' everything and only that user can alter the configuration files. But as for me, I'm the only user for that computer, so there's no need for me to limit the capacities for the other users (or THE only user account I really work on). Why isn't there a command such as 'Edit as Root' for these kind of accounts? Indeed it would be very helpful, because having the 'Read only file' window come up after I worked a couple of minutes on a file is pretty dissapointing.
I believe that is one major drawback in Linux. Perhaps it would be easier just to work as 'root' always, but I believe that's not the point, is it?
So if this is a security measure for the Linux systems, which I understand must be very useful for multi user computers, etc, there should be some way (like the one I discribed before) for bypassing the read-only issue.
Parallel to this, the other thing that bothers me is that I also cannot access some files (or folders) because they belong to 'root'. I can't even SEE them! What's the point?
I know you can do a chmod thing through the terminal, if you become root and everything... But c'mon! Isn't there an easier way to do this?
==Post-Installation guides== (to be eventually moved elsewhere)
Congratulations, you've got your Linux installation up and running, at least to a bare-bones level! Depending on your distribution, or perhaps on whether certain steps were skipped for some reason, there are a few things that you should double-check before using your new Linux system:
- Have you set up a normal user account for day-to-day use? If not, you probably should... It's certainly possible to run your system logged in as the "root" user, but it's not a good idea. In fact, your should never log in as "root". If you need to be "root", then open a terminal window and 'su -' to the "root" account.
- Have you created a ? You may never need it (especially if your distribution provided a rescue disk), but it's a good idea to have one anyway.
- Did you configure your firewall? The Linux kernel has a builtin firewall and I recommend you to activate it when you have a direct Internet connection.
- How to set up DSL connection
Personally, when installing source code and programs, I try to keep it in /usr/local. If I download the tarball FireXXX.tar.gz, I unpack it to /usr/local/src, and install it from there.
