Christopher Negus - Fedora Bible 2011 Edition: Featuring Fedora Linux 14

Ten Cool Things To Do with Fedora Linux 14

Just because Fedora is a serious operating system doesnt mean it cant be fun too. Here is a list of ten fun and useful things to do with Fedora:

1. Launch Fedora 14 live on your PC: Insert the live CD that comes with this book, reboot, and start using Fedora from nearly any PC. Fedora wont touch the contents of your computer unless you tell it to. If you like Fedora, click the Install button to install Fedora to your hard disk. (See Chapter 2.)

2. Customize your Desktop: Not only does Linux support multiple desktop environments, including GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and Moblin, you can customize the look and feel of each desktop environment. (See Chapter 3.)

3. Run thousands of applications: From the offiical Fedora repository to a boatload of other repositories, you can choose from literally thousands of free applications, including hundreds of games. (See Chapter 5.)

4. Get online: Get on the Internet using the Network Manager and then browse the Web, send e-mail, chat, and even video conference. Share files using FTP or BitTorrent swarming network transfer software. (See Chapter 8.)

5. Manage music collections: Launch Rhythmbox to gather, organize, and play music from your hard disk, CDs, or network file systems. Try new ways for streaming audio and video. (See Chapter 7.)

6. Publish your ideas: Choose from dozens of publishing tools to create documents (OpenOffice.org Writer), hard-copy page layouts (Scribus), and vector graphics (Inkscape). (See Chapter 6.)

7. Share an Internet connection, securely: Fedora can be set up as a router and a firewall. With a home or small office LAN setup, you can use Fedora to share an Internet connection among multiple Linux, Windows, or Mac systems. Then set up a firewall in Fedora to protect your LAN from intruders. (See Chapters 13, 14, and 15.)

8. Run Windows applications, or Windows itself: By adding the wine software packages, you can run many Windows applications right from a Fedora desktop. (See Chapter 5.) Use virtualization to run Windows, Unix, or other versions of Linux on your same PC. (See Chapter 23.)

9. Create a home server: Learn to configure a mail server (Chapter 18), FTP server (Chapter 19), and Web server (Chapter 20). You can share printers, disks, and other resources to all your home computers.

10. Create presentations: Start up OpenOffice.org Impress to create presentations from scratch or using templates. Tailor presentations to display as slide shows, view on screen, or print on paper. (See Chapter 6.)

Fedora Bible 2011 Edition: Featuring Fedora Linux 14

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As always, I dedicate this book to my wife, Sheree. This book would never have happened without her love and support. Christopher Negus

To Katya and Nalana Eric Foster-Johnson

About the Authors

Christopher Negus has been working with Unix systems, the Internet, and (most recently) Linux systems for more than two decades. During that time, Chris worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Unix System Laboratories, and Novell, helping to develop the Unix operating system. Features from many of the Unix projects Chris worked on at AT&T have found their way into Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora, and other Linux systems.

Chris is the author of all editions of what started out as the Red Hat Linux Bible, which because of the name changes of Red Hats Linux projects has evolved into the book you are holding. Most recently, Chris co-authored multiple books in the Linux Toolbox series: Fedora Linux Toolbox, Ubuntu Linux Toolbox, Mac OS X UNIX Toolbox, SUSE Linux Toolbox, and BSD UNIX Toolbox (Wiley Publishing). Besides that, Chris authored the Linux Bible 2009 Edition and co-wrote the Fedora Bible 2010 Edition, CentOS Bible, Linux Troubleshooting Bible, and Linux Toys II for Wiley Publishing. Chris also authored Live Linux CDs and co-authored the Official Damn Small Linux Book, as part of the Negus Software Solutions Series.

Today, Chris works as a Linux instructor for Red Hat, Inc. and has achieved certification as a Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) and Red Hat Certified Examiner (RHCX). At home, Chris enjoys spending time with his wife, Sheree, and his boys, Caleb and Seth. His hobbies include soccer, singing, and exercising with Sheree.