Re So a sds Oo AE | ae MORE POWERFUL e MORE SECURE e MORE FUN LEARN HOW TO SET UP A LINUX SYSTEM TO: © Listen to Music © Play Games © Process Photos © Surf the Web © and Much More! Data LINUX cot WWW.LINUX-MAGAZINE.COMBRlcsemo mitt ay 4 for New Software? CO Tumbleweed Get New Software Packages Quick & Easy Work with New Code Contributed Back to The Community openSUSEFree Your Computer f you haven't done so yet, use this magazine to start your journey towards freedom: Free- dom from proprietary software (like Windows and Microsoft Office). ‘The Linux operating system and the hundreds of complex applications (including LibreOffice) that you find on our DVD are completely free; they replace your old operat: ing system and apps. ‘What does “free” mean? The first, and maybe most obvious, meaning, Is that there is no cost. If you've bought this magazine, you have paid for the costs of writing, editing, proofreading and laying out the arti- cles, as well as printing the maga- zine and manufacturing the DVD; Dut the software on it comes free of ccharge, and you can install and use it ‘on as many machines as you like. 1f you want to, burn copies of the DVD and give them to friends and family. But with Linux, freedom is not only about cost. Linux and many of the included applications use a free software license, such as the GPL (GNU General Public License), ‘which guarantees many additional freedoms to you: You can use the software in any way you want, you ccan get access to the source code, ‘make modifications to the source code, and even redistribute the ‘modified software. ‘While it is not very likely that you ‘will actually exercise your right to ‘modify the source code, itis stil im- portant: Imagine that you have spent ‘many years collecting some data that you store in some non-free (proprie tary) application. Then the creator of that app goes out of business. With the nest computer you buy you find that you cannot run the app on it because itis incompatible - that's it; You either continue using the old ‘machine, manage to run the sof ‘ware in an emulated environment, ot lose access to your data, because you are not allowed to modify the old app so that it will run on the new ‘machine, With subscription-based programs, the creator might revoke the usage license (like Adobe tempo- ratily threatened to do to its custom: es in Venezuela in 2019). None of this can happen when you work with free software: Ifthe developer stops updating the app, a new team can grab the sources and continue development. ‘SwitcH To Linux All ofthe above has been true over the last 25-+ years. What's different today is that installing and using Linux has become so easy that there's no good reason to stick with Windows. Even better, you don't hhave to make a hard cut and give up Windows completely: The openSUSE installer on our cover DVD will repartition a Windows system and. ‘add Linux. That will result in a :multi-boot system which asks you ‘what operating system you want to start every time you power up your computer. OF course, if you've said your good- byes to Windows already or when (GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ EDITORIAL Welcome ‘you plan to revive an old PC that is 109 slow for Windows 10 or 11, there's also an option to install Linux exclusively and wipe all old operating systems from the disk. OPENSUSE 15.3 SUSE is one of the oldest players in the Linux market: they started in 1992, just one year after the initial Linux kernel release in 1991. Today ‘you can choose between various SUSE- branded products, some com- mercial, some not. The openSUSE. ‘community develops the openSUSE distribution which is closely related to SUSE Linux enterprise products With our cover DVD you can install their latest release, openSUSE Leap 15.3, The first articles in the Get Started section assume that you will ‘work with this Linux system. For all, the other articles, it does not matter too much what Linux distribution you use. So if you have already in- stalled a diferent system, you might ‘want to skip the frst pages and focus ‘on the articles on LibreOffice, Gimp or VirtualBox. START NOW ‘Whether you use our DVD or an older installation ~ ‘welcome to Linux: Free your computer, free yourself! Hans-Georg E8er Editor in Chief 2021 EDITION 3GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX GETTING STARTED WITH LUX Welcome to Getting Started with Linux, a single-volume bookazine with all you need to install and explore the powerful Linux operating system. Lear about file permissions and the powerful command-line interface. 2 Linux Crash Course: 3 Plasma Desktop: Take your first look at openSUSE and the KDE Plasma desktop. Get Started 8 Installing openSUSE 25 Linux Crash Course We show you how to install Linux using This brief look at some important the openSUSE Leap DVD attached to Linux concepts will help you start this issue. Whether you keep an old thinking like an experienced user. operating system (and create amuli- 35 boot machine) or wipe the old system is your choice. Plasma Desktop (OpensUSE's KDE Plasma desktop is not only prety itis also piled high 14 Configuring Your System with cool features Functioning as your openSUSE S . perform several configuration tasks ervice froma single interface. 3 Welcome 18 Security Lock down your system and tweak 6 DVD your security settings with opensUSE's 98 Masthead onboard tools. 4 GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION¥ GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX 62ers Manage, view, and edit your favorite digital images. 7 LibreOffice Suite: 7 This powerful office collection lets you create text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. In-Depth 38 Windows/mac0S Files 52 Bag of Tricks When you migrate to Linux, you stil From updating tothe latest version of need to work vith your ol fies Firefox and making USB devices work Learn how fo access internal and to restoring your PC to an earlier extemal media and open the files stot, we bring you practical acvice. 42 Multimedia Players 57 End of Life Watch videos, play music, and Leam why you should upgrade your stream Internet radio stations. Linux installation when it reaches its 47 Virtual Windows 11 Endotlttes It you need a Windows app on Linux, you don't have to boot Windows. Just run Windows in a VirtualBox window. Desktop Beoil 58 KDE's Personal 74 LibreOffice aS Information Managers LibreOttfice is an open source office KDE Plasma’ PIM tools halp you suite with a word processor organize your contacts, calendars database, spreadsheet, ‘and emai efficient. presentation ool, and more 62 digikam 80 Photo Processing Manage your photo collection with with Gimp this usful desktop tool Touch up your digital images with . the Gimp image processing too 69 Firefox For many users, the web browser is the most important application, Gaming 86 Gameson 94 Fun with Docker Linux Docker san important tool in the OPENSUSE Leap 15.3 Linux supports virtualization wold, But there's also «a variety of «fun side tot. For example, you games ond can tun old games in Docker game containers platforms. GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITIONSERVICE DvD On the DVD OPENSUSE Leap 15.3 The DVD attached to this issue comes with openSUSE Leap 15.3. OpenSUSE is the community edition based on the enterprise-ready SUSE Linux. Leap ‘comes pre-packaged with hundreds of powerful applications for everyday tasks, as well as pro- fessional programming tools and web-ready network services. Just put this DVD in the DVD. iBT drive and restart your system. An easy installer will take you through the steps of setting up openSUSE Vv openSUSE. Leap15.3 See the article on page 8 for more on installing openSUSE Leap. httpsioc opensuse.org/documentation/ leap/startupmtmlbook startup! hntps:fen.opensuse.org/Portal:-Wiki 2] openSUSE Support Database: httpsven opensuse.org/Portal‘Support. database 14) openSUSE Reference Guide: Mtpsi/doc. opensuse.ora/documentation/eap/ fi Peery referencamhtml/book-referencey : = nips opensuse.org/documentation/ 2 ; leap/security>htm\book-security/ hnipstdoc opensuse.org/ GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITIONsoftware.opensuse.org 4 Leap Begin Your Journey With Linux Select the Software Package openSUSE.Get STARTED Installing openSUSE Sharing a Windows computer with openSUSE Linux Ready, Set, ... Linux is known for its security, stability, and an abundance of free, enterprise-ready software. Experts recommend Linux, because it’s resistant fo viruses, malware, and spyware, and it is very simple to install. sy sven Seoberg-Everfelat, Markus Felner and Frank Sundermeyer inux was once considered a system for hackers and experts, but times have changed. Today's Linux is levery bit as easy on the beginner as Windows or macOS, and the best pat is, itis all fee. The operating system is free, and thousands of tools are also free and they are available for installation with only a couple of mouse clicks. ‘The new Linux is simple and very aceessi ble for the beginner. Once you get started, you'll appreciate the ease of use, the security, and the freedom you get with a Linux sys- tem. As your knowledge of Linux expands, your system will evolve with you. When you're ready to reach beyond a simple desk- top environment, just add the necessary tools, and your system can easily act as a GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION ‘web server, file server, software development system, and much more. ‘This special edition will help you take your first steps with Linux. The Linux version in cluded as a DVD with ths issue is openSUSE Leap 15.2. OpenSUSE is a community-based project sponsored by SUSE, one of the oldest and most respected Linux companies. The installation and configuration steps described in this issue are based on openSUSE Leap. If ‘you are using a different Linux distribution, some of the steps will differ, but the concepts are similar. The applications described in later articles, such as Firefox, LibreOtfice, and Gimp, will work on any Linux system, DISTRIBUTIONS Linux comes in distributions, A distribution (or “distro”) isa collection of applications, utilities, components, and drivers, combined with the Linux kernel and a constellation of background services, to provide a complete ‘operating environment, Unlike Windows and macOS, which are rigidly defined by the ‘companies that control them, Linux has an ‘open source license that makes it easy to ‘combine it with a custom set of applications ‘and adapt it fr different purposes. Compa nies, nonprofit organizations, and even some individuals, maintain their own Linux distros, each with slighty different goals and slightly different approaches. Linux distros are designed to work on servers, desktop systems, mobile devices, and even embed- ded devices, OpenSUSE Leap [1] is a general-purpose distro that is simple enough for beginners Dut contains advanced packages that will allow you to adapt it to developer and server room scenarios. A new edition of Leap ap- pears approximately every 12 months. Much 12R.com Load image © Jan wtofthe software in openSUSE Leap comes from SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) [2], an en- terprise distro oriented to the needs of large ‘companies (see Table 1). Leap provides over 10,000 packages that are completely open source and can be installed with a few mouse clicks REPEAL OR REPLACE? OpenSUSE can be installed next to Windows ‘or replace it, When installed next to Win- dows, a prompt (the Linux "boot manager”) ‘will ask which operating system to boot each time the computer powers up. This dual-boot setup allows for the continued use of Win- dows while allowing you to familiarize your- self with Linux. REPOSITORIES ‘While the Microsoft Store or even the An- droid Play Store are relatively new, Linux dis- tributions have long used online, centralized application installation sources, which have been around since the 1990s (and even lon- ger for Unix, an antecedent of Linux). These centralized installation sources for program packages (so-called repositories) are very convenient for users, storing many readily available packages that have been tested and created by reliable sources ~ in this ease, the ‘openSUSE community and SUSE. Programs are generally available at your fingertips from official repositories, along with additional third-party repositories that can be added for other newer or fancier programs. All packages on the source servers are kept up to date, Installing updates for a Linux- ‘based operating system then means automat- ically updating all installed programs. Avail- able updates are usually shown on the desk: top and can be installed with a few clicks. Always having the latest versions of al i stalled programs is the single most important factor in the security of your system. ‘To ensure that only valid packages are in stalled, all openSUSE packages come with a cryptographic signature that can be verified by the local software management program. ‘This reduces the risk of downloading manip- ulated software by accident and adds another layer of security when compared with manu- ally searching and downloading software from unknown file hosts. OpenSUSE also provides the user with a friendly configura- tion tool called YaST to manage software. In contrast to Windows, which provides only a single graphical user interface (GUD), Linux offers more variants. Although some versions still boot into text-based interfaces, TABLE 1: Family Ties Get STARTED Installing openSUSE ‘openSUSE The open source project (including Leap, Open Build Service, websites, and alot of software) Leap ‘An openSUSE distribution with a lassie development ‘model that is published about every 12 months. Tumbleweed The openSUSE “rolling release” of continuously developed and tested cutting edge technology ‘SUSE ‘SUSE Linux Enterprise SLE) The company offering SUSE Linux Enterprise ‘The enterprise distribution and its ecosystem (eG. cloud, storage} developed by SUSE, who offers services land support and cooperates tightly with openSUSE ‘more commonly you boot into a GUI, gener- ally called a desktop environment, The most common desktop environments are KDE and Gnome. Both provide plenty of features, add- ons, and customization opportunities, By default, openSUSE Leap installs pro- jgrams that cover many daily tasks, LibreOt- fice is the default office suite with the capa- bility of creating text documents, spread- sheets, presentations, and more. Gimp, Hugin, and digikam together provide a pow- erful set of programs for image manipulation and management. Firefox, KMail, and Kopete make up a set of programs for tasks like web surfing, emailing, and instant messaging, Drivers IN Linux. In contrast to other operating systems, most Linux distributions come with hardware drivers already installed. You do not need any extra CDs, DVDs, or downloads: Drivers are part of the Linux kernel, the core of the Linux operating system. Therefore, newer kernel versions provide drivers for more re cent hardware ~ once developers have cre ated them. ‘Some drivers, like those for printers, are not part of the Linux kernel, but belong to a program called CUPS for printing and SANE for scanning, Most printers will be detected and integrated upon installation. PREPARING THE INSTALLATION Hardware requirements for Linux, in general, are very modest, but this largely depends on the software that you want to run, Modern GUIs ike KDE and Gnome require a current computer with standard hardware, Desktop environments with lower hardware expecta- tions, like Xfce and LXQt, are better suited for older computers. For KDE ot Gnome, at Teast 2GB of RAM and more than 15GB of storage on a hard disk are recommended, If you are planning to make use of the system rollback feature (see openSUSE Beyond the GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITIONGet STARTED Installing openSUSE 10 Basics aticle), you need at least SOGB free hhard disk space. Ifyou have important data on the com- puter you are about to install openSUSE on, ‘we highly recommend you back up all im- portant documents and files on an external data medium like a USB drive, DVD, or net work storage. Operating system installers usually let you modify the partitions on hard disks. Keep in mind that if you select the wrong drive, you can lose your data. There- fore make sure that you choose the correct, drive Defore partitioning it STARTING THE INSTALLATION ‘This issue comes with the openSUSE Leap 15.2 installation DVD. Before you proceed, ‘make sue that your machine is configured to boot from its DVD drive. (See the documen- tation for your computer to find out how to access the setup menu and configure DVD boot.) To install Leap from the DVD, insert, the disc in your computer's DVD drive and restart the machine If you are booting from a USB drive, plug the drive into your computer. Most comput- ets will automatically try to start from USB devices. not, you'll have to manually se- leet the USB drive from the temporary boot menu (often accessible by pressing the F12 key during the boot) or through the setup menu. How you access the latter depends on your computer's model and maker. If you happen to have a machine without a DYD drive, you can create a bootable USB stick by following instructions on the open- SUSE download page (3). {Upon boot, you should see a menu with several options. Boot from Hard Disk boots an already installed operating system, such as an existing Windows installation or open- SUSE ifthe USB drive is still present aftr the installation is finished. To start openSUSE in- stalltion, use the arrow keys to select the In- stallation entry and press Enter. As soon as the openSUSE installer stars, it prompts you for your keyboard layout and language selec- tion, Selecting a language automatically chooses the corresponding keyboard layout. Change it manually, if required OnLine Repostrories Next, the installer probes for storage devices and tres to find other installed systems. If the installer detects a network connection ‘with Internet access, i'll prompt you to acti- vate the online repositories. We recommend you answer Yes and accept the default selec- tion of official openSUSE repositories. This GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION ensures that the system is installed with the latest software versions as well as updates and patches. CHOOSING THE SysTEM ROLE ‘The next step lets you choose your preferred desktop environment or system role. The desktop environment provides access to in- stalled programs and is responsible for dis- playing and managing windows on the screen, The position of buttons, available key combinations, and the usability with a mouse have a large influence on your work flow. Having different desktop environ- ‘ments at hand is one of the most powerful features of open source and Linux; It allows you to choose the perfect fit for your per- sonal requirements. KDE and Gnome are the most popular desktop environments for Linux. KDE has a Took and feel that is somewhat similar to Windows. This polished desktop comes with a Start menu in the lower-left comer listing the installed applications, and it provides a ‘wide range of configuration and customiza: tion options. Gnome offers a streamlined look and feel and has fewer configuration op- tions by default, Its main goal is ease of use and a polished user interface, ‘The remaining roles you can choose here target advanced users. Generic Desktop is suitable when you install on modest hard- ‘ware or want to manually choose an alterna tive to KDE of Gnome (such as XFCE of LXQT). The remaining server roles wil in stall a GUL-Iess system intended to be used as HARD Disk PARTITIONING In Windows, hard disk partitions are as- signed letters with a colon. The first drive, ‘which usually also contains the Windows in: stallation, is called Ce, the next one 0:, and 0 on. While partitions also exist in Linux, they are not named by letters. The term “drive” usually refers to the physical hard disk or similar media, Partitions under Linux are mounted into directories. Instead of there is a root directory (/) that contains the ‘complete operating system with all sublirec tories. One of those subdirectories is /howe, ‘which contains the user's personal docu ‘ments and settings. You may use a separate partition for the user's home directory to ‘make backups and future distribution up- ‘grades easier: Click on Guided Setup and se- lect Propose separate home partition. Hard drives and their partitions are pre- sented as pseudo-files in the /dev directory.‘The first disk in the system is /¢ev/sda, the second disk /dey/sdo, and so on. Partitions are presented as numbers in the path names. For example, the first partition on the first disk is /dev/sdal and the second partition /dev/sda2, If Linux is the only op- erating system, the partition /dev/sda2 is ‘mounted as the root file system under /. ‘The openSUSE installer automatically pro- poses wo partitions: one for the root direc- tory and a swap partition (a space to use ‘when RAM is low). If Windows is already installed on the computer, the installer of- fers to reduce the size of the Windows parti tion and install openSUSE in the now free space, Its usually safe to accept the pro- pposal. In case you want to adjust it click Guided Setup. It ets you create a separate partition for user data (home partition) or change the size of the swap partition to sup- port suspend to disk, ‘When installing on a machine with an ex- isting Windows installation, carefully review the proposal. If there is not enough disk space, the Leap installer offers to delete an existing Windows partition, which may not bbe what you want, PARTITIONING FOR EXPERTS ‘To modify he partition table manually, you can click on Expert Partioner and then se- lect the correct hard disk (in most cases sa); resizing the parttion layout is an easy task (Figute 1). The root partition should be larger than 10GB, and the home partition can be sized to personal requirements but should have atleast a couple of gigabytes. In case you are planning to make use ofthe system rollback feature (see the openSUSE Beyond the Basics article) the oot partition needs to be larger than 30GB, Time Zone AND CREATING A LOGIN Select the time zone by either clicking on the ‘ap or by selecting a Region and Time Zone {rom the corresponding drop-down menus igure 2). Next, you need to create a login. The in- stallr prompts you to specify a username and a password. By default, this password is also used forthe system administrator called root. Only root i allowed to install new pro- grams or apply changes to the system, $0 you vill use the password frequently. The auto- matic login option provides additional conve- rience if only one or only trusted persons have physical access to the computer. Using a separate password for the system adminis- trator and disabling the automatic login Get STARTED Installing openSUSE ‘makes the system mote secure and is highly recommended if you share the computer with other users. Finat CHECK ‘The last step before installation starts is checking the Installation Settings page with a summary of all the configuration choices. While you can change settings by clicking on an item, you can also do it later using the YaST configuration tool. (For more information, see the YaST art cle.) Press the Next button to start the in- stallation. Once it completes, the machine restarts. First Boot Before openSUSE starts, its bootloader of- fers to boot other operating systems or re- Expert Partitioner =) eer Figute I: The Exper Portioner shows the partion layout for Windows and openSUSE instlled fon asingle hard dik ‘lock and Time Zone Figure2: Selecting a timo zone during the instalation GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITION aGet STARTED Installing openSUSE store snapshot backups of the Linux file system. If automatic login is enabled, the system will start KDE automatically; oth erwise, a graphical login screen is pre- sented Usinc KDE ‘ter logging in, the KDE desktop environ ‘ment starts (Figure 3). Along the bottom is the main panel, and to the left side of the ‘main panel is the main menu, which pro- vides access to favorites, all installed applica tions, system settings, and last used docu: ‘ments. You can also Leave the current ses- sion here, The menu can be opened by either clicking the chameleon icon or by pressing the Windows logo Key on the keyboard. In the Linux world, that key is often referred to as the Super key. Next to the Start menu is the icon for mul. tiple desktop workspaces. This is one of the ‘most notable differences between most Linux desktop environments and other op. erating systems, Each desktop can have its own set of arranged windows. For example, multiple desktops allow you to group appli- cation windows by activities. One desktop can be used for writing an article and doing research, and another desktop can be used for chatting and mailing. To switch between desktops, you use the Ctr+Fl and Ctrl + F2 key combinations. Bropensuse Ahoy, this is openSUSE CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET (On the right side of the main panel, clock, battery, network, and other icons display the computer's status at a glance. The tiny NetworkManager icon can be used to con- nect to a WiFi network, access VPNS (if the required client software is installed), or ‘change network settings. Ifthe computer has a working Ethernet network connection and a DHCP router in reach, the network will be configured auto- ‘matically. Wireless adapters usually work without any further configuration, and a wireless network can be selected by clicking the network symbol in the main panel SUMMARY OpenSUSE makes it easy to get a Linux - tem up and running and ready to put to con- structive use. You can install openSUSE onto a hard drive by itself or share a drive (dual boot) with another operating system, such as ‘Windows. Whichever way you decide to in- stall, openSUSE delivers stable, secure, and easy-to-use Linux desktop. a INFO 1] openSUSE: hrips:7opensuse.org/ [21 SUSE: htipsi/mwwsuse.com/ [3] openSUSE Leap download page: https: software.opensuse.org/alstributionsleep Support If this your frst time using openSUSE, we would ke you to fet right at home in your new ‘voyage. Take your time to faire yourself wit all the buttons and let us know how you like the experience on our social meci. Thunar, Firefox, Python Update in Tumbleweed Figure 3: OpensUSE with the KDE Desktop. 1 GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITIONopenSUSE. THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! PLATINUM SPONSORS Ce ampDo SUSE SILVER SPONSORS BACK ade heinlein TUXEDO SYSTEMSGET STARTED Yast Managing openSUSE with YasT At Your Command Functioning as your opensUSE system's control center, YaST lets you perform several configuration tasks from a single interface. sy Imobach Gonzéiez Sos0, Ancor Gonaélez Sosa, Lukas Ocika, Gilson Souza, Martin Vidner, Roalon latarow, and Ladislav Slezak nce you've installed openSUSE Leap, you can start browsing the web, writing documents, or orga- nizing your picture collection. At some point, you'll also need to install new applications, add software repositories, oF update your software. YaST can help you do these tasks and more, Gettinc To Know YaST ‘To launch YaST, click on System | YaST: Enter the system administrator password when prompted, and you should see the YaST Con- trol Center (Figure 1). The YaST Control Cen ter provides quick access to all the installed YaST modules. These modules are sorted by categories, making it easier to quickly locate the desired module, Instead of scrolling up and down the main pane trying to find the desired module, you can use the list of categories in the left pane or start typing the module's name into the search box. For example, enter update to find the matching modules. When exploring YaST, you can use the Help button for further information about a specific module or term. Moreover, don't worry about making mistakes: You can al: ways undo any choices by pressing Cancel before accepting your changes. In addition to the graphical interface (Fig- ure 1), YaST features a text-based version that can be used without a graphical desktop environment (Figure 2). cage SoFTWARE MANAGEMENT ‘OpenSUSE offers plenty of applications and tools for work and pleasure. The default in stallation includes a web brovrser, an office suite, multimedia applications, and games, as well as some powerful image manipula- tion programs to make your vacation pictures Took better. But what if you need to install additional software? YaST"s Software Management mod- ‘ule makes it possible to find the application you are looking for and then install it with a few mouse clicks In the openSUSE world, software is distrib uted in packages. In a nutshell, maintainers take care of packaging an application into a format that allows you to install and update ‘the software easily. It might sound simple, Dut i is not: Maintainers also take care of ‘keeping the packages up to date, applying patches wherever needed, testing the soft ware, and so on. ‘The Software Management module hides all the complexity of installing and managing software. To install Krita, for example, open the YaST Control Center and click on Soft ‘ware | Software Management. YaST loads package information it might take a few sec- ‘onds) and displays an interface for managing packages. Enter kritain the text box located next (0 the Searcit button and press Enter (or click the button). YaST searches for any package containing kritain its name, list of related keywords, or summary and displays $the results on the right side, Select the krita package and press Accept. YaST may ask you to install some additional packages that are needed or recommended (i., dependen- ies), which are handled automatically. After you accept the summary of changes, pack- ages will be downloaded and installed. Now, you can open Krita and start adding that ar- tistic touch. Software patterns are another useful open- SUSE software management concept. Simply put, a pattern bundles several related pack- ages together. For instance, say you want to set up a web server, To do this, you need to install several specific services and tools. In- stead of installing them one by one, you in- stall the pattern Web Server, and the packag Ing system will take care of installing every- thing you need, You can also use software patterns to try ‘out a different desktop environment, like Xice. Instead of selecting individual pack- ages, you will only need to install the pattern XECE Desktop Environment. ‘The YaST software manager interface features different views depending on ‘which task you want to perform. To view the available patterns, choose Patterns from the View drop-down list. Click on a pattern entry to see the list of related pack- ages on the right side. Select the pattern. you want to install (in this case, XFCE Desktop Environment), and related pack- ages will be selected (Figure 3), This time, before you click the Accept button, you ‘might want to check the Installation Sum- ‘mary tab for the complete list of changes. Finally, press Accept, and YaST will start the installation. To give Xfce a try, you should log out and log in again (selecting Xice in the login sereen). Uninstalling software using the Software ‘Management module is equally easy. Find the packages you want to uninstall, unselect them, and click Accept. Sometimes, remov. ing a certain package can remove other re- lated packages, too. Fortunately, YaST warns you about this, and you can always abort the action by pressing Cancel. SoFTWarE REPOSITORIES Packages are organized and indexed in re- positories, which are basically software pools. The DVD (or USB stick) with the {mage you used to install your system con- tains a repository with a subset of openSUSE packages. The official repositories located on the openSUSE mirrors (i.¢., remote servers) contain a vast software library. Get STARTED Additionally, the openSUSE. project provides repositories con- taining software that is notin cluded by default Inthe distribu- tion, including certain drivers and codecs. You can add those and any other third- party, openSUSE- compatible repos itory to your sys- tem using Soft- ware | Software Repositories (Fig ure 4). Press Add and select the Community Re positories option. YaST downloads and shows a list of available repos- itories. Select the fone you want 10 add and press OK. ‘Now, the soft ware from that re- pository should be available for installation in the Software ‘Management module. Before you start this ‘module, though, you need to close Software Repositories, ‘As you may have noticed, adding commu- nity repositories is only one ofthe many op- —— — Tie Figure I: YoST features « graphical interface — Figuro2.. and a text-based interface. Detter Temialoaa Depeteces|Yrons | Fett >) Meat Foci tanoe wb ont eg i sade ‘Sophncs nd peomaes ttn oo nan “Et ecingeetanen 4 8D + 11:39AM) GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITION 15Get STARTED Yast tions that the repositories management mod- ule offers. For instance, you may be inter ested in adding a third-party repository by specifying the URL. When adding third-party repositories, make sure that they are compat le with openSUSE Leap 15.2, as adding in- compatible repositories might result in de- pendency errors or other serious issues. Also, check the repository’ license as some reposi- tories might provide commercial, non-free, or patented software. Last, but not least, bear in mind that some community repositories and all third-party repositories are not maintained by the open- SUSE project. Adding an unknown repository iroduces a potential security risk, so only. ‘Configured Software Repostories ny ~ abd hates sae 1 socwtnay 4 map spear, seentass 7am pea 58) sega) 7 2 Mantapory Debug Repostory “np ould oper rota sea (tnt mepisosopenoanentctng sche! rooms Cees rer tomy ay . oo nas || ee) owe roe | et @E Spee Werte 0 «80 + 11324) Figure 4 Overview of software repositories. [Re Paaage Fach Conguaton Gepndoes Opens Gea Wp clezen! |S resage sma ta Se ao tom Hatariempapan ontan 80) a Sry peor SSGikirctamen |] rmtin Menssxmvatpegam atts 248 Scorer ntr or reo Spinners ‘errand oan Fiera fr cet Sponracncagene trae ‘eter Tomato oepetences | Yersons ett) Signet em persis ssaa0z1208 ‘capa lr rm fow tcete net [et ED rast conor 8480+ 11:36AM Figure 5: YaST provides further details abou! each updte, i GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITION add the repositories you trust and do not for- {get to verify GPG signature keys. ‘Upparine Your opeNSUSE SysTEM ‘Once your openSUSE system is installed, some ongoing housekeeping is required, such as organizing your documents, remov- ing unneeded software, and updating your system. The latter is the most crucial, and you should do it regularly. While there is no such thing as error-free software, openSUSE collects fixes from upstream projets, adds their own patches (especially for security is sues), and releases them as online updates ater thorough testing To instal these fixes, ‘you have two options. You can use an auto- matic applet that is part of your chosen desk top, which will show updates as they be come available. f you want more informa- tion about these patches (or you want to use a text-based mode), you can use YaST. In the YaST Control Center, click Software | Online Update. YaST will retesh informa: tion about available patches from online software repositories and show all applica ble patches. By default, all ofthe patches ate selected automatically. YaST has four different patch levels: package management (forthe patch and package management stack itself, security, recommended, and ‘optional. Security patches need to be ap- plied as soon as possible. Ifyou want to see what a particular patch fixes select it from the list in the top left corner and read the Patch Description below (Figure 5). To in- stall all selected patches, just click Accept. In some cases, you will need to reboot your system or login again, YaST will tell you what you need to do If your system does not have any online update repositories configured, YaST will no tty you. To fix this, launch the Sofeware Re positries module from YaST, click on Ada, then select Community Repositories (and click on Next), and enable all entries with Update in their names. Concwusions YaST offers a single, unified interface for configuring and managing your openSUSE system. In this article, we discussed a small fraction of Yass capabilites, including in- stalling or removing programs, adding soft- ware repositories, and updating your system. YaST also ean be used to improve your sys- tem’s security, show your programs’ status, help network administrators to configure di {erent types of servers, and much more. ©Turn your ideas into reality! This is not your ordinary computer magazine! MakerSpace is a new special issue that focuses on technology that you can use to build NelUiaaWi Chie If you're interested in electronics but haven't had the time or the skills (yet), studying these maker projects might be the final kick to get you started. DMs le MUR TI Mati once Re Unico Dts ° FPGA ° Arduino * and much more! Bacon lals | PI GEEK rn pee ONAN) oY pT re5s FOR 7 ive ORDER ONLINE: shop.linuxnewmedia.com/specialsGet STARTED Security Keeping your system secure in openSUSE Leap Safe, Safer, Linux Linux has a good reputation and for a good reason. From firewallls to advanced security tools like AppArmor and SELinux, there's a YaST module for almost everything, By Markus Felinor 18 at? No viruses on Linux? Once you've become a Linux. user, you'll have to prepare yourself for questions like these. It's true, Only five proof-of-concept Linux viruses exist, but there are many more funny jokes about how a working Linux irus would look, including having a user ‘manually copy and execute it and then kindly send it on to all his friends, asking them to run and redistribute it, as well. Stan- dard viruses don’t work on Linux for a vari- ety of reasons, so you don't have to worry about antivirus software and similar tools, ‘well known in the Windows world In this article, I show where you find the relevant ‘nuts and bolts in openSUSE Leap that define hhow securely your system is set up. Why is Linux so secure? One reason, of course is that Linux is not as widespread on GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION the desktop as Windows or macOs, but it does ‘dominate large segments of the server market, ‘which would make ita great target. (See the box titled “What Is Security?") However, since its origins more than 25 years ago, no hacker thas successfully created a Linux virus, partly because it handles user privileges and separa tion of processes better, but also because of the ‘nature of Linux: It comes ina lot of varieties, oa virus would need to infiltrate many differ ‘WHAT IS SECURITY? ‘An old saying states that “security is the good feeling an admin has when going home at right,” and that’s not fa from wrong. No mat tor what marketing tlls you, nothing to do with IT systems is 100 percent secure Security is not a binary quality (secureinse cure); in fac, it ranges along a scale from “se- ‘cure enough’ to “not secure enough.” Costs rise exponentially the closer you get to secure enough; thus, everybody ~ enterprise, home user, T pro, orhacker—has to decide the level cof security they are willing to pay for, apply, and follow. ‘Which attacks do you want to protect yourself ‘rom? How much damage can be done? Even before Snowden's revelations, we knew it was difficult or impossible to protect standard IT systoms against government attacks. Experts call this an “overqualifed attack.” Protection against automated and scripted attacks by ‘commercial villains or script kids, though, ‘makes sense and is easily reached by exchang ing as many Windows systems with Linux sys- tems as possible. Like most modern Linux systems, openSUSE Leap is goad choice for socure desktops, ‘workstations, and home servers. The default settings will give you a safe working environ ‘ment thatis considered by many experts tobe ‘much safer than proprietary systems.ent platforms. Apart from that, the open source ‘model gives developers a better chance to fix ‘bugs and glitches in their software - and hope- fully faster than Microsoft or Apple can, ONLINE REPOSITORIES: ‘After the boot manager messages and the Language, Keyboard, and License Agree- ment, Partitioning, and Time Zone dialogs, the installation routine brings up the User Interface dialog, Unlike Windows or macs systems, Linux, and especially openSUSE, ‘comes with a generous variety of flavors for the desktop. Desktop with KDE Plasma is preselected, followed by Desktop with GNOME and Server (Text Mode). If you are planning to set up a server and are experi ‘enced with remote access to Linux systems, then setting up the system in pure text mode ‘might be a good option. Nevertheless, both Gnome and KDE are a good, safe choice for your Leap system. If you want other desktop ‘environments, select Custom (see the “In- stalling openSUSE” article in ths issue). ‘When installing openSUSE Leap, you can make some choices that affect the security of your system. One thing you definitely should do is click the Configure Online Repositories Dutton at the bottom ofthe User Interface dia- log to receive alist of online sources (Fig ure 1) that provide up-to-date software for ‘your SUSE system, including recent security relevant updates, patches, and fixes that are applied during instalation, Of course, you can configure this after your system is up and run: hing, but that would mean you are installing a potentially outdated system. The difference ‘between online and local software will be small at release date, but it rows bigger every day, because thousands of developers all aver the world are constantly improving their ap: plications and fixing new found bugs in the software that comes with Leap. SECURE PASSWORD GENERATION Get STARTED Security List of Online Repositories mh Nominee pa a3 Figure 1: The checked boxes show the default online repositories fo be activated ~~ bet Having a system that is always up to date with the newest software has one downside, which is why configuring online reposito- ries isn’t the default: Your machine will con- stantly download software from the repos tories; thus, an Internet connection is, needed and, over the weeks, hundreds of megabytes of traffic could easily accumu- late. If you're fine with that, and if you al ‘ways want to have the newest fixes applied to your system, you should activate online repositories during the installation process. Later, I'll show you how to set up your sys tem for automatic updates. ‘SECURE Passworps Another dialog that comes up while you are Installing your system is choosing a secure password. Although openSUSE Leap offers a standard password check with the CrackLib library, you should keep some basic facts in PWGen is anice command-line tool that generates random passwords of specified lengths. ts simple to invoke with ‘pegen (number of characters? Listing 1 shows PWGen generating secure passwords of 20 characters. LISTING I: PWGen Password Generation infeiinorptninetank:~> pygen 20 snidahogooroht cochesaSioshanphoek onjespnscqatraseyoo taeReetaeaKosieKohs pelantoseseséenesob0 Le GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION 13Get STARTED Security Figure 2:SSH ond firewall conrigurtion are soto thei sac Installation Settings oe oe ing by dotau (bottom). ‘mind: The longer and more random your password, the more secure it will be, Don't use short passwords, don’t use dictionary ‘words, and follow the guidelines of experts like Bruce Schneier (1) Most important: Never reuse a password. Use unique passwords for every service; use completely random passwords, like those generated by tools like PWGen (see the “Secure Password Generation” box); and store you passwords in a password ‘manager (which then becomes a single point of failure [2}) or write them down. and put the note in a safe. Security and us ability are often antagonists, Once you've made it to the Installation Set: tings screen, only one entry is of importance concerning security: the Firewall and SSH section. As you can see in Figure 2, the best settings are already chosen: The firewall is enabled, remote access via SSH is disabled, and thus the SSH port is closed by the fire wall. Figure 3 shows the dialog you are of- fered to change any of these settings. Post-INSTALLATION Once the operating system is installed on your disk, you are the proud owner of a secure Linux desktop system ~ safe from viruses, ma: ware, and, ifyou configured online update, most ofthe known bugs. Your system is closed, and nobody can access services on your ma chine (ee the “Wisdom of the Eders” box). I ‘yu want to keep it that way, don’t install un necessary software, ony install applications and utilities from trusted resources (Le. the SUSE repositories), and follow the guidelines the Leap documentation [3]. Also, SUSE, railing lists and forums area great place to ask questions and collect helpful advice SUSE’s main setup tool, YaST (Figure 4), has several modules and an entite section that offer a variety of security-relevant set- tings (from top to bottom) * Sofware | Online Update + System | Services Manager + Nerwork Services ~ domain membership, sn ale sign-on, remote administration (VNC), YPN, and other modules that supply services usually necessary in corporate networks * Security and Users the entire section ‘+ Miscellaneous | System Log and Systema Journal Starting withthe simple settings first, the two modules in the Miscellaneous section help you review events and check for “sur- prising” behavior, although you might need deeper knowledge to read and setup the files. The Systeme Log module displays old- fashioned logfiles, whereas the Systemd Jour ‘nal module shows the output ofthe systema daemon, an almost universal daemon that handles large parts of modern Linux systems. ‘The module lets you search for events with the use of filters (Figure 5) To try it out, search for your username. ‘WISDOM OF THE ELDERS ‘a Fema and SH Contguration ‘Most modern Linux distributions follow old wisdom from the world of, Unix, an operating system that was designed in the 19608 and devel- ‘oped for high security and stability scenarios. Whereas proprietary ‘software tends to concentrate on making things easy to use, Linux! Unix tend toward greater security. Although this emphasis can be an- roving at times, in most casas, it makes sense. For example, when Yyou install modern Linux distributions, they wil all be inthe safest possible state considered usable by their developers. That usually in- Cludes a running firewall, with no services reachable from any net- e+ Mim | work. The only connections your system should undertake are net work services (DHCP) for the Internet and a time server (NTP) fr accu rate timekeeping. Figue 3: You can change the detaul seine in his colog when you Cllekon the Firewall and SSH linkin the Installation Sotings dialog. ao GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITIONMacstansous J on geen eg tegen Figure 4: Yass your portal instaling sofware on and configuring your openSUSE system, ONuINE UppaTe ‘The Online Update module in the Software section offers the software selection dialog first. Select Configuration | Online Update from the menubar to configure the scope and time frames of regular, automatic updates. Leap will ask you to confirm installation of the YaST module that performs this task; cick Instaitto proceed. Once installed (it might take a while), Figure 6 shows the window you should see. You can choose between daily, ‘weekly, of monthly automatic updates and define the scope (including interactive patches, delta RPMs) and convenience (i.e. automaticaly agreeing to licenses and includ ing recommended packages) of updates. Your mileage may vary. Depending on the purpose of your system, different setings might suit your setup better. Figure 6 shows the default, which is reasonable in most cases. Again, Leap documentation {3} (and the online help) hhas more details on individual settings. MANAGING SERVICES YaST's Services Manager module in the System section might seem familiar, because all of to ‘Journal entries pty eer wae eninge Sep 2410553 Sp 310865) Seo 2410053 Sip 2120s Sip 210659 Sie 310659 Sp 210659 Sp 2410653 TLL ELLE! cong nr verion 218580. geotldbn ein 7S nnn eS Tk ‘on sapere esting en ers ‘arp Suporng SA sere DOES ep? ‘tp Superng SNE are SE Vege ‘tp ented oes 07 ns 88 ng add fmt Sos pone pnt ama Figur: System Journal shows your Linux system logfile entries; you con easly find ou who logged in and when, GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION Get STARTEDGet STARTED Security EET) 69's operating systems have a similar tool to alee sdaas oma start, stop, and configure services. Addition- ally, Linux offers several different modes of operation (eg, headless, text-only). In this YaST module, you can choose to switch your system toa different mode (Figure 7). Just se- lect one ofthe entries inthe Defaule System Eeerrain Cit tcomende cages ‘Target drop-down menu and reboot. Be Wvseanarons aware, though, that there's no easy way back Ce iycaeeey from a text-only system to the GUI. You'll need to know about the text-only version of YaST or more about systema configuration it- self, mention this here because many secu rity experts consider full-featured GUI un- necessary for servers, as well asa security risk, because of the many programs it runs. roanes Nevertheless, even with Graphical Interface selected, you can sil choose to activate or bot eactivate services from the long list de- Figure 6: Dally, weeky, or monthy? How often should your Leap system felch updates? scribed on the right. Any new services you in- stall are added to ths list automatically. On = = Q ‘Services Manager SECURITY AND USERS xa sen tage ‘The Security and Users module represents the ec ce © core of security functions within openSUSE Leap, Here, you define firewall rules, specify hhardening rules, and much more. This section holds a great variety of settings and tools that, ar ae eee eevee, ifyou had to buy them, would easly come to Lao tena cheba) taunts reas thousands of dollars. Several ofthese tools are peeaente ae ST NaN very sophisticated, high-security tools that cern tokio areata temntete? | ight seem dificult to handle o require it Fcemeoth Sek eased enemas tensive study before usage. The following [nme tteuhy nce) acre ao dnd paragraphs explain their nature, and in the let omen) mentee course of this article I wil focus on thre of tans oS es ane them: AppArmor Configuration, Prewal, and Security Center and Hardenin cs at ce | APARMOR acca “AppArmor isan extensive set of tools and (© 7 Diiemeerenas Overmars) © 86 20 - 2:39PM FI) profes tnat defines a “standard” and ac- Flowe 7: Yas" Services Manager colg ll you decide wich services shoul and shoudnat ceptable behavior for programs. On the Str eulematicay. basis of experience and expected behavior, developers have compiled lists of what dividual programs are allowed to do Ifthe program is corrupted by an attack, it could tse the privileges of the initial program to do harm. AppArmor les you modify and setup profiles that keep applications from accessing or executing not-standard ac- tions, Thus, the AppArmor module has three basic functions: handing applica- tions, setting up profiles, and managing profiled applications. If you start the mod- tile, you can choose to change settings, manage profiles, and add new profiles (Figure 8). Details about how to use this owe &:AppAmeris mighty ond complex tooth appre opptestion protier io prevent mighty tool can be found inthe openSUSE sonetandord behav. Leap documentation (4 a GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITIONFIREWALL Starting with openSUSE Leap 15, the system ‘uses firewall and the frewall-configgraphi- cal management tool, which appears under the name Firewall Configuration in the open SUSE GUL ‘The Firewall Configuration window has a lis of zones in the left pane and the Services and Ports tabs inthe right pane (Figure 9) Zones in te firewall represent diferent levels of trust. For example, the public zone {s usually considered untrusted, as you don't have knowledge ofthe particular network setup and have no control of other machines on the network. The internal zone is used for networks that are under your contol, like a home or company network. Defining and using zones allows you to quickly switch between different firewall profiles. ‘The Firewall Configuration tool comes with several predefined zones that you can configure to your liking Select the desired zone, and then add and remove the available services from the Known column to the AE lowed column ‘To switch between the defined zones, se. lect the Start-Up | Interfaces item, choose the appropriate network interface, and press Change Zone. Select the desited zone, and then press OK and Accept (Figure 10) You can also manage firewall from the command line using the command fire- val -end. Ifyou have used SUSE before and want to upgrade your existing SuSEfirewall2 rules forthe new firewalld system, you can Insta a helper sript with {sper instal) susefirowia-to-firewalte For documentation on frewall-config and firevall-cn, start with the openSUSE web- site {5} and the fireuatt-cnd man page (6 Get STARTED Security ‘Figure 9: The Frewall Configuration tool frewalk-config lets you configure settings for ‘managing frewal SECURITY CENTER AND HARDENING Finally, the YaST Security Center module fo- ccuses on making your machine even more secure through hardening, which is a process that goes beyond standard security mea- sures. Many settings that are not easily un- derstood can prove very helpful, although they could make your system unusable, as well (much like messing with the Windows registry database). Security Overview shows all your settings at a glance (Figure 11). The Predefined Se- curity Configurations tab lets you choose whether your machine is a workstation, a roaming device, or a network server. YaST then uses profiles to determine the appro- priate settings for the typical user's needs. In the Password Settings tab, you define the length, encryption method, and aging out of user passwords. Boot Settings and Login Figure 10: Using the Frewail Configuration fool, you can eosly switch between diferent zones GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION a3Get STARTED Security TABLE1: ‘Securty Overview Security Setting se magi sakes ameteacesto the eoy manage ite back tm time tte ays generate og meson for eonsrots fun the HCP daemon as dp emetereotlogin nthe ily manager er tROPERED ° ib 2 ® s o 0 > v & z z= Oo Fure 11: You have complete contol over the secutty of your system inthe YaST Secutty Center and, Hardening dltog, Settings help guard against attackers with physical access. If you fee! like changing, the range of user or group IDs for new users and groups, use the User Addition tab. Finally, the File Permissions drop- down menu under the Miscellaneous Set: tings tab makes it easy to protect (e.g.. config) files on your system. The standard profile is Easy; setting it to Paranoid might bbe more secure, but, as the name suggests, you might find that some things will not work properly afterward. So Much More Although I have covered a Jot in this article, there is so much more: user and group man- agement, sudo, PolicyKit, Access Control Lists (ACLs), filesystem encryption, using and configuring SELinux, not to mention End of Life issues (see the "End of Life” article on p. 57). OpenSUSE Leap brings many high end security features to your desktop, and you have additional scope for control over your system's security from the command xamples of Useful Commands ‘Command co upper Software and repository management to installremoveyfind) update software iptables tcpdump, iptraf a4 Low-level Linux ketnel tool for managing firewalls Low-level to's for network traffic inspection GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION line (Table 1). With safe startup settings and no viruses or spyware, Leap will keep your system above the malware fray. INFO. [1] Bruce Schneier on secure passwords: ‘ntps:/www.schneiercom/blog/archives/ 201409choosing_secure_1.html [21 Single point of failure: htps:/en.wikipedia, ‘orgiwikiSingle_point of failure [3] openSUSE Leap documentation: htps:/tdoe.opensuse.org/ [4] AppArmor docs: https:/doc-opensuse.ora/ documentation/leapysecurity/html/book- securty/part-apparmorham! (5) frewallé: hupsi/en.opensuse.orgFirewalld {6} frewallemd man page: ttps:/irewalld.org/documentation/ ‘man-pagesifirewall-cmat. html (71 openSUSE Leap lifetime: /ntps:/on.opensuse.org/ifetime [8] CVEs: hupsyeve.mitre.org/about/ THE AUTHOR wi ned Linux expert ‘from Regensburg, Germany. He has been working with free and open source software since 1994 as trainer, consultant, author, and journalist. He is currently employed as senior editor for the computer magazine “iX” based in Hannover, Germany. us FeinerGet STARTED Linux Crash Course An introduction to some fundamental Linux concepts Crash Course This brief look at some important Linux concepts will help you start thinking like an experienced user. 8y Paul. Brown; revised by Joe Casad and Hans-Georg EBer hen you start up Windows or Linux distribution with the ‘macOS, you boot into a sys- KDE's Plasma desktop. Ifyou are tem with a single look and using a different Linux distro (such feel and a standard collection as Ubuntu or Red Hat Enterprise), of tools specified by the operating system you might find different configuration (0S) vendor. Because Linux is a free software utilities and discover that menus are in system, it has no standard “look.” Individual different places. However, when you distribution developers have much more get accustomed to Linux, you'll start to freedom to shape the user experience and de- understand that all these Linux systems fine which tools are present by default. In _are similar and many of the underlying particular, Linux supports several GUI desk- components are the same. (See the {op environments, such as Gnome, KDE, “GNU and Linux” box.) ‘MATE, Cinnamon, and Xfce. The desktop ‘A few basic concepts are important can have a huge influence on the system’s for understanding what Linux really appearance, is and how it works. This crash ‘The great variety of tools and GUIs in the course will introduce you to some Linux environment means that standard con- Linux fundamentals. figuration tasks might be different depending ‘on which distribution you are using. This THE FILESYSTEM special edition is based on the openSUSE _—_For newcomers to Linux, one of the most bewildering things is GNU AND LINUX hhow the filesystem hierarchy ~ the set of directories and subai- ‘The name for the Linux operating system rectories and the files they comes from the kernel name. The Linux ker contain ~is organized. Al nelisasinglecomponent down inthe heart though you might have a hard ‘of the system that performs tasks such as running processes and controlling the hard- ware. A full-blown OS also contains hun- {dreds of other components, including ser vices, applications, configuration utilities, time finding things in the be- ginning, the filesystem struc- ture is highly logical, and you will find the same basic layout ‘and programming interfaces, Many ofthe ofall Linux distributions. ‘components within Linux were created by ‘The Linux filesystem is or the GNU project, which iswhy some experts _ganized into a tee. The bot- refer to the systom as GNU/Linux. tom-most directory, from ‘Other components have found thelr way into _- Which all others sprout, is Linuxthrough the years~some conteibuted by called the root directory and is Jndependent developers and some by the designated with a slash (/). It companies that work with Linux. The GNU contains a series of subdirectories, Public License (GPLv2) used with Linuxsys- such as /bin, /11B, and /hone, which tors ensures that improvements made to the in tum contain more subdirectories, and so on. Figure 1 shows part of the Linux directory tree. Linux environment willbe available tothe whole community. GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 2021 EDITION esGet STARTED Linux Crash Course: SUPERUSER For security reasons, In openSUSE, you can see the contents of / by opening the Dolphin file manager and clicking twice on the arrow pointing up in the toolbar. Ifyou ae using the command line, you can type 15 / ‘The names ofthe directories are not arbi trary. All bin and sbin directories, for exam- ple, contain executable files, which are pro- ‘grams you can run (although, despite what the names of these directories imply, not all of the executable files are binary files). Tra- ditionally, you will find bin and sbin diree- better not to give an everyday user account access to the ‘whole OS. Most systems limit the end users privileges and rely on an administra tor account with expanded privileges for performing system-level tasks, such as. starting or stopping services, creating user accounts, and accessing system direc- to Traditionally, many Linux distros had a completely separate account for the ‘superuser (also known as root), and the system administrator only accessed the ‘superuser account for important systern administration tasks. To access this super- tusor account, the sys admin could do either ofthe followin + Login as root + Use the su command to switch user to superuser (reat). ‘Another approach has gained popularity in recent years. The sudo command lets a User run @ command under the privileges of another user ~ by default the super- user. To give a user access to the suse command, add the user tothe /et/sudoers file oF add the account tothe sudo group. user with suco privileges can execute a ‘superuser-level command by prefacing the command withthe sudo command. For instance, the command s0do 16 /usr/locel/secret_atrectory lists the contents ofa secret directory (called secret_directory) that might have been off limits to the user without the elevated priv 3s provided by sudo. The ‘so utility typically prompts you to supply a password to the account that is being granted the temporary privileges. OpenSUSE gives the account that is Created at installation suto privileges, but you still need to enter the root pass- ‘word and not your own. (Other Linux distributions let suo ask for the user's Pessword instead.) tories hanging off the root directory and then again within the /usr directory; the root bin and sbin directories used to contain the bare essential programs that the OS needs to work, whereas the bin and sbin di rectories in /usr contained extras. Thus, you ‘would find an essential program like rount in /bin, but, if you install a game, you ‘would probably find it in /usr/bin ‘OpenSUSE has been working on joining both sets of directories so that you have only bin and sbin directories hanging off /usr Currently both exist, but most files in /bin or /sbin point to new locations below /usr. If ‘you're wondering about the differences be- ‘tween bin directories and sbin directories, sin directories usually contain programs that are reserved for the administrative user, cor superuser. (See the "Superuser” box.) I you want to know where a certain pro: ‘gram lives, you can use the program which plus the name of the app from the command line, as follows: wien te fose/eso/s will not delve too deeply into what each di rectory is for, but you must know that users” irectories hang off nore. A user can create, ‘modify, and delete files and subdirectories in their own home directory. Ifyou want to attempt the same activities in other directories (e.., in /, /ete, or /usr), ‘you will need special privileges ~ usually su: peruser privileges. Please note that tamper- ing with files outside your home directory is dangerous and can lead to malfunctioning, programs or even a trashed system. PPP ED OOO © (0 Figuee I: Pat of he Linux drecory tre. 26 GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITIONNAVIGATING THE SHELL ‘The shell has often been described as “un- friendly,” but a more correct term would be ‘misunderstood.” The Linux shell (aka, the ‘command line) Iets you type commands di- rectly in a terminal window, without having to follow a cursor or click with the mouse. ‘The shell provides a complete set of apps with «wide range of functionalities that could never be stuffed into a graphical program. ‘To open a terminal window in openSUSE, select Konsole / Terminal in the start menu's Favorites. The filesystem is highly structured in Linux and, although you can navigate it using the desktop’s file browser, doing so from the command line is also very conve hient. The terminal will open in your home directory. Type 1s to list the contents of that directory. You can use the ed (change directory) com- ‘mand to move to another directory. You'll also need to mention the path to the target directory: 40a one /your username? /Bocunents ‘A double dot in a path name means “go back ‘one level in the directory path,” so if you ‘want to go from the /none/ / sic directory back to your home directory (Jnone/), you could type: ‘Asa shorteut, Linux also uses the tilde char acter (+) to represent the home directory, so ‘no matter where you are, you can always re turn to your home directory with: fous (There is an even faster way: Running cd ‘without any argument will aso bring you to your home directory.) you get lost navigating the directory structure, you can always enter the pud (print ‘working directory) command to display the name of the current directory. To create a new directory, enter the mkdir command with the name you want to give to the directory 4 musir (mone/éyour vseraane>/wsic/Sestte6 r, Ifyou were already in the Music directory, you could just type: 4 ktie Beatles Pro tip: You can create a full directory hierar- chy with the -p option. For example, 4 mua -p masie/Beeties/eip will create the tusic, tuste/Beatles, and Muste/ Beaties/Melp subdirectories all in one go. The ep command lets you copy files (the angle brackets, © indicate a parameter that you supply) 4 ep ‘The default is to look in the current direc: tory; however, you can include a path with the source or destination to copy to or from a different directory. Of course, you must have the necessary permissions to access the di- rectory. The av instruction moves files or whole directories from one place to another. If the instruction is used on files or directo- ries that are not moving, it names them. Forexample, $ my set ate/ will move filet into directory ¢ir/ hanging off the current directory. But S my fe sine2 will change f11et"s name to #12. ‘The shell lets you use a dot (.) in the path to represent the current directory. That is helpful when you want to move a file to the current directory ~ just type 4 my To delete a file, use the rn (remove) com: mand, and to delete a directory, use r or rndir (for empty folders). Needless to say, You must be careful how you use these commands, Table 1 shows a summary of these basic commands. Each of them in- cludes additional options that you can TABLE 1: Some Basic Shell Commands Get STARTED Linux Crash Course 15 List contents of the current directory ecto rectory ‘Show current working a (Make directory Copy fi Remove files) Remove empty directory GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION 27Get STARTED Linux Crash Course: enter at the command line, which you can see by typing man Of course, moving files and traversing the directory structure are not the only things you can do from the Linux command line. Linux comes with hundreds of command- line utilities that are useful for configuration, troubleshooting, and other common tasks. Online help, wikis, and other documentation sources often reference Linux command-line utilities you'll need to execute specific tasks within Linux. Users Linux and other Unix-like systems use the concept of a user account, which allows the system to manage identities and restrict ac- cess to a collection of resources associated with a specific person or the groups to which that person belongs. One aspect of a ser ac- count is the familiar login prompt that often greets users who want to access a computer. ‘The user’s identity is also a means for assign: ing access permissions to files, directories, and other resources. Linux also lets the system administrator ‘manage access to resources through group membership. A group isa collection of users, \ypically with a common purpose and, there: fore, a common need for access toa collec: tive set of resources. For example, a group called account ing might contain users who are part of the accounting team with the need for a common level of access to spread- sheets and other financial data, Rather than ‘manually giving each user permissions for every file, the administrator can assign ac- cess permissions to the accounting group and then place users in the group to give them access tothe files. lesseresuse1st lesseresusetsthae: we Docunents Downloads Muste Pletures Public Templates Videos 4 Documents / ‘sssergsusedSthde:~/Oocunents> ls -1 ‘total aiaaoe lesseresuse1Sthae Messer users 4 easer users 4 esser users 24230042 ut Sesser users 49818204 Jul 4 esser users 76378508 Jul 4 esser users 42730265 Jul 4 esser users 29778710 Dut 4 esser users 39970003 Jut 4 Ssser users 4260513 Jul 19 21 Docunents> cd Linusledtesta/ ea tat 48 21:46 FH-sudvesttaten a0 21:47 Uy Ha wy lesserosuseiSihge:~/Docunents/Linuantegia> 1st ‘ota 15608 lesseresusetSthde:~/Docunents/Linuxlestedta> | 4 easer users 4 esser users fessor users 15942672 Jul 49 21: 10394 Jul 18 21 21738 dat 10 24 Beso Article status.ods Figur 2:The Is -1 command shows les’ permissions 28 GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION ‘To see which groups you belong to, you ‘can use the command groups from the com- ‘mand line, more than one user accesses your com- puter, i is a good idea to create an account for each person. The most common com: ‘mand-line utilities used to create new users and groups are useradd and groupadd, These utilities live in /usr/sbin by default, and to use them, you need to be the superuser. PRIVILEGES For every file and directory, Linux defines ‘which users may read, write, and execute that file. Also, every file belongs to an ‘owner (an individual user) and to a group. ‘To see the owners, group owners, and per- missions for each file and directory in your current directory, type into your terminal window (Figure 2); the -1 option enables long mode. ‘The first column onthe left shows the per ‘missions, which I will explain shorty; the sec ‘ond column indicates the number of "hard links" othe file or directory (that isthe num- ber of filenames under which you can find a file; the third column shows the owner; the fourth column shows the group; andthe fifth column shows the filesize. Finally, you have the date and ime at whieh the ile or direetory ‘was last modified and its nam If you look at the first column, the follow: {ng three permissions ae assigned separately for owners, groups, and other users: ‘Read permission (flag): Users can display the contents ofa file or folder on screen, copy the file, and do a few other things. Di rectories should additionally have the x flag (see below) to allow users to change to that folder; otherwise, only alist of files can be displayed. Write permission (u flag): Users ean change files and directories and store their changes. Note that you need write permis- sion for a folder to delete files inside that folder; write permission forte file is not required for deleting it, though the ra com- mand will ask for confirmation when you try to delete a non-writable fie. Execute permission (x flag): For programs, this means the user is permitted to run the program. Execute permission for a direc- tory means the user is permitted to change to the directory (the user additionally needs read permission to be able to view the folder content).‘As you can see, permissions are indicated by the letters r (for read), w (for write), and x (for execute), In the Is output, note the three sets of r, v, and x (with some letters possibly replaced with *-") at the begin ning of the file entry. The first block shows the permissions for the owner, the second block refers to the group, and the third block refers to all other users. Folders are indicated by a 4 (for “ditectory") and regu: lar files by a single dash (-) at the start of the line. A number of other types of entries, exist, such as symlinks (1), block devices (6), and character devices (¢), but I will not go into them here, You'll see a different version of this per- mission information when you right-click on a file in the Dolphin file manager, choose Properties, and then select the Permissions tab (Figure 3) The chnod program lets you modify file and directory permissions, assuming you are the owner or the system administrator, using either letters or numbers. Here, Ill concentrate on using letters, because they're easier to remember. Using letter notation, u stands for user (owner), g for group, and o for others (all other users). I described previously the meanings for ru, and x. A combination of these letters (without spaces!) with plus, OF ame GET STARTED Linux Crash Course ‘minus, and equals signs tells chuos to add, remove, or assign these permissions (Table 1). To give the group read and write per missions fora file, type chmod geru . Removing permissions follows the same pat- tern: The chmod o-rux INSTALLING PACKAGES WITH ZYPPER, On a Linux system, the system administra- tor is allowed to assign new owners and new groups to files and directories. To give afile to user phil, simply use the chown ‘command: # chown phil (£426 mane? Also, you can assign the file to a new group in the same command. To do so, add the ‘name of the group after a colon: # chown phil:eadio (file-nane> ‘The file now belongs to user phi! and group ‘audio (see the “Rights of Ownership” box). All three tools ~ chnod, chgrp, and chown ~ ‘support the -R option for recursive actions. 1 you want members of the video group to access a directory and the files it contains, just type: # cherp -R viseo ‘Modern Linux distributions transmit software Inthe form of packages. A package contains ‘the application you want to install plus addi- ‘tional information about other packages (called dependencies) necessary to use the ap- plication. Packages are stored on servers called package repositories located on the Internet or fon a local network. ‘To installa new application, enter the name of ‘the application inthe local package manager. ‘The package manager connects tothe server, downloads the package, ad installs the pack- ‘ag@ on your system. ‘The YaST management interface lets you in- stall packages in an easy GUI environment. (See the article on YaST on page 14 in this Issue.) However, many users prefer to install ‘and update software from the command line. ‘OpenSUSE provides the zupper comman: ‘001 a8 an alternative to YaST. Installing software on the system typically re- Auires superuser privileges. OpenSUSE has a superuser terminal window that lets you exe- cute all commands as root. Click the applica: ton launcher (Start menu) and choose System | Terminal -Super User Mode. You'll need to enter the root password. {An alternative i to work from an ordinary ter- ‘minal window (click the application launcher and select System Konsole) and proface the command with sus, as described elsewhere in this article. GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION ‘The command checks fora package called package_name. ‘oinstall a package, type: ypper install peckage_pane You can later delete the package using the ‘command: supper nenove peckage.nane ‘Toreinstall a previously installed package, use the +f optio sypper install ~f package nano ‘You can also use zypper to Install system up- dates. To display packages for which an update is panding, enter: you opt for an update ofa single package, the commands: sypper upaste peckagenane ‘To update all installed packages with newer available versions, enter: 3nd bug fixes often take the form of patches. A patch typically is nota full version update buts more like a repairto an ‘existing version. To install patches, enter Marcel HilingerGet STARTED ‘The -® option can also save you some typ- ing in combination with the chnod com- ‘mand, To remove read, write, and execute permissions from this folder for all users ‘who are not the owner or members of the video group, type: chmod -R o-rex director? Be careful when you run recursive com- ‘mands that remove the execute flag. If you mistakenly type a-r instead of o-x, you will lock yourself out: cho will remove execute permissions from the parent directory and your ability to make changes to the directory ‘or modify the files (Listing 1). LISTING 1: Oops ... Locked Out! $ ctwod -B ax test comca: cannot access ‘test/bar': Remission emed: cannot accoss ‘test/foo!: Pomission LISTING 2: Using the find Command find teat type £ -exee chmod ax \iN) + $12 1 teat 1 audio audio 9 Now 4 12:12 foo Using the Find command can help you avoid this kind of dilemma (Listing 2). The find command in Listing 2 frst discovers files (-type ) in the test directory (and pos: sible subfolders) and then runs chaod on them, ignoring the directory itself. CONCLUSION Linux is a vast system consisting of thou- sands of files and hundreds of programs. ‘This brief introduction to Linux fundamen- tals isn’t intended to answer all your ques- tions, but it should provide you with some basic concepts you'll need, to work with Linux commands and understand Linux user accounts, privileges, and file permis- sions. For information on installing software from the command line, check out the “In- stalling Packages with zypper” box. THE AUTHOR Paul Brown has been writing about technol: ‘ogy professionally since 1996, when he got his frst break writing a monthly column for the Spanish tech underground magazine AR- ROBA. Since then, he has written extensively ‘about Internet fads, creative programming, ‘and fancy gadgets, as well as free software ‘and free hardware. He has edited Ubuntu User magazine both in Spanish and English, Raspberry Pi Geok in English), and the Span- ish edition of Linux Magazine. He currently writes for Linux Magazine and Linux.com, and he acts as @ communications officer for free software organizations such as KDE e.V. and Software Foundation Europe. Linux Crash Course ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ‘The author expresses his grati- ‘tude to Bruce Byfield, Nathan Willis, Joe "Zonker” Brock Heike Jurik, and Hans-Georg Ber for their help and input for this article, GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION 31GET STARTED Plasma Desktop Exploring openSUSE’s KDE Plasma desktop Getting Started ‘opensUSE's KDE Plasma desktop is not only pretty, itis also piled high with cool features. Here's what Plasma can do for you. 8y Pau! Brown; revised by Hans-Georg E&er ‘odern Linux operating systems have a fully formed graphic user interface, like Windows or macOS, When you boot into the system, you will see icons, menus, and a ‘mouse cursor, as you would with any other operating system, Linux actually supports several different desktop interfaces. If you installed the open- SUSE Linux system on the DVD attached to this issue, the default desktop is KDE Plasma. This article will show you around the Plasma desktop and will help you get started with configuring and exploring KDE. If you're using a Linux version with a different desktop, check your distro’s docu- mentation sources for a similar article on getting started KDE PLasma (OpenSUSE installs KDE’s Plasma desktop by default (Figure 1). Plasma is an advanced (some would say very advanced) desktop, which comes with so many features that you would probably need a hefty book to de Coe) een Figure 1: Te Plasma desktops default ook ona freshly installed systom, GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION seribe them all, But don't feel intimidated! ‘You will definitely not need everything to start with, and, after some practice, alot of ‘what may seem initially exotic will turn out to be useful and easy. Plasma Basics Plasma (see the “Plasma by KDE” box) is very similar in layout to desktops used on other systems. In fact, you may find it looks rather like Windows 10 or 11. Ifyou look at Figure 1 again, most things should be recog, nizable, {As with most modern desktops, you can drop items on the desktop to create a shortcut. You can drop apps, folders, or files on the desktop, and they will show up as desktop icons in most cases, or, sometimes as mini-previews if they are images or documents. ‘To create a shortcut on your desktop, you ‘can drag items from practically anywhere: Click on the Home folder located on your desktop, and it will open in Dolphin, Plas rma’s file manager. You can drag and dropfiles and folders directly from Dolphin onto the desktop. If you want to create a shortcut to an app, open the main menu (see Fig- ‘ure 2}, mouse over the Applications section, click on a category such as Office, and a sub- menu with apps from that category opens, You can then click, drag, and drop any entry in the submenu (for example, LibreOyfice Writer) and place it onto the desktop by se- lecting the Link Here option from the context menu. The new icon appears in the top let corner but can be moved. ‘Shortcuts will behave as you expect: Apps run when you click on them, folders open in the file manager (by default Dolphin), and To empemec tiem Figure2Plasmo's main menu with he fice section ‘open. Als, fo the right of he main menu's stort bu ton, you can s90 the pager with two desktops. MOVE, COPY, OR LINK? files open in the apps that are associated with them ~ images open in an image viewer, text ‘documents open in a word processor, and so on. (See the "Move, Copy, of Link?” box for ‘more information on creating shortcuts.) THE ALL PowERFUL PANEL Along the bottom of the screen, you'll see a gray bar, which is the panel. On the left is the ‘main menu button mentioned earlier. Click ‘on that, and you can navigate through the different types of apps preinstalled with ‘openSUSE. For a complete list, see Table 1 ‘When you open the start menu it shows your favorites - apps that you use often and need to access quickly. By default, open- SUSE gives you Firefox, System Settings, Dolphin, and some more as favorites. You can add more by looking for the desired app in the main menu, right-clicking on it, and picking Add to Favorites from the pop-up ‘menu that appears. You can remove a favor- ite by right-clicking on it in the main menu and picking Remove from Favorites. ‘T the right of the main menu button, you'll find the Pager. Linux differs from many other operating systems in that it has sup- ported more than one desktop space since ‘well, a very, very long time ago. The Pager helps you switch between desktops. By de- fault, you start out on Desktop 1, which is represented by the upper rectangle in the Pager. You can open and work with apps on this desktop. Then click on the lower rectan gle and move to Desktop 2, where you can ‘work with completely different apps. You can do the same, by the way, with the mouse wheel: Place your cursor on a free space on the desktop (that is, a space not covered by an app window), and roll the wheel. You'll see your windows scroll up as you slide onto your other desktop. Get STARTED Plasma Deskt PLASMA BY KDE fop OpenSUSE's default desktop is called Plasma, Plasma is devel ‘ped by KDE [1], a worldwide community of volunteer develop- fers. The KDE community also creates many ofthe apps that come with Plasma and has @ ‘weakness forthe letter K (in fact, KDE's ogo isthe letter K embed ded in a gear). They also tend to use K somewhere in the name: ‘their apps: Krita (an advanced painting program for designers of ), Kate (a text editor), and Kontact, (a suite of communication and. productivity apps. When you drop something on the desktop or into another folder ‘a good idea if you want to keep the: ginal and work on or modi ty {the desktop acts just like a regular folder, Plasma will ask you ‘whether you want to move, copy, or link othe iter, you move the item, you erase i rom ts original location and ere ‘ate a new copy in the new location. Sef you move an image from ‘your Pictures folder to the desktop, it will disappear from Pictures ‘and will reappear on the desktop (in the Desktop folder). This is, {9004 or fles when you don’ want duplicates scattered al over ‘your hard disk. Its not such a good idea if you are dealing with folders and apps. f you move an app, it may stop working, because the system looks for apps in certain folders, and outside those fold ers, it won't be able to find them. Ifyou decide to copy the item, you create a new replica ofthe origi nal the new location, but the original will not be affected, This is GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION copy. The disadvantage is that you can end up with several cop: jes of identca files in cifferent places on your hard disk, taking up Unnecessary space. Modern hard disks tend tobe huge, so this is ‘not a terible problem, but its inelegant. lH youcreatealink to the item, Plasma creates what Linux cals @ ‘symbolic link, it points tothe original le, folder, or app. A link func- ‘tions like a road sign telling the system where to goto find the original. To the user link looks lke the original and will act ike the criginal (a link to an app will un when you click ont, a link to.a folder will open itin the file manager and alink to a file will open it inthe appropriate appl, but it isn't the original. This ideal for apps and folders you want to put on your desktop: You are still creating a shortcut to them, but you don't sturb them from where they live, 33Get STARTED Plasma Desktop ‘TABLE: Submenus Below “Applications" E S Education Educational apps and games ‘map navigator like Google Earth fntally this section does not exist) Games Your typical selection oftime wasters Patience, Minesweeper, Mahjong, etc. Graphics Image viewers and editors Gimp, an advanced image editor (not installed by default) Internet ‘Apps for using the internet Firefox, aweb browser, and KMal, a ful-eatured email client ‘Multimedia Music and video players and editors __VLG, a video player Office Productivity apps LibreOffice, an office suite including a word processor, spreadsheet app, pre sentation editor, ote ‘Settings Applications thathelp you configure System Settings, which allows you to configure Plasma, and YaST, Your desktop and printers ‘openSUSE's system configuration control enter. YaST lets you do nearly everything, from installing new software to setting up your firewall. You can do s0 much with YaST that we have a whole article dedicated to this topic in this issue, System “More tools to manage yoursystem _Konsole, a terminal program, and Dolphin, a file manager Utilities Deskiop utilities Cale, a calculator app, and Spectacle, a screen-capture utility Continue rolling the wheel, and the win- dows on Desktop 1 will scroll back down again. If you right-click on the pager, you can add more virtual desktops. Moving along towards the right on the panel, you have the Task Manager. When you don’t have any apps open, this will look lke an empty gray expanse. But, the moment you run a program, a rectangle with the app's icon and name appears. If itis available, the name of the file itis showing will also be visible. If you hover over the rectangle, you'll be able to see a preview of the app's window (Figure 3). ‘This is more than just prety: It is also prac- tical Ifyou open multiple text documents using, for example, LibreOffice, to save space, the Task Manager may bundle all of them to gether in one rectangle and show a litle + symbol in a green circle under the icon. Hov- ering your cursor over the rectangle brings up 4 preview, as mentioned before, but inthis case it will show all ofthat apps open win: dows. You can then move your cursor along the previews and select the one you want to view or even close them selectively using the x button that appeats inthe upper-right cor ner of each preview. Further to the right onthe panel is the Sys tem Tray. This contains utilities and useful system tools. For example, click on the net ‘work icon (it looks like a computer monitor with a cable running down its left side), and you'll beable to choose between a wired and ‘wireless connection, If you choose the latter, you will see all the available WiFi networks. ‘You also have volume contro and, hidden ‘under the arrow icon on the right, more op- tions and tools (Figure 4). Especially interesting in this lists the Software Updates wiilty. This will show up in the System Tray when updates become availabe. Click it and you'll be able to download and install important updates ‘without leaving the desktop (Figure 8) Status and Notieations . 2 nto © somes © es rine ¥ | Lana) Pe gat PM Figure :The Task Monager shows you which windows are open even if hey ore hidden betind ‘thors. Ico shows you. preview of whot fies open in each app. 34 Figure 4:The System Tey hides more utes under ‘he arrow on the right GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITIONSoftware Updates as BF seat pecope 84 B04 + 6290M FiguteS:The Software Updotes uly allows youto install updates without leaving the dest. Also check out KDE Connect, a utility that a- Jows you to pair up your Android phone with KDE. You need to install the kdevonnect-ke package on Linux and the KDE Connect app on your phone (available from F-Droid [2] or Google Play [3}). When paired, you can easily copy files to and from your mobile device, see notifications from your phone on your desktop, use your phone as a touchpad to move the cur sor on your desktop or as a remote control for your media players, and much more. Next up is the Digital Clock/Calendar. You may think this is pretty boring, but even this hides at least one cool feature: Click on the Clock, and the calendar will pop up. Right Figure 6: You can synchronize your o-40 Ist and appointments withthe calondor widget, click on the calendar, and choose Configure Digital Clock from the pop-up menu. In the Calendar tab, click on PIM Events Plugin (PIM stands for Personal Information Man- get) and on Apply. In the new PIM Events Plugin tab, you'll be able to connect your ‘events and tasks from KOrganizer ~ the cal cendaring app that is part of Kontact, the email, calendar, and contact suite. With this, you will always be able to see what's next on your agenda without having to open another program (see Figure 6) Finally, at the right end of the panel isa Show Desktop button which lets you hide all windows. Right-click on it and select Edit Panel from the context menu, then you can ‘change the size of the panel (icons and wid gets will scale accordingly); move it to the eft side, right side, or top ofthe screen (Figure 7) “Move widgets on the panel around, add more ‘widgets, or delete the ones you don't use. ‘SPEAKING OF WIDGETS Widgets are also affectionately called plas- ‘moids in Plasma parlance. They are the lit. tle graphical utilities that make your life easier or more fun. There are boring, but necessary widgets, like all the clocks and calendars (the standard digital clock men- tioned above is a widget), user switchers, and CPU and disk usage monitors. Also, there are fun widgets, like comic readers and puzzle games. GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION GET STARTED Plasma Desktop 35Plasma Desktop text menu. A catalog with all the available ‘widgets will open on the left, and you can pick and choose the ones you want. At the top of the plasmoid catalog, you will see a search bar that allows you to search the widgets using keywords and, above it, a funnel icon that lets you filter by type. At the bottom, you can click on Get new widgets, which lets you install a downloaded widget from the Internet ot open an online “widget store” and install widgets from there, Once you have installed and placed your wwidget/plasmoid on your desktop (Figure 8), click on it and hold for about two sec fonds to drag it around. A bar will also ap- The Pane! Settings menu lets you change everything onthe pane! Pear to one side of the plasmoid that al Tows you to rescale the widget ot to tip it one way or another. This isn’t terribly use ful, but it does go to show the flexibility of Plasma’s plasmoid engine. Speaking of moving things: You can ac- complish a lot just by dragging windows. If you move an app's window to the top of the screen, it expands and maximizes to your screen's full size. Drag it to an edge of the screen, and it snaps and resizes to take up exactly hal of the screen. Drag it toa corner, and it resizes to take up a quarter of the screen. This is useful if you are working with several apps simultane: \Widgots (or plasmolds) can be added he desklop and the panel ‘ously, and you have to drag and drop ob- jects from one to the other You can install plasmoids onto the panel If you move the cursor to the upper left or directly onto the desktop, as shown in corner of the screen, Plasma shows you all Figure 8. To add plasmoids to the desk: the open windows spread out over the desk top, right-click in a free area of the desk- top (Figure 9). You can then move the cur top and choose Add Widgets from the con- sor aver the window of the app you want to You con see all open windows by moving the cursor fo the screen's upper lft comer 35 GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX ~ 1 EDITIONPlasma Deskt use, click it to bring it to the front, and start MORE PLASMA ‘working with it. This is useful ifyou have Plasma is so stuffed with features, itis im- lost your bearings and want to quickly ac- possible to cover everything you can do in ccess a window that is hidden under another. one article. For ways to personalize your Similarly, by holding the Alt key and press- desktop experience, see the “Five Cool ing Tab a few times, you can flip through Customizations” box. The key with Plasma ‘open windows until you reach the one you is to explore. Only by exploring will you be Want. The available windows will appear in able to make the most of everything a column on the screen’s left, Plasma has to offer. m FIVE COOL CUSTOMIZATIONS 1. Application Dashboard: | personally do not ike the main menu used to launch applications. ‘mulch prefer a plasmoid called Application Dashboard, Right-lickon the openSUSE symbol, and select Show Alternatives from the context menu, Then choose the Application Dashboard entry ‘and click on Switch, Now, every time you click the openSUSE symbol, you get a full-screen, trans lucent dashboard from which you can pick and choose which apps to launch (Figure 10) 2, Clementine: Clementine is fantastic music player that support all the major formats, including MP2, OGG, FLAC, and WAV, Install it from YaST's software manager, and enjoy a much more chic music experience. 3. Connect to the rest of your network or the cloud: Dolphin, Plasma's fle manager, is perfectly capable of showing remote file shares as if they were local. Open Dolphin and, inthe let hand column, under Home, click on Network. You will beable to connect to SAMBA, SSH, FTP, and WebDAV servers and navigate to them as ifthey were part of your hard disk. You can tse NextCloud folders inthe same way, but frst instal the nextcloud-desktop-dolphin pack age in YaSTs software manager and run the setup program (Nexteloud desktop syne client) from the start menu, 4. Change your desktop background: OpenSUSE's default desktop backgrounds elegant, but a bit dark. Ifyou like something brighter, right-click on an empty space on your desktop, and pick Configure Desttop from the bottom ofthe pop-up menu. By default, you only have two options: ‘OpenSUSE's wallpaper and Plasma's default wallpaper. The latter currently shows an abstract image of some beach. f you want to see something else click on Get New Wallpapers, and you ean download whatever tickles your fancy from KDE's online catalog. 5. Loarn about Plasma Activities: They ar lito mata-desktops. When you log into Plasma for the first time, you are accessing the Default activity, with its desktops, widgets, panels, ete. However, you can create as many activities as you want, all with their own distinct look and feel. Ifyou have a laptop with a touchscreen, for example, you could create an activity with big icons and no panel, to make it easier to use when in touchseraen mode, while leaving ‘lone the default layout for when using your laptop normally. You can learn more about Plasma Activities online (4, Fioue 10:The Applicaton Dashboard looks way cooler than the default menu is ao oruciy easierto ws. GETTING STARTED WITH LINUX - 2021 EDITION GET STARTED INFO Pp m a ro ro) KDE: httpss/wmwwkde.ora/ KDE Connect on F-Droi: tps: droid ore/packages! org.kdo.kdeconnect.tp/ KDE Connect on Google Pay: |ttpsi/play-google.com/store/ appsisetalls7id-org kd. keeconnect tp Plasma Activites: ttpsy/userbase.kde.org/ PlasmawActviios 37IN-DEPTH Windows macOs Files Access your Windows and mac files from Linux Where’s My Stuff? When you migrate from Windows to Linux, you don't want to lose access to your old fil Two questions arise: how to read data from a Windows-formatted disk and how fo open those files on Linux’ ? By Hans-Georg EBer inst steps with a new operating sys- tem can be challenging, but once you've started feeling comfortable you'll want to get back to using the computer for your everyday tasks. Often that will mean surfing the web, reading and writ: ing emails, creating office documents and launching the occasional game. For some of those tasks you'll need access tothe files you've created with Windows programs, for other tasks you won't, We'll show you what to do about those Windows disks ~ and we'll also discuss macOS-formatted media. ‘Working with a file that you've created on a Windows or macOS machine will often be as easy as simply clicking on it in the fle manager window (Dolphin). If you've mastered the tran- sition from double-click to single-click (the be havior that KDE defaults to), ou're ready to go. In many cases you will want to work with, your old Microsoft Office files: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents will open in Li breOffice. Sometimes you will first need to Install an application that is able to read your file ~ check the AlternativeTo website [1] or google your fle’s extension combined with “Linux” to find such programs. In rare cases, no compatible Linux application exists. Then you have three choices: 1. Assuming you stil have Windows in: stalled on your current or an old computer, ‘boot that installation and use the original Windows application to work on your file. 2. When booting back and forth is not an op- tion, ty virtualization (running a full Win- dows installation in a virtual machine, for example with VirtualBox, see page 47). 3. Your third option is to run the Windows application on Linux with the help of a package called Wine. It is sometimes called a Windows emulator even though the name “Wine” is an acronym that ex: ands to "Wine is not an emulator”. See an older Linux Magazine tutorial for a full introduction [2] Note that many kinds of files can be ‘opened with several Linux programs, and Cee ya tti 2021 EDITION for each file ype one of those programs is con- figured to be the default app. When you simply (lef) click on a document icon in the file man- ager, this default app will start and open the document (or create afresh window or tab ‘with that document, ifit was already up and running). Right-click on an icon and select the ‘Open With entry in the context menu to see a list of alternative programs (Figure 1). ‘Wuere’s My “C:” Drive? (One of the most common scenarios is a par allel installation of Windows and Linux on the same machine where the two systems share a common hard disk. If you've set up your machine in this way you may wonder: Where isthe C drive that holds all your data? Linux does not use drive letters like Win- dows does (C:, D:, and so on), Instead various ‘volumes can be “mounted”: When Linux mounts a volume (which could be a local par tition, a DVD, a USB stick or even some net- ‘work resource), it will pick an empty directory inthe current filesystem tree and add the vol ‘ume contents inside and below this directory. By default openSUSE does not mount your Windows media. When you open the Dol- pphin file manager, you will see a Devices sec tion in the left pane, and there your Win: dows partition will show up with its volume label (name) if it has one or as X GiB Hard Drive if it has no name. Click on the entry to access it~ you will need to enter the root password (Which is ‘your own password if you have not explicitly set a different one for the administrator) in order to gain acces. ‘After mounting the Windows partition you ‘can search for your files: Windows and Linux ‘organize private user files in a similar way, in both cases you will find them in the home di rectory. On Linux that is /home/username, and on Windows itis C:\Users\usemame Which becomes the Users/username subd rectory of wherever Linux has placed the

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