Red Hat Linux Fedora For Dummies [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Conventions Used in This Book

At computer conventions, thousands of computer people get together and talk about deep technical issues, such as

What is the best hardware for running Red Hat Linux?

Is Coke better than Pepsi?

Could Superman beat Batman?

Could Superman, Batman, and Spiderman together beat The Punisher? (No way!)

But these conventions aren’t the types we mean. Our conventions are shorthand ways of designating specific information, such as what is and isn’t a command or the meaning of certain funny-looking symbols.

Typing code

We show you how to use graphical interfaces to run most of the programs, utilities, and applications we describe in this book. Sometimes, however, running commands from a text-based interface is better or necessary. In Chapter 4, for example, we describe how to start a terminal emulator window in which to run the command. In anticipation of running text-based commands, we describe the conventions we use.

When you see filenames, directories, commands, and parameters in the text, they’re formatted in monospace type. That helps differentiate those items from the general text.

When you see words in boldface, they indicate something you should type; for example:

Type man chown at the command prompt and press Enter.

That line means to enter the command man chown and press the Enter (or Return) key. The command is then executed. (Throughout this book, we say “press the Enter key” whenever we want you to execute a command; the Enter key is synonymous with the Return key.)

Commands not shown in the text, but set off on lines by themselves, look like this:

pwd

Here’s a rundown of the command syntax in Linux:

Text not surrounded by [ ] or { } brackets must be typed exactly as shown.

Text inside brackets [ ] is optional.

Text in italics indicates the part of a command that must be replaced with appropriate text. You should not type verbatim the italicized part of a command. If we say “Enter the command more somefile,” we mean for you to replace somefile with the name of the file you’re interested in. For example, you may end up entering the command more /etc/passwd, where you substitute /etc/passwd for somefile.

Text inside braces { } indicates that you must choose one of the values inside the braces and separated by the | sign. For example, you should enter either echo “one” or echo “two” or echo “three” if you see the command echo “{one|two|three}”.

An ellipsis (. . .) means and so on or to repeat the preceding command line as needed.

Don’t concern yourself much with these conventions for now. In most chapters in this book, you don’t need to know these particulars. When you do need to know something about a particular syntax, come back to this introduction for a refresher course.

Keystrokes and such

Keystrokes are shown with a plus sign between the keys. For example, Ctrl+ Alt+Delete means that you should press the Ctrl key, Alt key, and Delete key all at the same time. (No, we don’t make you press any more than three keys at the same time.)

Most applications and utilities we describe in this book use a graphical user interface (GUI), such as GNOME, which allows you to control your computer by pointing and clicking with your mouse. Occasionally, however, we give nongraphical instructions that require you to press keys on your keyboard. In those situations, we often simplify the instructions by saying “click OK.” That instruction generally means that you press the Tab key, which moves the cursor to the OK button, and then press the Enter key. That two-step process is equivalent to clicking an OK button in a GUI.