Category: ubuntu

Ubuntu – Device Drivers ”; Previous Next By default, Ubuntu comes with pre-built required drivers for the mouse, keyboard, audio and video drivers. Long gone are the days where device drivers used to be a nightmare for Linux-based operating systems. To view the options for devices, go to the settings options on the left-hand side control panel. In the hardware section, you will see the various options for the hardware devices such as the display monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. For example, using the Display section, we can change the resolution of the screen along with other display settings as shown in the following screenshot. To install any additional drivers, we need to go to the respective driver website and download the necessary distribution for the particular device driver. Then, use the Software Center to install the required device driver. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Overview ”; Previous Next Ubuntu is a Linux-based operating system. It is designed for computers, smartphones, and network servers. The system is developed by a UK based company called Canonical Ltd. All the principles used to develop the Ubuntu software are based on the principles of Open Source software development. Features of Ubuntu Following are some of the significant features of Ubuntu − The desktop version of Ubuntu supports all the normal software on Windows such as Firefox, Chrome, VLC, etc. It supports the office suite called LibreOffice. Ubuntu has an in-built email software called Thunderbird, which gives the user access to email such as Exchange, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. There are a host of free applications for users to view and edit photos. There are also applications to manage videos and it also allows the users to share videos. It is easy to find content on Ubuntu with the smart searching facility. The best feature is, it is a free operating system and is backed by a huge open source community. Release Cycle of Ubuntu Every year there are 2 releases of Ubuntu, one in April and one in October, from Canonical. The version number normally denotes the year in which the software was released. For example, version 14.04 specifies that it was released in the year 2014 and in the month of April. Similarly, the version 16.04 specifies that it was released in the year 2016 and in the month of April. The April build every year is the more stable build, while the October build does a lot of experimentation on new features. The official site for Ubuntu is https://www.ubuntu.com/ The site has all information and documentation about the Ubuntu Software. It also has the download links for both the server and desktop versions of Ubuntu. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Messaging ”; Previous Next The default messaging software used on desktops today is the Skype software. This software is distributed by Microsoft. Skype by default does not come with Ubuntu installation. It will not be present in the Software Center. We have to download and install it from the official Skype site. Following are the steps to get this in place. Step 1 − Go to the official download site for Skype − https://www.skype.com/en/downloadskype/skype-for-computer/ Step 2 − The site will automatically understand that we are working from a Linux distribution and provide options for downloading the Linux version of Skype. We will choose the Ubuntu 12.04 version, as this will work on the later distribution. Step 3 − Once the package is downloaded, it will open in the Software Center. Choose the Install option to install the package. Step 4 − Once Skype is installed, we can search for it and launch it accordingly. Step 5 − Click the ‘I Agree’ button in the following screenshot. Skype will now launch. Step 6 − Enter the required credentials to start using Skype. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Files and Folders ”; Previous Next To open the file like explorer in Ubuntu, click the Files option in the software launcher. In the following screenshot the Files icon is encircled in red. On clicking the icon, the following screen which is the File like explorer in Ubuntu opens up. Creating a Folder Step 1 − To create a folder, choose a location where the folder needs to be created. Step 2 − Then right-click and choose the option of New Folder. Step 3 − Provide a name for the folder accordingly. Renaming a Folder Step 1 − To rename a folder, right-click the folder which needs to be renamed. Step 2 − Right-click and choose the rename option from the context menu. Step 3 − Provide the new name of the folder accordingly. Note − There are other options such as move or copy the folder or move the folder to trash. Seeing the Properties of a File To see the properties of a file, right-click the file and choose the Properties option from the context menu. Using the option, we can view the properties of the file and modify the permissions of the file accordingly as shown in the following screenshot. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Docker ”; Previous Next Docker is a container service which allows one to run applications or even operating systems on a host operating system as containers. Containers are a new and exciting technology that has evolved over the last couple of years and being adopted by a lot of key organizations. Docker is a company that develops these special containers for applications. The official website for Docker is https://www.docker.com/ As an exercise, let’s install a CentOS container on an Ubuntu system. CentOS is a Linux-based operating system from Red Hat. Thus, we will be running the CentOS system on top of Ubuntu. Following are the steps to have this in place. Step 1 − The first step is to install the Docker application on Ubuntu server. Thus on the Ubuntu test server, run the following command to ensure that OS updates are in place. sudo apt-get update Step 2 − Once all updates have been processed, issue the following command to get Docker installed. sudo apt-get install -y docker.io Step 3 − Once the Docker packages are installed, we should receive an output message stating that the Docker process has started and is running. The Docker process is known as the Docker engine or Docker daemon. Step 4 − To view the version of Docker running, issue the Docker info command. Step 5 − The next step is to install our CentOS image on Ubuntu. Docker has a special site called the Docker hub, which is used to store pre-built images for Docker. The link to the site is https://hub.docker.com/ Step 6 − Do a quick and simple sign-in process to be able to log into the site and see all the available Docker images. Step 7 − Once logged in, click the Explore button to see all the available Docker images. The two important points to note are − The Docker pull command. This is the command to install the Docker image on Linux box. The Docker details for the various versions of CentOS. Step 8 − On Ubuntu box, run the command. sudo docker pull centos:latest The download of the Docker component starts and the CentOS Docker is downloaded. The name of the Docker image is centos:latest, which means that we have the latest Docker image for CentOS. Step 9 − To see all the Docker images installed, issue the command sudo docker images In the following screenshot, we can see that the Docker image is just 196.8 MB in size, and this is the subset of the CentOS which now runs on Ubuntu system. Step 10 − To start CentOS, we need to issue a command to the OS to get a thread started. We can do this by running the following command. sudo docker run -it centos /bin/bash The above command does the following things − Runs the CentOS Docker image. Runs the image in interactive mode by using the -it option. Runs the /bin/bash command as the initial process. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Discuss Ubuntu ”; Previous Next This tutorial looks at the various aspects of the Ubuntu Operating system. It discusses various features, flavors, and working of the Ubuntu desktop edition. A comparison is made against software which we would normally find on a Windows operating system. There are chapters that focus on the server version of Ubuntu. This tutorial also includes separate chapters for those who are interested in understanding the virtual machines and cloud aspects of Ubuntu. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Development ”; Previous Next The Ubuntu desktop edition can be used to develop web applications. One of the most famous software which can be used for development on Ubuntu is Aptana. Let’s see the steps on how to get Aptana and get a simple web project up and running. Step 1 − On Ubuntu desktop, open Firefox and go to the url − http://www.aptana.com/products/studio3/download Step 2 − Click the Download Aptana Studio 3 button. Step 3 − Once downloaded, extract the zip file to a suitable location. Once extracted, click the AptanaStudio3 link. The following interface pops up. We can then choose to create a new web project, if required. The required development can be carried out on the web project. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Spreadsheets ”; Previous Next The default application for spreadsheets in Ubuntu is called Calc. This is also available in the software launcher. Once we click on the icon, the spreadsheet application will launch. We can edit the cells as we would normally do in a Microsoft Excel application. Adding Formulas Formulas can be added in the same manner as in Microsoft Excel. The following example shows an excel sheet which has 3 columns. The 3rd column is the multiplication of the Units and Unit price column. The columns can be dragged to ensure the same formula is repeated for each row. Saving a Sheet To save a sheet, go to the Save As menu option as shown in the following screenshot. Provide the name, location of the spreadsheet and click the Save button to save the sheet. There are various other formatting options available in the toolbar in the Calc application as shown in the following screenshot. Inserting Charts On the right-hand side of the Calc application, there are various other options. One of them is to insert a chart in the spreadsheet. Once we click the Chart option, it will prompt for the type of Chart to be inserted. Choose a chart type and click the Finish button. Now, we can see the Chart in the spreadsheet. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Networking ”; Previous Next Ubuntu provides the options to view the network details of the workstation. Following are the steps to view the network details of the machine. Step 1 − In the search dialog box, type the keyword ‘network’. Step 2 − Double-click the Network icon. We can see the hostname assigned to the machine. Step 3 − Click the Network folder option and we can see the IP address assigned to the machine. Step 4 − Click the Options button and we can modify the details of the network connection. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Ubuntu – Email ”; Previous Next The default email client in Ubuntu is Thunderbird. The following steps show how to start using Thunderbird as the email client software. We can quickly search for any application using the Search facility in Ubuntu. Step 1 − Double-click on the search facility, enter the keyword of email and the search result of Thunderbird email will appear. Step 2 − Double-click the search result to launch the Thunderbird mail client. Once the email client is launched, there will be a request to link an email account to the mail client. Step 3 − Click “Skip this and use my existing email” button, so that we can use the current email credentials. Step 4 − Enter the required credentials and click the Continue button to proceed. Once configured, the email client will then provide the common features for any email client. Now, we will be able to view the Inbox as well as all the messages in the Inbox. Step 5 − Click any message to get more information on the received email as shown in the following screenshot. Sending Email Step 1 − In the Menu option, click the Write option to create a message which needs to be sent. Step 2 − Enter the message details. Once complete, click the Send Button. Note, there is also an option to spell check and add attachments. The sent messages will be displayed in the Sent messages section as shown in the following screenshot. On the right-hand side of the screen, there are shortcuts available to view mail, compose a new message, and view contacts as seen in the following screenshot. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;