[Ham-Computers] Linux Questions - More

[jeff]

Jim Hill wrote:
> Thanks for the security info; I'll need to learn more about Firefox 
> and the settings..

there's also no difference between FF on different OSes.

> 
> More questions:
> In Windows XP, I can right click on the desktop to get the Display 
> Properties and from there change the screen resolution, refresh rate, 
> and DPI (changes font size).  How can I change these properties when 

Depending on your desktop (it uses Gnome out of the box but I don't), 
you can right-click or look for a Settings menu.


> I currently have a dual boot Linux setup, where I can choose between 
> my old version (5.1) and the current version (9.10).  Nothing magical 
> about this configuration, the hard drive I used contained 5.1 and I 
> was given the choice of 9.1 only or both during setup.  If problems 
> occurred when using 9.1, I could reboot and check 5.1 to see if the 
> same problem existed.  It's a 40GB hard drive, which I assume is of 
> adequate size for both versions.

Yes, although I'd stick with 9.1.


> 
> While Linux was running, Firefox updated, and to my surprise the 
> following appeared:
> "The upgrade needs a total of 400M free space on disk "/".  Please 

Oopsie.
If you let it auto-partition, it did so oddly.


> free at least an additional 231M of disk space on "/".  Empty your 
> trash and remove temporary packages of former installations using 
> "sudo apt-get clean". 

do that.


> Is there a Linux-equivalent of Partition Magic 

gparted
graphical util

sudo fdisk -l
(list, command line)



> What is the Linux equivalent of Windows Explorer?

varies across desktops (gnome, kde, xfce, etc).
I know gnome has nautilus.  It might have put an icon on the desktop 
called HOME.  This will bring up whatever the default is.



> I had hoped to be an Linux "appliance operator" while checking credit 

aside from the partitioning, you should be.


> card web sites, and then learn about the file system, etc., but it 
> looks like I'm not that lucky.  I feel fortunate I selected Ubuntu, 
> where a book was available.  But, that's one of the reasons I chose 
> Ubuntu while we floundered through a Debian class about 5 years ago.

It may or may not amuse you to know that Ubuntu is built on Debian.

Good luck and ask questions if you have them.

There's tons of help available online (ubuntu.com for one) plus maybe a 
local linux user group.  Plus there's this group.



-- 
ThermionicEmissions  -  the blog
http://www.lockergnome.com/leftystrat