FAQ II -- General
(Aug 16, 2003)
| This FAQ is the second part of a series of FAQs and corresponds to the the
general inquiries made by the newbies regarding capabilities of Linux.
General Linux FAQ
Q. What do you mean a Linux distribution?
Q. How does one decide on the correct distribution?
Q. What is KDE, GNOME, etc.?
Q. Does application for one desktop environment run on the
other?
Q. What is mount/umount?
Q. How safe is Linux from viruses?
Q. Can I play mp3 and media files in Linux?
Q. What are the equivalent of Outlook Express, Internet
Explorer, etc.?
Q. What do you mean by a Linux distribution?
A. Linux, factually is a kernel. The kernel is what drives the
operating system. The kernel can be reffered to as the engine of the operating
system. Various vendors like Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake 'bundle' this kernel with
their pick of software. Since it is distributed with these vendor specific
systems it is called a distribution or a distro. Red Hat Linux, Mandrake Linux,
SuSE Linux, Slackware, etc. are all distributions.
Q. How does one decide on the correct distribution?
A. The choice depends on the use, need and expertise of the user. Red
Hat seems to be the most user-friendly in India along with Mandrake. Their
distributions have a user-appealing Graphical User Interface. These distros
carry most of the applications used by a desktop user in day-to-day life
activities.
Q. What is KDE, GNOME, etc?
A. Unlike Windows, in Linux, the desktop is not part of Linux. The
desktop is a separate component. The K desktop environment(KDE) are two of the
various desktop environments available under Linux. there are more but these two
are top-of-the-charts. the desktop is not just the wallpaper and the icons but
also comprise the applications and controls the look-and-feel of applications.
Q. Does application for one desktop environment run on the
other?
A. Most of the applications run regardless of the desktop environment.
But you might find GNOME applications deeply embedded in the menu from KDE and
vice-versa or you may not find some at all. The best example is Evolution from
Ximian who also wrote GNOME. Chances are you might not find Evolution in the KDE
menu, but it can be run from KDE all the same.
Q. What is mount/unmount?
A. Linux doesn't treat hard-disks, CD-ROMS, floopy-disks, etc. in the
same fashion as Windows does. Windows treats these as drives. Whereas, Linux
treats them as file-systems. So to use a file-system such as cd-rom, you would
have to 'mount' it first. Then, when you are through you would have to 'unmount'
it. Same is the case with partitions on your hard-disk.
Q. How safe is Linux from viruses?
A. There are very few chances of any tapping in the Linux code going
unnoticed owing to it's transparency. So, virus writers have little chance to
write a virus for Linux. Although, Bliss, a malicious piece of code was let
loose some time back and it did bring some havok to Linux users. But there was a
debate on whether it was a virus, a worm or something else.
Q. Can I play mp3 and media files in Linux?
A. You can play both mp3s amd media files in Linux with as much ease as
in Windows. To play mp3s and other music formats you can use XMMS which is a
WinAmp look-alike audio playing tool. Similarly you can use DVI Player or the
MPlayer to play your video files.
Q. What are the equivalent of Outlook Express, Internet
Explorer, etc.?
A. Linux as for all other softwares/applications offers multiple
alternates to Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, etc. Evolution by Ximian and
Kmail are very popular mail-clients. Mozilla and Galeon are two of a plethora of
web browsers available under Linux.
|
