Browse Library
Sign In Start Free Trial
Close icon Search icon
Account
Browse Library Sign In Start Free Trial

Add to playlist

Create a Playlist

Modal Close icon
You need to login to use this feature.
  • Book Overview & Buying Linux Mint Essentials
  • Table Of Contents Toc
Linux Mint Essentials

Linux Mint Essentials

By : Jay LaCroix
4.2 (10)
Buy this Book
close
close
Linux Mint Essentials

Linux Mint Essentials

4.2 (10)
By: Jay LaCroix
Buy this Book

Overview of this book

A task-oriented look at Linux Mint, using actual real-world examples to stimulate learning. Each topic is presented in an easy-to-follow order, with hands-on activities to reinforce the content. If you are starting out with Linux from a different platform or are well versed with Linux Mint and want a guide that shows you how to exploit certain functionality, this book is for you. No previous Linux experience is assumed.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
close
close
close
Preface
Icon
Preface
Icon
What this book covers
Icon
What you need for this book
Icon
Who this book is for
Icon
Conventions
Icon
Reader feedback
Icon
Customer support
Lock Free Chapter
1
1. Meet Linux Mint
Icon
1. Meet Linux Mint
Icon
Why choose Linux?
Icon
What is a distribution?
Icon
Is Linux hard to learn?
Icon
What Mint does differently
Icon
Releases and support
Icon
Mint-specific tools
Icon
Interacting with the Linux Mint community
Icon
Creating community and forum accounts
Icon
Meet the community
Icon
Summary
2
2. Creating Boot Media and Installing Linux Mint
Icon
2. Creating Boot Media and Installing Linux Mint
Icon
Which version to download
Icon
The different methods of installing Linux Mint
Icon
Creating a bootable DVD
Icon
Creating a bootable USB flash drive
Icon
Testing your live media
Icon
Planning your partitioning scheme
Icon
The installation process
Icon
To encrypt or not to encrypt
Icon
Summary
3
3. Getting Acquainted with Cinnamon
Icon
3. Getting Acquainted with Cinnamon
Icon
Getting familiar with Cinnamon
Icon
Logging in to Cinnamon
Icon
Launching programs
Icon
Monitoring tasks
Icon
Utilizing workspaces
Icon
Notifications
Icon
Creating launchers
Icon
Bundled applications
Icon
File management with Nemo
Icon
Configuring the settings of Cinnamon
Icon
Changing the default search engine in Firefox
Icon
Changing themes
Icon
Summary
4
4. An Introduction to the Terminal
Icon
4. An Introduction to the Terminal
Icon
Why should we use the terminal?
Icon
Accessing the shell
Icon
Executing commands
Icon
Navigating the filesystem
Icon
Managing files
Icon
The nano text editor
Icon
Reading manual pages with the man command
Icon
Searching for files
Icon
Using the watch command
Icon
Introduction to scripting
Icon
Summary
5
5. Utilizing Storage and Media
Icon
5. Utilizing Storage and Media
Icon
Accessing removable media
Icon
Formatting flash drives
Icon
Mounting and unmounting volumes
Icon
Automatically mounting volumes at boot time
Icon
Analyzing disk usage
Icon
Understanding gibibytes versus gigabytes and mebibytes versus megabytes
Icon
Burning CDs and DVDs
Icon
Using the USB Image Writer
Icon
Understanding how Universally Unique Identifiers work
Icon
Summary
6
6. Installing and Removing Software
Icon
6. Installing and Removing Software
Icon
Managing packages in Linux Mint
Icon
Using the Mint Software Manager
Icon
Installing new applications
Icon
Removing applications
Icon
Using the Synaptic Package Manager
Icon
Configuring software sources
Icon
Advanced package management
Icon
Keeping your system up to date
Icon
Summary
7
7. Enjoying Multimedia on Mint
Icon
7. Enjoying Multimedia on Mint
Icon
Understanding issues concerning codecs
Icon
Playing music files
Icon
Ripping an audio CD
Icon
Editing MP3 tags
Icon
Playing video files
Icon
Playing a DVD
Icon
Viewing photos
Icon
Editing photos with GIMP
Icon
Accessing your webcam
Icon
Recording your desktop
Icon
Summary
8
8. Managing Users and Permissions
chevron up
Icon
8. Managing Users and Permissions
Icon
Creating new users
Icon
Changing passwords
Icon
Revoking access temporarily
Icon
Removing user accounts
Icon
Running commands or programs as other users
Icon
Administrative access via sudo and visudo
Icon
Understanding file and directory permissions
Icon
Modifying file and directory permissions
Icon
Summary
9
9. Connecting to Networks
Icon
9. Connecting to Networks
Icon
Connecting to a wired network
Icon
Setting up a static IP
Icon
Connecting to a wireless network
Icon
An introduction to SSH
Icon
Accessing your system via SSH
Icon
Accessing FTP servers
Icon
Sharing files with Samba
Icon
Sharing files with NFS
Icon
Summary
10
10. Securing Linux Mint
Icon
10. Securing Linux Mint
Icon
Choosing secure passwords
Icon
Encrypting your home folder
Icon
Configuring and testing the iptables firewall
Icon
Installing and configuring ClamAV
Icon
Blocking access to specific websites
Icon
Backing up and restoring important data
Icon
Creating and restoring snapshots
Icon
Hardening your system
Icon
Summary
11
11. Advanced Administration Techniques
Icon
11. Advanced Administration Techniques
Icon
Creating command aliases
Icon
Making aliases persistent
Icon
Killing processes
Icon
Setting up cron jobs
Icon
Preparing to move to a new release
Icon
Exporting and importing package lists
Icon
Using variables and conditional statements in Bash
Icon
Monitoring resource usage
Icon
Monitoring CPU temperatures
Icon
Sending system reports via e-mail
Icon
Summary
12
12. Troubleshooting Linux Mint
Icon
12. Troubleshooting Linux Mint
Icon
Performing the initial triage
Icon
Troubleshooting in Software Rendering Mode
Icon
Diagnosing boot issues
Icon
Recovering data
Icon
Perusing system logs
Icon
Reinstalling GRUB
Icon
Testing the RAM
Icon
Pinpointing audio issues
Icon
Solving problems with networking
Icon
Solving slow frame rates in games
Icon
Getting help from the community
Icon
Summary
13
A. Reinstalling Mint while Retaining Data
Icon
A. Reinstalling Mint while Retaining Data
Icon
Considering LTS releases
Icon
Why an upgrade utility isn't included
Icon
Preparing for the migration
Icon
Installing Linux Mint while retaining /home
Icon
Importing a list of packages for reinstallation
Icon
Summary
14
B. Using the MATE Edition of Linux Mint
Icon
B. Using the MATE Edition of Linux Mint
Icon
Introducing MATE
Icon
Understanding the differences between MATE and Cinnamon
Icon
Launching applications
Icon
Customizing MATE
Icon
Summary
15
C. Using the KDE Edition of Linux Mint
Icon
C. Using the KDE Edition of Linux Mint
Icon
Understanding the KDE desktop
Icon
Using Dolphin – KDE's file manager
Icon
Adding Plasmoids to the desktop
Icon
Discovering Mint KDE's default applications
Icon
Utilizing Activities and Virtual Desktops
Icon
Configuring network connections
Icon
Summary
16
Index
Icon
Index

Running commands or programs as other users

There may come a time where you need to impersonate another user on your system. In some of our examples so far, we've used the sudo command, which essentially runs commands as the root user. On a Linux system, the root account is the account that has access to basically everything. If Linux was a game of chess, think of the root account as the queen—it can go wherever it wants and delete whatever it wants.

Note

In Linux Mint (as well as most Ubuntu derivatives), the root account is disabled by default. Although the root account is disabled, you can still run commands as the root. Technically, the sudo command impersonates the root and works even if the root account is disabled. You can enable the root account with the sudo passwd command and disable it once again with the sudo passwd -l root command.

While we'll go over the technical details of the sudo command in the next section, it's important to understand how to run commands as a different user...

CONTINUE READING
83
Tech Concepts
36
Programming languages
73
Tech Tools
Icon Unlimited access to the largest independent learning library in tech of over 8,000 expert-authored tech books and videos.
Icon Innovative learning tools, including AI book assistants, code context explainers, and text-to-speech.
Icon 50+ new titles added per month and exclusive early access to books as they are being written.
Linux Mint Essentials
End of Section 8
Next Section
notes
bookmark Notes and Bookmarks search Search in title playlist Add to playlist font-size Font size

Change the font size

margin-width Margin width

Change margin width

day-mode Day/Sepia/Night Modes

Change background colour

Close icon Search
Country selected
Close icon Your notes and bookmarks

Confirmation

Modal Close icon
claim successful
Order Page Read Now

Buy this book with your credits?

Modal Close icon
Are you sure you want to buy this book with one of your credits?
Close
YES, BUY

Submit Your Feedback

Modal Close icon
Modal Close icon
Modal Close icon