“Before we get started, let me say this upfront: GNOME shell is not a traditional desktop and if you try to use it as one, you will not be very efficient.”
AJ Reissig
“We wanted the book to be freely available (that is under the terms of a license compatible with the Debian Free Software Guidelines of course). There was a condition though: a liberation fund had to be completed to ensure we had a decent compensation for the work that the book represents. This fund reached its target of €25K in April 2012.” Raphaël Hertzog and Roland Mas hope that you will enjoy the book.
“In a world of repressive governments and a growing reliance on insecure networks, there’s no way anyone can be sure their most sensitive messages aren’t intercepted by the forces of darkness. But you can make it mathematically improbable that all but the most well-funded snoops could ever make heads or tales of your communications.” Use Dan Goodin’s step-by-step guide to email encryption and keep your communications private.
“Bicycle fitting is a subject most people find quite mysterious. Fitting systems with charts and graphs, computer software, measuring devices and ‘rules of thumb’ make for a lot of confusion. But I believe it’s really quite simple”, writes Peter Jon White.
There are many different tools that you can use to edit configuration files. Because of its simplicity, I personally like to use Nano:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo nano /path/to/the/fileYou can change the default settings for nano by editing its configuration file. For example, to stop nano from wrapping text simply make the following changes to /etc/nanorc:
## Don't wrap text at all.
set nowrapConsider the implications of enabling the root account, and then proceed with:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo passwd rootTo disable the root account again, use the following command:
user@ubuntu:~$ sudo passwd -l rootChange the default permissions for your installation by editing the value for umask in /etc/profiles and /etc/login.defs.
“GNU programs are rife with additional options. Some of these options are so useful you may want to create an alias.” Keith Winston manages to save a lot of time working at the shell.