Puppy Linux Mini How-to for inexperienced Windows Renegades

Point 5: The Renegade Programm, Point 5: What is where?

• You will find 21 really self-explanatory icons (one icon is for the help system!) on the screen and a tool bar looking similar to a Windows 95 tool bar, nothing new for you!
• As in Microsoft Windows, you can access to the most parts of you new system using the Screen key "start". It is not really the usual approach of Linux for managing this problem: more common is to click on the screen with the right mouse key and you get the same effect. The way is also possible under Puppy. New very expressive icons are available after that to guide you. Experiment: it's a better way to learn. Don't forget: your system is on the CD so you can be confident you won't change it if you experiment with something (at this stage of your learning phase, it is easy to refresh the system by rebuilding it completely: under Microsoft Windows, you erase the big file PUP001 in your main Windows directory and can rebuild a completely new system totally free from changes; analog, you can burn in the future a copy of your actual PUP001 and save very easy all values of your Puppy system at this time and, if an error appairs, you only have to erase the defect file PUP001 and copy the saved file from the CD and get in a few minutes the old situation completely intact!)

• The file system and the rules to name the files are quite different from Microsoft Windows. All Linux distributions use a highly standardised file system with minor changes from distribution to distribution. Further, the writing convention is different from the convention under Microsoft Windows:

• • Separator: Linux never uses "\" as separator by writing file names. Always the separator what you know from the Internet: "/"
  • Capital letters: Linux distinguishes very strongly between capital letters and lower case letters. It is very important to observe it
  • Mouse click: Linux has different system reactions depending on setup values concerning simple or double clicking. Don't worry: it is possible to adapt it to your preference.

• • The "Home" Icon on the Desktop: This is the privileged place for your own works (texts, spreadsheets, etc). This directory is always available on Linux systems. In Puppy, the content of this directory will be saved after the end of each session in the only one big file PUP001. But you have to be conscient of the reality, that the memory capacity of the PUP001 file is limited. You can't save a big amount of music etc. To save such very big and heavy files, you have to use the second way:
  • Using a file manager: You will access to a good file manager in the division "File manager" available after clicking on the Screen key "Start". You can compare the ROX Filer file manager with the Windows-Explorer. But the presentation is completely different (I know...). But as a lot of performances of the Internet comes straight from Linux, if you are experimented in the using of browsers, you will not have major problems using ROX: It is the same philosophy!
  • "/" , the start point of each Linux files hierarchy: You will find in each Linux file system a directory with only a slash, without name or other attributes: it is the start point of your Linux file hierarchy! From "home" with only one click, you can reach this point (in the ROX Filer file manager only one click in the commando line, left, the arrow, left, in the commando line.
  • After that, you see in all Linux distributions almost the same: different main directories having always always the same name in all Linux distributions: bin, dev, etc, lib, mnt, opt, proc, root, sbin, tmp, usr, var.
  • mnt is abreviation for "mount": in Linux, all external resources need to be mounted before use. The mount command is to declare to the system that the directory (all resources appear to be like a virtual directory) is in use. You will find in mnt the links for those connections. It is not possible to open a drive in Linux if the drive is mounted: You have to mount or quit properly (unmount) to permit access to such drives (for example to change a CD.) Partitions are for Linux like separate drives.
  • Try it:
    • click on "Home" Icon on the Desktop. In the little window you see a command line at the top and in the line the indication "- (Thumb)". This directory with the abbreviation "-" is your directory. In Puppy Linux, it is the directory named "root", in all Linux systems, the directory reserved for the system administrator, a directory rarely being accessible for other users (Puppy makes here a great exception).
    • Click now on the arrow just under "- (Thumb)" in the icon bar: the directory changes: you see now "/ (Thumb)". It is the main directory in your file system hierarchy.
    • look for "mnt" and click on it: different directories appair. One of them is "home" (* with an icon with a second little black and green icon. Green in this icon signifies "mounted". You can open it directly. Click on it: Your Microsoft Windows main directory (in your main partition) appairs and you can now work with it! The complete path to your main directory is also
      
      "/mnt
      /home" and, for example,
      "/myWindowDirectory
      /myFileName.extension".
    • So you can now access to all your actual and old files on your usual file structure in Microsoft Windows.
    • You can now continue your usual work in Linux!

(* In Puppy, "home" has 2 significations: it's the name of the icon on the desktop and opens so the directory "/root", but it is also the system name for the Microsoft Windows main partition. Don't confuse!

"I don't find my work any more!":
No problem: All Linux systems give you more than one virtual screen. You have 4 screens in Puppy. You can switch the screen clicking on one of the 4 keys at the right side from the "start" key!

Precedent & next pages:
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