Linux Dummies 9th

Chapter 18
Basic System Administration
In This Chapter
▶ Managing users
▶ Playing with printers
▶ Watching programs
After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say “I want
to see the manager.”
— William S. Burroughs
Okay, so you have your Linux system running exactly the way you want
it, with just the right combination of software packages installed. You’re
writing documents, creating fancy graphics, listening to music CDs, and even
playing games. But don’t sit back and relax: There’s still more left to do.
You’ll always need to tweak things on your system — whether you’re allowing
other people to use it, installing a new printer, or trying to figure out why
a software program is running so slow (yes, even Linux programs can go bad
sometimes). Keeping everything in order and running properly can be a fulltime
job. Even for a home Linux system, you may need to manage several
user accounts and printers, as well as keep track of over a dozen programs
running on the system.
Linux provides a few tools that help in the management process. No doubt
you’ve seen the Administration section in the menu area on your desktop
(see Chapters 4 and 5). Some of the items are fairly self-explanatory, such
as Date and Time settings, Display settings, Keyboard settings, and the
Language setting. However, other items aren’t quite as easy to figure out how
to use. This chapter walks through a few of the administration tools Ubuntu
and Fedora provide to help make running your system a little easier.