Aribowo Sasmito

2011-05-27T17:08:00.024+07:00

Desktop, NetworkManager and Package Management

As I've mentioned on my previous posts, Linux comes with several GUI. Ubuntu's default GUI is using GNOME with it's default view using two panels in the screen (on the top and bottom), this layout has been around for quite a while. Ubuntu Natty introduce a new interface called "Unity"

which you can observe on the above picture.

Alternatively you can change your desktop to look like above picture using GNOME 3, the latest version of GNOME. As for Jupiter the default view is using a panel on the top and a dock on the bottom

like what you see on above picture. You can change it if you want, but since we're learning the interface from the basic we're still several step away from that.

Unlocking

By default Jupiter comes with it's panel and dock in locked state, but this guide provide the way to open the lock so we can learn and do some tweaks.

Above picture is an example of what you get when you right-click the panel,

and when you right-click the dock (it's using Docky) you'll only have the option to open the icon which will open the program. To open the lock press alt and F2 button on the keyboard, a "Run Application" dialog will appear

type "gconf-editor" (exclude the " character, looks just like above picture) and click "Run" button when you're done.

GNOME configuration editor will appear, as displayed on above picture go to /apps/panel/global on the left tree pane and click on the "locked_down" value to remove the check mark. Close the editor when you're done, right-click on the panel

and you'll have like what you see on above picture, full control on panel's configuration!

Right-click the panel and then click to view it's properties,

on the "General" panel properties tab these are what you'll be able to configure:

Orientation: panel's location on the screen, you can put it on the top, bottom, left or right.
Size: configure panel's size.
Expand: you can either let the panel to stretch or dynamically grow (and or shrink) following the number of applets you add or remove.
Autohide: the panel will automatically hide when it's not in use, move the mouse over to see it again.
Show hide buttons: buttons to manually hide the panel.

And on the "Background" panel properties tab you can configure the panel's appearance, the options are:

None: use system theme color, the panel will use color defined by the system theme.
Solid color: choose the color you desire to use, you can also configure the panel to appear transparent. Use the slider button to configure the transparency level.
Background image: use an image file.

As for the locked dock, this is how you open the lock:

open the configuration editor, you already know how, go to /apps/docky-2/Docky/Items/DockyItem and click on the "ShowDockyItem" value. Close the configuration editor,

and you'll have Docky's setting icon which will always stay on the first (left to right direction) among other icons.

Click the settings icon, and you can configure Docky using "Docky Settings" menu. It's quite self explanatory so I won't talk much about it, besides I prefer and recommend to use AWN (Avant Window Navigator) because AWN has more features.

Last but not least... to add more launcher the simplest way is to open the program, right click the dock and then click "Pin to Dock" like shown on above picture. Removing the launcher is also simple, just right-click and then click remove. Make sure the program is not running, otherwise the right-click menu will give you different options.

Customizing Desktop

Picture on the above show you an already customized desktop, "Docky" already replaced with "AWN". I'll explain the comments on the panel from left to right direction, to make it easier I've added separators (a vertical white line) between applets on the panel.

(1) Menu Bar: menu bar applet. This is where you can access installed applications, go to places, and configure system preferences and administration.

(2) Globalmenu Applet: an applet that shows a global menu. Global menu is a Mac OS style menu, a menu that will dynamically change depends on the program you currently use. Instead of using the well known style - title bar on the top following with menu bar, tool bar, etc. - global menu will display the active program using "Program Name Program Menu" style, on the above picture you see "File Manager File Edit View Go Bookmarks Help" because the active program is File Manager.

As I previously mentioned the global menu will dynamically change, on the above picture you'll notice the menu changed to "GIMP Image Editor File Edit Select View Image Layer Colors Tools Filters Windows Help" because the active program is GIMP, the program that I use to make screenshots for this guide. For supported programs - programs written using GTK (because GNOME is also written using GTK) - the menu will dinamically change,

but if the program is unsupported global menu will only display the program name. You'll find global menu's advantage on system using small screen, netbooks for example. Ubuntu takes this approach even further in Natty, you'll only see "Program Name" on the panel, the menu will appear when you move your mouse over.

(3) System Monitor: a system monitor applet.

(4) CPU Frequency: CPU frequency applet. This applet will display the current CPU frequency, you can manually change it by click it - for example when you need to conserve your battery you can use "Powersave"

(5) Notification Area: notification area applet. In Windows you know this as "System Tray", this applet will place icons for programs that need display it's icon in notification area.

(6) Indicator Applet: this applet will display something that needs your attention on the desktop.

(7) Clock: clock applet. Self explanatory.

(8 Weather Report: weather report applet. Self explanatory, don't forget to set your current location to display the current weather in your area.

In short, a panel is a bar that you can fill with various applets which I've explained above.

To remove an applet right click on the applet and click "Remove From Panel", you'll also have other options (depends on the applet) - for example to view the applet's help, to move the panel, to lock the applet to panel. Removing an applet is not merely because you don't need it, in certain situation (for example when the panel is full or when you can't move an applet) sometime it's necessary to remove it and then add it again.

To add an applet right-click on an empty area of the panel, if the panel is full then you can delete an applet and add it again like what I just explain above, and then click "Add to Panel"

scroll down to select an applet or type a keyword to find it. Click "Add" button to add the applet, add another applet if you wish, click "Close" when you're done.

Done with the panel, let's continue to AWN.

(1) Separator: a separator line to divide applets, for example I've configure my AWN to divide the Launcher/Taskmanager applet on the left side of the separator with other applets on the right side of the separator. The Launcher/Taskmanager applet is an applet that act both as launcher for storing shortcuts and task switcher to select running applications which means AWN will launch the program when you click an icon

but if the program is already running - marked with arrow(s) - when you click the icon it will give you a popup of what you can choose to do with the application (if more than one window opened AWN will tell you)

and a right-click will give you more options.

(2) Volume Control Applets: self explanatory

(3) Hardware Sensors Applet: an applet that display information acquired from hardware sensors of your system

(4) Garbage Applet: a Recycle/Trash applet.

To configure AWN right click on any area of the dock and click "Dock Preferences"

which will display AWN Settings menu. It's quite self explanatory so I'll let you find out about it yourself.

And for the applets, click the "Applets" and then choose "Available Applets" on the right pane. To make things easier you can also search the applets using categories on the left pane. Click an applet you wish to add to the dock, and then click the down arrow. To remove an applet click on the applets located on the "Active Applets" pane on the bottom, and then click the up arrow.

Let's move on the the next step: NetworkManager

NetworkManager

Among other GNOME's utilities, I say NetworkManager is one of the best and most important because since NetworkManager arrive networking in Linux has become so easy! Find the NetworkManager applet (the up and down arrow icon) in the notification area

and you'll see a menu similar like the above picture.

Turn on your wireless switch and click again, you'll see wireless networks within reachable range.

If your switch is on and you can't see any wireless networks click the NetworkManager icon, make sure the "Enable Wireless" is checked. Note: to completely disable networking (both wired and wireless) you can click on the "Enable Networking", no check mark means your networking is off.

If you still don't see any wireless networks this is what you need to do: go to Applications > Accessories, open "Terminal". Type "sudo -s" (exclude the " character) to gain administrative privilege, input your password, and then type "rfkill unblock all" to enable all wireless communication. This will also turn on Bluetooth (if you have any). The username@hostname in your terminal will appear different, depends on how you configure it. And there you go our first lesson on Linux commands, we'll discuss more about it later.

To edit network connections right-click on the NetworkManager applet and click "Edit Connections"

NetworkManager menu will appear, usually a profile named "Auto eth0" already created but since I've changed mine there are 2 profile named "Static" and "Automatic". To add a new connection click the "Add" button, to edit an existing connection click on the profile name and click edit or yo can simply double-click the profile name.

Above picture show editing menu on "Automatic" connection profile,

and since it's automatic there's no need to change anything. If you notice the check mark on "Connect automatically" it means every time the adapter becomes active (cable plugged in for wired or network in range for wireless) the profile will automatically activated, while "Available to all users" means every users on the system are allowed to use this profile.

If your network is using static IP address you need to create another profile, in this example I named mine "Static" but you're free to name yours whatever you want. Choose "Manual" on connection method, click "Add" and input the IP address parameters. Consult with your network administrator for this values, don't forget to remove the "Connect automatically" or NetworkManager will confuse if you configure more than one profile to automatically start whenever a connection becomes active. For wireless networks the easiest way is to enable the wireless and click on the network, a profile named "Auto SSID" will automatically created - for example if the network named "WiFi" the profile will have "Auto WiFi" for it's name. You can edit the profile name, for a manual way of connecting you can configure NetworkManager to not automatically connect whenever the network is in range by removing the check mark on "Connect automatically".

Package Management

As described in the wiki Linux Package Management is a collection of software tools to automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages (software packaged in an archive format which contains a specific application or service) for an Operating System in a consistent manner. Back in the old days due to dependencies managing program was complicated, this application depends on other applications and or libraries while these other applications and or libraries also depends on another applications and or libraries, which in the end will force you to deal with complications. With Ubuntu it's a different story, package management will handle the complications. Click here if you want to know more about Ubuntu's package management. Like Debian, the distribution which Ubuntu is based on, Jupiter is using apt with Synaptic for it's front-end. Indeed there's "Ubuntu Software Center" but i recommend Synaptic over Ubuntu Software Center because Synaptic offers several advantages, one of them is: it shows more information/progress status when it's working on your requests so you have a good knowledge of what Synaptic currently doing.

Connect to the internet, we've discuss it before so you should know how. Click System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager

type your password and hit enter or click "OK" to continue

and welcome to Synaptic Package Manager! As you can see on the above picture there are 3 pane, first pane on the left is a list pane with ability to group packages to categories. You can use the Sections, Status, Origin, Custom Filters, and Search Results buttons to browse and work with Synaptic. Second pane on the top right list packages along with it's information. Third pane on the bottom right holds detail information about a package you select.

First thing to do before using managing packages is updating Synaptic's Repositories. Click Settings > Repositories to configure Synaptic's software sources configuration

and enable the "Canonical Partners" to gain access to third party software, software offered by partners of Canonical (the company that develop Ubuntu) which provide proprietary and closed-source not enabled by default. Click "Close" when you're done, click "Reload",

and then wait for package information download to finish.

Type "awn" (exclude the " character) in the Quick search input, find "avant-window-navigator" in the packages list pane, right-click and then click "Mark for Installation". Since I've already install AWN the picture above looks different. Accept any pop-ups asking about dependencies, you also need to install "awn-applets-common" for AWN's applets.

Click "Apply", wait for Synaptic to finish downloading and installing. Quit "Docky" to prevent more than 1 dock running simultaneously, it can be uncomfortable,

and then start AWN by clicking Applications > Accessories > Avant Window Navigator. You also need to install the Globalmenu, since Globalmenu is not officially provided by Canonical you need to add Globalmenu's PPA. Copy below line to Synaptic's software software sources:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/globalmenu-team/ppa/ubuntu lucid main

and don't forget to reload. When the installation done you need to logout, add Globalmenu's applet to the panel, and then logout twice. We're done with AWN and desktop customizations, as I previously mentioned this is just a guide to describe a way of customizing your desktop. You can stay with Jupiter's default appearance, you can leave Docky to run since the AWN installation is an example of how to use Synaptic, you can quit Docky and not install AWN and go back to default GNOME appearance by adding more panel or simply adding the task manager applet to the panel, the choice is yours!

Preferences

Like "Control Panel" in Windows or "System Preferences" in Mac OS, GNOME also provide "Preferences". Let's discuss some essential settings... first thing you need to know is how to disable Docky to automatically load on startup,

go to System > Preferences and then click "Startup Applications"

locate "Docky" and remove the check mark. Go back to AWN, open it's settings, and enable the "Start AWN automatically" option. To configure Appearance select "Appearance" in Preferences menu,

and then choose the aspect you wish to configure, for example on the above picture is preference of the background (wallpaper) of the system. To configure the keyboard shortcut select "Keyboard Shortcuts" in the preferences menu,

you can modify the predefined shortcuts or create a new shortcut. The last essential setting is Power Management Preferences,

make sure you get what you want when you close your notebook lid.

In case if you're wondering the difference between "System Preferences" and "System Administration", System Preferences is per-user settings which means what you configure in System Preferences will only affect the current user while System Administration provide you tools that will affect your system globally (meaning all user in the system).

Next: Programs and Tools

2011-05-04T20:04:00.028+07:00

Ubuntu Simplefied: Elementary OS

Part III: File Manager
(versi bahasa Indonesia)

Congratulations, now that your system is installed you're officially starting to enter the world of Linux! The guide on my previous posts are usable not just for Jupiter, but also other Ubuntu derivatives. Should you need to install Ubuntu and or it's derivatives now you already know how! When this guide composed the current release of Ubuntu is 11.04 (named "Natty Narwhal" or simply called "Natty")

and since Jupiter is based on Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) Elementary don't recommended to upgrade your system when the update manager offer you to perform upgrade (as described on above capture), so please don't upgrade to Natty otherwise you'll break your system. However you can install Natty and apply Elementary's themes and tweaks, you also can install Maverick and have Elementary's themes and hacks... like I previously said on my first post: Linux is free to customize! However we're still several step away from that. We'll discuss that later, for now let's learn the first thing you need to know about Jupiter: File Manager. File Manager is a crucial part of any OS because it's what you use to manage your files and navigate your system. Just like Ubuntu, by default Jupiter is using GNOME for it's desktop environment and Nautilus is GNOME's default File Manager. In Jupiter Nautilus is modified with several enhancement and it's called Nautilus Elementary (let's just call it "Nautilus" to keep it short).

Click Places > Home Folder to open Nautilus

and this is the default view of Nautilus showing folders and files in your home folder.

but I prefer to customize it like what you see on the above picture.

I'll explain the comments in clockwise order:

Navigation buttons: this is where you can go back, forward and reload (refresh) when you navigate your system.
Location bar: show you your current position, you can also use this bar to go back and forward.

"Computer" button: takes you to "Computer", you'll see storage devices connected to your system by viewing in "device: volume" style (a volume is equal to a partition).
View mode button: to select between Icons, List, or Compact view.
Preferences button: to open the preferences menu.
Folders and files list: self explanatory.
Size slider button: slider button to enlarge or shrink the view of folders and files.
Status bar: self explanatory.
Side bar: a bar that holds various locations that you can navigate.

Network: this is where your network locations grouped, you can connect to a network location by going to Places > Connect to Server... and define the necessary parameters such as service type, hostname or IP address, username, password, port, etc.
Devices: list of volumes in your system. If you notice the arrow on the right side of the volume called "DATA" that's the unmount or eject button, in Windows you know this as "safely remove" or equal to ejecting a device for ejectable devices such as optical drives.
Bookmarks: in Jupiter it's renamed to "Personal", this is where you can place your favorites for quick access. There's one special folder that can't be removed called "Trash", in Windows you know this as "Recycle Bin". Click "Trash" to view it's contents and click "Empty Trash" button to empty your trash, or if you're sure there's nothing important in your trash you can directly right click and click "Empty Trash"

You can add a location by drag-and-drop a folder on the list to the bookmarks

or remove it by right click and click remove, or press delete key.

Toolbar: self explanatory.

You don't have to open your home folder first to go to another location, click "Places" and then jump to where you want to go. The customizations above is my way of customizing my Nautilus, you can customize it anyway you like to suit your needs.

Customizing Nautilus

Right click on any empty area on the toolbar, usually next the location bar, and click "Customize Toolbar..."

"Customize Toolbar" menu will appear, click the right arrow to add toolbar items or the left arrow to remove the items. Drag-and-drop the items to reorder the items sequence.

To configure more aspects of Nautilus click on "Preferences" icon, "File Management Preferences" menu will pops up.

On the above picture you see Views, Behavior, Display, List Columns, Preview, Media, and Tweaks tabs. Views tab: the default view mode of Nautilus, unless you've change the view of a folder using the view mode buttons (Nautilus remembers folder's last view mode) this is the default view of how Nautilus will display folders and files. As I've previously mentioned you'll have the choice to view in Icon View, List View or Compact View.

Behavior tab: select "View executable text files when they are opened" unless you don't mind Nautilus keep asking you what to do every time you click a text files.

Preview tab: Nautilus have the ability to preview files when it's in "Icons" view mode, you'll have the options to either always preview the files (including files located over the network), local files only, or never. I choose "Never" to speed up my system.

Media tab: how Nautilus handle media or devices connected to the system. Nautilus can ask you what to do, do nothing or open folder (browse) the media. You can configure Nautilus to handle the media using application associated with the media type, for example it you insert an Audio CD Nautilus can automatically open VLC media player. You can also choose to disable the automation of media handling by enabling "Never prompt or start programs on media insertion" and disable automatic media browsing, unless you don't mind new Nautilus window pops up every time you insert a media. This can be unpleasant if you insert a media with multiple volumes, each volume will open a Nautilus window, but then again it's your call.

Tweaks tab: this is where you can do several tweaks on Nautilus.

Again, settings above are the way how I set my Nautilus. Feel free to change them to suit you needs.

Connecting and Disconnecting Disks

What you see above is the view of my Nautilus viewing "Computer" in icon view mode which shows devices connected to my system with it's volume whether it's mounted or not. Inside the sidebar in devices group you'll see devices currently mounted, as I previously mentioned the up arrow icon is for unmount or eject the disks before you unplug them. This is mandatory, data loss may occur if a writeable media (such as flash disk and external HDD) isn't unmounted before you unplug them. For a volume with label (or name) on it Nautilus will display it, but if it's unnamed Nautilus will display the volume size.

To view the detail of folder(s) and or file(s) select the items, right click, and then click "Properties". You can use shift or control key if you need to select multiple items, and here's some examples:

Detail of 2 files

Detail of 1 file

Detail of a folder, you'll also see the remaining space of the volume

Detail of a volume

Next: Desktop, NetworkManager and Package Management

2011-05-03T12:31:00.009+07:00

Ubuntu Simplefied: Elementary OS

Part II: Installing

In my previous post we've learned how to prepare and create Elementary's installable live USB and you've seen the interface, which is simple: a panel on the top, a dock on the bottom, and a clean desktop between them. You're already using Linux when you've seen that interface on your computer, but as I previously mentioned: it's a live system! A live system have several advantages, one of them would be: you can plug it on any computer and you're ready to go, but a live system is a non-installed system. In this second part of my Elementary OS guide we'll learn how to install Jupiter to your system. But first, let's learn about disk partitioning. This is mandatory since we're going to install Jupiter on a disk that already stored another OS and (most likely) your data.

Disk partitioning, as described in it's wiki, is the act of dividing a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) into multiple logical storage units referred to as partitions, to treat one physical disk drive as if it were multiple disks. Below image will give you an easier way to understand (as usual, click on the image for larger view):

the image above is the partition layout of my HDD, a 80 GB HDD. It has 6 partitions each created for different purpose with it's own size, most likely it's different with your HDD partition layout. Basically HDD can be divided to 4 primary partitions (3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition) and 15 logical partitions, the easiest way is to divide HDD in 2 primary partitions (1 primary and 1 extended) and inside the extended partition you can define up to 15 logical partitions. No matter how many partitions you have you'll only need 15 GB of unpartitioned space (as described in Elementary's specs requirement) but I'm running fine with 10 GB for / (root) partition and 700 MB for swap partition. If you don't have any unpartitioned left on your HDD, this is what happen in most cases, you'll need to resize your disk to create the unpartitioned space for Jupiter.

Step 1: Resizing Your HDD

You can use your desired partition management programs (Partition Magic, Acronis Disk Director, etc.) or use the already included with Jupiter: GParted. Before you continue backup your important data and if you feel you need to also backup your other OS (you can use CloneZilla, Norton Ghost, Acronis Disk Imaging, etc) to another disk, I don't need to tell you again what I've already wrote in the DISCLAIMER in my first post. You also need to make sure that during creating and or resizing partition the process in not interrupted in any way, data loss may occur when the process is interrupted. Usually this caused by power outage, so make sure you have a stable power source by using UPS or if you're using notebook the battery is sufficiently charged. Last but not least, if you have more than 1 disks connected to your computer you may disconnect them.

To start GParted click System > Administration > GParted Partition Editor

and welcome to GParted! Whoa! What's that /dev/sda and numbers mean? /dev is the directory (also called "folder") entry for devices in Linux. This is where Linux store devices files or special files which act as as an interface for device drivers and because in Linux everything treated as a file you'll find many files inside the /dev directory. Click here for more information on device files, we might talk more about it later but for now we'll focus on disks and partitions. In Linux disks information stored as /dev/sdxy, x are letters and y are numbers. /dev/sda means the first disk detected by BIOS, this can grow more to b, c, d, and so on depending on how many disks connected to your computer. And for the y (numbers) means the number of partitions on the disk, 1 is for primary partition, 4 is for extended partition, while 5 and above are logical partitions. /dev/sda1 means the the first partition of the first disk, /dev/sda4 is the extended partition and /dev/sda5 and above means logical partition inside the extended partition. You also see /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3 on the picture above, the partition layout of my HDD, and in the future you'll also see /dev/sdb, /dev/sdc and so on.

If my HDD layout is complicated the above picture should be more simple, I'm using my 8 GB flash disk. It's not as large as HDD but basically the same, the only difference is the size. On the picture above there are 4 partitions: 1 primary partition, 1 extended partition with 2 logical partitions in it. Now let's get back to GParted and continue on resizing your HDD.

Click on any partition you wish to shrink, you can use any partition as long as the partition have empty space with the size enough for Jupiter, and then click "Resize/Move". When you're done resizing click on the empty space, create 1 partition with 1 GB size (for swap partition) and add another new partition with 10 GB size (for / partition). Click on the "Apply" button (the button with check mark icon) and wait for GParted to finish it's job. Close GParted when it's done, and let's continue with installing Jupiter. Note on swap partition: ideally the swap size is 3 times the size of you computer's memory (RAM) but I've never had any problem using 1 GB or less for swap partition. Last but not least: do not configure your swap partition too small since Jupiter need the partition to store hibernate image file, lack of space in swap partition will disable your computer to hibernate.

Step 2: Installing Jupiter

Find the install icon on the dock, it's located on the first icon on the left.

Select your desired language and click "Forward" to continue, I'm using english.

What you see on your display might be different, no need to worry if you don't see any check mark. You can connect to the internet and select the "Download updates while installing" but in order to speed up the install process, especially for those who don't have a high speed connection, it is best to update your system later. If you don't need any support for MP3 or decide to configure it later you can leave the "Install this third-party software" unchecked, click "Forward" to continue.

Select "Specify partitions manually (advanced)", click "Forward" to continue. Wait for the disk utility to finish loading, and when it's done...

click on the 10 GB partition you previously created, and then click "Add".

select "Ext4 journaling file system" on the "Use as:", check the "Format the partition" check box, select "/" on the "Mount point:" selection and then click "OK"

select the second partition you previously created for swap, and then click "Change".

Select "swap area" on the "Use as:". You can't choose "Format the partition" and assign a mount point for a swap partition, so just click "OK"

Check again your partition layout, especially on the check marks on "Format?" because it's the list of partitions that will be formatted during install, check mark means will be formatted. Don't change the boot loader device configuration, we'll discuss it later. When you're done click on "Install Now".

The install process will continue on copying files, during this stage you'll need to answer several question to configure your system. First is time zone configuration, click on the input box to search for your location by typing it and since my time zone is Jakarta I choose Jakarta. Click "Forward" when you're done.

Define your keyboard layout, in the example I choose USA. Click "Forward" when you're done.

Define yourself to your system. You can enter you full name in "Your name", for "Your computer's name" you can't use space and symbols, this also applied to "Pick a user name" (the easy way is to just enter your first name). Define your password in "Choose a password" entry and repeat your password in "Confirm your password" entry. You may choose to log in automatically when your system start or enter it manually, you can also Encrypt your home folder by choosing the "Encrypt my home folder". Be careful on doing this because there are no back doors on encryption, if you forget your password there will be no way to retrieve the files you stored in your home directory. Since I prefer to protect my system by using BIOS password I set my system to login automatically. Click "Forward" when you're done.

That's all you need to configure, wait for the system to finish installing. You'll see similar progress bar like above picture displaying different messages, and when it's done...

you may choose to stay using Jupiter's live system by clicking "Continue Testing" or restart your system by clicking "Restart Now". When you've restart your system you will be presented with boot menu, by default it'll highlight Jupiter. You can press enter to continue or wait for the countdown to finish. Like the live system Jupiter will display flashing "e" icon during boot and when it's done you'll see the interface similar to the live system. Congratulations, your system is installed!

Next: File Manager

2011-05-02T10:23:00.025+07:00

Ubuntu Simplefied: Elementary OS
Simple Guides for Beginners Using Simple Linux
(versi bahasa Indonesia)

For the past view years, starting from around 2009, I've been using Ubuntu. It's one of the most popular Linux distribution, and one of the reason why it's so popular is because it's user friendly. Previously for years I've been using several distributions, so when I say "Ubuntu is user friendly" It's because I've compared it to other distributions that I've been using before 2009 (I've been intensively using Linux since arround 2000). You might ask "why Linux?" Well.. I can come up with several answers, but the main reason why I'm using Linux is because it's free. Free to use, free to customize, and it just works! Some people say "Linux is difficult, I'm just an average user so I don't think I can use it". Oh come on... Linux is not difficult, it's just "unfamiliar". Once you get to know it you'll love it!

Before we continue to Elementary OS let's step back a bit... what is Linux? Linux is an Operating System (OS) and one of the purpose of an OS is to managing hardware. It's managing your inputs from input devices (keyboard, mouse, microphone, webcam, etc.), it's managing what you see on your display, it's managing what you hear on your speaker, it's managing your files, it's managing your connection to the network, it's managing your applications, and many other tasks. We can simply say: we can't use computers without an OS. There are many Operating Systems, and one of them is Linux. Each OS has their own advantages and disadvantages, like man who creates them it's not perfect, so don't waste your time saying "Windows sucks! I'm sick of virus, malwares, and those stuff!" or "Linux sucks! Mac OS is way better!" because like I said before: each OS has their own advantages and disadvantages. I've past that period, so save your breath :) Click here for more information regarding Linux.

And now without further ado, let's continue to Elementary OS (site/wiki). Elementary OS is based on Ubuntu which already has several derivatives, but unlike other Ubuntu's derivatives this one stands out from the crowd by offering speed and simplicity - the exact reason why I'm offering you to start using it by writing this guide. My guide is suitable for you who want to start to use Linux, we'll learn Linux step-by-step starting from the very basics matters to things you need to know how to use Linux for your daily needs. For you who already familiar with Linux it'll be easy, consider my guide as a flashback on the early days you start to learn Linux.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not responsible for any data loss and or any other damage, no need to panic though... if you follow my guide properly you'll avoid the end of the world.

Step 1: Preparing Your Boot Media

Go here to start downloading the ISO image file. When the download finished perform the MD5 checksum procedure, in Windows you can download a tiny "md5sum.exe" file here and then copy the file to "C:\Windows\System32" either by copy it using Windows Explorer or using the command prompt. Open the command prompt and do as displayed below (click the images for larger view):

the drive letter and path in your command prompt will most likely be different, but you need to make sure that the result of the MD5 checksum must exactly the same: c0f612d3d2e8c8cddc6a72a80f5f6480 otherwise the file is somehow damaged and you'll have to repeat the download process. You can burn the ISO image file to a blank disc, however i recommend you to use USB flash disk since it's much faster. There are several ways of writing the ISO image to flash disk, the easiest way is by using UNetbootin. Click here to download the utility. UNetbootin don't remove files that already reside on the disk, therefore for best result I recommend to format the disk before using it. My flash disk size is 8 GB, you need to use at least 1 GB flash disk. If you have any important files on the flash disk copy the files somewhere else before you proceed because formatting your disk WILL erase everything!

Open "Computer" or "Windows Explorer", select the disk, right click and then click "Format"

Label the disk "Jupiter" (the release name of Elementary OS) or any other name, it's up to you. Click on the "Quick Format" check box, or if you're willing to wait longer you can leave it unchecked. Click start,

click "OK" on the warning dialog box, wait for the format process to finish. Locate the UNetbootin you previously downloaded, run the utility,

select the "Diskimage" radio button, select "ISO" on the drop down menu, locate the Elementary OS ISO image file you previously downloaded by clicking the "..." button, select "USB Drive" on the disk type menu, select the drive letter of the flash disk, click "OK" to continue.

Wait for the UNetbootin to finish it's process and when it's finised you can choose either you want to reboot or close the utility.

Step 2: Booting Your New Elementary OS

Plug the flash disk in your USB slot. Check your BIOS boot sequence to boot USB before the Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or you can do the "press Fx to select boot media". Fx means F1 to F12 keys, which key you need to press depends on your computer... check the BIOS message when your computer powering up to find the proper key. Start your computer, select "Try elementary without installing" on the menu. Your computer will boot, during the boot process you'll see "e" icon (Elementary's icon) flashing. When the boot process is done this is what you'll see:

Congratulations! Your Elementary OS is ready to use, it's an installable live system which means you can use it directly (without installing) and able to act as an install media. Keep the disk handy because you'll need the disk for the next step, the disk can also act as a rescue media... you might need it when you need to rescue your system when it's broken.

Next: installing your system