default linux mint 12 Menu

So, you downloaded Linux Mint 12 and are excited to try out all the fancy stuff that people have been saying about it. You have your Live CD burned, you boot into the desktop, you click on Menu in the bottom-left corner, see the popular folders listed there, but one seems to be missing– the games folder!

In just a few simple steps, we will show you how to get the Games folder to appear, complete with a nice selection of popular games for the Gnome desktop environment.

Step 1

Click on the terminal located under the Menu:

click on the terminal

 Step 2

Type sudo apt-get install gnome-games at the prompt:

terminal window

Press Enter when it asks if you want to continue, then it will download the games, and all the dependencies, all within your Live environment!

Step 3

Finished! Enjoy your new games, as you can now see, there are quite a few games to try out, for all ages. Here is a screenshot of the final product, that just took a couple of minutes of your time:

Finally, we have games!

Here is a list of the games we just installed:

AisleRiot Solitaire, Chess, Five or More, Four-in-a-row, FreeCell Solitaire, lagno, Klotski, Mahjongg, Mines, Nibbles, Quadrapassel, Robots, Sudoku, Tali, Tetravex

©2012 Linux.Bihlman.com

post written using Firefox on the Linux Mint 12 Live CD!

As the title suggests, a technically-inclined computer user probably gets more satisfaction running a PING test in Linux than Windows XP, as the screenshots below should indicate.

pinging google in linux mint 12

and now, Windows XP:

pinging google in windows xp

That’s the difference!

By Rand Whitehall

To copy a file in the Linux command line interface (cli) then use the cp command. If you are familiar with DOS, cp is like the COPY command. To copy a file you need to write the name of the file you want to copy and the name of the newly copied file.

So, to make a copy of my file called joe and name the new file joe2, I type:

cp joe joe2

I then issue the ls command to show a list of the current files in the directory and I should see my old file joe and a new file called joe2 which is an exact copy of tom.

Now what if I wanted to copy the file joe, but put the copy in another directory? Well, then I simply specify which directory I want the copy to go into.

cp joe Documents/joe2

This will copy the file joe, name the new copy joe2, and place joe2 in the Documents directory. So with one simple command I copied, renamed, and moved a file. It took under a second. If I had done that in the GUI (graphical user interface) it would have taken at least a minute and a bunch of clicks.

What if I type this?: (hint: Documents is a directory.)

cp joe Documents/

Well, if you said a new copy of joe (named joe) would be created in the Documents directory, then you’d be right.

Since we did not specify a name for our copy, but did specify a directory, cp simply used the original name.

What if we do this?:

cp joe

The output is this an error:

cp: missing destination file operand after `joe’

Try `cp –help’ for more information.

Oops. cp needs a destination, which is either a new name for the copied file, or another directory to place the copy into.

I hope this helps you understand the basics of the GNU Linux command cp. The more you learn about the different cli commands, the more you can do. Soon you’ll be saving tons of time using the cli to perform tasks that would have taken the GUI hundreds of clicks.

Please be careful, though, when starting out with the cli. The command line tools can perform just about any task quickly and efficiently. But it’s easy to damage your system if you accidentally delete something or move a file that shouldn’t have been moved. The cli is like a very sharp katana that can slice through just any problem you may have, but it can also do unintended harm if you aren’t careful.

So when starting out, it’s best to work in safe, “sandbox” directories, on files you have created specifically to learn cli commands. I usually make a new directory, then copy a few files in to play with, so if I screw up, it’s no problem.

Rand writes about web design, men’s health and nitrile gloves. Please check out his new website all about allergy free Nitrile Gloves for info and nitrile glove know how! Check out the Nitrile Gloves vs. Latex Gloves page to find out how nitrile stacks up against latex.

By Rand Whitehall

If you are just starting out using the command line in Linux, knowing just a few key commands can take you a long way towards fluency in the cli (command line interface) environment. Most new linux users fear the dreaded command line and its archane text-based commands. But if you warm up to the command line slowly and patiently, you’ll start to see you can wield great power over your computer using cli tools. It is truly amazing how much you can do with the cli and how quickly and efficiently it can do things. Some tasks can be done with a few lines of commands in under a second that would take thousands of mouse clicks and hours to accomplish in a typical GUI (graphical user interface).

The ls command is very powerful and useful so we’ll start there, then take a look at the file command.

ls: The ls command lists the contents of a directory. Simply type ls and hit the enter key. You should see a list of the contents of your current directory.

Now, if you want to get a bit fancy, you can tell ls to show you file sizes as well by adding the -l switch like this: ls -l.

This will show you the contents of the directory and files size, file date, file time and file name.

Now, while you are looking at details of the files in your current directory, you may be wondering what type of files they are. For example, if my home directory had a file called joe, I would type file joe to find out what type of file it was.

The file named joe is a text file so the file command outputs: joe.txt UTF-8 Unicode English text.

I’ve also got a directory listed called bob. If I type file: bob, then file outputs: bob/ directory.

The file command can tell us about any type of file. Digging deeper into my filesystem I come across a file that I don’t know. What type of file is it? Run the file command. file: bak.sh. The output of the file command: Bourne-Again shell script text executable. Ahh, it’s a bash script.

What’s a bash script? It’s a list of cli commands strung together in a text file. A bash script is like a small program that can perform just about any number of tasks. Very powerful stuff once you get a few more commands under your belt.

Rand writes about Linux, old school safety razors and blue nitrile gloves! Check out Rand’s site all about latex free nitrile gloves, a great barrier against infection. Black Nitrile Gloves are also available and used often by tattoo artists, mechanics and industries where keeping dirt and grime free is important.

Easy Linux Training – Linux Tips on Using Multiple Options with a Linux Command
By Clyde E. Boom

Linux distributions (versions), especially the major Linux distros, include several “point-and-click” Linux GUI utilities. These utilities can be used to do Linux administration task. However, you have to do an awful lot of pointing and clicking to get anything done in these Linux GUI utilities.

What takes several clicks (and way too much time) with a Linux GUI utility can be done almost instantly by running a Linux command. However, new Linux users usually find Linux commands tricky to learn – but they are well worth learning. Also, if you are working on some kind of Linux certification, you will get tested on Linux commands, not on Linux GUI utilities.

Another benefit of learning Linux commands is that they are virtually identical on all 130 + Linux distributions. So, the best way to learn how to use Linux, to do Linux system administration, is to learn how to use Linux commands.

Linux tips: When you get Linux training, including Linux certification training, be sure to learn how to use Linux commands. Don’t waste time learning Linux GUI utilities.

Linux Tips – How to Use Multiple Options with a Linux Command

1. Most Linux commands have several options.

Linux command options are used to control the output of a Linux command – and some Linux commands have over 50 options!

2. For almost all Linux commands, the options are prefixed with a – (dash).

For example, the following Linux command runs the ls command with the l (el) option. The l stands for “long” and it gives you a longer (and more detailed) listing of files and directories in the Linux file system.

]#   ls  -l

Linux Tips: In these examples, the ]# represents the Linux command line prompt. You don’t type in the prompt!

3. Linux command options can be combined.

The ls command is used to list the directories and files in the Linux file system. It has an l (for long) option and an a (for all) option. The a option shows “all” files, including hidden files.

The following command uses the l and a options to give you a long listing of all files.

]#   ls  -l -a

4. Linux command options can be combined without a space between them and with a single – (dash).

The following command is a faster way to use the l and a options and gives the same output as the Linux command shown above.

]#   ls  -la

5. The letter used for a Linux command option may be different from one command to another.

For example the -r option of one command may not provide the same output as the -r option for another command.

You can learn how to use Linux commands easily by watching Linux video tutorials.

When you watch a Linux video tutorial, you get to see, hear and do! You get to watch the command being typed in and hear an explanation of why you run the Linux command. Then you can pause the video tutorial and run the Linux command yourself!

Clyde Boom, Author and Expert Trainer with 20+ Years of Training
Successes. Learn intricate technical matters in an easy-to-
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software and hardware learners into masters.

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